What do you reckon to "Stories from the City..." Return of Sheela-na-gig or a coffee-table Patti Smith?
Is "Rid of Me" her career high, or an overrated Albini dirge?
I can't decide!
― Dr. C, Monday, 19 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Omar, Monday, 19 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
As for the other albums, I prefer "To Bring You My Love" to "Dry", "Dry" to "Rid of Me".
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― pihkalboy, Tuesday, 20 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 20 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Jack Redelfs, Tuesday, 20 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 21 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Omar, Wednesday, 21 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
But I do like the new single 'Place Called Home'. A blantantly pop single, but you gotta love it.
― Michael, Wednesday, 21 February 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
― Stephen Robinson, Thursday, 22 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
However, I saw her perform You Said Something on David Letterman show, and I have to say that that particular performance was one of the best television experiences I've had in my life. If you have a Harvey fan for a friend, ask them if they taped it and go see it with them. Truly trancendent.
Love, Jeff
― Jeff Guidry, Wednesday, 21 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― josie, Monday, 8 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Justyn Dillingham, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tim, Tuesday, 9 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
"Uh Huh Her." Thoughts on the new PJ Harvey?
...to keep us going for a while.
However, talking about her as a whole -- I'm going through a relisten of everything building up to the show on Tuesday (might even dig up all the B-sides if I can manage it), and that meant Dry earlier (good songs, couple of great performances, strong without being compelling) and Rid of Me now (holy fuck what a great album -- what a *GREAT* album).
It seems to me that she's very easily slipped over the line that separates initially promising start to ever more unique figure to finally someone with an actual continuing career well over a decade while still remaining interesting, to me at least. And all on the same label still, eight albums on (allowing for the fact that Dry got picked up by Island here and counting the Parish collaboration). Not bad, more thoughts later...
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 October 2004 03:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― NED RAGGGETT, Monday, 25 October 2004 03:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 October 2004 04:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 25 October 2004 05:26 (nineteen years ago) link
S
― Soukesian, Monday, 25 October 2004 06:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― sometimes i like to pretend i am very small and warm (ex machina), Monday, 25 October 2004 07:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 October 2004 15:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 25 October 2004 17:58 (nineteen years ago) link
"Sheela-na-gig" has been on repeat for several days now in Winamp.
― Richard K (Richard K), Monday, 25 October 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
been with her stuff since 'sheela'
live performances in the past have been disappointing against the records *but* a recent live encounter proved her at the at the absolute apex top of her game. great tunes/performance/band the whole thing.
catch while you can...
― john clarkson, Monday, 25 October 2004 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Momus (Momus), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 October 2004 21:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:44 (nineteen years ago) link
Dance Hall is indeed a very good album as you said over on the monster thread, but I think it's very subtle and requires a lot of relistening -- it's about the only album that the cover of "Is That All There Is?" aside I can't immediately recall a full song from it, even though I've heard it a lot. Hrm.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:46 (nineteen years ago) link
(if I were the "heckling type", which is not necessarily the case)
― Thea (Thea), Monday, 25 October 2004 23:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― Piers (piers), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 00:21 (nineteen years ago) link
Hey, you better not. ;-)
Seeing her tonight, rah! Hm. Wonder if she'll mention Peel.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 14:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 14:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 14:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 14:31 (nineteen years ago) link
I say classic, if only for Rid Of Me (which I only own on tape and never can listen to for this reason, really really REALLY need to get it on CD), To Bring You My Love, and Uh Huh Her. Everything else is pretty good (Dry) to crap (Dance Hall).
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 14:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 16:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 18:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 18:56 (nineteen years ago) link
I wonder if she'll play the same set. If I weren't packing boxes I'd go again.
― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link
I'd imagine he was himself.
(Are you going to be at EJL's party on Saturday? If not, I will pout.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 19:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Thea (Thea), Tuesday, 26 October 2004 19:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 27 October 2004 16:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 27 October 2004 16:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 04:04 (sixteen years ago) link
― Soukesian, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 07:11 (sixteen years ago) link
― JN$OT, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 07:51 (sixteen years ago) link
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 08:03 (sixteen years ago) link
― edde, Wednesday, 9 May 2007 13:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Pitchfork: Some people talk about songwriting like a trade, and for other artists it seems more muse-driven, more fickle, more spontaneous. Do you ever get writers' block? Harvey: I've never thought of it as writers' block, but I definitely have periods of greater or lesser activity. I think that's pretty natural. The key is not to panic when you're in one of the troughs of creativity. Because that's so valuable, there's so much learning to be done in that. In the moment, I feel like I'm in that space. It's not resting, it's almost like treading water and gathering information and trusting that it will come around again, and it will. I see it on a greater scale with projects, really. I can see, over the eight or so albums that I've done, some of them reach great peaks of creativity, where everything lines up and works well, but then you go through lesser phases, and then it will happen again. I think that's completely natural. Sometimes you see artists burning very brightly, and they'll have three or four projects in a row that are absolutely incredible. But I think it's very hard for anyone to sustain that time after time after time. Some people do, but they burn out quite quickly. Or they die or something. (laughs) But in lots of artists that I admire, I see the peaks and troughs that (they) move through.
Harvey: I've never thought of it as writers' block, but I definitely have periods of greater or lesser activity. I think that's pretty natural. The key is not to panic when you're in one of the troughs of creativity. Because that's so valuable, there's so much learning to be done in that. In the moment, I feel like I'm in that space. It's not resting, it's almost like treading water and gathering information and trusting that it will come around again, and it will. I see it on a greater scale with projects, really. I can see, over the eight or so albums that I've done, some of them reach great peaks of creativity, where everything lines up and works well, but then you go through lesser phases, and then it will happen again. I think that's completely natural. Sometimes you see artists burning very brightly, and they'll have three or four projects in a row that are absolutely incredible. But I think it's very hard for anyone to sustain that time after time after time. Some people do, but they burn out quite quickly. Or they die or something. (laughs) But in lots of artists that I admire, I see the peaks and troughs that (they) move through.
from the Pitchfork interview today.
and all of a sudden, i'm really curious which albums PJ considers to be her peaks and troughs. what do you guys think? does she agree with consensus on her work, or does she love the stuff that's not as universally loved?
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:17 (sixteen years ago) link
she talks later in the interview about burning out on touring "a few years ago" during the Uh Huh Her tours with the full band. does she see Uh Huh Her as a lesser album, due to burning out on playing the songs live, "losing the edge" as she puts it?
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I've read that she considers Is This Desire? to be her best.
― jaymc, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:36 (sixteen years ago) link
oh awesome! i don't know about "best" but it's certainly my favorite, and probably the most similar to White Chalk mood-wise. gawwwwd it's underrated in her discography.
i think at one point -- senior year of high school? -- i called Is This Desire? my favorite album of all time.
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:41 (sixteen years ago) link
I think a lot of critics underrated it because it was the follow-up to To Bring You My Love, which was at the top of so many year-end lists in 1995 -- but I agree with you, I think it's great. Maybe not my favorite, but I like it better than TBYML, at any rate.
― jaymc, Monday, 5 November 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
what's yr favorite?
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 17:03 (sixteen years ago) link
These days it's probably Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, although it used to be 4-Track Demos.
― jaymc, Monday, 5 November 2007 17:05 (sixteen years ago) link
i like both of those very much
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 17:06 (sixteen years ago) link
one of those artists where i can see any album argued (legitimately) as her best. with maybe 1 exception in a 7-8 album career. now *that* is fuckin consistent.
― stephen, Monday, 5 November 2007 17:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Only today, after about a dozen listens, did I discover that the vinyl version of White Chalk is supposed to be played at 45 rather than 33 EVEN IF IT DOES NOT SAY SO ANYWHERE ON THE FUCKING LABEL.
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 November 2007 18:38 (sixteen years ago) link
It sounded pretty cool at 33 though, maybe better.
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 November 2007 18:39 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm listening to 'White Chalk' just now. Silence is definitely perhaps the best. Most of the album got a bad reception live however. Mostly piano
― o-ess, Monday, 5 November 2007 19:06 (sixteen years ago) link
-- jaymc, Monday, 5 November 2007 16:36 (2 hours ago) Link
And she's right, of course. :-)
― Turangalila, Monday, 5 November 2007 19:09 (sixteen years ago) link
does she see Uh Huh Her as a lesser album, due to burning out on playing the songs live, "losing the edge" as she puts it?
I really went off her around then - the touring band were a bunch of session muso muppets (apart from Rob Ellis), while the album did not seem to have anything interesting on it. I might go back to it some time, but it has kind of killed my interest in acquiring more PJH product. which is sad, for me anyway, as I really really loved her stuff for quite some time.
― The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 5 November 2007 21:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Anyone ever heard her cover of Dylan's "Shot of Love?" It's marvelous, a paranoid rant with a slight delay on the vocals, really powerful, on a collection of b-sides.
― thirdalternative, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 02:47 (fifteen years ago) link
hahaha at ned image bomb upthread
― velko, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 03:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Dry is a fucking awesome record. The playing and recording is amazing. How is it a debut? What a voice, what guitars, what songs. She's never made a bad record, I don't think, although some are, obviously, better than others. Peaks = Dry, Rid Of Me, TBYMY, and, in songwriting terms, SFTCSFTS (not keen on the production here, though). Dance Hall At Louse Point confuses me. I think I like it a lot.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 08:13 (fifteen years ago) link
Classic then dud. Rid of Me is amazing and some of the sessions from around that time are fantastic too. Then she went boring. Dance Hall At Louse Point also v good.
― GamalielRatsey, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 08:22 (fifteen years ago) link
i was just thinking of the development from "dry" to "white chalk". whereas "dry" was a record boasting of energy and power of an extrovert, innocent person "white chalk" sounds like the album of someone who has been beaten, someone who is depressed and tormented, someone who has had a life behind him. those two are so totally opposite in mood, it is stunning. actually i am not sure which one i prefer. but "white chalk" was definitely my favourite album from last year.
― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 08:33 (fifteen years ago) link
interesting point, alex. i just wish she didn't sound so emotionally restrained/stilted on White Chalk; the few live versions of those songs i've seen on youtube and such blow the album versions away in every conceivable sense (ok, they're not as spooky as the official versions, but so what? trading emotional depth and power for mere spookiness was a serious mistake on her part, imho, obviously.). actually, if she were to release a live version of that album--with more or less full band accompaniment, i would hope--it would probably be one of my faves too.
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 09:41 (fifteen years ago) link
I certainly don't hear White Chalk as stilted, it's actually one of the most intense albums I've heard for years. Deep and spooky don't seem incompatible, especially not for PJ. Still, I'm sure there must be quite a few full length live recordings floating around out there, if you dig for them. I'll check out the youtube stuff in the meanwhile.
― Soukesian, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 11:37 (fifteen years ago) link
me too i don't hear "white chalk" as stilted at all. "dry" may be much more artificial if you consider her as not the typical rock chick. wasn't she striking a pose on "dry"? i don't think she is this kind of man-eating femme fatale. but i am curious concerning "white chalk" live. i once went to munich about 400 km from where i live to see giant sand. they were great but she totally blew them away. what a stage presence!
― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 11:50 (fifteen years ago) link
well, i don't think she's some kinda victorian-era ghost either.
ok, maybe mannered would've been a more appropriate adjective to use there. also, i do mean in comparrison with her earlier/live work, obviously; i'm not saying she's suddenly gone Kraftwer or some such.
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 12:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Her collaborations with Josh Homme a few years back misled me to believe she was ready to rock again. Please Polly please, it's been eight years. Enough with the chamber music!
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Uh Huh Her is hardly chamber music?
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:04 (fifteen years ago) link
yes!!!
xp
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:05 (fifteen years ago) link
just saw her performance on morning becomes eclectic end of last year. pretty good. she is on her own, playing all instruments, mainly piano, herself. the interview is enlightening. the three albums she is happy with are "to bring you my love", "is this desire?" and the new one. she comes over extremely honest and likeable. she does not want to repeat herself, probably one reason why her albums take time to get done. she also said that she didn't find the current music, art, film etc. scene very interesting. she hadn't been enthralled by new music for quite a while. i know exactly what she means. there has been hardly anything exciting the last 5 years. the last album i liked was hers and it wasn't even so extraordinary!
― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 20:27 (fifteen years ago) link
well, yeah, if you're talking about Rock, i agree completely; i can't even remember the last rock record that i was even mildly excited by. oh, wait, it was the Mastodon album, i guess. that's what, two years ago or so. luckily, there is other stuff out there ya know.
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 20:44 (fifteen years ago) link
other stuff like what? electronic music? techno? rap? i doubt i'd like any stuff in one of those three genres. except electronic maybe. if it is interesting like boards of canada were.
― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 20:48 (fifteen years ago) link
i go mainly for older stuff myself, especially jazz. there's an entire universe of good stuff to fall into right there. also, there's all kinds of fun and interesting sounds and approaches to music to be discovered in various world music genres. man, that stuff alone can keep you occupied for a lifetime.
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:10 (fifteen years ago) link
No, Uh Huh Her is not chamber music. But it doesn't rock either. I love Harvey, but she's lost the plot if she thinks there's no good music.
It's odd that one would be an ILM regular and not be excited about music. Why be here otherwise?
― Fastnbulbous, Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:17 (fifteen years ago) link
not terribly excited about new Rock music, actually. luckily, there's a whole world of other sounds out there to get lost in. and, of course, there's always older things you've never heard. i mean, nobody's heard everything.
― Perry-Como-Zombie-Memorial-Radio-Now! (Ioannis), Wednesday, 24 September 2008 21:24 (fifteen years ago) link
but "white chalk" was definitely my favourite album from last year.
Yes! The more I revisit last year's batch of albums, the more I'm convinced this one (of those that made my top ten or so) holds up the best.
― ilxor, Thursday, 25 September 2008 02:38 (fifteen years ago) link
I heart most of her albums, but I wish she'd record an LP's worth of songs that sound like "Big Exit." I luuuuuuuuurrrve everything about that song.
― Pillbox, Thursday, 25 September 2008 03:17 (fifteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 25 September 2008 07:07 (fifteen years ago) link
First became aware of her after this catching this on the telly 5000 years ago. I remember this performance did strange new things to the young 11 year old me. Although now to my ears it plays like the game on 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue' where the contestants have to sing unusual covers in the style of a distinctive singer.
I think I've long since unofficially filed The Peej in the 'Stuff I Listened To Fairly Constantly In High School But Would Only Play Now Whilst Having A Personal Nostalgia-fest' segment of my brain, where she bears the unusual distinction of actually being any good.
― Humphrey Plugg, Thursday, 25 September 2008 11:33 (fifteen years ago) link
New York Daily News:
P.J. Harvey hits Broadway with 'Hedda Gabler' scoreFriday, January 23rd 2009, 4:00 AM
P.J. Harvey knows the score on Broadway's 'Hedda Gabler.'
They’re both bold women — one wildly creative, the other bitterly violent.Rock star P.J. Harvey and dramatic character Hedda Gabler share a keen interest in shaking things up, even if the former does so in an infinitely more appealing way than the latter.
“The character of Hedda is fascinating and horrifying at the same time,” Harvey says. “As an artist, I’ve always been drawn to what human beings are capable of, in how far you can push things. And Hedda pushes things to the limit.”
Small wonder, then, that Harvey leapt at the chance to provide the disruptive music that adds spookiness to the new production of Henrik Ibsen’s classic ode to the ultimate psycho bitch from hell. Starring the ideally “off” Mary-Louise Parker, this production of “Hedda Gabler” opens Sunday at the American Airlines Theater.
For fans of Harvey’s restless muse, the play provides an ideal extension of her brand. Though her eight albums show a flair for setting scenes evocative enough for theater or movie scores, Harvey had never worked in either medium. “I’ve wanted to do theater or film music since I first began writing music,” the artist says. “I’ve just never been approached before.”
Her break came from director Ian Rick-son. Harvey met him five years ago when he was running London’s Royal Court Theater. “He gave me pointers of the kind of music he was looking for,” Harvey says. “I did whatever I felt I needed to do for his vision.”
The score — which takes up the first two minutes of the play, then creepy-crawls around the starts and finishes of all four acts — centers on a hiss, a compressed signal of menace and torment. It’s the sound of seething. “I just kept coming back to that sound,” Harvey says.
To achieve it, she “mashed up guitar feedback and played it at the wrong speed.” The music also features melodic piano interludes, though Harvey says she “under-cut that with something wrong in the lower end, something destabilizing. It sounds like radio static, or like things breaking down.”
It’s the perfect tone for a play centered on a character whose hatred of marital conventions, and fear of her own feelings, has made her quickly run off the rails. If the result reads as extreme now, imagine how it went down when Ibsen first presented it in 1889. “In the context of the time, this was utter-ly unheard of,” Harvey says.
That, of course, turned her on. The chill of the music bears a relation to Harvey’s last CD, 2007’s “White Chalk,” which presented a kind of psychosexual dreamscape. Harvey’s next album, arriving in spring, will pair her again with old collaborator John Parish. She’ll tour in May.
In the meantime, Harvey has lots of other ambitions. The woman who previously wrote music for dance also paints, sculpts and writes poetry. She has been drawing so much of late that she hopes to have an exhibition of her work. And that’s not all. “I’d like to do some comedy work,” says Harvey, who rarely cracks a smile in public. “I’d love to do a show with a standup comic and music.”
“I’m not sure how that would work,” she admits. “But there must be a way.”
Don’t bet against her.
― Turangalila, Sunday, 25 January 2009 07:43 (fifteen years ago) link
>>>The woman who previously wrote music for dance also paints, sculpts and writes poetry. She has been drawing so much of late that she hopes to have an exhibition >>>of her work. And that’s not all. “I’d like to do some comedy work,” says Harvey, who rarely cracks a smile in public. “I’d love to do a show with a standup comic >>>and music.”
YAWN. That said Uh Huh Her wasn't bad.
― I DIED (u s steel), Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't think Uh Huh Her was anything to write home about.
I saw her live with John Parish last week. There were definitely superb highlights but plenty of moments of boredom as well. I think most folks would have preferred that she do more from her career than just stuff from the two albums she did with him. I'd prefer it if she were a little crazier a little more often. She's just so much more powerful when she's all in-your-face rather than taking the quieter route. Leave the quieter route to Radiohead, methinks.
― Subway to Idaho (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Also she wore the same black dress and bare feet that she had on that TV performance on the thread for the new album.
― Subway to Idaho (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:15 (fourteen years ago) link
She's got to be 40, or very close to it, now; she can't keep screaming forever.
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:33 (fourteen years ago) link
BUT SHE SHOULD.
Compare: live version of The Devil with the huge vocal arrangement vs. WATERED DOWN/SOFT SHITTY TREBBLY VERSION on the record.
That said, my favorite track on the recent album was the spoken word one.
― Turangalila, Sunday, 21 June 2009 10:51 (fourteen years ago) link
"BUT SHE SHOULD." OTFM - I'm well over 40 and have no intention of stopping screaming.
Bimble, that must have seen an off night - saw her in Edinburgh, and she was utterly compelling. And I'm sure she was wearing an entirely different pair of feet
― Soukesian, Sunday, 21 June 2009 12:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah I feel a bit cheated, I must say, cause the outfit she's wearing in the picture in the new Mojo magazine of her performing with Parish is NOT the black dress...(not that it's that great of an outfit, but a change would be nice)
And yeah, hell fucking shit about getting old and slowing down. I won't hear of it. When that woman starts screaming & yelling about god only knows what...you sit the fuck up and take notice, right? Very few women in my humble opinion can really pull that kind of shit off the way she does (Kim Gordon can't hold a candle to her, as an example). She should use her bloody talent more.
Southall, I honestly like you for a lot of different reasons, but this post is freaking mad:
― Sickamous Mouthall (Scik Mouthy), Sunday, June 21, 2009 10:33 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark
Dude I'm 38 and I'll take a frickin' microphone and shout in a punk band and break your personal eardrums for posting this kind of shit. Like I said, I like you Nick, for several reasons, but do give some thought before you post this kind of bullshit. Thanking U with utmost politeness.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 13:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Someone in the audience yelled at her, in a friendly way - "we thought you might play guitar!" She said "oh no, John Parish has guitar duties here..." Imagine how embarassing that must have been for him.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 13:54 (fourteen years ago) link
OMG this video is sex on wheels. I don't think she even looked like this when I saw her on the Rid of Me Tour:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwG3r9_L9o
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 14:38 (fourteen years ago) link
There was a time around that album Rid of Me when I thought she and she alone could save me from having to do what I did. And as it turned out, she couldn't save me from it at all. I still feel sad about that. But also sortof numb too.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 14:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Dare I ask, what did you have to do...?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Sunday, 21 June 2009 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Change my gender?
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, see I really didn't know and was asking. I don't read EVERY thread here. ;-)
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Sunday, 21 June 2009 22:29 (fourteen years ago) link
She's so much more powerful now singing John Parish's mediocre music.
― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 June 2009 00:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Not meant as a slight, Stephen. Just a ginger tiptoe in the water of honesty?
Alfred OTM, LOL.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 02:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh shit. I can't breathe. Look at her hair, look at her earring, look at her outfit. Look at her unfashionable guitar. What in god's name is going on here? And can I play it again? And again?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzZxjbRua00
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 03:04 (fourteen years ago) link
A friend just sent me this one, and I still can't breathe. Look at her dress!!!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk_GmlJxJTg
I told him I think I'm gonna play that and only that all night. I'm possessed, I'm obsessed.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 03:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought she stopped screaming a long time ago?!? Or am I WRONG?
― I DIED (u s steel), Monday, 22 June 2009 09:51 (fourteen years ago) link
No, there's two tracks on the new album with John Parish where she does, yeah - "A Woman A Man Walked By" and "Pig Will Not". Haha, in fact the latter starts with her letting out a huge scream!
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 17:08 (fourteen years ago) link
PJ Harvey Battle Royal! Entrances
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBzl1_uJeI
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 20 December 2010 01:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Queen of Wrestling! Where do people find the time?Thanks for that video, Brimble, it's delish.
PJ is classic from the word go. "Dry" is still completely relevant and is easily in my top albums for that decade. The raw sexuality of her earlier albums are as uniquely feminine as Kate Bush; PJ just presents her material with the guts and sputum of the grittier underbelly. Few, if any, Riot Grrrls can match the quality and variety in her catalog, to say nothing for that overpraised windbag, Ms. Phair.
Of late, I'm finding "White Chalk" returning to the player again and again. And while i do wish it was longer, have no trouble repeating it 2 or even 3 times -- which is as rarefied-an-act as there is in my listening conventions.
I swear that I recall a TV performance wear the stool-perched and biker leather-clad Ms. Harvey completely dismantled and episode of the Tonight Show with a redoubtable solo rendition of Highway 51 (or was it 50ft Queenie)? I also tend to want to believe that she appeared in 91/92 when Johnny Carson was still hosting, and her performance left him nearly slack-jawed as the audience mustered only a smattering of nervously polite applause. I've spent the better part of the last two hours Googling evidence of this performance but it appears to have never actually happen. Does this sound familiar to anybody?
― suspecterrain, Monday, 20 December 2010 12:46 (thirteen years ago) link
People do speak highly of White Chalk, but I found the album before it a bit inessential and decided to give up on her.
However, it is nice to think of her as a majorly Beefheart-influenced artist on this special day.
― The New Dirty Vicar, Monday, 20 December 2010 13:29 (thirteen years ago) link
"White Chalk" is the perfect example of an artist incredibly attuned to a specific instrument - in her case, a guitar - but choosing as her vehicle of choice an instrument she's not as fluent with - in this case, a piano. In fact, a lot of Polly Jean Harvey seems to be her intentionally shying away from the things that made/make her great. First she dissolved the incredible power trio. Then she largely put down the guitar. Then she started pairing up with one of the most technically adept producers of our time to make her recordings sound intentionally scruffy. Then she follows her glossiest album, which she subsequently dismisses, with her most DIY. Toss in a disc or two of songs written and played by Parish and her whole career seems like an effort to throw people off the trail. That's what makes her so vital, I guess.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 20 December 2010 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
her whole career seems like an effort to throw people off the trail
love this way of looking at it
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Monday, 20 December 2010 13:46 (thirteen years ago) link
though i'm still not into her latest :/
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Monday, 20 December 2010 13:47 (thirteen years ago) link
picked up 4 track demos on vinyl at a garage sale
she is amazing, what a talent, even in such a simple, raw form she's just jaw dropping, some of these versions are better i think
― Blink 187um (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 23 May 2011 21:07 (twelve years ago) link
i like almost everything she's done (kinda couldn't get with stories from the city and uh huh her totally), but those first few PJ Harvey albums are all time stunners. pretty ferocious. question! i was listening to a bootleg from 93 recently and was wondering -- who's doing backup vocals? whoever it is, they're doing a damn good job of approximating pj's style.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:11 (twelve years ago) link
It's the drummer.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:14 (twelve years ago) link
he's impressively high pitched.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
I remarked on the Let England Shake thread that while I stuck UHH in my top ten it sounds like a B-side comp now: the detritus of a phase she needed to collect and abandon.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 May 2011 21:26 (twelve years ago) link
4 Track Demos is great. the version of Rid Of Me on there will blow your hair back.
― dmr, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:29 (twelve years ago) link
Those demos really underscore, along with the new Neil Young and, um, I guess Billy Bragg the strange power of the solo electric guitar.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
hm, yeah, good point. is there a thread for solo electric guitar + voice records? probably not that many, really.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:43 (twelve years ago) link
Royals
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/11308844674_c79a360068_z.jpg
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:23 (ten years ago) link
Oh Lorde.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:29 (ten years ago) link
WHAT HAPPENED TO ENGLAND SHAKING
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:33 (ten years ago) link
haa
― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P), Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:34 (ten years ago) link
haha, that is a cute picture.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Let England Curtsey
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Let One of England's Monarchs Pin Something On My Blazer
― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P), Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:37 (ten years ago) link
5'4" Queenie.
― Stevie T, Wednesday, 11 December 2013 00:25 (ten years ago) link
goddamn right!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Wednesday, 11 December 2013 00:26 (ten years ago) link
"I wouldn't do this for Mick Jagger, you know?"
― Mark G, Wednesday, 11 December 2013 15:25 (ten years ago) link
Never really found her cute, before this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahLfsTQ18_o
― OutdoorFish, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 23:28 (nine years ago) link
God I was there, first time I've seen footage(One and only acid trip)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mqk9pIaHo
― OutdoorFish, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
cool story bro
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:21 (nine years ago) link
way to reduce one of rock's most interesting artists of the past three decades to her effect on your boner. well done. thanks a lot.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:22 (nine years ago) link
i just hope that he can eventually find a way to find the cuteness in other musicians too, before it's too late
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:32 (nine years ago) link
Wow, all that just because he/she mentions PJ Harvey looks cute in yellow?
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:39 (nine years ago) link
- revive a thread after nine months- never mention her music or anything but attractiveness- ah now she is worth discussing because i finally found her cute
so, yes
― mookieproof, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:00 (nine years ago) link
That's assuming her cuteness was the entire point of sharing. Could have just as well been a side note. Second video had no mention of cuteness.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:16 (nine years ago) link
Ship's computer: lock brain, please.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:18 (nine years ago) link
evan it's nice that you want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but maybe giving the artist the benefit of thinking that she, you know, exists outside of what men think of her would be helpful too
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:50 (nine years ago) link
i don't understand why 'don't be a sexist jerk' is such a hard thing for men to comprehend
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:53 (nine years ago) link
Maybe we can talk about this (the music, that is), probably my favourite PJH youtube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCruBKDt5Ys
This cuts to the bone and gives me chills every time I watch it. I love the crowd response in the last fifteen seconds of the song, they know they've seen something epic.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:23 (nine years ago) link
oh god enablers like evan are as bad as sexists like outdoorfish, what is wrong with you
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:29 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, obviously I hate the music. I am also a fan of simpletons.
― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:30 (nine years ago) link
Enabler, facilitator or apologist?
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:09 (nine years ago) link
enablers like me are just as bad as sexists, who we are totally 100% positive are sexists based on half sentences. how about let's not be horribly negative people and at least try to get a little tiny bit more information before we call everyone a fucking full blown sexist AND say that everyone who says "whoa, hold on a second" just as bad??
I get it, you really WANT to believe outdoorfish isn't a fan at all, but now he stumbles upon a clip of pj harvey in a yellow dress and checks his dick to see whether he should give her a chance.
maybe, this is crazy because I know his blood test came back sexist, but maybe he is just a fan of her music already and wanted to share a clip and add "she's particularly cute in this clip" and just chose poor wording. Is that possible? because it's worth getting a little more info before you call someone a sexist over admitting they hadn't found someone cute before. Plus, the next clip wasn't all "check out her titties in this one" it was "I was at this show!" I'm pretty sure that's enough to assume the entire reason for sharing was most likely not to talk about how attractive she is and how much more important that is than her great music
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:37 (nine years ago) link
maybe he is just a fan of her music already and wanted to share a clip and add "she's particularly cute in this clip" and just chose poor wording
Uh...your putative alternate isn't much better?
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:40 (nine years ago) link
You can't mention you find someone cute in any way?
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:43 (nine years ago) link
No, we live in a world of unbridled hypocrisy.
― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:54 (nine years ago) link
― Evan,
― mookieproof,
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:58 (nine years ago) link
No, we live in a world of unbridled hypocrisy and sheep-like behaviour.
― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:14 (nine years ago) link
- never mention her music or anything but attractiveness- ah now she is worth discussing because i finally found her cute
Are we sure these two are exactly the case?
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:16 (nine years ago) link
Such bold truths being told.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:20 (nine years ago) link
Exhibit A:Kessler is hot and probably doesn't have the clap so there's that!
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 1 May 2014 19:31 (4 months ago) Permalink
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:26 (nine years ago) link
Just trying to give the benefit of the doubt, that's all. I don't like to assume the worst in people without a certain amount of information.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:28 (nine years ago) link
behind everyone doing something sexist or racist or homophobic will always be some clichéd idiot saying "WAIT DON'T JUDGE THEM"
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:32 (nine years ago) link
PJ's general appearance/demeanor isn't "cute". I'd describe her stage presence as compelling, commanding, mysterious. At least every time I've seen her. In this video, she looks cute. She's having fun, smiling. Like a young Linda Ronstadt almost.
God, I want that Firebird.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:47 (nine years ago) link
― lex pretend, Thursday, September 18, 2014 8:32 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I'm an idiot? You're right, I should judge people when I have sufficient information. Let me try. You're an asshole.
Fun!
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:53 (nine years ago) link
Behind every witch-hunt there's always some cliched idiot who rushed to condemn without sufficient evidence
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:54 (nine years ago) link
Who is that Macklemore-looking dude playing bass and what's with that gold knob on the horn?
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 12:59 (nine years ago) link
now that's a lead.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:01 (nine years ago) link
good fucking god, saying "judging a woman on whether she gives you a boner or not" is sexist does not amount to a bloody witch hunt, get over yourselves
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:14 (nine years ago) link
Who is that Macklemore-looking dude playing bass
Simon 'Dingo' Archer; AFAIK she borrowed him from The Fall for the 2004 tour.
― mthrn, Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:17 (nine years ago) link
Cool! Thanks.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:18 (nine years ago) link
I miss her power trio.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:36 (nine years ago) link
Me too. I was at this show, right up in front; when this song kicked in, the crowd surged forward, and those of us up against the stage obviously had nowhere to go. I had bruises on my stomach for weeks afterward.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cEw8nMfzI8
It was a good show, but at the time the band members seemed remote from one another. I later read that they'd decided to break up earlier in the tour, but stayed together to finish out the dates.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 18 September 2014 13:49 (nine years ago) link
Bruises?! That's nuts!
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Thursday, 18 September 2014 14:06 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, it was pretty scary, actually. After this song, a bunch of us in the front retreated to the back of the crowd and exchanged "Are you OK?"s. Lots of crowd-surfing at this show, too, which was really annoying.
Almost forgot to mention, Scrawl was one of the openers! They killed, but the crowd wasn't that into them for some reason.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 18 September 2014 14:23 (nine years ago) link
Man, Scrawl ...
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 18 September 2014 14:26 (nine years ago) link
this thread is a fine example of What It Feels Like For A Woman Who Talks About Music Online, so thanks for that dudes
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:38 (nine years ago) link
All I wanted to do was have you consider that outdoorfish was perhaps not evaluating PJ Harvey entirely on her looks based on that comment alone. I wasn't defending the general act of evaluating someone entirely on their looks, or based on what men think, or whatever else.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:55 (nine years ago) link
Jfc
― kinder, Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link
oh evan. oh, oh, oh, evan.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
*considers, rolls eyes, goes back to thinking about "To Bring You My Love" instead of this nonsense*
― 💪😈⚠️ (DJP), Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
like... not to be all proprietary but the problem here is that the discussion of her looks was what LED the discussion, even though her MUSIC is, you know, next-level
i know that you probably have zero idea of what it means like to be a woman, so here's a thought experiment: imagine having every endeavor you do viewed through a prism of whether or not you are "cute" or "fuckable" or etc. that atmosphere is what makes 'well-meaning' comments like outdoorsfish's - especially when viewed in light of reams of galleries of female musicians that put their looks first, and thinkpieces that wax poetic on artists' 'sexiness' in such a way to make their music incidental and oh, so much more - utterly toxic and worthy of being called out, good intentions or no.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:14 (nine years ago) link
i mean ffs it's not like she doesn't explicitly reference this bullshit double standard in her work or anything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJE40OBt48
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:15 (nine years ago) link
"never really found her cute, before this..." is such a hideous, indefensible sentiment, even if evan is somehow tuned to the total cerebral network of outdoorfish
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
it's really all in the ellipses
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
I'm just overly optimistic about people. I was considering that it may have been poor wording. I get it.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:31 (nine years ago) link
― Evan, Thursday, September 18, 2014 10:31 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
haha fuck off and die
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
Sure!
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
it does make sense that the logical conclusion of pollyannaism is to render oneself utterly, wilfully blind to the structural inequalities and specific dickishness arising thereof in the world
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:40 (nine years ago) link
I just needed a little more evidence. "Utterly, wilfully blind" is a bit of an exaggeration.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
I know saying I'm overly optimistic sounds self congratulatory, I didn't mean it like that. Can we not ask someone to fuck off and die?
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
pretty please?
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
i didn't ask
oh it's that bit of the argument where the people objecting to misogyny etc are told off for being impolite
every. single. time
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:52 (nine years ago) link
OK I'm not on the "advocating misogyny" side either. Thanks. I just don't like being told to fuck off and die. Not attempting to distract.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:54 (nine years ago) link
fuck off and die
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
you are worthless
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:58 (nine years ago) link
matt, go enjoy a cup of chamomille tea or something.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:59 (nine years ago) link
cut it out already
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 16:59 (nine years ago) link
yup always the people being "impolite" told to cut it out, yet i see none of evan's "cut it out"s aimed at the person being sexist
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:00 (nine years ago) link
can't believe someone would object to being told to fuck off and die, every. single. time
― soref, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:01 (nine years ago) link
I don't advocate sexism. I was just hoping outdoorfish didn't mean it that way.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:08 (nine years ago) link
You can "not mean" to be sexist and still be sexist. That's kind of why these inequalities are seen as structural.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:09 (nine years ago) link
not an attempt to stir, but I'm curious what people think about when and how it is/isn't appropriate to discuss pop stars physical appearance and desirability and how they shape the way you engage with them and how this relates to the gender of the pop star and the writer etc, it seems a big part of pop music/fandom, is there an ilx thread specifically about this it seems like something that must have happened over the last 14 years at some point, also it seems depressing that approx 30% of the P J Harvey thread is responding to this one post
― soref, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:12 (nine years ago) link
well i wrote this primer two years ago, and am bummed that it needs revising to be more 'strident'http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/02/sexism_women_in_rock_female_musicians.php
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:30 (nine years ago) link
seems to me like maura, mattress, etc are ganging up on evan for no reason. his offhand comment, which he admitted was just trying to give the OP the benefit of the doubt, doesn't warrant being told to "fuck off and die". ya'll are totally immature, and give women a terrible stigma. which i think you were trying to do the opposite of? so great job guys. maybe get back to talking about the thing this thread is actually about (MUSIC), and go let out your unhappiness on some other message board or gawker comment section.
― juicebox, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:43 (nine years ago) link
so pleased we have juice box watching for women stigmatizing themselves
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:44 (nine years ago) link
Here: thread to argue about whether sexism is inherent to the discussion of image/appearance/attractiveness of musicians
A new place to take this discussion.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:44 (nine years ago) link
i'm sorry, where did i say that i co-signed the 'fuck off and die' comment? i don't, and i think my comments on the thread bear it out.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:45 (nine years ago) link
Hope there's no hard feelings. maura isn't responsible for the fuck off and die sentiment.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:48 (nine years ago) link
I admit I blew up a little when I got lumped in as being "just as bad as sexists" but I take all that back. maura had good points.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:50 (nine years ago) link
clarification: i didnt mean to imply maura wanted evan to fuck off and die. just that she was one of the ones i saw most fueling the topic, sorry!
― juicebox, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:50 (nine years ago) link
All the angry comments/rant that is. xpost
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:51 (nine years ago) link
You can "not mean" to condone someone being told to fuck off and and still be a chimp flinging shit for social justice. That's kind of why these inequalities are seen as structural.
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link
i am not sorry for being the only woman in a room of dudes and voicing my annoyance at hivemind tendencies, juicebox. not sorry at all.
lmaooooo bob six go sit down in the corner. 'a chimp flinging shit for social justice,' did you get that from gamergate? #notallmen
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:56 (nine years ago) link
The last record of hers I absorbed was "To Bring you My Love", and haven't really had any awareness of her music for a decade or so... what might I want to hear of hers now?
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 18 September 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
Let England Shake
― Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:00 (nine years ago) link
let england shake is really fantastic.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:01 (nine years ago) link
I love Let England Shake!
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:02 (nine years ago) link
I like Stories From The City but I don't want lex to yell at me.
― Hakeem Olajuwon Howard (Leee), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:04 (nine years ago) link
White Chalk doesn't get enough love. Probably my favorite of hers outside of the power-trio records (or at least neck-and-neck with Shake).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
Thanks for the recs. I'll be heading in that direction shortly.
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Thursday, 18 September 2014 19:01 (nine years ago) link
SFTC is my favorite PJ album, there's something really intense for me about the way her voice and persona scrape against the polished/more conventional tunes and arrangements. especially love 'good fortune.'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 18 September 2014 19:23 (nine years ago) link
Crap, I used to own that album but haven't heard it in years. Did I forget to upload it? Anyway, I like that one, maybe not as much as To Bring You My Love, but I listened to it quite a bit when it came out. The harmonies on Beautiful Feeling are amazing.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 19:27 (nine years ago) link
Nevermind, I had it. pj harvey back catalog is hella on sale at itunes right now though.
― how's life, Thursday, 18 September 2014 23:13 (nine years ago) link
Maura otm
― deej loaf (D-40), Thursday, 18 September 2014 23:35 (nine years ago) link
By the way, PJ is set to start recording a new album in the new year, according to this: http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/40551/PJ-Harvey-plans-to-start-work-on-new-album-in-early-2015
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 18 September 2014 23:42 (nine years ago) link
is it just me or did Let England Shake get critically memory-holed?
― katherine, Friday, 19 September 2014 00:12 (nine years ago) link
Did it? I know we're a small circle.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 September 2014 00:16 (nine years ago) link
What's refreshing and rewarding about PJ Harvey is that any one of her albums can deserve mention as part of the permanent canon.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 September 2014 00:17 (nine years ago) link
Well, that's not true, imo. What is true is that they are all worth several listens, couldn't have come from anyone else, are compelling, etc.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 September 2014 00:40 (nine years ago) link
I will say as a body of work, she's pretty much transcended ranking, categorization. She's elemental.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 19 September 2014 00:43 (nine years ago) link
this is ILM.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 September 2014 00:44 (nine years ago) link
ILMental.
― Code Money Changes Everything (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 19 September 2014 00:52 (nine years ago) link
_Who is that Macklemore-looking dude playing bass _Simon 'Dingo' Archer; AFAIK she borrowed him from The Fall for the 2004 tour.
Yep, PJ covered the spooky Fall song Janet, Johnny and James during this period.
― Fizzles, Friday, 19 September 2014 07:09 (nine years ago) link
let england shake is one of my top five albums of the 2010s
― maura, Friday, 19 September 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
^ and Rid of Me one of my top five of the '90s.
― Fizzles, Friday, 19 September 2014 16:29 (nine years ago) link
Recording new album in public, tickets already sold out... http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/pj-harvey-recording-in-progress
― Supposed Former ILM Lurker (WeWantMiles), Friday, 2 January 2015 15:39 (nine years ago) link
haha, this pic is greathttp://www.somersethouse.org.uk/images/mi/ef70caeb-987f-464f-b5c2-c22fe12a6909.jpg
― tylerw, Friday, 2 January 2015 17:09 (nine years ago) link
Yay, new album!
I applaud the creative ways artists try to get around the demise of the music industry. You can get tickets to sports teams' training sessions too, so why not, I suppose. I'm not buying tickets to go and see a writer type a couple of paragraphs of their next book into a portable though.
― StanM, Sunday, 4 January 2015 00:43 (nine years ago) link
How long does it usually take to mix an album :-(
― StanM, Sunday, 5 July 2015 11:06 (eight years ago) link
Albini? A couple days. Peter Gabriel? A decade.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 5 July 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
She has a book of poetry coming out in the autumn, so I wouldn't expect the album to emerge before early 2016.
― Eyeball Kicks, Sunday, 5 July 2015 18:04 (eight years ago) link
I decided I need to own Rid Of Me on record and WTF, why does it sell for that much??
― JacobSanders, Monday, 14 September 2015 04:39 (eight years ago) link
Hasn't it been oop in that format for 20-something years? And even when it was available it wasn't that plentiful?
― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 14 September 2015 05:59 (eight years ago) link
yeah lots of 90s vinyl is super expensive. my friend was looking at selling stuff they bought when they were a teenager and i was shocked by how much they were going for... like eg http://www.discogs.com/Garbage-Garbage/release/1296095
― just sayin, Monday, 14 September 2015 06:14 (eight years ago) link
Fuck, I just looked up the In Utero clear vinyl that I sold for $10 a decade ago and it's going for similar prices.
― how's life, Monday, 14 September 2015 10:42 (eight years ago) link
Trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3swyAHvswE8
― Jeff W, Friday, 18 December 2015 17:31 (eight years ago) link
Great guitar effect
― Evan, Friday, 18 December 2015 17:49 (eight years ago) link
How did I miss this?!
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 19 January 2016 03:47 (eight years ago) link
Given all the bad news lately I'm afraid to click on any thread with a proper noun in it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 19 January 2016 04:08 (eight years ago) link
There is a new 7" imminent.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Tuesday, 19 January 2016 10:03 (eight years ago) link
So true. I've started to anticipate the worst whenever I first click open a particular artist thread.
― doug watson, Tuesday, 19 January 2016 14:13 (eight years ago) link
New single on 6music right NOW.
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 21 January 2016 16:52 (eight years ago) link
http://pitchfork.com/news/63055-pj-harvey-announces-new-album-the-hope-six-demolition-project/
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:00 (eight years ago) link
Wow, sounds great!
― Evan, Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:14 (eight years ago) link
PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016)
It already has its own thread
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 January 2016 18:02 (eight years ago) link
After years of avoiding her music I finally listened to Rid of Me today and I'm terribly sorry but it was one of the most tedious listening experiences I've had in a while, it took me 3 listens to get through the thing and I'm usually very patient with music. No idea if she's kind of a 'you had to be there' artist but I'd burn this idol down.
― Moka, Friday, 9 December 2016 00:07 (seven years ago) link
And yeah I also don't like Patti Smith.
― Moka, Friday, 9 December 2016 00:08 (seven years ago) link
4-Track Demos version is better.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Friday, 9 December 2016 00:16 (seven years ago) link
Maybe I started with the wrong album? I don't know.
― Moka, Friday, 9 December 2016 00:18 (seven years ago) link
A nice thing about PJ Harvey is that if Rid of Me isn't to your liking, she has several albums that sound nothing like it.
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 9 December 2016 00:18 (seven years ago) link
Don't really want to keep searching... there's several albums and I found almost no redeeming qualities on Rid of Me to keep listening... which ones would you recommend?
― Moka, Friday, 9 December 2016 00:19 (seven years ago) link
I'm actually rather pissed re:PJ ATM, because dates for her '17 U.S. tour just came out, and she's playing Houston for the first time on her own in about 20+ years (she opened for U2 15 or so ago), and tickets are about to go on sale, and I'm already broke AF.
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 9 December 2016 00:25 (seven years ago) link
Moka - "Is This Desire" probably captures Pj at her most diverse stylistically.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Friday, 9 December 2016 00:26 (seven years ago) link
Is This Desire is a good pick--really that whole PJ era--To Bring You My Love through Stories From The City...--is good place for those turned off by the shrieky early stuff (which she never really returned to, outside of parts of Uh Huh Her). Of course, there is also Let England Shake.
― a full playlist of presidential apocalypse jams (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 9 December 2016 00:38 (seven years ago) link
Ok thanks! I will try to give those a listen but maybe other time... enough PJ for a day for me haha.
― Moka, Friday, 9 December 2016 00:40 (seven years ago) link
Once again, US dates, no Chicago ...
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 December 2016 01:32 (seven years ago) link
― Moka, Thursday, December 8, 2016 7:07 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Moka, Thursday, December 8, 2016
well, that's two. One more woman and you're rid of them.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 December 2016 01:42 (seven years ago) link
For what it's worth, I love Harvey and loathe Patti Smith, so the two don't have to go together.
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Friday, 9 December 2016 02:41 (seven years ago) link
this is the first time i can remember disagreeing with moka
― mookieproof, Saturday, 10 December 2016 03:49 (seven years ago) link
i found rid of me almost unlistenable when i first got it, but i think that's more to do with albini than PJH. i love it now but i think it's a good one to find your way back to after getting into the rest of her work.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 10 December 2016 04:11 (seven years ago) link
my list of the best PJ Harvey songs.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 02:10 (seven years ago) link
rong
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 02:16 (seven years ago) link
No My Beautiful Leah or There Will Never Be a Better Time (with Desert Sessions)? Wicked list anyways!
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 02:17 (seven years ago) link
she wants wicked
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 02:35 (seven years ago) link
Anyone going to see her live on this tour?
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 02:36 (seven years ago) link
i am. this album seems like kind of a blip. it never really settled with me, I resisted it, and when I lsiten to it it doesn't do much for me; whereas I loved Let England Shake (and everything prior, pretty much). It's been several years since I've seen her so I'm hoping live I feel more invested in these songs.
― akm, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 03:51 (seven years ago) link
Agree with you on all points akm. Glastonbury 2016 set made these songs come alive a little more, but yeah "Hope Six Demolition Project" is the only retread in Pj Harvey's catalog it seems.
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 04:01 (seven years ago) link
vs. uh-huh her's detread?
― Not raving but drooling (contenderizer), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 04:56 (seven years ago) link
Guess that's a retread too, but a much better one IMO
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 05:21 (seven years ago) link
I saw her last year on the UK portion of the tour and it was an incredible show, way exceeding all my expectations. I'm lukewarm on the album, but loved it all live. The show was like a piece of theatre or performance rather than a gig, but musically her and the band were astounding, and it all totally worked.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 10:24 (seven years ago) link
she is a monster live, i saw her around 1998/99 in munich and she rocked the place like crazy. a whirlwind with guitar.
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 10:47 (seven years ago) link
She doesn't move too much in the new show, but has a great stage presence regardless.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 12:17 (seven years ago) link
That's reassuring to hear, krakow. Saw her on the Stories tour which was great but I have a feeling I'll appreciate the live band more this time.
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 14 March 2017 18:31 (seven years ago) link
I'm seeing her in Boston because why not. But yeah, the new album was such a nonevent.
― Turangalila, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 18:59 (seven years ago) link
Does she play guitar, or just, like, hurdy gurdy?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 19:07 (seven years ago) link
iirc she only sings in the current setup
― Turangalila, Tuesday, 14 March 2017 19:14 (seven years ago) link
Mainly she sings, but she does also play sax and guitar in the current set.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 09:30 (seven years ago) link
Just announced two nights in Edinburgh for the International Festival in August. I'll definitely head over for one of those.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 13:28 (seven years ago) link
Going to the Brooklyn show. Not a fan of the last few records but she's always been great live and her band will probably be top shelf. Plus, looking forward to seeing the new venue.
― kwhitehead, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 14:11 (seven years ago) link
Saw her in the last Primavera Sound. Didn't like last album either but the tracks sound great live. Her performance makes a difference
― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Wednesday, 15 March 2017 14:54 (seven years ago) link
The band is absolutely first rate. Some jaw-dropped performances. The saxophone solos from the main guy in particular I could barely believe, he was awesome.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Wednesday, 15 March 2017 16:16 (seven years ago) link
Saw her in Seattle. Thought the new songs fared better live, especially "The Ministry Of Social Affairs" with the jazz skronk solos. So awesome to see PJ playing sax as well. Highlights were "Written On The Forehead" and "The River" from my favourite album, "Is This Desire?".
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 8 May 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link
gonna drive to LA to see her in a few days. she's prob my favorite living artist that i've never gotten to see live.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 8 May 2017 21:31 (six years ago) link
Awesome, JD. She's insanely inspiring, hope you enjoy the show.
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 8 May 2017 21:35 (six years ago) link
My "definitely" became a "sadly not" and I didn't make either Edinburgh International Festival shows because of work/life. Did anyone go?
― brain (krakow), Thursday, 10 August 2017 09:12 (six years ago) link
Guys, back in around 1993/4 someone I knew had a demo of four or so tracks that PJ Harvey had recorded with the horn section from a then current group, the name of which eludes me.
I've looked through her discography and haven't seen anything that seems to fit this description. Any bells going off?
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 10 August 2017 09:35 (six years ago) link
maybe the March 1993 peel session?
― StanM, Thursday, 10 August 2017 10:53 (six years ago) link
Yeah, the Peel session where she did Claudine the Inflatable One, Primed and Ticking, Wang Dang Doodle and Naked Cousin has a horn section, but I don't know who they were.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5QXwuQgcs
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:00 (six years ago) link
Ah, cool. If not the same recordings then it's presumably the same setup. No horns credited on two tracks releases on Peel Sessions it seems.
My recollection is that the tape was manufactured and had some basic artwork. As in, not something recorded off the radio. Maybe there was a release mooted at some point.
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:20 (six years ago) link
*the two tracks released on Peel Session 1991 - 2004
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:21 (six years ago) link
Did some digging – the horns came from Gallon Drunk.
― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:33 (six years ago) link
Iirc Gallon Drunk may have been the opening act on some or many dates of the tour?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 August 2017 11:39 (six years ago) link
Yes, Gallon Drunk used to open for her back in 1993, at least on some dates.
Terry Edwards and James Johnston (both from GD) are now members of PJ's current touring band.
― mthrn, Thursday, 10 August 2017 18:04 (six years ago) link
I saw Gallon Drunk open for her in '93. I knew nothing about them at the time, but they had a baritone player who killed.
Scrawl was the other opener, and they were equally killer.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 10 August 2017 18:22 (six years ago) link
Really into acre of land
― done and dusted (Ross), Friday, 4 May 2018 06:52 (five years ago) link
More classic than the last album entirely
Love "Acre of Land" as well. IMO the last album wasn't as bad as some people made it out to be, but it definitely didn't enter my PJ top 5. The tour, though, was fantastic. She's an incredible live performer and it was a joy to see her (twice, lucky me!) with this big tight band. Apparently she's taking some time away from music now to focus on her lyric and poetry writing, so unfortunately it might be a while until she tours again.
BTW today is the 25th anniversary of Rid of Me!
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 4 May 2018 09:39 (five years ago) link
Indeed! Rob Sheffield on same
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pj-harvey-rid-of-me-25-rob-sheffield-pays-tribute-w519777
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 May 2018 17:33 (five years ago) link
The tour was incredible. Saw her in Seattle - no opening band and she’s on at like 9. Full 8-10 piece band with an intro military procession beat. Closed with tbyml, down by the water and importantly - the river. From the record Is this desire which pj has said is her favourite record but it also came from a place of immense pain. New songs worked better live but I’d say let England shake live confirmed it’s her master work
― That’s All Folks... (Ross), Friday, 4 May 2018 17:36 (five years ago) link
Will say the uh huh tour was absolute fire though. Floods drumming and klinghoffers 2nd percussion and guitar took tracks like the garden to another level. Highlight
My beautiful leah
― That’s All Folks... (Ross), Friday, 4 May 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
Never seen her live.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 May 2018 17:41 (five years ago) link
You're missing out, my friend.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 4 May 2018 17:55 (five years ago) link
Alfred, come correct my man
― That’s All Folks... (Ross), Friday, 4 May 2018 18:44 (five years ago) link
Honestly, I think current Polly live is too austere, rehearsed and remote. I miss the guitar, I miss the band, I miss the occasional flashes of humor. Unless carrying around a sax (iirc) is her idea of humor.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 May 2018 19:44 (five years ago) link
she's come by my reckoning exactly zero times to South Florida in the last 20 years.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 May 2018 19:48 (five years ago) link
She was at Pitchfork last summer!
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 4 May 2018 20:05 (five years ago) link
*smacks head*
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 4 May 2018 20:14 (five years ago) link
i drove to LA just to see her last summer, don't regret it a bit
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 4 May 2018 20:18 (five years ago) link
Wanna feel old? Rid Of Me LP is 25 years old today
― Jeff W, Friday, 4 May 2018 20:41 (five years ago) link
Also loved the concert I saw during the White Chalk tour in 2008 -- a solo show with her playing the guitar, piano, keyboards, autoharp and a bunch of other stuff, very stripped down and intimate. She was chatty, often funny and seemed like a lovely, likeable person -- miles away from the well-rehearsed big band theatrics of the Hope Six tour (which I loved, too, albeit for very different reasons). As always incredibly charismatic and intense, locking eyes with audience members while playing.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 5 May 2018 14:41 (five years ago) link
Hopefully this means a long career
https://variety.com/2018/dirt/real-estalker/pj-harvey-sierra-towers-condo-west-hollywood-1202845331/
― lost in sublimation (Ross), Wednesday, 20 June 2018 08:55 (five years ago) link
That's the flat from the "Who the Fuck" video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxcCN6BgO_k
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 20 June 2018 10:28 (five years ago) link
The "Dress" demo has dubstep wub-wub bass. A woman ahead of her time.
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Saturday, 25 July 2020 03:48 (three years ago) link
Getting down to her albs. Dry is such a classic. Rid of me is solid though I don't like that Dylan cover (and they are usually great), and did lol at some of the Slint-era tunings.
― xyzzzz__, Friday, 25 September 2020 11:26 (three years ago) link
A Woman, A Man: John Parish's Favourite PJ Harvey Recordings^Great stuff
― willem, Wednesday, 3 February 2021 09:39 (three years ago) link
The demo albums she's been putting out recently mostly go to show how fully formed her songs seem to have been from the start. The woman's a genius.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Thursday, 4 February 2021 01:24 (three years ago) link
I was dismayed to hear that my equal favourite album of hers, "Is This Desire?", was so traumatic for her to make.Also found it telling that the Hope Six track wasn't described at all, just the logistics of the recording. She kind of lost me after White Chalk.
― assert (MatthewK), Thursday, 4 February 2021 02:21 (three years ago) link
Fascinating read! I kind of love it that John is not even mentioning Stories.
I'm both very impressed and slightly disappointed by the TBYML and ITD demos - it's indeed amazing that these songs were pretty much fully developed while she was writing and demoing them at home BUT it makes for a less interesting listen than 4-Track Demos (which were so unlike Rid of Me).
I guess this might change with future volumes of the series - e.g. the LES and THSDP demos apparently were very minimal and the arrangements were developed while jamming the songs live in the studio (or rather church/art gallery) with the band - so they will be probably fairly different from the final versions.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Thursday, 4 February 2021 18:39 (three years ago) link
man the second record she did with Parish in 2009? DO NOT sleep on that, matthewk…that is a bit of a bummer that the creation of Is this Desire was so fraught…or is it? Isn't major creativity often fraught?
the Hope Six record is the only record she has ever made that I've actively disliked…but good grief these demo records are indeed staggering… like 80% of what you hear of the finished product of "A Perfect Day Elise," one of my favorite recordings ever, is right there in that demo… and when Parish talks about how there are two phases, the bare bones sessions and the expensive sessions, the latter were to gussy up "elise"…I wager "Catherine," the other one therein that I treasure, is intact from the former sessions…
― veronica moser, Thursday, 4 February 2021 23:24 (three years ago) link
The demo of "To Bring You My Love" is so menacing
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Saturday, 3 April 2021 19:08 (three years ago) link
I'm not a huge fan of the glossy production of Stories but the raw demo version of the album is pretty awesome. Such a strong collection of songs; I don't understand why Beefheart told her these were her weakest demos.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 3 April 2021 20:04 (three years ago) link
The Let England Shake demos are out today and they're the best installment in the series so far IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs_s2IkbGxwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18MpYe9Xwxkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jdCzt74OCohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgkWxTldY1s
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 28 January 2022 22:59 (two years ago) link
Oh man I hope they announce a b-sides collection please
― Cow_Art, Saturday, 29 January 2022 04:17 (two years ago) link
I need to give that album another chance. I could never get into it - the concept never seemed to translate well into a great musical experience - but I was a big fan of her work and I know plenty of people love Let England Shake. It even got to #2 in the P&J poll, albeit in a weak year.
― birdistheword, Saturday, 29 January 2022 21:03 (two years ago) link
(I should say, I'm still a big fan of her work, just not of her more recent albums.)
― birdistheword, Saturday, 29 January 2022 21:04 (two years ago) link
Listening to Rid of Me and its still staggering!
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 29 January 2022 21:26 (two years ago) link
never seen this before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpFSppgBpUc
― bulb after bulb, Sunday, 20 February 2022 18:32 (two years ago) link
Me neither! Seems like it was just before she made Dry.
― LeRooLeRoo, Sunday, 20 February 2022 19:03 (two years ago) link
Not a bad song but the male frontman has serious ewww vibes
― assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 20 February 2022 21:06 (two years ago) link
everything is so cheesy til she starts singing! her voice cuts through the cheese, amazing!! 18 year old me loves to see it <3
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Sunday, 20 February 2022 21:40 (two years ago) link
A new interview in The Observer about her upcoming book (a narrative poem written in the Dorset dialect) offers this exciting tidbit:
She lets slip that she has a new album coming out next year and, although not supposed to be talking about it, allows herself to say: “I’m really pleased with it – and I’m my own harshest critic.”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/24/pj-harvey-poetry-dorset-orlam-interview
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 17:10 (one year ago) link
https://www.nme.com/news/music/pj-harvey-update-on-new-album-to-be-released-2023-3258356
https://www.nme.com/news/music/listen-to-pj-harveys-haunting-cover-of-leonard-cohens-who-by-fire-3294140
― StanM, Sunday, 21 August 2022 18:42 (one year ago) link
Loving recent Dylan, soundtracks by Sakamoto, and Greenwood and covering Leonard Cohen. Yup sounds like stuff PJ Harvey would like (in a good way)
― curmudgeon, Monday, 22 August 2022 20:07 (one year ago) link
I was pleased to see a Mica Levi shoutout, they’re a criminally underrated artist for me
― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 22 August 2022 21:22 (one year ago) link
i appreciate her shoutout to rough and rowdy ways
― Karl Malone, Monday, 22 August 2022 22:27 (one year ago) link
i appreciate her
― mookieproof, Monday, 22 August 2022 23:16 (one year ago) link
She walked past me on Sunday (away from The Smile's set) at the Nick Cave All Points East in Victoria Park. Last time Nick Cave did one of these, Kylie appeared as a surprise guest, so I was absolutely convinced PJ was gonna come on for Henry Lee - but sadly not.
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 31 August 2022 11:04 (one year ago) link
Her Instagram has been a sea of photos old and new lately.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 31 August 2022 11:16 (one year ago) link
Argh, I want a b-sides collection!!! Was hoping that would finish off the reissue series.
Nervous about a new album because Hope Six was such a disappointment.
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 31 August 2022 13:14 (one year ago) link
John Parish said in a recent interview that the new album is recorded but not mastered, will be out some time next year, and is closely tied to her new poetry book Orlam (i.e. the song lyrics are poems lifted from the book—which means an album in the Dorset dialect), so we know that at least thematically it will be miles away from Hope Six.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 31 August 2022 16:01 (one year ago) link
A B-sides and rarities box set coming this month!!!!!!! My finances, already perilous, are screwed, but fuck it, this is a dream come true!
https://www.thegardenforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2858
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:12 (one year ago) link
Already working out the stuff that's missing though... fuck
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:14 (one year ago) link
e.g. Claudine the Inflatable One but loads of others
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:16 (one year ago) link
https://imgur.com/A66bxne
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:19 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/A66bxne.jpeg
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:20 (one year ago) link
I'll take it though!
― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 5 September 2022 19:21 (one year ago) link
Oh man! I don’t even know a lot of these songs, so excited
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 5 September 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
yeah, buncha stuff on the last two LPs i’ve never heard of. this is exciting!
― donna rouge, Monday, 5 September 2022 20:10 (one year ago) link
This is good news but so many demos there vs so many songs (esp from films, TV series) missing.
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Tuesday, 6 September 2022 01:19 (one year ago) link
No Wang Dang Doodle?
― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 01:22 (one year ago) link
Exciting, and yes, I could think of 20 other rarities that should be here, as well as live stuff, covers, guest features etc. but I'm glad at least these are being released in one place. Record 2 and 3 in particular just look like strong, pretty cohesive albums that will warrant repeated listening.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 09:21 (one year ago) link
Despite all the amputations, I am so stoked for this. For the most part I’m clueless to her rare tracks and whatnot, so this is a lot of extra PJ for me to absorb.
― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 13:18 (one year ago) link
As someone said upthread and I find myself saying too often these days, I hope there’s a CD version.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 6 September 2022 20:05 (one year ago) link
Here we go
https://www.treblezine.com/pj-harvey-announces-b-sides-demos-rarities-box-set/
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 8 September 2022 14:24 (one year ago) link
excuse my ignorance, but how much overlap does this have with all the demo records that have come out in the last couple years?
― bulb after bulb, Thursday, 8 September 2022 14:28 (one year ago) link
excuse my ignorance, but how much overlap does this have with all the demo records that have come out in the last couple years?― bulb after bulb
― bulb after bulb
There's no overlap.
The "Missed", "Dry", "Me-Jane" and "Highway 61 Revisited" demos were not included on 4-Track Demos, and the "Cat on the Wall" and "You Come Through" demos were for some reason omitted from Uh Huh Her - Demos.
Everything else is non-album material B-sides, B-side demos, random rarities, etc.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Thursday, 8 September 2022 14:56 (one year ago) link
vinyl only then?
― StanM, Thursday, 8 September 2022 15:21 (one year ago) link
xp thanks! amazing (and great) that there's so much still there after the demo records.
― bulb after bulb, Thursday, 8 September 2022 15:29 (one year ago) link
vinyl only then?― StanM
― StanM
3CD and digital too!
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Thursday, 8 September 2022 16:19 (one year ago) link
oh great! thanks!
― StanM, Thursday, 8 September 2022 17:30 (one year ago) link
I almost pre-ordered the CC version yesterday, then realized that the most basic shipping option was more than the cost of the set.
So: I’ll be looking for this in a local record store.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 September 2022 13:44 (one year ago) link
the b-sides/rarities/demos collection is so fucking good. it's the only thing i've been listening to for a few days
― na (NA), Thursday, 19 January 2023 16:34 (one year ago) link
what is the deal with "maniac"? very similar arrangement to "down by the water" but a completely different (and great) song
― na (NA), Thursday, 19 January 2023 16:41 (one year ago) link
I was about to post a similar comment. Maybe I'm burned out on "Down...," but I might prefer "Maniac."
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 January 2023 16:46 (one year ago) link
New album coming, there are two teaser videos on her socials and an announcement is scheduled for Tuesday evening.
A new playlist is now available on Spotify, featuring tracks co-produced alongside @JohnParish50 and Flood: https://t.co/TUAnzOjwWkNew studio clip filmed, directed and edited by #SteveGullick. pic.twitter.com/EWIHnTpzfA— PJ Harvey (@PJHarveyUK) April 19, 2023
A second studio clip… filmed, directed and edited by #SteveGullick.If you would like to be first to hear about new music, join the PJ Harvey mailing list community https://t.co/ZUXlkAPgbv pic.twitter.com/dhRhga6xPi— PJ Harvey (@PJHarveyUK) April 21, 2023
The tracklisting shown in one of the videos indicates the record is based on poems from Orlam.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Sunday, 23 April 2023 09:02 (one year ago) link
I Inside the Old Year Dyingout July 7th on Partisan Records
https://i.ibb.co/r4q6hSQ/IMG-9193.jpg
1. Prayer at the Gate2. Autumn Term3. Lwonesome Tonight4. Seem an I5. The Nether-edge6. I Inside the Old Year Dying7. All Souls8. A Child's Question, August9. I Inside the Old I Dying10. August11. A Child's Question, July12. A Noiseless Noise
PJ Harvey says, "After many years of work I am very happy to release this collection of new songs. It was a difficult album to make and took time to find its strongest form, but it has finally become all I hoped for it to be."I Inside the Old Year Dying marks PJ Harvey's first album in seven years, produced and mixed by her long-time creative collaborators John Parish and Flood."On this album PJ Harvey builds a sonic universe somehow located in a space between life's opposites, and between recent history and the ancient past.Scattered with biblical imagery and references to Shakespeare, all of these distinctions ultimately dissolve into something profoundly uplifting and redemptive." - John Harris, March 2023
I Inside the Old Year Dying marks PJ Harvey's first album in seven years, produced and mixed by her long-time creative collaborators John Parish and Flood.
"On this album PJ Harvey builds a sonic universe somehow located in a space between life's opposites, and between recent history and the ancient past.
Scattered with biblical imagery and references to Shakespeare, all of these distinctions ultimately dissolve into something profoundly uplifting and redemptive." - John Harris, March 2023
First single "A Child's Question, August" out tomorrow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvYMlixvzHM
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Tuesday, 25 April 2023 20:22 (eleven months ago) link
that sounds great!
― rob, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 12:55 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah. I’ve not understood her need to use her high, reedy register for so many of the more recent records, but this is beginning to sound like the Polly I used to admire so fiercely.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:06 (eleven months ago) link
I enjoy her in that higher mode, but I agree the "tender love" lines in that^ are really powerful
― rob, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:09 (eleven months ago) link
I've given up waiting for her to sound like the old days. Polly as rock juggernaut remains all-time for me. Polly as chamber-gloom I can take or leave. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever got around to listening to the last one!
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:29 (eleven months ago) link
It does look like she's playing guitar again in this video, but no, it's not exactly a return to the 90s.
― Chris L, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:36 (eleven months ago) link
Interesting that she's not on Island anymore.
― Eyeball Kicks, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:45 (eleven months ago) link
huh, I really can't relate at all to wanting her to sound like her 90s albums again (if that is what you're saying?). I don't think I ever listened to Hope 6 in full either, but Let England Shake is a masterpiece. Besides, I'm not convinced "rock juggernaut" was ever a truly accurate descriptor for her--at the very least it ignores aspects of her music that were present early on
― rob, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 13:49 (eleven months ago) link
I meant her trio; those first two albums are two of my fave rock albums of all time, and they do rock. The chamber stuff starts to creep in with album three, and I do like that one a lot and a couple of the ones after (specifically Songs/Stories and Let England Shake), but tbh most of her albums I don't go back to nearly as often as I do those first two.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 14:05 (eleven months ago) link
Hope 6 is the only album of hers that I would call a failure. It's obvious, the lyrics are didactic, the music isn't compelling. Some of those songs worked a little better live. But it wasn't a failure in the sense that "she's lost it." It was more like failed experiment that I'm hoping she progresses from.
Not sure about "A Child's Question." I'm probably biased because someone pointed out that the lyrics are based on poems. The song sounds like a static background for her recitations. Maybe I need to pay more attention to the lyrics.
I kept up with all of the recent reissues, most of which I had on CD. White Chalk was a great discovery for me; I had passed it up when it was released and that is some good, spooky shit.
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 14:11 (eleven months ago) link
100% co-sign on White Chalk being an underrated gem, it gets lost between Let England Shake and her earlier rockier stuff like Stories, but it's an incredible record, a true self-contained little spooky world.
I would say that Hope Six and Uh Huh Her are her only two real missteps. Both kind of feel more like failed experiments than fully-realised pieces of work. Judging from the press release, Hope Six left her creatively spent:
I Inside the Old Year Dying’s story goes back six years, to the end of touring around her last album in 2017 and how Harvey felt immediately afterwards. What she keenly felt was that somewhere in the endless cycle of albums and tours, she had lost her connection with the music itself, a realisation that was troubling beyond words.This was hardly a time of creative withdrawal: thanks to mentoring by the Scottish poet Don Paterson, she worked on Orlam, the accomplished work of poetry – her second, after 2015’s The Hollow of the Hand – that was published last year and became one of the new album’s key inspirations. There were also the reissues of Harvey’s preceding albums – and, in new editions, their demo versions – that came out between 2020 and 2022. But eventually, two things began to push her in the direction of new songs, music and sounds.One was the memory of a meeting with the artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, in Chicago, during the Hope Six period. His advice was to remember what she loves about words, images and music and to put away the concept of writing “an album” to focus on and play with these three passions. The other catalyst for a return to music was simple: the sheer act of playing it. Picking up the guitar or sitting down at the piano to play her favourite songs by such artists as Nina Simone or Bob Dylan - reconfirmed her passion for the art form.Something soon started to cohere. When Harvey began to write new songs, there was a liberating sense of making music for its own sake rather than the first steps back into the album-tour-album-tour cycle. She drew on the sense of creative freedom she had felt in past musical work on soundtracks and in the theatre. At the same time, her perspective was shifting away from the big themes of Let England Shake and Hope Six (“looking out, at war, politics, the world”) towards something more intimate and human.
This was hardly a time of creative withdrawal: thanks to mentoring by the Scottish poet Don Paterson, she worked on Orlam, the accomplished work of poetry – her second, after 2015’s The Hollow of the Hand – that was published last year and became one of the new album’s key inspirations. There were also the reissues of Harvey’s preceding albums – and, in new editions, their demo versions – that came out between 2020 and 2022. But eventually, two things began to push her in the direction of new songs, music and sounds.
One was the memory of a meeting with the artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, in Chicago, during the Hope Six period. His advice was to remember what she loves about words, images and music and to put away the concept of writing “an album” to focus on and play with these three passions. The other catalyst for a return to music was simple: the sheer act of playing it. Picking up the guitar or sitting down at the piano to play her favourite songs by such artists as Nina Simone or Bob Dylan - reconfirmed her passion for the art form.
Something soon started to cohere. When Harvey began to write new songs, there was a liberating sense of making music for its own sake rather than the first steps back into the album-tour-album-tour cycle. She drew on the sense of creative freedom she had felt in past musical work on soundtracks and in the theatre. At the same time, her perspective was shifting away from the big themes of Let England Shake and Hope Six (“looking out, at war, politics, the world”) towards something more intimate and human.
Anyway, I think lyrically the new album might be a tough sell for a casual listener? All the poems are written in Dorset dialect and they're part of a narrative that the album doesn't stick to, judging from the tracklisting. And musically apparently the whole thing was recorded/put together via live improvisation between her, John Parish and Flood.
"A Child's Question, August" is lovely (it's the actor Ben Whishaw on the backing vocals, btw) but feels like such an unassuming choice for a lead single; I'm really curious how the whole thing will turn out.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 15:12 (eleven months ago) link
People who have obviously written their own Wikipedia entry
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 26 April 2023 20:43 (eleven months ago) link
also I’m not convinced an account of a complete lack of inspiration and years of trying to get started is a great way to entice potential listeners
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 26 April 2023 20:44 (eleven months ago) link
Didn't love *every* era of hers, but at the very least, every iteration of Polly has been interesting. White Chalk was a little boring to me (might have to go back and listen to it to truly appreaciate it) and I thought Hope 6 was more interesting lyrically than sonically but once a fan always a fan. I actually really loved Stories but I think it sounds better live. (Same for Rid of Me).
Imo her sexiest/best record is probably 'Is this Desire'. Idk if Dancehall at Louise Point was any good (Been a couple of years since I've listened' but it certainly had a profound effect on me.
Looking forward to where she goes with 'I Inside the Old Dying Year'.I'm not reallyyy a creature of nostalgia so even though I don't love everything she puts out- I can appreciate her constant evolution in artistry.
― uglyfemme, Wednesday, 26 April 2023 21:15 (eleven months ago) link
Uh Huh Her wasn't an experiment: it was a return to the brutalist sound of Rid of Me with a decade's worth of knowledge about albums, cool sounds, and textures.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 26 April 2023 21:21 (eleven months ago) link
even though I don't love everything she puts out- I can appreciate her constant evolution in artistry.
my take, pretty much. my faves are still To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire, but a new one is always worth a listen
― Perverted By Linguiça (sleeve), Wednesday, 26 April 2023 21:28 (eleven months ago) link
xp Alfred OTM re: Uh Huh Her. I think it holds up really well, plus it opens with one of the all-time great detuned guitar riffs.
― J. Sam, Thursday, 27 April 2023 13:54 (eleven months ago) link
been waiting for thirty years for pj harvey to rock out again, wonder if it’s ever gonna happen
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 27 April 2023 14:32 (eleven months ago) link
This new video has made me optimistic about enjoying her new release for the first time in a long time. Uh Huh Her was mostly dull, and suggested that she'd emptied the well of writing from "personal experience", but each of the subsequent records, despite having a few notable songs, felt like homework, "this-is-for-your-own-good" art. She has definitely never chosen the easy path, though, and that deserves a lot of respect.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 27 April 2023 15:05 (eleven months ago) link
I kinda felt like she was co-opted by the Guardian readership and leaned into the “high culture icon” thing. I’ve loved her work since Dry but I didn’t go see her when she came to town about 10 years ago, the promo image showed her with black feathers in her hair playing an autoharp and I thought you know what, no thanks.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 27 April 2023 21:24 (eleven months ago) link
I mean, she already made two power-trio records. We can still listen to those if we want. While I haven’t loved everything she’s done since (though I do love most of it), it’s extremely fascinating and exciting to see how/that she keeps challenging herself and her audience.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 27 April 2023 21:32 (eleven months ago) link
It’s not the challenging aspect I object to, it’s just that the records haven’t been very good. I found things to enjoy on Let England Shake (“Hanging in the Wire” is incredible) but the concept took over from the art too regularly. Hope Six just felt like preachy homework, (as well described above). On the other hand I love the experimentation on Desire and it’s my equal favourite with Rid of Me.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 27 April 2023 21:48 (eleven months ago) link
It’s similar to my problem with Nick Cave - when an artist becomes aware of their cultural status, some assume the mantle and it’s fatal for their work. PJH is far greater than Cave so I have hope she will dig out.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 27 April 2023 21:50 (eleven months ago) link
She became a little like post-New York Lou Reed, without the vulgarity to be able to pull out a "Sex With Your Parents" every once in a while.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 27 April 2023 21:51 (eleven months ago) link
xps I think I meant “In the Dark Places”, it’s been a while since I listened to it.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 27 April 2023 22:35 (eleven months ago) link
In The Dark Places is amazing, yes
― StanM, Friday, 28 April 2023 08:16 (eleven months ago) link
idk if pj harvey who has released only one kinda retready album (hope six) (uh huh her is mad underrated and misunderstood) merits this discourse, new song feels like she’s resumed fearlessly pushing forward, speaking of i’d sooner compare her to bowie than reed or cave
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 28 April 2023 12:43 (eleven months ago) link
obv anyone can feel however they like but we might not get an artist like her ever again so my receptors are set on appreciating what we have
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 28 April 2023 12:46 (eleven months ago) link
otm. I'm surprised by some of the sourness here. two different accusations of "homework" 🤔
― rob, Friday, 28 April 2023 12:56 (eleven months ago) link
I don't think either of those takes are wrong at all, but at the same time I wouldn't want to overstate her value/talents. For example, I would not really consider her fearless or a radical Bowie-like reinventor, just a songwriter who sometimes struggles with what to say and how to say it. Like I said, she's released at least two, maybe three, of my favorite albums of all time, which is more than most acts, but she's also released a lot of stuff I find kind of boring. Granted, boring on her own terms, and not really boring in a "bad" way, just boring in a way that doesn't really click with me. That's of course personal taste (or lack thereof!).
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 April 2023 13:16 (eleven months ago) link
If she were a minor/lesser talent, she'd keep releasing albums in one mode for eternity.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 28 April 2023 13:26 (eleven months ago) link
Yeah, I dunno. What was that (apocryphal?) Peter Buck quote about being able to write songs like "Driver 8" in his sleep?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 April 2023 13:29 (eleven months ago) link
Anyway, the reason I value her as a major talent, even though she makes a lot of music that does not move me, is that it would not shock me in the least if she released an album in the future that I would add to my list of all-time faves.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 April 2023 13:35 (eleven months ago) link
I don’t think any of us are arguing that she’s anything less than a stellar talent. I’ve considered her in the top rank of, well, anyone in music since her debut. It hurts to not enjoy what she’s doing. I hope to again. And like Bowie, when I don’t enjoy the work I kinda assume it’s me, not her.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 28 April 2023 13:38 (eleven months ago) link
It's not always you
https://media.tenor.com/SowoYaZKAW8AAAAd/david-bowie-mick-jagger.gif
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 April 2023 13:47 (eleven months ago) link
idk she's only made one real misstep at this point with hope six
i would welcome a return to something more directly in the lineage of her 90s work of course, that's still her best period, but i don't think she'd have to repeat herself or anything to do that
the new track is a weird single choice, not particularly compelling on its own but could work better in the context of the album
― ufo, Friday, 28 April 2023 13:49 (eleven months ago) link
Nobody who cares about her should sleep on the '96 and '09 records credited to she and Parrish… indeed Hope Six is the only mediocre record she has made…that tour is the only time I ever seen her, and it was at Terminal 5, the most intolerable large venue in NYC…
― veronica moser, Friday, 28 April 2023 14:38 (eleven months ago) link
I have to say, despite Hope Six the album being mediocre, the tour behind it was great -- saw two shows, a huge 10-piece band with two drummers and a bunch of saxes playing a career-spanning set (heavy on Let England Shake - which I love - but also featuring some 90s favourites); they were incredible.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 28 April 2023 14:51 (eleven months ago) link
I loved Dance Hall at Louse Point, probably in my top 3 of her records, and was very pleased she played a number of songs from it when I saw her in 1998. A Woman a Man Walked By is the only one of her albums I haven't heard, it seemed to come and go with little fanfare.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 28 April 2023 14:53 (eleven months ago) link
With PJ back in the limelight YouTube randomly reminded me of this UHH-era live Slim Harpo / Stones cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzApY1nCcSk
She also used to do The Fall's "Janet + Johnny" back in 2004:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLg0FhUTeRI
If I'm not mistaken both recordings are from a semi-acoustic gig she did at Royal Court Theatre in England at the end of that tour.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 28 April 2023 20:44 (eleven months ago) link
Hope Six is underrated (just ignore the lyrics!) and I agree the live show for it was great (....but the most memorable part was the rush when "50 Ft. Queenie" started; I think how outrageously good she was in the 90s overshadows her current stuff which suffers from the comparison).
― Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Friday, 28 April 2023 20:46 (eleven months ago) link
This thread inspired me to revisit A Woman Walked By. At the time(s) I didn’t care about these John Parish collaboration records - I was RONG. Great stuff.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 28 April 2023 22:12 (eleven months ago) link
Ooh a lot of interesting takes here. I have to say I actually liked Hope Six.
'been waiting for thirty years for pj harvey to rock out again, wonder if it’s ever gonna happen'
She's in her avant garde folk phase right now, so probably not, or at least not the way she used to in the 90s/early aughts. One can hope, though.
"I mean, she already made two power-trio records. We can still listen to those if we want. While I haven’t loved everything she’s done since (though I do love most of it), it’s extremely fascinating and exciting to see how/that she keeps challenging herself and her audience."
Agreed! I don't see the Bowie parallel (Maybe because Polly's transition from one sound to next hasn't been that drastic) but I feel similarly insomuch that I didn't love everything he did either; he's a genius but my personal feelings are that everything he did was either a swing or a miss. Still I feel there's merit in the ways she refuses to do the same things over and over.
― uglyfemme, Saturday, 13 May 2023 14:26 (eleven months ago) link
Just got tickets for the second night in Glasgow.
I love ‘A Child’s Question, August’ of the two songs released so far.
― brain (krakow), Wednesday, 14 June 2023 09:34 (ten months ago) link
There was a play-through of the full album alongside an interview on French radio and I really enjoyed what I heard. Bits and pieces reminded me of different PJH eras, e.g. hazy soundscapes (analogue synths, field recordings) brought to mind Is This Desire B-sides, some ghostlike vocals nodded to White Chalk, and folk-rock elements seemed to be a natural progression from what she did on Let England Shake (musically, not lyrically — although no saxophone or autoharp this time around), but overall the whole thing is very much its own weird beast. Definitely won’t lure back the crowd that lost interest when she stopped rocking out but it had so many gorgeous, moving and slightly bizzare moments sprinkled throughout that I can already see myself returning to it more often than to Hope Six — thankfully the self-important quality of that record is gone.
Seems to have a very ‘live’/rehearsal/warts-and-all quality, too, aparently a lot of the recordings were first takes, sometimes half-improvised. Can’t wait to listen to it properly in good quality.
I’m sure the lyrics will be puzzling to people who have not read the book, though — the poems chosen for the songs don’t really construct a narrative when taken out of context, more of an obscure vibe. Plenty of dialect vocabulary, lots of recurring motifs, especially references to death and Elvis. And femboys! Lol
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Thursday, 29 June 2023 19:02 (nine months ago) link
from that description, aoty
― ivy (BradNelson), Thursday, 29 June 2023 19:05 (nine months ago) link
Thank you! I’m intrigued.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 29 June 2023 19:12 (nine months ago) link
Despite reservations I’m ready for this to be great, I mean she is a fucking genius
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 29 June 2023 21:52 (nine months ago) link
New profile in the Guardian by Laura Snapes:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/01/pj-harvey-interview-i-inside-the-old-year-dying
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 1 July 2023 10:29 (nine months ago) link
this is probably her weirdest album, quite minimal and atmospheric. it's closest to is this desire (the quieter bits for the most part) and let england shake (though with the autoharp replaced by pastoral fingerpicked guitar). it's quite a nice mix of sounds, but there's often not that much to the songs themselves, a lot tend to just stay in one place (though there are impressive exceptions)
the lyrics are largely impenetrable (them being significantly in an obscure english dialect certainly doesn't help) but what i can make out seems to have a significant focus on elvis-as-christ and gender. was taken aback by her singing of 'femboys in the forest'
― ufo, Friday, 7 July 2023 10:24 (nine months ago) link
i don't think this is going to be one of my favourite of her albums or anything but it'll probably grow on me a fair bit and just giving a taste of 'what if if this desire didn't have such a flat mix' is enough to make me relatively fond of it
the general vibe of it reminds me of third a fair bit actually? certainly not as bleak or as haunted but there's a similarity
― ufo, Friday, 7 July 2023 11:41 (nine months ago) link
Ann Powers interviews her: https://www.npr.org/2023/07/06/1185749989/pj-harvey-i-inside-the-old-year-dying-orlam-interview
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 7 July 2023 12:43 (nine months ago) link
If you don't have a physical copy (or have not read Orlam), the official website has annotations to the lyrics that make them easier to parse:
https://pjharvey.net/lyrics/?release=i-inside-the-old-year-dying
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 7 July 2023 15:13 (nine months ago) link
god the enormous harrowing world that opens up and beckons you into it when you start this record
― ivy (BradNelson), Friday, 7 July 2023 21:41 (nine months ago) link
After one listen, I feel like I need to listen to it further - a good sign.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 8 July 2023 00:10 (nine months ago) link
I'm loving it. It sounds like her again.
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 8 July 2023 03:09 (nine months ago) link
Got my CD today but not listened yet.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Saturday, 8 July 2023 21:02 (nine months ago) link
Hmmm, interesting but not a lot of fun to listen to? For me anyway.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 9 July 2023 18:45 (nine months ago) link
idk is white chalk fun to listen to? the new one feels like it sits next to that one more than anything imo. the songs certainly have been creeping into me slowly like some kind of mold. and i think there's audible wonder in the realm harvey/parish/flood are creating with the wispiest gestures
a fragmented account of things that seem intimately woven into each other (e.g. the recurrence of figures like "wyman-elvis" and the repeated interpolations/inversions of "love me tender"). songs can be static as a photograph or mutant as the ground of a swamp. like sifting through the damaged remains of something long after its ended, but also finding something eternal in it, something that's being repeated over and over again behind the skin of reality, like a heartbeat
― ivy (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 16:30 (nine months ago) link
off topic I got the Peel Sessions comp on that Sound of Vinyl sale and wow, what an amazing document
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 16:35 (nine months ago) link
It's a more compelling listen than White Chalk, which at the time I tagged as the first chapter in a phase we wouldn't see -- until now: skeletal by design, testing her vocal range. The lyric sheet looks like transcribed Geoffrey Hill poems, and her own lyrics have his curiosity about English myths and folklore.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 16:54 (nine months ago) link
xp me too! I am perhaps driving my family crazy with the frequency of wang dang doodles.
― New No-No Bettencourt (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 17:14 (nine months ago) link
i think the first and last tracks are the best
― ufo, Tuesday, 11 July 2023 19:36 (nine months ago) link
Brad nails the feeling.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 19:58 (nine months ago) link
thank u raymond (fyi i'm going by "ivy" now, prob one day soon i'll appear with a different username)
― ivy (BradNelson), Tuesday, 11 July 2023 21:59 (nine months ago) link
the new yorker interview is v good. let england shake had been the first thing id liked of hers for a while, a long while. and hope 6 left me cold. but this album is really working its way into me. at first i felt the music was a little weak - just a sort of funereal pattering and chiming - the field recordings, the interleaving of themes and phrases, her voice of course, create the feeling of a whole work - almost a song cycle (listening to Abrahamsen’s Let Me Tell You cycle of songs comprising only words used by Ophelia in Hamlet, from Paul Griffiths’ novel of the same name, is the closest recent listening experience i’ve had). i’m still circling around it, still a bit hesitating and uncertain - the slightness of it - but it feels pretty magical to me. a scrap of something in the wind caught on barbed wire on a country walk.
― Fizzles, Sunday, 23 July 2023 19:11 (nine months ago) link
i think it was the nether edge that first switched me on to the album.
― Fizzles, Sunday, 23 July 2023 19:15 (nine months ago) link
She was every bit as good as I'd hoped and expected at the recent live show (I went to the second night in Glasgow).
Given that, I'm more than a little tempted by the London show that's just been announced for next year at Gunnersbury Park. What's that like as a venue, if anyone has been? I also only know Big Thief from the others on the bill, in case there's anything in particular I should check out to aid decision making.
PJ Harvey announces her only London summer performance of 2024 at Gunnersbury Park, a Grade II listed parkland venue within walking distance of Acton Town and Ealing Broadway, on Sunday 18th August 2024.PJ Harvey says, “I’m grateful to Gunnersbury Park for inviting me to curate this event. I have chosen what I feel to be some of the most exciting artists working today. With them I hope to be able to give the audience an emotional, heartening and uplifting experience.”The line-up includes special guests Big Thief, Tirzah, and Shida Shahabi.
PJ Harvey says, “I’m grateful to Gunnersbury Park for inviting me to curate this event. I have chosen what I feel to be some of the most exciting artists working today. With them I hope to be able to give the audience an emotional, heartening and uplifting experience.”
The line-up includes special guests Big Thief, Tirzah, and Shida Shahabi.
― brain (krakow), Monday, 23 October 2023 12:11 (six months ago) link
Saw her last month and all I can say is her current show is insanely good—perhaps not surprisingly, I have never seen her be anything less than stellar live, but she still exceeded my expectations. She had a small four-person backing band featuring John Parish and James Johnston from Gallon Drunk/Bad Seeds and a pretty simple but theatrical staging (old furniture scattered all over lol). The first half focused just on I Inside the Old Year Dying performed from the beginning to the end (and boy how this album comes alive in concert!) and then the second hour was pretty much a back catalogue dive, from Let England Shake through favs from Is This Desire (“The Garden”!) and To Bring You My Love to early work like "Man-Size" or "Dress". Vocally impeccable and she hasn’t lost an ounce of her charisma.
And yes, she’s doing festivals/open air shows in Europe next year and then a tour of the US in the fall—don’t miss!
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 4 November 2023 20:11 (five months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtYDx_2L1mo
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 6 November 2023 21:13 (five months ago) link
Cool. Miss rockin' Polly. That trio ruled.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 6 November 2023 21:17 (five months ago) link
That Gunnersbury Park show...
― Indexed, Thursday, 16 November 2023 15:58 (five months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSUgrhmtXIw
― ufo, Friday, 17 November 2023 15:12 (five months ago) link
Glad I held off on the London show now, with more dates just announced, including Halifax at The Piece Hall, which looks like a really nice venue. Might look into heading there instead.
― brain (krakow), Monday, 27 November 2023 10:54 (four months ago) link
the 13 Oct Paris show will be on Arte's youtube channel in two days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30IJIexCS24
― StanM, Monday, 4 December 2023 11:28 (four months ago) link
I've been working my way through the mass of Harvey vinyl I've acquired in the past couple of years (demos, B-sides box, neglected albums).
Let England Shake demos might be my favorite demo disc. It's startling to hear those songs paired back and raw.
Hope Six demos are better than the actual album. If she had just released those through a web site or as a smaller project it would probably have a better reputation. It's still not great by any means, but smallness helps it.
― Cow_Art, Monday, 4 December 2023 14:29 (four months ago) link
cool, I'll give those a listen. I haven't actually listened to the demos for any of these (other than the old 4 track Demos release); I picked up the Peel Sessions record but that was it.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 4 December 2023 22:50 (four months ago) link
late to the new one but really liking it, sounds like her ghost made a record
― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Monday, 4 December 2023 22:52 (four months ago) link
that Paris concert just started streaming fyi
― donna rouge, Wednesday, 6 December 2023 19:06 (four months ago) link
I've been a doubter but no more, that is a fantastic show. What an artist.
― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 6 December 2023 22:38 (four months ago) link
yes, I needed to see the live performances to get me over the line re: the album again (this seems to be the pattern with me and her albums now)
― StanM, Wednesday, 6 December 2023 23:56 (four months ago) link
3 songs missing from the complete show: 16 Angelene, 17 Send His Love to Me and 24 C'mon Billy
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pj-harvey/2023/lolympia-bruno-coquatrix-paris-france-2ba3443a.html
― StanM, Thursday, 7 December 2023 10:44 (four months ago) link
Angelene is a big favourite, I'm glad she's comfortable going back to it.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 7 December 2023 11:31 (four months ago) link
yeah wish those were included; this is a great show
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 9 December 2023 23:35 (four months ago) link
fitting she closed this with White Chalk, I've been thinking that's the album the new one is most like (also an album lots of people had a hard time with; it's one of my favorites, I like her gothy shit)
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 9 December 2023 23:38 (four months ago) link
oh maybe I should listen to the new one then, I love White Chalk
― Colonel Poo, Sunday, 10 December 2023 00:01 (four months ago) link
sounds like her ghost made a record
this is an accurate description
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Sunday, 10 December 2023 00:43 (four months ago) link
gave several of the demo discs a partial listen over the past day; some are interesting, some are not; some have replay value, some don't (some of the ones for Is this Desire sounds like the demos were just overdubbed and worked on to become the final versions). The most illuminating thing about Let England Shake was how those songs appear to have been written around samples from other tracks; suddenly "gonna take my problems to the united nations" makes total sense, the entire drum rhythm for the song comes from Summertime Blues.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 11 December 2023 20:38 (four months ago) link
Great new interview / live session from World Cafe:https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2023/12/15/1219342795/pj-harvey-album-i-inside-the-old-year-dying
Offers some candid insights into writing Hope 6:
I can remember whilst I was writing The Hope Six Demolition Project album, which was the album prior to this one, it felt like hard work. I had to really graft to get anything good, and that seemed to continue. And even the songs that I was writing, I felt like they were just missing the mark for what I really wanted to be doing. It was such a struggle, and it was not enjoyable. I thought, “I’m not enjoying this, this is feeling more like homework you’ve got to do than the love of my life”. And I just kept thinking, “Keep working through it, just work through it, it will pass”. And it didn’t, really.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Friday, 15 December 2023 18:33 (four months ago) link
She's been reading my posts: "each of the subsequent records, despite having a few notable songs, felt like homework, 'this-is-for-your-own-good' art."
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 15 December 2023 18:48 (four months ago) link
I can't find that quote in the interview page - has it been edited, maybe?
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 15 December 2023 23:02 (four months ago) link
^ I transcribed it from the audio interview, the quotes on the website are just excerpts
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Saturday, 16 December 2023 08:36 (four months ago) link
Oh nice! Will listen.
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 16 December 2023 10:23 (four months ago) link
PJ Harvey ticketmaster pre-sale today for some shows in North America
password is NOISELESS
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 20:19 (one month ago) link
Got my ticket !!!
― LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 00:33 (one month ago) link
got 4th row at the Greek. probably the first time I've spent over $100 for a ticket, but worth it. other than the reading/mini-set she did in the fall, haven't seen her in 20 years.
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 00:48 (one month ago) link
i’ll be further back in the greek, nearly considered buying closer but i don’t get paid til later in the week. went to her last show there on the ‘hope six’ tour, can’t waitttt
― donna rouge, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 05:19 (one month ago) link
I briefly considered getting a ticket but just couldn't pull the trigger for a $100+ ticket considering I like but don't love her album from last year and I know she'll play older tracks and it'll be a great show overall but why do shows have to be so fucking expensive these days fuck this
― Murgatroid, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 05:23 (one month ago) link
Not a fan of Terminal 5 here in NYC, the venue really sucks for multiple reasons, but I guess the tradeoff is that the show's GA with tickets being $85 including fees. Is the Greek really nice?
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 06:00 (one month ago) link
Pondering a ticket
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 09:42 (one month ago) link
I'm glad to finally be on my proper jouney with PJI've danced around it for years
― Swen, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 12:04 (one month ago) link
really assumed the masonic shows in SF would be fully seated but apparently floor is GA, which is fine. Happy these tickets were only $75, completely reasonable for how amazing this is going to be.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 14:14 (one month ago) link
DC show at Anthem appears to be GA too
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:24 (one month ago) link
for the floor
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 15:28 (one month ago) link