A STUNNING LIVE DOCUMENT IS RESCUED FROM BACK CATALOGUE OBSCURITY, GIVING US THE CHANCE TO REVISIT A PIVOTAL EVENT IN THE STORY OF PORTISHEAD
UMC/ISLAND
Perhaps because its members have so often spent time working on other projects, the breadth of Portishead’s recorded output is wholly out of kilter with the band’s vast influence. Between 1994 and 2008, the trio – singer Beth Gibbons, guitarist Adrian Utley and multi-instrumentalist Geoff Barrow – released just three studio albums. A fourth may one day arrive, but don’t hold your breath.
Accordingly, any new release from Portishead is noteworthy just for the fact of its existence, even if, as here, you’re talking about an expanded version of a live album that won’t be available to purchase in physical form until March. (No details of those formats were available as Classic Pop went to press.)
Except, of course, Roseland NYC Live is far more than a souvenir for fans. It’s an LP that’s fascinating, fierce and, as so often with Portishead releases, almost seems to rearrange itself, twisting into new shapes, as you listen.
Chronologically, it was recorded in July 1997. By this point, Portishead had long been chafing against the idea of being the trip-hop band it was OK – possibly de rigueur – to play at dinner parties. Second album Portishead (released two months after the Roseland show) was a record that, without going to the dissonant extremes of the extraordinary Third, strongly suggested you pay attention, rather than insinuating its way into your consciousness as Dummy had.
By this point, Portishead were confident enough to perform a one-off show in New York in which they were joined onstage by additional musicians, including a brass and string section. Although a couple of tracks were recorded at other shows, it’s this concert that made up the bulk of the first audio release of Roseland. (Confusingly, its video release featured different tracks.)
A little more than a quarter of a century later, the album has been remastered and expanded, initially for streaming. Three tracks previously available only on the concert film – Undenied, Numb and Western Eyes – have been added, while the Roseland takes of Sour Times and Roads now also make the cut.
As to whether it was worth all the bother, once again, indisputably yes. In particular, that’s because there’s a new sense of eavesdropping on a key moment in Portishead’s history, of listening to a band stretching and reinventing their material for the room – of j
