Artist.......: Portishead
Album........: Concert PrivΘ (Canal Plus)
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Trip-Hop
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: Jul-15-2008
Str.date.....: Jul-10-2008
Quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.portishead.co.uk
track title time
01. Concert PrivΘ (Canal Plus) 79:22
Live + Interview
Runtime 79:22 min
Size 86,2 MB
Release Notes:
Recorded : July 10, 2008 (Canal+)
Performed : July 2008 (France)
Portishead may not have invented trip-hop, but they were
among the first to popularize it, particularly in America.
Taking their cue from the slow, elastic beats that
dominated Massive Attack's Blue Lines and adding elements
of cool jazz, acid house, and soundtrack music, Portishead
created an atmospheric, alluringly dark sound. The group
wasn't as avant-garde as Tricky, nor as tied to dance
traditions as Massive Attack; instead, it wrote evocative
pseudo-cabaret pop songs that subverted their conventional
structures with experimental productions and rhythms of
trip-hop. As a result, Portishead appealed to a broad
audience -- not just electronic dance and alternative rock
fans, but thirtysomethings who found techno, trip-hop, and
dance as exotic as worldbeat. Before Portishead released
their debut album, Dummy, in 1994, trip-hop's broad appeal
wasn't apparent, but the record became an unexpected
success in Britain, topping most year-end critics polls
and earning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize; in
America, it also became an underground hit, selling over
150,000 copies before the group toured the U.S. Following
the success of Dummy, legions of imitators appeared over
the next two years, but Portishead remained quiet as they
worked on their second album.
Named after the West Coast shipping town where Geoff
Barrow grew up, Portishead formed in Bristol, England, in
1991. Prior to the group's formation, Barrow had worked as
a tape operator at the Coach House studio, where he met
Massive Attack. Through that group, he began working with
Tricky, producing the rapper's track for a Sickle Cell
charity album. Barrow also wrote songs for Neneh Cherry's
Homebrew, though only "Somedays" appeared on the record.
Around the time of Portishead's formation, he had begun to
earn a reputation as a remix producer, working on tracks
by Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Gabrielle, and Depeche
Mode. Barrow met Beth Gibbons, who had been singing in
pubs, in 1991 on a job scheme. Over the next few years,
the pair began writing music, often with jazz guitarist
Adrian Utley, who had previously played with both Big John
Patton and the Jazz Messengers.
Before releasing a recording, Portishead completed the
short film To Kill a Dead Man, an homage to '60s spy
movies. Barrow and Gibbons acted in the noirish film and
provided the soundtrack, which earned the attention of Go!
Records. By the fall, Portishead had signed with Go! and
their debut album, Dummy, was released shortly afterward.
Dummy was recorded with engineer Dave MacDonald, who
played drums and drum machines, and guitarist Utley, who
rounded out Portishead's lineup.
Both Barrow and Gibbons were media-shy -- the vocalist
refused to participate in any interviews -- which meant
that the album received little attention outside of the
weekly U.K. music press, which praised the album and its
two singles, "Numb" and "Sour Times," heavily. Soon, Go!
and Portishead had developed a clever marketing strategy
based on the group's atmospheric videos that began to
attract attention. Melody Maker, Mixmag, and The Face
named Dummy as 1994's album of the year, and early in
1995, "Glory Box" debuted at number 13 without any radio
play. Around the same time, "Sour Times" entered regular
rotation on MTV in America. Within a few weeks, Dummy and
"Sour Times" were alternative rock hits in the U.S. Back
in the U.K., the album had crossed over into the
mainstream, becoming a fixture in the British Top 40. In
July, the record won the Mercury Music Prize for Album of
the Year, beating highly touted competition from Blur,
Suede, Oasis, and Pulp.
Following the Mercury Music Prize award, Barrow retreated
to Coach House to begin work on Portishead's second album.
The self-titled record finally appeared in September 1997.
The live PNYC followed late the next year. The self-titled
record finally appeared in September 1997. Portishead went
on hiatus starting in 1999, and Barrow, Utley and Gibbons
worked on their own projects. In 2001, Barrow formed
Invada Records, an experimental label that included
Koolism on its roster. Barrow and Utley also recorded a
cover of the instrumental rock classic "Apache" as the
Jimi Entley Sound that was released as a limited edition
7" single in 2002. The pair also worked as producers, with
Barrow working under the moniker Fuzzface on Stephanie
McKay's McKay album in 2003, and Barrow and Utley co-
produced the Coral's 2005 album The Invisible Invasion.
Gibbons collaborated with Rustin' Man, a.k.a. former Talk
Talk member Paul Webb on the 2003 album Out of Season
(Gibbons had also appeared on a few tracks by Webb's
previous project, ORang).
Portishead reconvened in 2005, performing their first live
dates in seven years, including an appearance at the
Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol, and recording material
for their next album. Their version of "Un Jour Comme un
Autre (Requiem for Anna)" appeared on 2006's Serge
Gainsbourg tribute Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisted, and in
2007 the band curated the Nightmare Before Christmas All
Tomorrow's Parties festival. In 2008, a decade after their
last album, Portishead returned with Third, the trio's
most challenging, unpredictable work yet.