Review - Portishead 'Third'

Like most, Electric Roulette has to wait a bit to get a record. Sometimes, we're a bit lazy and don't get 'round to doing something, buying an LP long after reviews are out... but that shouldn't stop us reviewing an album when we do get out arses in gear. Seeing as we didn't get a review copy of Portishead's 'Third', and I went and bought it yesterday, I thought it was time for a peer into the murky sky flickery.

I've heard a lot of snippets and leaked tracks, but that only served as a taster. I've always felt that Portishead were an album band and that the singles, or at least single-tracks, only told a bit of the story. Go back to 'Dummy' or the eponymous LP and you'll see that, as a whole, they make a lot more sense than grabbing a track on (the horrendous) shuffle function on an MP3 player. So, as a whole, what is 'Third' like?

To be honest, 'Third' is absolutely incredible. Portishead are one of those bands that don't neatly slot into any category. Yeah, people have dubbed them trip-hop, but let's be honest here, that's one of the worst genre names ever. Whoever came up with it probably had good intentions... as I did when I coined Pop Noir. If I was faced with the unenviable task of naming Portishead's style of music, I'd come up with something really catchy like Krautrock Spy Flick Blues Jazz Skuzz. Or maybe Claustro-pop.

Anyway, regardless of label, 'Third' is probably Portishead's best album to date. Okay, it might not have the 'big singles' like their first two cuts, but like I said... Portishead are an album band. It's hard to remember that, when 'Dummy' came out, it was one of the most sinister LPs this writer had ever heard. Dim flickering cinematic snapshots with crackling jams and heartbreak wails from Beth Gibbons... but put it into context... lumped in with them at the time were Morcheeba and Sneaker Pimps. If the latter were indicative of a scene, then Portishead certainly weren't part of that number. The legacy of the group is, oddly, bands like Zero 7 and Kruder and Dorfmeister. Everytime you listen to a Portishead album, you really should be asking yourself why they were lumped in with those coffee table noodlers. In simple terms, Portishead are to trip hop what The Velvet Underground were to the flower-power movement.

So this album? Well, as ever, 'Third' resembles nothing that currently exists in the current musical landscape. If the folkies are providing the rolling hills, bands like The Shortwave Set and The Junipers are bringing clear blue skies, then Portishead are a steel grey UFO hovering on the horizon. This is still an espionage flick of an album. It's still got that flickering camera about it, like their previous outings, but this time, for the most part, the Fender Rhodes has been thrown in the skip in favour of vintage, waspish synths and Klanging beats. Occasionally, the LPs retreats into sinister woodland folk... perhaps a knock on from Beth Gibbons' solo LP 'Out Of Season' (very underrated for the record).

Fans of old Portishead will love 'Hunter', with it's torch song and jazz shadings. However, people wanting another 'Glory Box' will be left wanting... and good. Portishead have always been a band determined to make you earn your stripes. If you ask me, if you're still listening to the same kind of music 14 years on, when 'Dummy' was released, then this album is telling you, via it's influences, that you need to keep up. So join in the fun. Get into this and then go and hunt out Kraftwerk LPs, United States of America LPs, old scratchy Smithsonian Folkways cuts, Can albums, Radiophonic Workshop tapes, Cecil Leuter library recordings... this is an album that could lead you into a new and exciting world of gurgling synthesizers and tape loops. For those not interested in broadening their pallets... never mind... even though you're missing out, you'll still love this album as it's Portishead innit?

[Mof Gimmers]