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Portishead (band)

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This article is about the musical artist. For the town, see Portishead, Somerset.
Portishead

Portishead (IPA: [pɔːtɪsˈhɛd]) are a band from Bristol, England, named after the nearby town of the same name, 12 miles (19 km) west of Bristol. The band, along with fellow Bristol artists such as Tricky and Massive Attack, created a new genre of down-tempo electronic music with distinct hip-hop, jazz and dub influences that came to be known as Trip Hop.

History

The band was formed in Bristol, UK in 1991, by multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow and vocalist Beth Gibbons. Barrow previously worked with the Bristol-based sound-system/DJ collective The Wild Bunch, which included trip-hop artist Tricky, producer Nellee Hooper, and Daddy G and Mushroom, who formed trip-hop group Massive Attack. Barrow assisted with the programming on Massive Attack’s 1991 debut album Blue Lines. [1] Barrow and Gibbons began writing music with jazz guitarist Adrian Utley (who had worked with Art Blakey amongst others[2]), and after releasing a short film (To Kill a Dead Man) and its accompanying music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat Records.[3]

Dummy (1994)

Portishead's first album, Dummy, was released in 1994. In spite of the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there[3]). The album drew on the trip-hop template pioneered by Massive Attack, but added jazz and blues stylings, samples of 1960s and 1970s songs, as well as Gibbons' distinctive voice.[4] Dummy spawned two hit singles, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times", and went on to win the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1995[5]. In 2003 it appeared as No.419 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[6]

Portishead (1997)

After their initial success, Portishead drew back from publicity for three years, until their second album, Portishead, was released in 1997. The album's sound was similar to Dummy, the main differences being that much of the sampled music was composed by Barrow and Utley, whilst Gibbons' voice was electronically treated on a number of tracks.[7] Despite positive reviews, the album did not achieve the huge success of its predecessor. Three singles, "Cowboys", "Over" and "All Mine" were released, the latter achieving a Top 10 placing in the UK.

Roseland NYC Live (1998)

In 1997, the band performed a one-off show with the New York Philharmonic orchestra[8] at Roseland Ballroom in New York. A live album primarily featuring these new orchestral arrangements of the group's songs was released in 1998. There was also a long-form VHS video of the performance, and a DVD followed in 2002, with substantial extra material included.

Hiatus (1999-2005)

1999 saw a cooperation with Tom Jones and The Divine Comedy for a track on Jones' album Reload. For the next few years, the band members concentrated on solo and other pursuits, until in February 2005, the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol.[9] Around that time Barrow revealed that the band was in the process of writing its third album. In August 2006, the band posted two new tracks on its MySpace page--described by Barrow as "doodles".[10] Around the same time, Portishead covered Serge Gainsbourg's "Un Jour Comme un Autre" ("Requiem for Anna") on the tribute album Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited.

Third album (2008)

On October 2, 2007, Portishead stated that the new album had been mixed and was nearly complete. On January 23 2008 the band announced that the album entitled Third would be released on April 14 2008. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). They premiered five tracks from the new album, provisionally titled "Wicca", "Hunter", "Machine Gun", "Mystic" and "Peaches"[11].

On January 21, 2008, it was announced that Portishead would be headlining the second night of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 26, 2008.[12]

Discography

Main article: Portishead discography

As well as their main recorded output, Portishead have been involved in a large amount of remixes and collaborations with other artists.

Samples

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See also

References

  1. ^ Reynolds, Simon (1998). Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Little, Brown and Co. p. 320.
  2. ^ Dummy overview Sputnikmusic.com, Retrieved on 2008-05-01
  3. ^ a b Biography All Music Guide, Retrieved on 2007-12-28
  4. ^ Review of Dummy InkBlot Magazine, Retrieved on 2008-01-05
  5. ^ Mercury Music Prize Winners BBC Online, Retrieved on 2007-12-28
  6. ^ Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Nos.401-500 Rollingstone.com, Retrieved on 2008-05-01
  7. ^ AMG reviews of Portishead AllMusicGuide, Retrieved on 2008-01-05
  8. ^ Review of PNYC Ultimate Guitar, Retrieved on 2008-01-05
  9. ^ Tsunami benefit concert review BBC Music, Retrieved on 2008-01-05
  10. ^ Quote from Geoff Barrow The Guardian 29 August 2006, Retrieved on 2007-12-28
  11. ^ Setlist from ATP concert (.jpg) Posted to the Portishead mailing list, Retrieved on 2007-12-28
  12. ^ Coachella lineup Coachella.com, Retrieved on 2008-01-22
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