The new Portishead album has been ten years in the making. I read a review that said it was “nice background listening”. It may have been written by a monkey stabbing randomly at keys until this particular sentence appeared because nothing could be further from the truth; as this track demonstrates.
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This, the fourth on the album, is the best song they have ever written. It is a thing of intense beauty.
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Throughout the record Beth Gibbons’ vocals are used sparingly above an electronic symphony. Cool, funky, orchestral but all synth driven with utterly astounding drumming. This is so good that I thought I was going to cry just listening to it on the train home from Glasgow on Thursday night.
Album of the year so far.
No question.
gibberish 
Enjoyed yer Nick Cave review.
This review surprises me. They seemed like a not-so-good Massive Attack 10 years ago.
The reviews of their live gig were mixed but I haven’t heard this yet so will listen out.
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Oh Jamesy. Do not be surprised. This album has little in common ith Massive attack, other than coming from Bristol.
This is a very wonderful piece of cherishability.
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i agree that ‘the rip’ is excellent (as is ‘we carry on’) but overall, i think it’s a wee bit dull…
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i have no idea how that wee smiley thing has appeared, incidentally.
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you must have typed an emoticon by mistake. WordPress automatically generates them.
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Hi, I’m Olly, Gerry’s son. Found your blog a while ago when my pop was having a word war with a TV critic.
Anyway I agree with you wholeheartedly about Third, especially The Rip – it is special.
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cheers Olly. nice to hear from you.
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Click my name if you want to have a peek at my blog. Set it up today, and only just figured out how to link the blog to my name in comments… I think!
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