POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

This the my last day on ILM. This poll reveals just how much shitiness in musical taste permeates this fine upper-crust of musical pros. And it's not just these judgments; in 10 years of reading and posting, only a handful of meaningful discussions have helped me discover new music and reveal new understandings. You experts are just as unsophisticated the pablum devouring public, and my early respect for many contributors to this site has been beaten down under the girth of far too much asshole flesh. Good fucking riddance.

― suspecterrain, Thursday, May 2, 2013 9:07 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mG8rUGhxtjo/TienW98ateI/AAAAAAAAF7c/L89kgODTgGs/s1600/funny_maraca_pic.jpg

If that 10 years is right, the poor dude invested 6 years' lurking before working up the nerve for his first post. This gesture seems so noble now.

I've contributed plenty; learn to use the search tool. Under this name and "christoff" I have contributed and authored many discussions. Celebrating my exit without even knowing what I've put forth typifies the level of ignorance I've come to expect from this site. Piss off.

christ off

I'm not celebrating your exit, I'm celebrating your return. Booming post.

• I've contributed plenty; learn to use the search tool.
• Under this name and "christoff" I have contributed and authored many discussions.
• Celebrating my exit without even knowing what I've put forth typifies the level of ignorance I've come to expect from this site.
• Piss off.

or just a cornucopia of board descriptions

http://holebi.info/phpnews/images2/Christoff.jpg

But what did Christoff make of Down by the Water?

i would like to know the specific complaints wrt this poll; what ignominy was the final insult

I believe it was NBS counting the votes for Man-Size and Man-Size Sextet together

tbf that was unsophisticated

If there is a complaint to be had here (and this is nitpicking at its finest), mine would be that it seems like many people who voted played it safe went for the most obvious things. Not a lot of votes for White Chalk or Dance Hall but tons from Let England Shake and Stories — why is that?

And besides, 'Civil War Correspondent' got the shaft. I voted for a Desire b-side as my #1, knowing that I would probably be the only person to vote for that song, but 'Civil War Correspondent' deserved at least a place in the upper half of the rankings.

Again, this is all very much nitpicking and I thank NB+S for their time. Off to cast my ballot for the Sonic Youth poll!

many people who voted played it safe went for the most obvious things.

if only i liked less obvious things

"Why is that?"

Because they're well-known albums and not everyone who votes in polls knows every album inside out. I agree with you that this poll, like most of them, isn't very good at picking out underrated gems even further down the list, but short of making everybody work through the back catalogue before voting, what can you do?

lol why is it that her more popular and acclaimed albums got more attention than her less popular and acclaimed albums?

you'd think a consensus poll of all things would allow the obscurities to win the day. How weird!!!!!

I hope suspecterrain is ok, the way he went out was a little irrational.

Bands That Bow Out Gracefully

I thank NB+S for their time

I liked this sentiment, and I imagine nb&s are quite pleased about it too

Definitely my favourite trio on ILX

and i can't urge you to revisit to bring you my love and is this desire? strongly enough. they're excellent albums, not perfect, but with lots to appreciate.

I do like ITD pretty well, I'd now rank it after the first two and last two, but it doesn't quite hold together for me. TBYML still irks me, though there's plenty of parts I like. One of the things I adored about her early stuff was how she used the Birthday Party/Bad Seeds tools, but reflected them back - junkie-artschool-horror, but coming from a sober, shy female. TBYML was like she passed through mirror, no longer twisting the already-twisted blues, just trying to equal it.

these are some interesting thoughts, bendy. in that logic isn't tbyml the first album where she is really herself, where she has truly found her voice? could that be a reason why that album to me - ep. the tite song - sounds so emotionally warm and totally different from the first two? making that album seems to have taken a load of her mind. after all that raw blues-processing finally she had come home. btw "white chalk" seems another turning point in her career as a musician.

Definitely my favourite trio on ILX

We are a team of lawyers

It's a testament to her artistry that every recent album signals a phase she doesn't bother to pursue.

Yes. It seemed that every album was a reaction against the previous one, up to Uh Huh Her, which was anti-Stories but also kind of a mess. I'd guess she realised at that point she was in danger just carry on putting out Uh Huh Hers for the rest of her career - collections of PJ Harvey-ish songs - with diminishing returns. This is the fate of a lot of musicians. The last two albums seemed to recognise that she had to raise her game, come up with more coherent ideas about why a new album ought to exist. Two years have passed since Let England Shake, so I hope that means we'll hear something about a new one some time in the next 12 months. The last two were notably high-concept records, and it's fascinating to speculate about what the big idea for the next one might be.

Well, like I said, I was in fact nitpicking, so in answer to myself: it's just a testament to how great and diverse PJ has been over the years that the poll could have had a completely different top ten and just as many people would have been happy and just as many would have been disappointed.

It does surprise me that many people seem to disregard Dance Hall At Louse Point entirely. It feels like a really representative album to me.

I think it suffers from coming so quick on TMYML's heels, coming off like a followup that it wasn't. The reviews weren't near as positive, and speaking as a fan getting on the bus soon after (summer '97 picking up and getting blown away by RoM & TMYML over successive weeks), it never felt like an essential purchase. Hearing it now (got it cheap before the poll), it still feels like a letdown, but some essential tracks too.

I've contributed plenty; learn to use the search tool. Under this name and "christoff" I have contributed and authored many discussions. Celebrating my exit without even knowing what I've put forth typifies the level of ignorance I've come to expect from this site. Piss off.

― suspecterrain, Thursday, May 2, 2013 7:01 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa9LNPwZIGA

After a week or two thinking of PJ, I decided to try to get vinyl versions of all of her albums. Already had Dry and the most recent two (plus A Woman A Man Walked By). I used to have Rid of Me before an ex borrowed it permanently. But they're pretty expensive! This afternoon I got a replacement Rid of Me for £42 and 4-Track Demos for £20 on ebay. There's an Uh Huh Her auction ending in half an hour, but it's at £43 already goddammit.

― Eyeball Kicks, Sunday, April 28, 2013 8:15 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Looks like her whole Island-era catalogue is being reissued on vinyl this month with download codes. Great news - the run from Is This Desire? to Uh Huh Her until now was especially expensive and there are a lot of fakes going around.

Details on reissues please? UK only?

Sorry, don't know the details. All I know is that they're quietly appearing on a few websites with release dates later this month, e.g. http://www.musicdirect.com/p-136911-pj-harvey-stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea-180g-import-lp.aspx.

"To Bring You My Love" is great on a recent re-listen. Has this album ever been polled? It's a transitional record between her racuous earlier blues punk material and what would become "Is This Desire". The gnarled low bass hum of tracks like " I think I'm a Mother" could easily have fit on "Is This Desire" with tracks like "Joy" and "My Beautiful Leah".

Had no clue this poll ever happened until now! Wish I'd been able to contribute, but great discussion.

dunk you
under
deep salt
water

The two best PJ albums IMO are To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire. TBYML features some of her finest vocal performances ("TBYML" and "Teclo") and ITD is akin to PJ 's "Dreaming", an album full of diverse narrative characters, her most beautiful work IMO

I honestly always go back to "Dry," everything after that has been degrees of bonus goodness.

there's a favorite PJ album for everyone
for me it's Rid of Me
that's how versatile she is!

^ do you rate the 4 track demos?

LOVE the 4 track demos
love love love
it's how i learned how songs are built. i bought it when it came out

plus Easy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhaqK9NdKEY

Here for the 4-Track Demos appreciation!

I guess Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire?, White Chalk, and Let England Shake are all my favourites, each of them speaking to a different mood or perhaps to a different side of me. But she hasn't released a weak one in my opinion - even her messier and less cohesive efforts (i.e. Uh Huh Her) contain enough gems to redeem them. Such a stellar run of LPs.

agree with you ʌglɪɪst preɪ, stories is my least favourite but it has "We Float", "Horses In My Dreams", "Kamikaze" and "One Line".

Feel like her last record with John Parrish is underrated - it's a curious record, opening with "Black Hearted Love" which is classic PJ, but then going into all sorts of tangents.

I agree, it's way underrated. It might not be the most cohesive LP ever, but it definitely showcases their talents in many different fields, both John's as a composer/producer and Polly's as a lyricist/vocalist. The songs are so different from each other that they don't really hang together well - I guess it's partially why it's so underappreciated as an album - but damn, they are some good songs. And there are not many rock singers out there who can deliver vocal performances as different as "Leaving California," "The Chair," "April," and "A Woman a Man Walked By" - all over the course of 15 minutes on one record.

was happy to see the crowd cheer for Parrish at the seattle show for the last tour. Basically you're speaking my langhuage prei, cheers.

Dry is for sure one of the best debut records in history, like marquee moon ballpark. So fully formed and rich already.

4 track demos might be the one I've played the most though.

Only recently started brushing up on later stuff. Let England Shake is amazing + uncanny

This was her Twitter post earlier. New remasters afoot? Some unusual titles/unheard stuff on these tapes from the look of it.. experts can say more i don't doubt.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EYjIbTRX0AA5dgr?format=jpg

"Clothes" and "He's Just My Type" have never been released, the rest is out there in some shape or form (though some, like "Primed & Ticking," are only live bootlegs). I wonder if it hints at actual reissues of the 90s stuff or it's just a case of bored PJ spending lockdown doing spring cleaning.

ooooooh this is exciting
feels good just looking at the song titles

Maybe she's going to release the Iggy Pop mix of "Rid of Me."

Seriously though, expanded reissues of those first few albums would be great, even though they all already sound pretty good (in their own respective ways).