PORTISHEAD レコード& CD

Review: There are some live albums which become as important to a band's legacy as their studio efforts and Roseland NYC Live is just that for Portishead. Given the Bristol group's considered catalogue, there's less competition for this 1998 release to stand out, but it also renders the stark brilliance of all the key players and the extended ensemble in sparkling clarity, not least thanks to the addition of a full-blown orchestra. Recorded in the wake of their second album and now reissued as an expanded edition to commemorate 25 years, it captures the band's early phase at its smoky, cinematic, head-nodding best. From every string swell to dusty backbeat, Rhodes lick to wobbly scratch, all fronted by Beth Gibbons' angelic voice, this is the live album done properly.