PJ Harvey
 

I find myself listening to a certain musician, and I think to myself, "Hmm, this reminds me of something I've heard before." I get that feeling with PJ Harvey, but I'm not sure who or what she reminds me of.
She is an excellent songwriter and musician. From her tone alone, she makes you depressed, but at the same time, makes you feel content about yourself.
It's a shame she is no longer doing any more live shows. But, I still am trying to obtain every bit of work she's put her hands on- the albums, the collaborations, etc. I consider Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea and To Bring You My Love as among my all time favorite albums of any genre.
Opinions? favorite songs/albums?

Apparently thats not true , she said it at a gig for a joke because The Libertines announced that day they wern`t playing live anymore. She actually laughed when she said it but that didn`t stop an NME journalist *cough* rushing out & reporting it.

I love a lot of her stuff , her 4 Track Demo`s album puts to shame pretty much every band in the whole garage rock movement from 2002. SFTCSFTS is a quality album too. Also worth getting is The Desert Sessions Vol 9 & 10 , the project she did with Josh Homme from QOTSA , if only for the song Crawl Home. Easily one of the best songs she`s ever recorded.

Who does she remind you of ? I`ve always seen her as a cross between Tori Amos & Patti Smith. Although I think she`s a million times better than both.

'To Bring You My Love'
'Kamikaze'
'Rid of me'

So many good songs, I could go on all night, what a great artist. I didn't know she'd said that, I'm glad UH cleared that up, I was pretty upset for a second there!! I can see why you'd say she is like Patti Smith... she never particularly reminded me of anyone though, she has such an individual style, and a really strong persona. She is what Brodie Dalle and all those other rock chicks want to be but probably never will. Cat Power reminds me of her in her softer songs though.

That's good to hear.
I also see the resemblence to Patti Smith, and Tori Amos. I saw her live a few years ago with my then-girlfriend, she's got a great voice and stage presence.

bump.
I adore her.
I should extend my pj harvey cd collection.

I looooooove Peej.

bump

PJ is awesome.
Wonderful song writer.
Dry is my favorite album.

Been a fan for years... here's some nice pics too :)

Moderator cut: image removed

Underrated songwriter, Rid Of Me and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea are two very different albums.

Also, i'd hit it.

You compare her to Tori Amos? Nope, can't say I see it.

Patti Smith, no doubt about it. If you tried to dispute that she was an influence, you'd be nothing less then than completely misinformed.
Go buy Horses.

i don't see the tori amos bit either. Except they are both female and sing/write songs....

I recently got into her music, and I love it..
She's an amazing songwriter.

Go PJ Harvey! Her new dvd is really cool.

I really like Dry. Got Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love on my computer too, quality albums.

I just got white chalk today,
**** she's beautiful.

My first listen to White Chalk was iffy, but every time I return to itI hear something very beautiful.

uh huh her was such an easy and fun album to absorb for me. I'm glad PJ gave us something to chomp on until she tears the stage apart on her next release.

No one could fault her for being repetitive nor do I think they could say she is inconsistent in her quality.

Bump.

This thread hasn't been touched in 2 years and it's been around 5 years and only has two pages? Wow.

Brilliant songwriter, I've only heard 3 of her 5(?) albums, but they're fantastic. I've been meaning to hear them all, maybe something I can do tomorrow.

But yeah, I'm not happy with you MBers! Two pages?!

Sorry. :(

I dig PJ. Not all her stuff, but the stuff I like, I like a lot. Dry, Rid of Me, and Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea are my favorites. First one I ever got was To Bring You My Love in the mid 90s but I don't like it that much except for a few songs. Other than those, I've only heard 4-Track Demos which is good and Is This Desire? which I haven't listened to enough to judge.

God, I love everything she's done. Not a bad album in the lot.

Although this will always be my favorite:

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...01890110.L.jpg

Listening To Bring You My Love the first time. White Chalk and Stories are the only other PJ albums I'm familiar with so far.

Been lucky enough to have got into PJ from the start when i heard the 'Sheele Na Gig' single on the old Radio1 round table review show . Soon as heard it i knew that for me, this was a pretty special artist. I remember even cantankerous old cumudgeon John Lydon , who was on the review panel, was blown away by it . Followed her ever since and like all her stuff but for me the first 3 lps and the last one 'White Chalk' are her true great works . Any news of any new stuff in the pipe line ?

I go through times where I listen to her far more than others - I find I have to be in a certain headspace to appreciate her.

That said, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is easily in my Top 5 albums, and whenever she's put out something new, I've usually rushed out to get it.

41 today . Happy birthday Peejay . FORTY BLEEDING ONE ! Jesus time flies.

Really? Holy crap!

You realize her best music was made almost 20 yrs ago, right?

true, it's just hard to believe.

Easier when you're only about 5 years younger than her, I guess

Most likely.

Ha, my thoughts exactly. I'm not at all surprised she's 41. If I had to guess, I might have said more. Not based on her looks, of course.

To Bring you my Love still stands the test of time. Defiantly one of the more memorable releases of the 90's.

PJ Harvey is pretty cool. I used to be really into her because she seemed really damn cool but I never fully connected with her or the stuff she was writing (I guess) and I eventually gave up. Dry, Rid of Me and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea are all quite good albums, and the rest of her discography is interesting enough in its diversity. I don't find myself coming back to her work much, though. I guess some songwriters and artists you can respect and find sort of interesting, yet never really connect with.

Her early releases are pretty low key, they almost have a subdued bohemian feel to it, but To Bring You My Love has a fuller rock sound to it, and is widely regarded as her best album.

I'm assuming that you've already heard it, but if you haven't give it a whirl before you pass her bye.

Really? I was disappointed when To Bring You My Love came out b/c it was her first step away from her raw, heavy, soulful sound. I guess it's got bigger production though.
For me, she's never topped Rid Of Me but I don't blame her b/c that album is absolutely blissful to me. One of my favorite-ever albums.

I thought Stories From the City was pretty much her stand-out album. I haven't been as consistently impressed with any of her other albums.

Yeah, I've listened to it a few times. I had the same immediate reaction that engine did, that I was turned off slightly from the album because it was a big departure from her previous style and not in a way i particularly liked. It's probably the pj Harvey I'm least interested in until uh huh her (I've only listened up to uh huh her, though). Maybe someday it'll grow on me though!

The Jungle Queen bootleg was pretty cool. I enjoyed hearing the stripped down Dry songs.

To Bring You My Love is a good album but it doesn't strike me as her best material. For me it's a toss-up between Rid of Me and Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, and I love both of them for different reasons. Rid of Me was the original PJ Harvey trio at the top of their game, and the no-frills, dirty production and raw emotion of the album never fails to give me goosebumps. Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea is her most accessible album and I think she did the whole poppier direction on that album remarkably well. I think some of the songs on that album are the best she's ever written, such as 'Good Fortune', 'This Is Love' and 'We Float'.

Well said, I hear you guys. In the past To Bring You My Love has been repeatedly hailed & praised by record critics as her primary work. It was also her commercial breakthrough and remains her top selling release to date.

So that's where I base my argument. That being said, alternative fans usually have a different take on things, and normally I would throw my musical taste behind an album like Rid of Me, but I just find tracks like "Down by the Water" & "To bring you my love", to be too damn good.

I do think To Bring You My Love is a great album, just not her best.
I definitely like her first 4 the most, and Stories from the City is also beautiful in a more purely pretty way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7R5UtMjIhQ

I've been doing a "RockTober" thing with some friends where one of us will listen a band for the day, and we just spin music from that artist. It's great because I'm listening to a lot of stuff from people I never listen to. PJ Harvey was our choice yesterday. Not only do I love this album, but this track is exactly the kind of stuff I wish I'd heard in 1995. It's like Garbage with balls.

I love this b side so much, feral stuff



IMO her first decade was absolutely great, some albums more complete than others but all meriting multiple listens. Something like Let England Shake, otoh, is just not for me.