Portishead: Portishead (2LP, European edition) [GO BEAT!]

Why you'll love it

This European 2LP set puts the album on 180g vinyl across four sides. It reached No. 2 in the UK and went platinum there, with "All Mine," "Over" and "Only You" as singles.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Most bands follow a hit debut by doing it again. Portishead, after Dummy, decided to make their own source material instead: Geoff Barrow, Adrian Utley and Beth Gibbons wrote and recorded original pieces and wove those into the songs, so most of the crackle and murk on the record is homemade.

They worked through 1996 and 1997 at State of Art in Bristol, Ridge Farm and Moles in Bath. "Cowboys" opens with menace, "All Mine" is a huge, brassy torch song, "Over" broods, and "Only You" borrows from Ken Thorne's Inspector Clouseau score and The Pharcyde. Gibbons is extraordinary throughout, on "Humming," "Mourning Air" and "Western Eyes" especially. Spin's Barry Walters called it "darker, deeper, and more disturbing."

The liner notes credit a sample of "Hookers & Gin" by the Sean Atkins Experience, a song that doesn't exist; the band made it up. If anyone asks us to order it in, we'll hand them this one instead.

Also at Kops: more Portishead on vinyl · browse Electronic

Listen

On Go! Beat, a reissue of the 1997 album.