POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

Ha!

5. Missed (Rid Of Me) – 362 points, 1 first place, 17 votes

I was pleased you went for 22 rather than 20, it meant I could sneak this one a vote

I randomly went for 22 when I did the Blur poll a couple of years ago just because it meant that the bottom-placed track on each ballot got 10 points, which seemed somehow more satisfying than 12. I didn't realise that poll was going to lead to this huge never-ending series of polls. Somewhere down the line my 22-tracks thing got rationalised to 20 by everyone else. I'm keeping it real.

Missed is probably the biggest surprise here. I voted for it, but didn't think it would be that popular. In fact I massively underestimated the appeal of 'Rid of Me' (the album) in general.

wow, glad i was wrong on missed but that means we are done with LES and some ppl will be disappointed at one exclusion i guess.

anyway, just wonderful track, the whole 1st 4 of ROM should've been top 20 imo.

and angelene, beautiful, beautiful song. no #1 love is a little sad. i really thought about it.

I guessed that 22 was an homage to old world cup squads before they added an extra goalie place - that's all that number means to me anyhow.

There's a huge leap up of more than 100 points between 5th and 4th place.

is "Angelene" this poll's "Sway"?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8hfyP3kULww/TLiShmhOoEI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/9kIjvhbC3ik/s1600/GoddessSheelaNaGigReliefD-88.jpg

yeah i had guessed the top 4 would separate themselves altho you can never be too sure

'Missed' and 'Angelene' both in my top 5.

looks like the whole top 5 will be from her first two albums - i like/love all of them (obv guessing the last 3) but in the context of such a discography it's a bit disappointing that the implication is she peaked at the start

I didn't even consider voting for this - felt like such an idiot, I tell you, when I saw her blazing through it on that documentary.

agree xp

4. Sheela-Na-Gig (Dry) – 460 points, 19 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkS_R7RDuMc

what an amazing single!

it's a bit disappointing that the implication is she peaked at the start

You could look at it that way, or you could say that people have had 20+ years for those songs to be so wholly absorbed that calling them favorites is just instinctual.

(Though, truth be told, there's a huge gap in quality between the first two and everything else in her discography imo.)

Sheela is obviously great, but I always link it to the other single on Dry, whose oddness beats Sheela's indie hookiness. That's why I didn't vote for it. No number ones for it either.

(xps) I loved it (Sheela-na-gig) at the time, but for some reason it feels trapped in 1992 to me (while most of 'Dry' seems timeless).

(Though, truth be told, there's a huge gap in quality between the first two and everything else in her discography imo.)

absolutely not, unless you mean everything else is a huge step UP

I feel like she has four 5-star albums:

Dry
ROM
TBYML
LES

the others are 4-star

OTM

I was ambivalent about LES on its release but, boy, did it sneak up on me. 4.5 stars.

I *thought* (i.e. this is not necessarily my opinion of the albums) that she was kind of regarded as a step-forward-step-back artist. So I thought 'Dry' was a big deal, 'Rid of me' was seen as a bit of a deliberately awkward retreat, 'To Bring You My Love' was the breakthrough, 'Is This Desire?' was relatively ignored, 'Stories from...' won the Mercury Prize, 'White Chalk' I didn't even notice, 'Let England Shake' critically acclaimed and another Mercury Prize.

love the old guy backing vox on twtmm

http://australiafirstparty.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/queenie.jpg

5: ITD, LES, TBYML
4: DHALP, WC, D, 4TD
3.5: UHH
3: ROM, AWAMWB, SFTCSFTS

actually I think ITD is 4.5 stars, upon reflection

queue "Joy" before The Knife's "Full of Fire." Go on.

3. 50ft Queenie (Rid of Me) - 488 points, 1 first place, 18 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKLiU7Hq93w

I had Queenie at no.2 but I never understood what it's supposed to mean

wow, the placement of "missed" is the biggest surprise so far. i never even considered voting for it.

everything else otm

Missed is a really good song, but one I never remember the name of until it comes on and I look at the tracklisting.

Maybe "Missed" is the "Sway" then...

glory glory lay it all on me

If the next two go in alphabetical order they'll match my 1-2.

I'm hoping #1 is my own #1, but my #2 was Yuri-G.

I had Queenie at no.2 but I never understood what it's supposed to mean

Think I understand what it's supposed to mean. The one I don't get is Down By The Water, which sounds like it's supposed to be a pretty straightforward narrative but I've never managed to untangle it.

i would like to hear an explanation on queenie if there is one going. it always seemed to me like a parody of the grotesqueries of male sexuality but i am sure there is more to it.

50ft. Queenie is about how her dick's bigger than yours, mine & ours.

^ that's my understanding

2. Principles v Feelings (Automatic Dlamini)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr9K1MUmcuA

too low

Better than anything on Stories...

haha!

slammm

it is amazing how bad that song is

2. Rid Of Me (Rid of Me) – 608 points, 2 first places, 23 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gvpvh4WYoA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwG3r9_L9o