Portishead - Third

You know sometimes when you're surrounded by beaming smiles, people who seem so happy and so joyous that you wonder quite what it is that they've got putting them in this state. Quite often it's alchol, but sometimes it's just a genuine happiness that can leave you feeling a bit annoyed that you're not a part of. You know what i mean? Portishead singer and songwriter Beth Gibbons does. The 10 year pause in Portishead's career has done many things to their music, but it certainly hasn't make it any happier; and we're not talking "i cant get a man/woman I'm going to complain and sound a bit pathetic about it" either, "Magic Doors" (for example) is a lonesome song evoking quite dark and confused feelings; it's not uplifting, but it is very moving.

Beth's voice along with her very powerful lyrics captures the listener and will probably make them stare into space for a moment. But it's not just all about her voice. The "Trip-Hop"(whatever that was) era of the 90's has gone and we have a much more varied and interesting sound that doesn't just stick to slow beats and sensual samples that Portishead dwelled on before, though if you want that, tracks like "Hunter" do it nicely too...

"The Rip" starts off with a soft guitar riff and Portishead's signature theremin (you know the wooooo sound you've also heard in 1960s "They Came from Mars" Sci-Fi movies) and then morphs into a very warm analogue version of the same riff and really shows us how much more daring Portishead are being in the new millennium; all the music on "Third" is expertly sculpted, with all manner of wheezing saxophones, electronica, electric guitars, organs and pianos getting along and fitting perfectly with each other. Which doesn't happen every day.

"Deep Water" a sweet song almost sounding like circa 1950s blues making it quite hard not to smile along with its banjo and backing vocals, then "Machine Gun" tears through this with its very angry marching beat and strings that wouldn't sound out of place in an early John Carpenter film.

However anyone hoping for a quick fix al la "Wandering Star" is going to be somewhat disappointed, Third is an album intended to be listened to as an album, not a collection of singles and when you put the time in to do so, what a great album it is too. I only hope other people think this and it wont be another decade before we get anything else.