portishead :: portishead :: poll

That's the one

How prescient of them:

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/local-news/portishead-ducks-swans-wallowing-mud-1844328

Only You is pretty darn sombre.

Didn't see the poll, would've voted "Over".
Never knew people thought the record was bad. Loved it when it came out and still do. I thought it was darker than Dummy.

I was a huge fan of the first album at the time and didn't care for this one immediately upon release. I was disappointed right away, and despite buying the LP, CD, and 2 different 12"s from this album, I never really played it much. Possible issues: too long between albums with very little variance in sound - lots of things sounded like a retread, there were loads of imitators who released music between the two albums, the songs just aren't as good.

I don't know why this album gets so much flack, it rules. Also I think the first two records have come around from being 'dated' (very evocative of their time and place, overplayed, lots of imitators) to sounding prescient & not dated at all.

It also seems overly simplistic to cast the first album as sample-based and this one as not...Dummy had more samples, but still had a ton of live instrumentation that was very creatively resampled & processed (same as the s/t).

this album gets flak?? it completely rules, an outstanding not even slightly disappointing second album. so many great tunes, “only you”, “mourning air”, “half day closing”, “all mine” ffs. dummy had more synthetic sounds, like the drum machine on “it could be sweet”, this leans into the John Barry shit hard.

there's like two posts slamming the album just within the last bump

This is the first album I go to when I want to listen to Portishead. I really never got why it was generally considered to be worse than the other 2.

1. Portishead
2. Third
3. Dummy

Is how I would rank them, which I guess is the opposite of most people

it was the eighth of november in the year of our lord two thousand twenty three when i first discovered there are assholes who thought the second portishead album was disappointing. it was a sunny day and i had an extra cup of coffee.

(the b-sides from this album are fab, btw)

it was the eighth of november in the year of our lord two thousand twenty three when i first discovered there are assholes who thought the second portishead album was disappointing

my friend, it appears that like me you missed that there were like two posts in this thread in the year 2019 expressing disappointment with the second portishead album, we are completely out of the damn loop

nb that is a totally silly post, <3 austin and ivy

this album rules, i probably listened to it ten times as much as dummy (which i love), but this one hit at just the right time. idk why but its to me reminiscent of the move cypress hill made from the s/t to black sunday. a darker refinement of the earlier album, with a bleaker, dirtier sound, even more paranoid and more down in the depths than the previous work (which in both cases was already down there.)

Tbf I also was looking at *other* old ILM threads.

Portishead - are we fickle or did they deserve to become dated so quickly?

Also I think I didn't really distinguish between the first two albums because I got into the live album first and worked backwards

Adrian Utley is auctioning off his Portishead live rig Moog to support Gaza. I assume there will be two extra zeroes over what I could pay but that would be a cool thing to have (and very cool of AU).

I would also rank them Portishead -> Third -> Dummy, with Third nearly being a tie. Actually felt this was a fairly common take, but I suppose not...

I thought they were okay until I heard Only You and the rest of that album. It's a masterpiece.

Third nearly being a tie for first I meant to say

Does anyone else hear in “Elysium” that the background loop, which seems like typical LP crackle, is actually a distorted male voice muttering, “I’m dirty, I’m dirty, I am dirty, I’m dirty”, etc.?

I think Portishead are like numerous 00s indie bands in that the debut will always be the canon, totem choice and also the one I find will probably always find least interesting. Portishead is so clearly a total improvement in every way imo, and Third is my favourite but ofc clearly something else altogether.

Anyway, despite the heavy debt to “The American Metaphysical Circus”, I’d have picked “Half Day Closing” for two reasons: the awesomely crummy-sounding guitar that comes in on the second chorus, and a vocal that rivals Annisette or Dagmar Krause in its combination of bereft misery and destructive rage.

I’m terms of comparing the albums, I think they’re fairly equal: three or four great songs, four or five good songs, two or three failed experiments or dreary exercises apiece.

always enjoy Adrian Utley talking about making music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlv9i0XC8NA