Background information
Origin	Bristol, England
Genre(s)	Trip-Hop Alternative rock Psychedelic music Electronica
Years active	1991 - present
Label(s)	Go! Beat
Website	Official Site
Members
Beth Gibbons Geoff Barrow Adrian Utley

For the town, see Portishead, Somerset.

Portishead (IPA: /pɔːtɪsˈhɛd/) is a trip hop band from Bristol, England, named after the small town of Portishead, 12 miles west of Bristol. With their use of live jazz samples and intentionally lo-fi sound, the band has been cited as influential by many modern musicians.

Contents 1 History 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Compilations 2.3 Bootlegs 2.4 Solo Projects 2.5 Collaborations 2.6 Remixes 2.7 Videography 2.7.1 Promos 2.7.2 Short films 2.8 Hit singles 3 Samples 4 Trivia 5 Portishead in pop culture 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History

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 artists from Bristol, Massive Attack and Tricky. They named the band after Barrow's home town, Portishead.

After releasing a short film (To Kill a Dead Man) and its accompanying music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat Records and their first album, Dummy, was released in 1994, and featured heavy contributions from guitarist Adrian Utley. In spite of the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States, spawning two hit singles, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times". Portishead has often been used as accompanying music in the media. Of the expansive examples, a few include Channel 4 intermissions, several car adverts, the recent movie Lord of War, as well as the MTV teenage series Daria and the teenage drama Sugar Rush. Dummy won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize.

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. A video of the concert, released shortly afterwards, was well received. 1999 saw a cooperation with singer Tom Jones for a track on his album Reload.

There were rumours of a third album to be published, possibly called Alien, but Portishead's official site dismissed 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!"

In February 2005 the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol. Around the same time Barrow revealed that the band was in the process of writing its third album, although nothing has been produced as yet. In January 2006 3D from Massive Attack confirmed that the two bands planned another joint concert later in the year.

Portishead did show the first signs that their third album was progressing by posting two new tracks on their MySpace page in August 2006. However these were subsequently dismissed by Geoff Barrow as 'doodles'. On October 18, 2006 Geoff Barrow confirmed that a third album was currently being recorded.

Also, in the summer of 2006 Portishead covered Serge Gainsbourg's "Un Jour Comme Un Autre" ("Requiem for Anna") on the tribute album entitled Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited. Oddly, Beth Gibbons' vocal performance sounds nothing like her previous Portishead contributions.

In February 2007, the band performed a short set at Bristol noodle bar Mr Wolfs[1] which contained a stripped down arrangement of "Wandering Star" as well as a completely new song of unknown title.

From December 7-9 2007, Portishead will curate the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead, England. The festival will feature their first full live set in nearly 10 years.

Discography

Albums

• 1994 Dummy #2 UK, #79 US
• 1997 Portishead #2 UK, #21 US
• 1998 Roseland NYC Live #40 UK, #155 US
• 2007 TBA[2]

Compilations

• 1995 Glory Times (singles compilation)

Bootlegs

• There are also several bootlegs floating around (with songs not on any albums), the most well-known of these probably being Trip-Hop Reconstruction (1995).
• There is another so-called Portishead album circulating called 'Pearl', but this is actually an album by Mandalay.

Solo Projects

Adrian Utley was the first member of the group to release an album of original material after Portishead went on hiatus in 1998.

• 1999 Warminster (Adrian Utley & Mount Vernon Arts Lab)

Beth Gibbons also made an album in 2002 with Paul Webb (from Talk Talk), aka Rustin Man, but this is not a Portishead release.

• 2002 Out of Season (Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man)

Andy Smith has released four official mix albums to date.

• 1998 The Document (London Records)
• 2003 The Document II (Illicit Recordings)
• 2005 The Document III (Discotheque)
• 2006 Trojan Document (Trojan Records)

Collaborations

Portishead collaborated with Tom Jones on "Motherless Child" from his 1999 album of duets Reload. That album also has a cover of Portishead's "All Mine" sung as a duet with Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy.

Adrian Utley also contributed to the 2003 Black Cherry album by Goldfrapp.

In 2003, Geoff Barrow along with Adrian Utley, Clive Deamer, Tim Saul and John Baggott assisted with the production of Stephanie McKay's "McKay" album under the Go! Beat Records label.

In 2005, Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley produced The Coral's The Invisible Invasion.

Remixes

• Baby Namboos - Ancoats 2 Zambia (Geoff Barrow Remix) (1999)
• Björk - Isobel (Portishead Remix) (Date Unknown)
• Depeche Mode - In Your Room (The Jeep Rock Mix) (1993)
• Depeche Mode - Walking In My Shoes (Grungy Gonads Mix) (1993)
• Earthling - 1st Transmission (Portishead's Earthead Mix) (1994)
• Earthling - Nefisa (Portishead Mix) (1995)
• The Federation - Rusty James (Portishead Remix) (1994)
• Gabrielle - Going Nowhere (Portishead Mix)(1993)
• Gravediggaz - Nowhere to Run, Nowhere To Hide (Portishead Remix) (1994)
• Junkwaffel - Mudskipper (Portishead So-So Mix) (1995)
• Machine Gun Fellatio - Horny Blonde 40 (Portishead Remix) (2002)
• Massive Attack - Karmacoma (Portishead Experience) (1995)
• Natalie Imbruglia - Leave Me Alone (Portishead Remix) (1997)
• Nine - Whutcha Want (Portishead Mix) (1995)
• Paul Weller - Wild Wood (The Sheared Wood Remix) (1994)
• Primal Scream - Give Out But Don't Give Up (Portishead Remix) (1994)
• Ride - Moonlight Medicine (Portishead's Ride On The Wire Mix) (1994)
• Sabres Of Paradise - Planet D (Portishead Remix) (1994)
• Something for Kate - Easy (Mr Barrow and Mr Yates Surfin' For Kate Remix) (1999)
• U.N.K.L.E. - The Time Has Come (Portishead Plays Unkle Mix) (1994)
• Whores Of Babylon - Fall Of Agade (Portishead Remix) (1993)

Videography

(directors in parentheses)

Promos

• Numb (Alexander Hemming)
• Sour Times (Alexander Hemming) made up of scenes from To Kill a Dead Man
• Glory Box (Alexander Hemming) homage to the Basil Dearden film Victim
• All Mine (Invisible Inc.) based on a 1968 Italian talent show and The Outer Limits
• Over (Chris Bran)
• Only You (Chris Cunningham)
• Wandering Star (acoustic version) (edited by Rick Holbrook, filmed by Adrian Utley, Hazel Grian, et al.)

Short films

• To Kill a Dead Man (1994) (Alexander Hemming)
• Road Trip (1997) (Hazel Grian) 10 minute film screened as introduction to each concert on the 1997/98 World Tour and accompanied by a DJ Andy Smith mix of tracks performed by Portishead, footage consists of a car driving from Bristol to Portishead

Hit singles

The chart positions are for the UK, the highest US chart position was #53 for "Sour Times".

• from Dummy
  • 1994 "Numb"
  • 1994 "Sour Times" #57 UK
  • 1995 "Glory Box" #13 UK
  • 1995 "Sour Times" (rerelease) #13 UK
  • 1995 "Wandering Star" (US promo)
• from Portishead
  • 1997 "Cowboys" (promo)
  • 1997 "All Mine" #8 UK
  • 1997 "Over" #25 UK
  • 1998 "Only You" #35 UK

Samples