POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

Her best album closer?

I think so

i was the no.1 voter for ITD! i absolutely love her controlled, deep voice on it - it's such a careful song.

"The Dancer" is her best album closer by a mile, but "Is This Desire" is probably second (I voted for it).

PJH album closers:

1. is this desire?
2. the darker days of me & him
3. the dancer
4. the mountain
5. this wicked tongue
6. the colour of the earth
7. water
8. cracks in the canvas
9. lost fun zone
10. ecstasy
11. goodnight

lex, my top three exactly

Collaborative playlist - currently up to date

which album closed with "This Wicked Tongue"?

kornrulez6969 - i wasn't mocking your #1, it was a sincere request and i am glad you replied, i will listen to the track with your comments in mind. as far as my #1 is concerned, the top of my list was very unadventurous, and i think i'd actually be surprised if my 1 and 2 don't fall in the top 3. we'll see when we get there i guess.

looking at those closers together just makes me think closers are not a strong suit

yup

fwiwimo 'the whores blah, blah, blah' does nothing for me, 'you said something' is inoffensive but a little dull, 'big exit' is great

― The Horse Rustler and the Rustler's Horse (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, April 29, 2013 2:00 PM (1 hour ago)

otm. stories isn't a great album, but it's better than okay, and i understand why a lot of people dig it. it's got a patti smith vibe: tough, urban, romantic, steeped in but standing slightly outside mainstream radio rock. you're in the city, you're in love, specificity and words are kind of blown away in sweeping, soaring feelings. igi.

The Whores Hustles is a good title but easy (it's a fun game to come up with equivalents), and the song is kinda OK in that it reminds you of earlier glories, but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about. Bobby Gillespie would be mocked for this kind of gibberish.

Who cares about the lyrics? It's my favorite song of hers and I have no clue what it's about. It's all about the last 30 seconds, the high note, the riff, perfection.

so weird to me that 'big exit' and 'you said something' are the sftc trax so far that didn't get first place votes. knew all that sftc slagging off from twee types would backfire though.

I was one of the two #1 votes for "This is Love". I adored it like no other song of hers the first time I heard it, and I still adore it today.... it's just so primal and lusty and dynamic (the way she gets all quiet and chilling on the verse before the final chorus). I'm loving the lack of predictability with this poll--can't imagine what will end up #1.

"but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about."

ahah i've always thought that too.

"This Wicked Tongue" is a bonus track/b-side that got appended to the Japanese version of Stories, I think even the UK version has "We Float" as the closer.

Who cares about the lyrics?

This times a jillion.

never liked how my version of Stories closed with "This Wicked Tongue". i think "We Float" consolidates the mood and themes of the album much better. that said, i've never really felt that that album goes very deep.

apt then

"This Wicked Tongue" is a bonus track/b-side that got appended to the Japanese version of Stories, I think even the UK version has "We Float" as the closer.

― Hoster Tulleee, Lord of Riverrun, Past Eve and Adam's (Leee), Monday, April 29, 2013 10:39 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wondered as much. The only proper album with the song is Peel Sessions, which ends with the "You Come Through" from Peel's memorial.

On a related note, did you know there's a version of TBYML with 9 extra songs? IIRC, they only cut 20 numbers at the sessions.

but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about.

She doesn't know about that stuff, so isn't she working about it?

asking about it, you mean, yeah?

Yes, asking about it!

While working for the man!

I'm going to make this typo work.

26. Let England Shake (Let England Shake) - 188 points, 1 first place, 9 votes

"this wicked tongue" closes my version of stories (and all UK versions) - i guess it's a bonus track but i've lived with it as the closer all these years.

"let england shake" is SO GORGEOUS. if PJH's closers can be hit-and-miss, she does have a knack for POW openers.

well, half the time, anyway

1. let england shake
2. angelene
3. rid of me
4. to bring you my love
5. the devil
6. big exit
7. black hearted love
8. oh my lover
9. girl
10. the life and death of mr. badmouth

"Angelene" is her best opener imo, but yeah they're all great.

so weird to me that 'big exit' and 'you said something' are the sftc trax so far that didn't get first place votes. knew all that sftc slagging off from twee types would backfire though.

― balls, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 01:29 (7 hours ago) Permalink

FTR nothing on Stories rocks as hard as "The Sky Lit Up", "Joy" or "No Girl So Sweet". Typically my favourite PJ tunes are weighted towards her loudest but I don't find that anything on Stories could come close to matching the intensity or power of "Long Snake Moan" or "Taut" or "Missed" or "Legs" or "Happy and Bleeding" or "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" or etc. or etc. or etc.

I actually think Let England Shake is the weakest track on that album, there's a flimsiness to it.

All the Stories tracks that have placed here are very good to great, that album is let down but its weaker half really, but there's no reason why its better tracks shouldn't place. If I'd voted then The Whores Hustle would have been pretty high on my ballet, the bit where she shoots up a register is so great.

Re: 'The Wind', I only realised recently that this got released as a single, which is kind of awesome (I was thinking about how there's never been a PJ 'best of' and how great a listen a chronological singles collection would be).

I really liked the version of Let England Shake she debuted on Andrew Marr where the Istanbul not Constantinople bit is a vocal loop. She probably made the right call reducing the sample to the melody but - that early version would get jarring on the album but it's so odd and sinister.

FTR nothing on Stories rocks as hard as "The Sky Lit Up", "Joy" or "No Girl So Sweet".

otm

my beef with stories is how toothless it is when it tries to "rock", about three songs excepted. "you said something" exemplifies this

SMDH 'You Said Something' isn't trying to rock.

Yeah that's its charm. This Is Love is trying to rock; You Said Something is warm and blissed out.

Keepers from Stories - Big Exit, Good Fortune, The Whores Hustle, You Said Something, Kamikaze, Is This Love, We Float.

That's more than I remember actually.

Actually now I think about it, Kamikaze is a bit of a second-rate The Sky Lit Up but I still enjoy it.

"We Float", seriously Matt?

It's not a candidate for this list by any stretch of the imagination but I enjoy its lightness.

Stories really is remarkably spotty for such a lightweight album. one of the songs did snag my no. 3 spot iirc, so it's not y'know, totally irredeemable. i don't mind "We Float" so much, even though the trade off between unsettling verse and calm-after-the-storm chorus is a bit of an obvious trick.

yeah, it's not a terrible song by any means. pretty great for what it is and probably her best album closer, imo. only complaint i'd make, and it applies to stories as a whole, is that she seems to stumble when trying to write more personal and tender lyrics (assuming that the album is more-or-less autobiographical). she's better when acting out in character, telling stories and/or examining ideas.

yeah, it's not a terrible song by any means. pretty great for what it is and probably her best album closer, imo.

We Float better than Water, Ecstasy and The Dancer! That's just an amazing opinion. But fair enough.

Insane

okay, i desist. "water" is miles better, hadn't thought it through. i mean, "water" got decent placement on my ballot when "we float" wasn't ever in the running. not a fan of "ecstacy" tbh, grating in a bad way, and would put "we float" and "the dancer" about neck & neck.

between "we float" and "the dancer", the former suffers for blandess, the latter for overwrought cavism.

Lol I tried to google definition of "cavism" before the penny dropped.

Right, here we go again...

25. On Battleship Hill (Let England Shake) - 195 points, 9 votes

TOO LOW

yes seems low. can't help but figure with 24 songs still to go there are going to be a couple of major surprises to me.