POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

6. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) - 66 points, 2 first places, 10 votes
http://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/covers/stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea.jpg

Surprised to see this so low, to be honest.

I'm regretting not voting for "4 Track Demos" now ... it's always been hard for me to separate it from "Rid of Me", the two of them together kind of make up a complete set. I actually bought it before RoM and didn't hear RoM in it's entirety until several months later.

white chalk is an album i wouldn't have expected from her. it's so intimate and she seems so vulnerable on it. i quite like it as it is different. most songs have got a frightening, harrowing quality to them. a very intense album, i rated it higher.

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

Yeah, early copies came with an extra disc called Demonstration. I got it on vinyl - probably my favourite record/object I own. It's basically the demos for Dry, which I think were the tapes that got her signed in the first place.

Here's Oh My Lover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwVCOuQK6w

And Dress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYhPEEmzaY

a little surprised to see stories that low until i stop to think what it could've possibly beaten (w/ a different sample group it might've beaten is this desire? but that sure as fuck wasn't happening here)

SFTC.. is a flawed album w/ a handful of incredible high points.

xpost It's an Airline guitar, prolly from the 60s (not a reissue). I believe Jack White is a fan.

Very surprised to see the next one so low as well...

5. Dry (1992) - 122 points, 6 first places, 17 votes
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nsCT3EFoxK8/SSqlvEhwW8I/AAAAAAAAA0g/WBxppmlWqIg/s320/PJ+Harvey+-+Dry-1992.jpg

yeah that's crazy but somebody in that top five had to be #5, i get to keep on thinking let england shake is a little overrated though

yeah, not a huge surprise, though it deserves better. rom & les were shoo-ins, and the tbyml/isd backers seem p dedicated.

Dry is a cracking first draft, but not at all ridiculous to conclude she's made four better ones

i guess it has to do with the fact tat most people who voted probably were not around at the time. from my pov definitely her best album, very song is a killer. so much energy plus great tunes and a pretty perfect, dry production.

I thought "Dry" might win ... other albums had their backers but "Dry" seemed to be the album that everybody liked

every song a killer...

I was around at the time and I didn't feel the need to buy a PJ Harvey album until TBYML

I didn't vote tho

4. Is This Desire? (1998) - 124 points, 4 first places, 21 votes
http://merlin.pl/Is-This-Desire_PJ-Harvey,images_big,26,5245632.jpg

only on ILM! yay!

I was around at the time and have vinyl Dry somewhere, but am now really regretting not shelling out for the double-disc. (memory says it might've been in indie shops only, which is a pretty poor show Chain With No Name, if you're reading)

yeah there could be a gulf in perspective between ppl for who whom dry was first contact w/ huge impact and ppl for whom it was just 'the early stuff' or whatever

ITD really made folks in my neck of the woods go "whaaaa...?" in '98. Certainly it sounded like a holding pattern compared to its predecessors. It didn't grab me until three years later.

i am still hoping that to bring you my love might win this but that is probably a delusion.

Dry was my number one by a mile (and obviously the first one I heard).

No chance xp

Many may have already seen this -- wicked outfit and a bitchin' guitar (anybody know what kind it is?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_(guitar) or later copy

i loved it but was slightly disappointed, i think 'broken homes' earlier that year had probably warped my expectations

3. To Bring You Love (1995) - 128 points, 3 first places, 22 votes
http://images1.makefive.com/images/entertainment/music/greatest-rock-records-of-all-time/pj-harvey---to-bring-you-my-love-7.jpg

"Teclo" opened this album for me.

of course. but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?

sorry, there is the cover out of nowhere...

Re: Airline Guitars-Jimmy Reed was also fan in his post Vee Jay years

but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?
OK - To Bring You My Love

2. Let England Shake (2011) - 132 points, 3 first places, 21 votes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg/220px-Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg

Can you correct the no.10 while you're at it?

1. Rid of Me (1993) - 170 points, 10 first places, 22 votes
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ViblFdHNGDo/T6OrP2h37RI/AAAAAAAADgw/_nbZIB0d9SU/s1600/pj+harvey+rid+of+me.jpg

I didn't vote for it, but can't argue with that landslide

Lots of people were saying before the poll that it would be interesting because there was no real consensus. In the end, 'Rid of Me' won quite convincingly over the others, but it's true that there was hardly anything to separate the next four albums. It's interesting that Dry picked up noticeably fewer votes, but more number ones, than TBYML / IST? / LES.

Who else with so many great records, and without much of a pause between, would have a 1-2 so far apart?

Leonard Cohen might.

possibly the best album albini recorded which is saying something

same 1-2 as me so i am happy.

never heard those dry demos before. 'oh my lover', you came a long way baby

Chronologically? Eighteen years *is* a long time. Johnny Cash?

Let England Shake has the worst cover out of all of these I think. Or second-worst to Uh Huh Her.

i never understood why "rid of me" was supposed to be her token album. for me it represents a huge drop of quality after "dry". there is something cartoonish in the music. all the seemingly more experimentalish character of "rid of me" never conviced me. the songs are lesser songs, the title song is ok but can hardly compete with any of the songs of "dry". can someone try to explain?

Nope

Just let the rollout happen. I sure there will be plenty of chances for people to expand on why songs from Rid of Me are so facemelting awesome.

The songs are far better, as a cohesive statement it's a real work-of-art, the power of it is uncompromising and awesome. Which is not to say I like it (well, I do, but I don't love it) but as a *thing* it is uberimpressive.

It's like George Foreman's fist

that doesn't make sense to me. if you don't love it why the hell did you make it no. 1? in music impressive doesn't mean shit without a personal connection.

Really hoping she finally releases a compilation of her incredible b-sides. "Memphis" could've been a hit.

^ I have been thinking about the B-sides as well. The press release mentions only demos being released as companion albums, and while with Dry and Rid of Me it's quite simple (Demonstration and 4-Track Demos have already been out since the early 90s, and there are like 3 B-sides from that period that wouldn't warrant a separate release anyway), things get a bit more complicated with later albums. For instance, the guitar and vocal tracks on "I Think I'm a Mother" are apparently taken from PJ's demo recording, similarly a bunch of tracks from Is This Desire? was just demos that were transferred into the studio and then the band worked on top of them. And of course she recorded most of Uh Huh Her (apart from the drums) by herself on an 8-track at home. There are probably more cases of her home recordings making their way onto the final albums.

So it seems in some cases the 'demos' may not be that different from the finished product, which makes me wonder if they'll include some B-sides on the future releases instead.

https://i.imgur.com/hY9kk6S.png

Rid of Me / 4-Track Demos reissues coming on August 21st.

ROM vinyl cutting by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering under the guidance of Steve Albini, 4TD cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of John Parish.

White Chalk era From The Basement session up on YouTube. I think it’s my favourite album of hers. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnEQRzSLg1KI_7ECYQBI71h04XN3t3S40

To Bring You My Love and its demos coming September 11th.

https://i.imgur.com/jK1NpND.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXsKBb3Csgg

The demo of Down By The Water sounds so close to the album version! The QY20 drum machine and percussion are the only noticeable differences. I had no idea Polly had used the vocals from her home recording in the final cut. It's impressive that she basically already had the whole track down when she was demoing it in her bedroom -- albeit it makes the newly surfaced demo less interesting than one might have expected, as opposed to the Rid Of Me demos which shed new light on the songs.

I'm a little surprised that the second disk is just demos since the B-sides from this era are very very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stIDxBPJohQ

Still very excited for the demos.

If that "Down by the River" demo is any indication, I wonder if this was a situation where they roped in a ringer to produce (Flood, at the peak of his powers), tried to capture the qualities of the demos, but decided, eh, let's just use as much of those takes as we can.

The Dry Demos are out. I like them but most of them - except maybe Dress - miss the power of the final album. There is no sudden outburst of guitar noise like on Hair. There is not a lot of rhythm. Some of them are even fragile. An excellent production job which gave the album this raw brutal sound. On the other side it is very rewarding to listen to the demos where her voice is the main instrument.

https://media1.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0602508782473.jpg

Dress in the whole-band arrangement is prog-levels of overlapping rhythmic oddity, but still so blunt. Was surprised to hear bowed strings in the demo.

The To Bring You My Love demos are out and they're a much more fleshed-out effort than the Dry or Rid of Me demos indeed - filled with keyboards and drum machines, with pretty much whole arrangements worked out at the home recording stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YG33LTqUCs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc8ircFYfr4

Oh boy, the artwork for those demos. The back photo is pretty nice too. I was in high school when I got 4-track demos and I crushed on her so hard based on the music and that album cover. She still sends me into a cloud of pubescent longing.

I think I got this and Guyville within a month of each other and together they blew my mind. I had never been exposed to complex female perspectives before in music. It took me a while to realize that Highway 61 was a cover!

The Dry vinyl reissue isn't too great. Lots of background noise in some songs. Supposedly the Euro pressing is better.

Sorry to hear that about the reissue.

I had thought about getting CD versions of the first two albums, which I own on vinyl. I haven't seen them yet anywhere.

The Dry vinyl reissue isn't too great.

Yeah, the US one is kind of crap. The Rid of Me one is much better. Not sure if I'm gonna get any of the rest of what's to come.

I bought the To Bring You My Love reissue yesterday, but haven't had the chance to listen to it yet.

Just FYI I have the European pressing of the Dry reissue and it sounds great, no problems whatsoever.

listening on streaming to the Bring You My Love demos (bummer about the vinyl was just about to order it glad I clicked here first)

but wow, I love this, she's the master of demos

Finally got the chance to listen to the TBYML vinyl and it's excellent.

Stories.. demos etc

https://pjharvey.kontraband.store/products/stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea-demos-lp

I'm happy to get the chance to have all the albums on vinyl (just need this and Uh Huh Her now), but I'm not forking out for any more of the demo albums. The To Bring You My Love demos have minor differences in arrangements, but in terms of song structure, composition, phrasing etc they are identical bar by bar to the final release. I can't imagine this will change with later releases. Is she going to put out Uh Huh Her and White Chalk demo albums? They already sound like demos! (Don't get me wrong, I like them, but still...)

It’d be nice if there were CD versions of these reissues.

There's a CD edition of the just-released Is This Desire? Demos set--I just ordered a copy from my local shop; am really into the drum machine backings on pretty much this whole thing, and am glad that it's (at the time of this post) all up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQxxfsns0ho

Think he might have meant CD reissues of the actual albums.

Her B-Sides, Rarities & Demos is fantastic in a way that (to me) the LPs haven’t been in a minute. Loving this.

Yeah, it's a great compilation. There are a few bizarre choices and weird omissions―but that's to be expected with such big retrospectives―and the third CD (or LPs 5 & 6) is a bit of a mixed bag as it features everything from her early/pre-90s songs, soundtrack work, unreleased demos, to a Nick Cave cover and some one-off singles, but the first two parts are an amazing, surprisingly cohesive listen.