Third (Portishead album)

Third
A dark turquoise background with "P" and "3" overlaid on top of one another in lighter white.
Studio album by
Portishead
Released28 April 2008 (2008-04-28)
Recorded2005–2008
Genre
Length49:17
Label
ProducerPortishead
Portishead chronology
Roseland NYC Live
(1998) 		Third
(2008)
Singles from Third
  1. "Machine Gun"
    Released: 24 March 2008
  2. "The Rip"
    Released: 9 June 2008
  3. "Magic Doors"
    Released: 24 November 2008

Third is the third studio album by the English band Portishead. It was released on 28 April 2008 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and a day later in the United States by Mercury Records. Portishead's first studio album in eleven years, Third moved away from the trip hop style they had popularised, incorporating influences such as krautrock, surf rock, doo wop and the film soundtracks of John Carpenter.

After Portishead released their self-titled second album in 1997, the songwriter and drummer, Geoff Barrow, put Portishead on hiatus and moved to Australia. He became uninterested in music, and efforts to develop new songs with the guitarist and keyboardist, Adrian Utley, failed. They were inspired to create again after producing with the band the Coral, and restarted work with the singer, Beth Gibbons, in Bristol, England.

Third entered the top ten of several countries' music charts and was certified gold in the UK.[1] It was named one of the best albums of 2008 by several publications; in 2013, NME ranked it number 330 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference BPI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Rocklist.net NME: The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time : October 2013