Third (Portishead album)

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.

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]

Reception

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".^[6]

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."^[7]

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)

Release history

Third album has been released on various formats.^[8][6]

Charts

References

External links

• Third at Metacritic
• Third at Discogs (list of releases)
• Third on Last.fm