I could enthuse about this album all day.
Of course, 'Dummy' was a great record, who didn't like that? To this day, it's the "go-to" album for most Portishead listeners. The follow up was a bit "meh" (in my ever so humble opinion), but certainly had its moments.
Somewhere around 1997, I watched the entire live set of Portishead at Roseland NYC on TV one evening and was blown away. This was just before the second album came out, so the set featured a few songs which would've been new at the time. I was particularly taken by the raw edge of the new numbers like 'Cowboys' and was similarly impressed by the darker live takes on older tracks (the Roseland version of 'Sour Times' still gives me goosebumps and pisses all over the album version). I took this as a sign of things to come, hastening my excitement for the new album.
Unfortunately, as stated above 'Portishead' was a bit underwhelming for me. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album, but it just felt a little too "safe" and I daresay too polished, especially when compared to the Roseland set.
Then, Portishead disappeared off the face of the earth for almost 10 years.
The wait, however was well and truly worth it because 'Third' ended up being the album I wished 'Portishead' had been. Gone was the now hackneyed Trip-Hop formula, replaced with a grittier, more textured sound. These new songs had teeth, incorporating elements of Joy Division, Silver Apples and 60s psychedelia to great effect. Elements of the old sound still lingered, but it was rougher and dirtier overall. Floating atop the edgier soundscape was Gibbons' characteristic vocal; plaintive, spent and beautifully forlorn. I fell in love with the more experimental direction straight away and the album became an instant favourite for me.
'Third' also has what I consider one of the best album closers of all time; the insistence of the forboding, doom-laden guitar drone finale to 'Threads' sounding like the world really is coming to an end. A cliche perhaps, but never has it been so apt.
Why this album succeeds for me is that it shows a band not afraid to challenge themselves or rest on their laurels. They could've quite easily produced another album similar in scope to their previous two, but chose not to repeat themselves, and that counts for a lot in my eyes.
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