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Portishead is a trip hop band from Bristol, United Kingdom, named after the small town of Portishead, 12 miles west of Bristol. The band was formed in 1991, after Geoff Barrow , who had previously worked with two other trip hop bands from Bristol - Massive Attack and Tricky - met Beth Gibbons. Portishead is the birthplace of Barrow. The name is pronounced 'Por-tis-head', with an 's' in the middle, and not 'Por-ti-shead'.
After releasing a short film ( To Kill A Dead Man ) for which they had written the music, Portishead signed a record deal with Go! Beat and their first album, Dummy, was released in 1994, with Gibbons singing, Dave MacDonald as a drummer, and Adrian Utley playing the guitar. In spite of the band's media-shyness, the album was a big hit in both Europe and the United States, as were the singles from the album, "Glory Box" and "Sour Times".
Their second, self-titled album, Portishead, was released in 1997, of which the single "All Mine" was drawn. A live album mostly recorded in Roseland in New York CitySkyline, with Statue of Liberty New York, New York" redirects here. For alternate meanings, see New York, New York (disambiguation). New York — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York,, was released in 1998See also 1997 in music, other events of 1998, 1999 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years in music' Events February 19 The Stray Cats reunite for a benefit show for the Carl Perkins Foundation at L. s House Of Blues. February 19 Lorrie Morgan iss with a DVD of the concert soon following. All records were released on Go! Beat.
There have been rumours of a third album to be published, possibly called Alien, but no such record has been released, and Portishead's official site dismisses the rumour as such: "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!"[1]
As a note about trip hop, Portishead and some other similar artists have shown dislike for the term, as it is a media invention designed to categorize their otherwise not-so-categorizable music.