PORTISHEAD: classic or dud?!

But I never listen to them now, and their sound seems less radical than I once thought. Massive Attack have aged similarly – their first album now seems so bland. Tricky’s work probably stands up best of all that lot.

So I sit on the fence re the COD question. I suppose this raises the question – what is a classic in the sense used on ILM? A record you once thought was great? Now think is great? Think might seem great again? Or is it about "importance" – whatever that means? I suspect that classic means "fit well within the received ideas of the moment".

(furthermore, i am leary of the man who thinks chris robinson is "off- the-peg." which may make you wary of me. which is fair, i think.)

Sorry, that is *apalling*. I even got a proper night's sleep, too. Goes to show how much I hated that single, I suppose.

The Black Crowes are still shite, though.

Sorry, that is *apalling*. I even got a proper night's sleep, too. Goes to show how much I hated that single, I suppose.

The Black Crowes are still shite, though. I think what I meant by off- the-peg is an obviously technically talented voice which is then being pushed into a hand-me-down style i.e. torch singing/bluesy rock vocalising.

Massive Attack's Blue Line should, Dummy should not be listed as a classic.

KHF

I should break out that album again before I continue arguing, but that type of thing is something I'm usually hyper-sensitive about (and is one of many reasons why I can't stand Whitney Houston).

Yes, any discussion of flat singing will cause me to bring up Whitney Houston.

That way, I think the basic concept of Portishead could have survived another album or two until the band developed some new ideas, and hence a new production style.

Always remember, it may not be the band you don't like, the way a record is produced has a massive effect on the way you percieve the music, and I think Portishead was harmed by a production style that didn't complement their ideas.

Love, Jeff

HALF DAY CLOSING, people!

3rd album being mastered atm. Anyone hopeful?

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030630/album/images/photo02.jpg

i think choosing the best triphop album is sort of like trying to choose the best krautrock album.
-- ethan, Monday, May 7, 2001 1:00 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

eh?

the first lp is so evocative of early 90s britain i couldn't not love it if i didn't love it already, which i do.

otm

Roads is beautiful

I'm going to listen to it now!

And the Black Crowes are good too! At least, the first two albums are!

"roads", yes.

Nobody's mentioned the Roseland Ballroom set (PNYC) which is one of my favorite live releases from the last ten years. Also, the one-off that Gibbons did with Rustin is pretty good. I'd say they're near-classic, which is a pretty significant coup considering they've only released two proper albums. Unless they find some way to expand their genre the new album may be little more than filthy lucre - but it'll probably sound great regardless.

portishead>>>>>>>>>>dummy

dud for jacking the smif-n-wessun loop on that one remix

i like the s/t one more than dummy too but I know people who just hated it, thought it was so over the top...insane people, admittedly, but people nonetheless.

the live record is great, and I'm really glad I got to see them live, even if I could barely see them because I was stuck behind tall assholes

the embarrassingly-accepted band from the whole idiotic blunted groovez lounge hipster movement, complete with annoying false emotional rants in gibbon's horrible screechy voice and sub limp bizkit-level dj scratching (to a fanbase that's never heard anything better)? red hot chili peppers for lilith fair girls? or, you know, not?

"Roads" A+++++

The above opening post ^^^ is so not OTM it's hilarious

HALF DAY CLOSING, people!

"half day closing" was the point on portishead where i was like, "okay, yes, yes, more please." also helped that i had gotten really into the united states of america album between dummy and that one.

Thing is, it's such an arch, such an obviously dramatic song, that I can imagine it turning a few people away. It employs a wonderfully-managed build-and-release (that scream), a wickedly atonal bassline/backing vocal effect, some fucking ominous guitar, and a horror movie keyboard several semitones too high; all of this amounts to a piece of visceral dread that although superficially unsubtle in its execution, utilises a LOT of sonic ingenuity in order to achieve its full effect. I think it's an extremely intelligent piece of music, albeit one whose full-on emotional splattering might be too much for some listeners.

"Wandering Star" is beyond classic. It is the eppy tome of that which is and has even been classic to the classic power of classicity.

We're pleased to announce that we'll be releasing our album, titled THIRD. on April 14th 2008.

The album has 11 tracks and is 49 minutes 13 seconds long.

!!!!

Expected given the tour dates but at least we know when to expect it. (IE, a month earlier, when it leaks.)

Ten years, and Third is the album title they came up?

'Deep Down And Dirty' had already been taken

I have no idea whether this will be good or not. I really hope so.

fwiw I prefer the second album to the first - if they can equal it I'll be ecstatic.

Found some clips on YouTube, but the sound quality's a bit too shitty to judge the tunes. One definately has a theremin in though, so business as usual.

Anyone try and get tickets this morning? Just had a frustrating experience with seetickets, in which I was taken as far as bank details, delivery address etc, only to be told they'd sold out. Gah.

Interstingly, seatwave were already selling tickets at 9.05 for twice the face value.

Not that I'm surprised at how crap the system is, but it is most annoying.

he sampled "moon in june" and "out-bloody-rageous" from third for the portishead remix of junkwaffel's "mud skipper"

any other soft machine sampling in the portishead catalog?

front cover apparently goes like this:

http://angryape.com/images/news/portishead-15-02-08.jpg

Portishead Third Track Listing Unveiled — News — AngryApe

omg want

Third Track Listing:

01. Silence
02. Hunter
03. Nylon Smile
04. The Rip
05. Plastic
06. We Carry On
07. Deep Water
08. Machine Gun
09. Small
10. Magic Doors
11. Threads

typically classy cover!

Quite like the cover.

xpost

:-)

John Mulvey @ Uncut reviews the new Portishead album: Uncut.co.uk | Wild Mercury Sound - Post details: Portishead - Third

omg want

From Mulvey's Uncut review:

"It’s funny, listening to Gibbons, to remember how Portishead were rapidly stereotyped as some kind of coffee table cliché, the dinner party CD of choice and so on. Again, I can’t remember exactly how discomforting those old albums were – I always suspect that the band were cursed by those who followed after them, so that when we try and recall how Portishead sounded, we sometimes summon up, I don’t know, Morcheeba by accident." (Cf. ethan's remarks opening this thread)

And yes: WANT.

beth gibbon singing over "lovefingers" = want

good guardian interview: http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2256187,00.html

th new one is really great..in ways i never would have thought anyone would bother trying out in th studio anymore...i can send it as a zp or sum such if u need one

The thread for Portishead's Third

Dud; and one of the most overrated duds ever. I worked hard at that first LP, before realizing that its grimy reaches weren't for me. Then, years later, I worked hard at that second LP, before realizing that its grimy reaches weren't for me.
-- the pinefox, Friday, July 6, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

Did you ever get the live album, Pinefox? If not, don't bother - its grimy reaches aren't for you.
-- Dr. C, Saturday, July 7, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

classic dr. c response ^

I think the basic concept behind Portishead was a good one. Slow dreamy, almost ambient take on hip hop. The main problem I think is the way the records were produced. Every element of the mix is too clean and upfront, designed that way I imagine to give a sort of intimacy to the experience. But from an emotional standpoint, the vocalist is a bit detatched from her own feelings, almost drugged out, and the mix of the music should have reflected that. More reverb on her vocals (a la All Mine) dirtier beats, the scratching should have sounded thinner and farther back in the mix.

That way, I think the basic concept of Portishead could have survived another album or two until the band developed some new ideas, and hence a new production style.

Always remember, it may not be the band you don't like, the way a record is produced has a massive effect on the way you percieve the music, and I think Portishead was harmed by a production style that didn't complement their ideas.

Love, Jeff

-- Jeff Guidry, Tuesday, November 20, 2001 7:00 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark Link

Looks like Portishead took Jeff's advice to heart for the new record :)

8 years of posts on this thread and no mention of the Airbus Reconstruction. I wasn't even sure it was the same band when I heard it, but it grew on me and I played it more than any other Sour Times version for a while.

How do you feel about Portishhead's venture into grungy indie?

c'mon haters, glory box has to be one of the great torch songs

"airbus reconstruction" is done by an old grungy indie band from bristol called airbus, so not the same band, no.

No shit?

New Portishead album! Quote below is Geoff Barrow on Twitter...

http://thequietus.com/articles/05507-portishead-new-album-brace-yourselves

"There will be NO free downloads There will be NO bonus tracks There will be NO remixes There will be NO hidden footage" he commenced earlier this evening. And then: "There will be NO additional content There will be NO corporate partners There will be NO fashion lines There will be NO tabloid pictures" before continuing "There will be NO £25 unit cost There will be NO streetteam There will be NO myspace There will be NO celeb producer There will be NO twitter". We're so enthused by this approach that we don't mind one jot that "There will be NO press/blogger gig There will be NO acoustic session There will be NO meet and greet There will be NO edited version" and FINALLY (the last bit we especially like) "There will be NO iTunes only There will be NO press launch There will be NO asian version There will be NO radio friendly". ALL HAIL MR BARROW.

"There will be NO album, oh buggr"

There will be NO tabloid pictures

to be fair this is b/c the paparazzi aren't actually interested in you geoff

There will be NO celeb producer

YOU are the name producer! if geoff barrow produced another artists he'd definitely fit into the category of "celeb producer"

There will be NO asian version

racist

i <3 portishead but geoff barrow really is very silly, is he not

I think that Twitter's brilliant. Just sat at home with a brew and a smoke, getting all angry about music and shit. You don't want Portishead being all urbane and Wildean.

what so there IS a twitter? contradicting "There will be NO twitter"? lol

There will be NO tabloid pictures

to be fair this is b/c the paparazzi aren't actually interested in you geoff

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Thursday, 6 January 2011 10:02 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

also this album will probably in fact be written about in a tabloid, at some point, accompanied by a photo of the band

The NO TWITTER! rule was delivered by TWITTER!

Now that's trip hop.

There will be NO asian version

racist

― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Thursday, January 6, 2011 5:03 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

asians are entitled to the same slab of wax that everybody else gets.

geoff is funny. when we announced the portishead/atp event in london he replied to the facebook post about it saying "CAN MY BAND PLAY PLEASE"

Lex that Geoff Barrow quote is pretty obviously a joke - he's only one step away from going "There will be NO Simon Cowell".

He did a good zing on FAT M the other week

looking fwd to this!

also, this quietus commenter is otm:

octophone
JAN 6, 2011 3:03PM
You do realise that somewhere, in a London office that's slightly smaller than it was 5 years ago, a man in braces is sitting saying "ah, genius - anti-marketing, great move".

really makes u think

Never would've guessed at a successful revival, in particular one based on channeling top-shelf Krautrock, but glad it happened. Anyone heard anything about the actual sounds for this new LP?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7R4bu6mExI

Podcast with a modular synth nerd

man, those b-sides from the first two albums are totally classic. "numbed in moscow" is like a mobb deep beat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcwPXUXw330