Portishead - Portishead - Vinyl Record 2LP

Three years after Dummy made Bristol the capital of trip-hop, Portishead returned in 1997 with a self-titled second album that is darker, rawer and more claustrophobic than its predecessor. Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley built much of it the hard way, recording their own parts, pressing them to vinyl and then sampling the results, so the crackle and grain you hear are part of the composition rather than an accident.

Beth Gibbons sounds more desperate than ever here, from the brass-stabbed menace of "All Mine" to the bruised, scratching loop of "Only You" and the slow-burning "Over". Cinematic and unsettling, it remains one of the defining records of late-90s British music.

This European import spreads the eleven songs across two 180-gram LPs, giving the deep bass and dusty textures plenty of room to breathe. A natural companion to Dummy and Third on any shelf, and a record best heard late at night with the lights down.

Side A
1. Cowboys
2. All Mine

Side B
1. Undenied
2. Half Day Closing
3. Over

Side C
1. Humming
2. Mourning Air
3. Seven Months

Side D
1. Only You
2. Elysium
3. Western Eyes