Third (Portishead album)

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Third
Studio album by Portishead
Released 27 April 2008
Recorded 2005–2008
Genre Electronic, experimental rock
Length 49:17
Language English
Label Island
Producer Portishead
Portishead chronology
Portishead
(1997)
Third
(2008)
Singles from Third
  1. "Machine Gun"
    Released: 18 March 2008
  2. "The Rip"
    Released: 9 June 2008
  3. "Magic Doors"
    Released: 24 November 2008

Third is the third studio album by English musical group Portishead, released on 27 April 2008, on Island Records in the United Kingdom,[1] two days after on Mercury Records in the United States, and on 30 April 2008 on Universal Music Japan in Japan. It is their first release in 10 years, and their first studio album in eleven years. Third entered the UK Album Chart at #2,[2] and became the band's first-ever American Top 10 album on the Billboard 200, reaching #7[3] in its entry week.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Promotion

In December 2007, during the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England, Portishead played their first full live set in 10 years, featuring five new songs: "Hunter", "Machine Gun", "Wicca" (retitled as "Silence"), "Mystic" (retitled as "The Rip"), and "Peaches" (retitled as "We Carry On"), all of which appear on Third.[4]

On 21 April, all of Third was made available as a free web stream on Last.fm.[5]

[edit] Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (85/100) [6]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars [7]
The A.V Club (A-) [8]
Entertainment Weekly (B+) [9]
Pitchfork Media (8.8/10) [10]
Billboard (favorable)[11]
Uncut 5/5 stars [12]
The Guardian 5/5 stars [13]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars [14]
Mojo 4/5 stars [15]
Slant Magazine 4.5/5 stars [16]
NME 9/10 stars [17]
PopMatters 9/10 stars [18]
Drowned in Sound 8/10 stars [19]

Upon its release, Third earned widespread critical acclaim, and was ranked as one of the best albums of 2008 by several publications. Alan Ranta of PopMatters gave the album a 9/10, saying "History will eventually see it rank on par with the rest of their legendary works".[20]

Allmusic called the album "utterly riveting and endlessly absorbing" in their review. The publication also went on to say, "It demands attention, requiring effort on the part of the listener, as this defies any conventions on what constitutes art pop apart from one key tenet, one that is often attempted yet rarely achieved: it offers music that is genuinely, startlingly original."[21]

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons and Adrian Utley unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Silence" – 4:58
  2. "Hunter" – 3:57
  3. "Nylon Smile" – 3:16
  4. "The Rip" – 4:29
  5. "Plastic" – 3:27
  6. "We Carry On" – 6:27
  7. "Deep Water" – 1:31
  8. "Machine Gun" (Barrow/Gibbons) – 4:43
  9. "Small" – 6:45
  10. "Magic Doors" (Barrow/Gibbons/John Baggot) – 3:32
  11. "Threads" – 5:45
  • "Magic Doors" (Live on Current TV) (Barrow/Gibbons/Baggot) – 2:44 (UK digital download bonus track)
  • "We Carry On" (Live on Current TV) – 6:15 (UK iTunes Store bonus track)
  • "Threads" (Live on Current TV) – 6:29 (US iTunes Store pre-order bonus track)
  • "Ade's House / Machine Gun" – 10:36 (Japan Enhanced CD bonus video)

[edit] Release history

Third album has been released on various formats.[22][20]

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom 28 April 2008 Island LP 1764104
LP box set[23] 1766390
CD 1764013
United States 29 April 2008 Mercury/Go! CD B0011141-02
LP B0011141-01
Japan 30 April 2008 Universal Music Japan CD UICI-1069

[edit] Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Australian Album Chart 9[citation needed]
Austrian Album Chart[24] 4
Belgian Album Chart (FL) 3[citation needed]
Belgian Album Chart (WA) 6[citation needed]
Canadian Album Chart[25] 3
Danish Album Chart 2[citation needed]
Dutch Album Chart[26] 6
Finnish Album Chart 9[citation needed]
French Album Chart 3[citation needed]
German Album Chart[27] 6
Greek Album Chart 2[citation needed]
Italian Album Chart 8[citation needed]
Japanese Album Chart 28[citation needed]
Mexican Album Chart 30[citation needed]
New Zealand Album Chart 9[citation needed]
Norwegian Album Chart 6[citation needed]
Portuguese Album Chart 5[citation needed]
Spanish Album Chart 16[citation needed]
Swedish Album Chart 18[citation needed]
Swiss Album Chart[28] 2
UK Albums Chart[2] 2
US Billboard 200[3] 7

[edit] References

  1. ^ "iTunes - Music - Third by Portishead". Itunes.apple.com. 2008-04-27. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/third/id278825544. Retrieved 2012-01-12. 
  2. ^ a b [1][dead link]
  3. ^ a b Hasty, Katy (2008-05-07). "Madonna Leads Busy Billboard 200 With 7th No. 1". Billboard magazine. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003799874. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 
  4. ^ Setlist from ATP concert (.jpg)
  5. ^ "Portishead launch album online". BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat. 14 April 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7346000/7346662.stm. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
  6. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/third
  7. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1346414
  8. ^ http://www.avclub.com/articles/portishead-third,7120/
  9. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20192436,00.html
  10. ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/11438-third/
  11. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3ibf22b3c56d51e86373766f3c22621115
  12. ^ Third is the most stunning, stark and superb Portishead album yet. [May 2008, p.84]
  13. ^ http://music.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,2276003,00.html
  14. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/third-20080501
  15. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/portishead/third
  16. ^ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1363
  17. ^ http://www.nme.com/reviews/9644
  18. ^ http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/57159/portishead-third/
  19. ^ http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/13067
  20. ^ a b Ranta, Alan. "Portishead: Third < Music PopMatters". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/portishead-third/. Retrieved 2008-05-09. 
  21. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1346414
  22. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Third album review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1346414. Retrieved 2008-05-09. 
  23. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Third album review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1384543. Retrieved 2008-05-09. 
  24. ^ Austrian Album Chart
  25. ^ Williams, John (2008-05-07). "Madonna's 'Candy' hits No. 1". Canoe.ca. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/M/Madonna/2008/05/07/5496976-ca.html. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 
  26. ^ http://www.kinkfm.com/weblog/4/Droomlijst/786/Droomlijst_van_10_mei
  27. ^ German Album Chart
  28. ^ Swiss Album Chart

[edit] External links

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