It’s been since ‘97 since Portishead put out new stuff. They succeeded in watering our plants when they put out the recording of Roseland NYC Live in ‘98, but then all was quiet on the Western Front. Now. Finally. New stuff from Portishead, recorded and ready for the eager ears of the trip-hop band’s many fans. Where’s the weed?; let’s go. Kick ass, right? Kind of.
The first couple of songs light my fire with their classic elements. “Hunter” does the trick of old-school Portishead with Beth Gibbons’s haunting droning and that trapped-in-a-vast-dark-open-room sound; that slow melody with little hints of percussion that I love so much. However, with the exception of 3 or 4 other songs, this album is a swing and a miss in Portishead standards.
Most of the songs start off on the right track, but last way too damn long without anything changing. Songs like “Deep Water,” “The Rip,” and “We Carry On” are okay, but they don’t fit in with the rest of the repertoire the ‘head has given us in the past…virtually at all, especially “Deep Water.” They sound like they should be on attempts by other projects of Gibbons, Barrow, and Utley, not a Portishead album.
The worst part of all is that there is almost a complete absence of disk scratching. That was half the fun on Dummy and Portishead. Some samples are present, but sound distant and are few and far between.
The saving grace of this album is “Plastic.” It reeks of old-school stuff, so much so that it could be thrown into the mix of the two previous albums without a notice. Plus, the “boomerang” sound in the fray just kicks ass. All in all: One thumb up, one thumb down. It’s Portishead alright, but not as much as the one we all know and love.
Album: Third
Release Date: April 28th.
3 Comments »
i actually think it’s really good. i’m glad it’s not just a re-hash of previous records; it’s different.
the absence of scratching is a good thing. they can’t do that on every single song, every single record. that would get effing old.
shrug. i think it’s a solid record.
the whole songs not going anywhere thing is also my main complaint. i’m willing to deal, what with the whole first music from them in a decade thing, but it is a little disappointing.
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Comment by joiezabel — March 20, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
i agree withyou for the most part, but i actually think ‘the rip’ is a kickass song. i love the steady build through the whole thing.
but the rest of the album was kind of a let-down. i expected more.