Portishead
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- This article is about the band; for the town see Portishead, Somerset.
Beth_gibbons.jpg
Portishead is a trip hop band from Bristol, United Kingdom, named after the small town of Portishead, 12 miles west of Bristol. The name is pronounced 'Por-tis-head', with an 's' in the middle, and not 'Por-ti-shead'.
The band was formed in 1991, by keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow and singer Beth Gibbons. Barrow had previously worked with two other trip hop bands from Bristol, Massive Attack and Tricky, and decided to name his new endevour after his hometown.
After releasing a short film (To Kill A Dead Man) and its accompanying music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat and their first album, Dummy, was released in 1994, and featured heavy contributions from guitarist Adrian Utley. In spite of the band's media-shyness, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States, spawning two hit singles, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times".
Their second album Portishead, was released in 1997, and featured the single "All Mine". A live album featuring new orchestral arrangements of the group's songs was recorded primarily at Roseland in New York City, and released in 1998 with a DVD of the concert soon following. 1999 saw a cooperation with singer Tom Jones for a track on his album Reload.
There have been rumours of a third album to be published, possibly called Alien, but no such record has been released, and Portishead's official site dismisses the rumours: "We have noticed that there is some confusion on an album release called "Alien". Please be aware that this is NOT a Portishead release. The band are in the studio working on new material now but no release dates are scheduled as yet. Keep an eye on the site as any release plans will of course be announced here first!" Portishead official site news (http://www.portishead.co.uk/breaking/index.htm)
(Portishead and other so-called trip hop groups have expressed dislike for the term, arguing it is a media invention designed to categorize their otherwise not-so-categorizable music.)
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Discography
Albums
- 1994 Dummy #2 UK, #79 US
- 1997 Portishead #2 UK, #21 US
- 1998 PNYC (live) #40 UK, #155 US
- 2002 Out of Season (Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man)
Hit singles
The chart positions are for the UK, the highest US chart position was #53 for "Sour Times".
- from Dummy
- 1995 "Glory Box" #15 UK
- 1995 "Sour Times" #13 UK
- from Portishead
- 1997 "All Mine" #8 UK
- 1997 "Over" #25 UK
- 1998 "Only You" #35 UK
External link
- Portishead's official website (http://www.portishead.co.uk/)
- Lyrics (http://www.alwaysontherun.net/portis.htm)de:Portishead
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