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| Third | 
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| Artist: Portishead
Label: Mercury
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $7.06
You Save: $6.92 (49%)
New (38) Used (13) from $7.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  177 reviews
Sales Rank: 130
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001114102
UPC: 602517664005
EAN: 0602517664005
ASIN: B0016HNOXQ
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Back (?) to black May 2, 2008
21 out of 27 found this review helpful
Short version: if you wanted "Dummy II" then just skip this release.
Third moves Portishead in a more mechanical and industrial direction. The songs are distinctly more edgy, tight, and thoroughly claustrophobic with repetition. I see this as a good thing, your mileage may vary. Sure it may be more dissonant but it's a poppy, "In Rainbows" kind of dissonance. (As opposed to the more difficult "free jazz" dissonance. That stuff _really_ burns while going down.)
Portishead have always made cinematic music and Third is no different. Songs like "Silence" and "Nylon Smile" would feel right at home in a David Lynch dream sequence; both take advantage of stylistic reptition to feature a nice anti-climax / pull-out that leaves the listener (insert your fetish here).
Repitition seems to be the theme of Third. "The Rip", for example, opens with a banjo-fied riff that fuels the quiet desperation beneath Beth Gibbons' vocals. The same three notes are repeated throughout, building and building the song to.. the same three notes, echoed on a keyboard. The song is a brilliant study in dynamics and it's not until the last 45 seconds that a melodic counterpoint is established. The sensation is that of being able to finally scratch an itch after hours and hours of being tied to a butterfly swing. Ah, sweet relief!
Some experiments do fall flat, however. "Deep Water" begins with a ukelele and you're practically falling over yourself to hear Stephin Merritt crooning. But instead you're treated to what sounds like Darth Vader on backing vocals. "Machine Gun", meanwhile, sounds like a NIN collaboration (I see this as a bad thing, your mileage may vary) that leads to one of those cheesy arena rock moment when you wave a lighter in the air.
If Dummy was a great CD, then Third is merely good. Quite frankly, I'm mystified by the reviewers are dismissing Third as discomfiting and dark. Uh, wasn't that the whole point of Portishead? No, you're not going to listen to is at the beach. You're not going to listen to it on the way to work (unless you really hate your job). Heck, you may not listen to it more than three times a month. Nevertheless, I remain confident that there will be days when Third will perfectly fit my mood.
 This is not the Portishead that I enjoy so much. May 2, 2008
18 out of 31 found this review helpful
I still keep the first two Portishead albums with me on an MP3 player.. They are commonly playing when I go to sleep at night. But Third is just not the Portishead that I know and love. The deep bass heavy beats of the first album are dead and gone and this album is starting to sound even more industrial than the last. The warmth is gone and what is left over is just not something I am interested in.
If you are a fan of the first two albums, take a good long listen to the track samples before you buy Third. You may end up saving yourself some money.
 My favorite band ever dissapoints May 1, 2008
17 out of 31 found this review helpful
Apparently 3 times was not a charm for Portishead. I still listen to Dummy and Portishead every few months even 10 years later. I even popped in the Roseland VHS to watch for the umpteenth time less than a year ago. When I found our Portishead was finally going to release their 3rd album, I was elated! I had very high expectations. Unfortunately, so far, Im just not feeling it at all. Beths voice are still perfection, but the tracks just aren't up to par with their previous releases. Its not as smooth, its not as haunting(as humming), and its not as catchy! Overall, its a big big disappointment for me. Still its too early to call it my all time biggest musical disappointment ever! The two tracks that dont seem like total duds are silence and plastic. The latter sort of sounds like Beth when she was with Rustin Man. But even then none of the tracks on this album compare to mysteries from that album. Perhaps, there is nothing that can touch the genious of the first two albums. Im still waiting! Maybe fourth ;)
Mediocre April 30, 2008
16 out of 29 found this review helpful
I thought it was mediocre, and like most, I have been awaiting this release for a decade. I pretty much had the other cds on repeat over the last 5 years, so maybe it is just my anticipation that killed it. I thought Beth's vocals were hollow but not in the great way that made other Portishead albums memorable. In the "dilluted and weakened" sense. I'm sorry but I have to be honest here, it seems like they went a little too deep into their imagination and pulled out melodies without much weight. Perhaps it will get better with additional listening, but other than a few choice tracks, I don't hold this album up to the standard of their previous 3.
Awesome! June 5, 2008
16 out of 27 found this review helpful
At first, I thought this album was terrible; with flat vocals and uninspired and pretentious noise filling in for the lush and skillful signature beats that launched an entire genre.
After three listenings, I still hated it.
After five, I hated it and I had a head ache.
However, after I read the reviews here, I realized that if I don't like this album, it must be because I just don't understand the music. I also realized that the thematic fulcrum of this album is heart-break and pain.
Then, suddenly, it hit me; I finally "understood."
This album gave me nothing but heart-break and pain.
It is living art.
Amazing.
If you hate yourself, buy this album. It's cheaper than buying two angry monkeys and recording them fighting each-other with power tools in your closet.
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