Portishead Album Reviews

Portishead formed in the city of Bristol, where a vibrant, multi-cultural music scene spawned trip-hop in the early 1990s. Trip-hop took the beats from hip-hop and slowed them down, adding textures and songs. Alongside Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky also originated in Bristol.

Portishead took their name from a coastal town near Bristol and started as a partnership between vocalist Beth Gibbons and producer Geoff Barrow. Guitarist Adrian Utley contributed heavily to their 1994 debut Dummy and joined as an official member shortly afterwards. Portishead have only released two further albums since Dummy, 1997’s Portishead and 2008’s Third. Even though they’ve never disbanded, the band members have spent time exploring other projects.

Each of Portishead’s records has its own sound, but generally, they mix organic and inorganic textures; Gibbons’ lush vocals are infused with melancholy and recall blues singers of a bygone era. On their first two albums, the band employed hip-hop beats and turntables. They layered organic textures like Utley’s guitar over the top.

Despite their limited output, Portishead are one of the more enduring acts from the 1990s. Geoff Barrow has said “I just wanted to make interesting music, proper songs with a proper life span and a decent place in people’s record collections.” Dummy is rightfully acknowledged as a classic, and their other two albums are also strong; their ability to update their signature sound for 2008’s Third was surprisingly impressive.

I’ve also covered Beth Gibbons’s solo work – a 2002 collaboration with Talk Talk bass player Paul Webb and her 2024 solo debut.

Portishead Album Reviews

Favourite Album: Dummy
Overlooked Gem: Out Of Season

Dummy

1994, 9.5/10
Dummy wasn’t the first trip-hop album – Massive Attack’s Blue Lines pre-dates it by three years – but it brought its own angle on the genre. The trip-hop beats are accompanied by chilled textures, giving Dummy a vibe that’s somewhere between a film noir and classic jazz and soul. The production team of Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley use samples lightly, like Isaac Hayes on ‘Strangers’, and handle most of the instruments themselves. The star of Dummy is vocalist Beth Gibbons, whose sultry, expressive voice gives the material emotional depth, a 1990s spin on a soul album.

There’s not a weak song, and each track has its own sonic world that fits impeccably into the overall mood of Dummy; there’s the ominous pulse of ‘Wandering Star’, the turntables of ‘Biscuit’, and the light strings and bass of ‘Glory Box’. The highlights are the theremin-infused opener ‘Mysterons’, and the gorgeous ‘It’s A Fire’, underpinned by a pretty Hammond Organ.

Dummy is a glorious example of the way that the exploratory nature of the 1990s opened up new musical avenues; a band using technology to synthesise ideas and arriving at something original and heartfelt.

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Portishead

1997, 8/10
Portishead is a darker album than the debut, with less organic textures. The group worked differently this time, often creating their own pieces of music to sample, and then working them up into songs. The band explained this as trying to differentiate themselves from the hordes of imitators that followed in the wake of Dummy.  Significantly, Beth Gibbons’ voice is often rougher; her pure vocals on Dummy were gorgeous, but there’s a bite and sass in her vocals on Portishead where it sounds like she’s aiming for an Eartha Kitt vibe. Opening track ‘Cowboys’ is perhaps the most extreme example of the shift in sound; Gibbons spits out the lyrics in a way she didn’t on the debut, juxtaposed against scratching turntables and a dry rhythm.

‘All Mine’ was the first single, and it’s probably the most accessible piece on the album, like the theme for a temptress in a dark movie. ‘Over’ sets Gibbons’ vocal against Adrian Utley’s echoing guitar, before the propulsive rhythm sets in, while the lighter ‘Humming’ and its theremin would have fit comfortably onto Dummy.

It’s not as immediate as Dummy, but if you liked Portishead’s debut it’s worth spending time with this sophomore effort as well.

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Third

2008, 8.5/10
Portishead never officially broke up after 1997’s self-titled sophomore album, but Geoff Barrow struggled to find inspiration for a follow-up, and it took ten years for the sequel to arrive. The resulting album is very different in feel from its predecessors – Portishead abandon the trip-hop beats and cinematic feel that served them so well on their first two albums. Beth Gibbons’ voice is still at the forefront, but otherwise Third features a Portishead that’s updated for the 21st century with new rhythms and textures.

‘Silence’ is a foreboding opener, with a chilling introduction, and Gibbons’ vocal isn’t introduced until midway through the song. It’s easy to imagine a song like ‘Nylon Smile’ fitting on their previous albums, but overall there’s more diversity on Third than either of the previous Portishead albums. Most drastically, the brief ‘Deep Water’, is based around a ukulele and gospel-like backing vocals, while the self-explanatory rhythm of ‘Machine Gun’ was generated by running a drum machine through an organ.

Third is an improbably strong comeback album from a group that seemed tied to a specific musical movement.

10 Best Portishead Songs

It’s A Fire
Mysterons
Glory Box
Magic Doors
Wandering Star
We Carry On
All Mine
Over
Nylon Smile
Roads

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Beth Gibbons

Out of Season (with Rustin’ Man)

2002, 7.5/10
Out of Season is an interesting collaboration between two talented musicians who weren’t the principal driving forces behind their respective bands. Geoff Barrow has always been the leader of Portishead, while Rustin’ Man (Paul Webb) was the bass player for the Mark Hollis-led Talk Talk.

Interestingly, other supporting members from both bands play on this record – Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris both appear. Gibbons and Webb met when Gibbons auditioned as a vocalist for Webb’s post-Talk Talk band O’Rang. She was unable to follow through when Portishead became successful.

The collaboration isn’t the post-rock album you’d expect from the pairing – it’s largely an acoustic jazz album, with some folk influences. Gibbons’ lyrics are even bleaker than usual; “Autumn leaves/Pretty as can be/Everyone can see/Everyone except me,” and Out Of Season has a quiet, desperate beauty. The most immediate piece is ‘Tom The Model’, with its punchy chorus underscored by brass, while ‘Romance’ brings to mind a jazz chanteuse like Ella Fitzgerald. But Out Of Season really shines on the acoustic, folk-flavoured pieces like ‘Sand River’ and ‘Drake’, where the pretty music is chilled by the despair in Gibbons’ lyrics and vocals.

Out Of Season doesn’t quite match up against the best albums from Talk Talk and Portishead, but it’s a unique and interesting album, showcasing two talented supporting players getting the chance to front their own project.

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Lives Outgrown

2024, 8/10
Former Portishead vocalist Beth Gibbons isn’t prolific – her solo debut Lives Outgrown comes 30 years after her debut with Portishead on Dummy. This time she’s working with another Talk Talk alumni, drummer Lee Harris. Producer James Ford is known for his work with the Last Shadow Puppets. He provides Gibbons with an intimate sound, coaxing subtle textures from an array of instruments from bass clarinet to hammered dulcimer.

Gibbons has never worn her heart on her sleeve like this before. Lives Outgrown chronicles a woman in her late 50s, working through menopause and losing loved ones.

“I realised what life was like with no hope and that was a sadness I’d never felt. People started dying. When you’re young, you never know the endings, you don’t know how it’s going to pan out. You think, ‘We’re going to get beyond this. It’s going to get better.’ Some endings are hard to digest. Now that I’ve come out of the other end, I just think you’ve got to be brave.”
Beth Gibbons

Lives Outgrown is autumnal, sometimes bleak. It’s often reliant on Gibbon’s vocal prowess. Her vocals are still distinctive, sumptuous yet raspy. She brings beauty, navigating tracks like ‘Oceans’.

It’s more diverse than you might expect – ‘Beyond the Sun’ is surprisingly energetic, with some of the orchestral dissonances of later Talk Talk records. Closer ‘Whispering Love’ is gorgeous, with its bass clarinet, like Vashti Bunyan’s elegant 21st century records. Lead single ‘Floating on a Moment’ recalls Portishead’s trip-hop, but more restrained and adult.

Gibbons’ discography is so small that any addition is welcome, and Lives Outgrown is an elegant portrait of middle age.

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