Another from the Tuesday Record From Spillers year. I consider myself a casual Portishead fan, but still picked this one up when it came out (well, a week after. I suspect it just didn't happen to be in on vinyl the week before. The internet tells me that this is the US version, and it takes a while to cross the sea). I'd read lots about it and you couldn't miss the hype, so I had to check it out.
I was a bit underwhelmed on first listen, but it grew on me. A lot of the songs seem more subtle than on their previous releases. Except Machine Gun. That one is pretty in-your-face. We Carry On might be my favourite song. This is definitely one of those records I don't listen to enough. Sometimes the idea of changing a record over three times seems a bit much! The download code didn't work (as it's the US release you need a US IP-address to download it) , and the mp3s I made of it are a bit shitty (some days the USB turntable works better then others). I like it though, and I think it is easily on a par with the other albums. Not many bands can pull that off after such a gap between releases.
I finally got to see Portishead at ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror last summer and they were incredible. The songs on here really came into their own live.
Format: double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 06/05/08
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: download
