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Favourite PJ Harvey album? |
| View Poll Results: What is your favourite PJ Harvey Album | |||
| Dry |
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2 | 10.00% |
| Rid of Me |
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1 | 5.00% |
| 4-track demos |
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0 | 0% |
| To Bring You My Love |
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4 | 20.00% |
| Is This Desire? |
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1 | 5.00% |
| Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea |
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6 | 30.00% |
| Uh Huh Her |
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2 | 10.00% |
| White Chalk |
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2 | 10.00% |
| A Woman A Man Walked By |
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0 | 0% |
| Let England Shake |
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2 | 10.00% |
| Voters: 20. You can't vote on this poll right now - are you signed in? | |||
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 668
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Favourite PJ Harvey album?
PJ Harvey is without a doubt one of the greatest artists of our time, she is a true visionary.
All of her albums are so different, people love them/dislike them for different reasons depending on the taste of that individual. Which is your favourite album of hers? Dry Rid of Me 4-Track Demos To Bring You My Love Dance Hall At Louise Point Is This Desire? Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea Uh Huh Her White Chalk A Woman A Man Walked By Let England Shake |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 553
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I think I'd go for 'To Bring You My Love', one of the best albums of the 90s in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned though, there isn't a single bad album in her discography.
Also, if you're including 'A Woman a Man Walked By' in your list, you might want to add the first album with John Parish too, 'Dance Hall at Louse Point' .
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 668
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Quote:
I think I'd go for 'To Bring You My Love', one of the best albums of the 90s in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned though, there isn't a single bad album in her discography.
Also, if you're including 'A Woman a Man Walked By' in your list, you might want to add the first album with John Parish too, 'Dance Hall at Louse Point' . |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 629
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I voted for White Chalk - to me it's the most hauntingly resonant album she's done.
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Ireland
Posts: 6,740
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I voted SFTCSFTS because it feels like the emotionally
moving of her albums, but "Let England Shake" is also superb. |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,436
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PJ would probably disagree with this but for me her best is Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. I like the more pop accessible conventional rock sound of it. I know she's into experimenting but I don't think accessible with melody equals bad or selling out. It actually takes a lot of talent to create something like that. I know they're very critically acclaimed but I really can't get into either White Chalk or Let England Shake. I would like to see her do another blues/punk/rock based album instead of her more recent avant garde experiments.
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: N London
Posts: 1,717
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PJH maybe one of the greatest British female artists of the last generation...but greatest artist of our time? As far as females go she's not in the same league as someone like Joni Mitchell. Or if you include both genders she's never written anything near the level of someone like Stevie Wonder in his heyday...he didn't always write commercially either.
I only discovered PJH in recent years, and as much as I like most of her work, three problems remain. Although she always changes her style from album to album, she's never really progressed much musically, still mainly sticking with simple 3 chord songs, whereas the truly great songwriters look outside that box. Just to take a striking example of George Harrison's glorious song Something. The use of effective chord progression there is nothing short of brilliant. Pj has occasionally stepped outside the 3 chord box eg 'Plants And Rags', but not nearly often enough. The other thing is that although she's usually very good live, her vocals sometimes go adrift and when it happens it's grating. At her level she shouldn't be making howlers like this (first line). There are other similar examples if less glaring. The third problem ties up with the first in that she's never progressed as a guitar player still playing at a very basic level, although good enough for her purposes. But it would be nice if she learnt a few jazz chords and it might take her songwriting much further. Having said all that, Stories...stands out musically for me, despite PJ hating it. She's totally wrong about it. Two or three of her songs on it are amongst her best. I also liked the album Is This Desire with its more experimental approach, although that one took much longer to digest. |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,373
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Uh Huh Her is the one i visit the most.
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Cumbria
Posts: 725
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For me, the journey started with Dry so it gets the nod from me.
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,173
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Wow - great to see a thread about PJ here. Pleasant surprise! I went for Is this Desire - it is a very sombre, atmospheric album which is also subtle and beautiful too. Some tracks like My Beautiful Leah, Joy and Electric Light are almost too difficult to listen to - as they bring up the dark side in such a vivid and striking manner without going into gothic stereotypes. I love the fact she always keeps her songs tight - never repeating choruses for the sake of it.
I do love all her albums - apart from Dry which I've never got into (just screams early 90s indie rock) and I think White Chalk does go into pastiche of herself at times with the angst (although many would disagree). However, if I had to pick a favourite track of hers 'The Devil' from White Chalk would probably be my favourite. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 8,036
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to bring you my love is my favourite
also, i saw her live and she sat on the monitor in front of me and i swear she had no underwear on. you wouldn't sit like that with no panties on unless you were trying to show off |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: In England
Posts: 4,349
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Quote:
PJH maybe one of the greatest British female artists of the last generation...but greatest artist of our time? As far as females go she's not in the same league as someone like Joni Mitchell. Or if you include both genders she's never written anything near the level of someone like Stevie Wonder in his heyday...he didn't always write commercially either.
I only discovered PJH in recent years, and as much as I like most of her work, three problems remain. Although she always changes her style from album to album, she's never really progressed much musically, still mainly sticking with simple 3 chord songs, whereas the truly great songwriters look outside that box. Just to take a striking example of George Harrison's glorious song Something. The use of effective chord progression there is nothing short of brilliant. Pj has occasionally stepped outside the 3 chord box eg 'Plants And Rags', but not nearly often enough. The other thing is that although she's usually very good live, her vocals sometimes go adrift and when it happens it's grating. At her level she shouldn't be making howlers like this (first line). There are other similar examples if less glaring. The third problem ties up with the first in that she's never progressed as a guitar player still playing at a very basic level, although good enough for her purposes. But it would be nice if she learnt a few jazz chords and it might take her songwriting much further. Having said all that, Stories...stands out musically for me, despite PJ hating it. She's totally wrong about it. Two or three of her songs on it are amongst her best. I also liked the album Is This Desire with its more experimental approach, although that one took much longer to digest. Her vocals have particularly gone awry on the last couple of albums as her songwriting has matured, but the biggest deficit in her music is the lack of music |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11,708
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Rid of me. Hard as nails with a bone crushing production by Syeve Alobini.
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,282
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Quote:
i agree with your three reservations.
Her vocals have particularly gone awry on the last couple of albums as her songwriting has matured, but the biggest deficit in her music is the lack of music |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,373
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I love Let England Shake but i saw her perform it live and i was nearly nodding off.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: In England
Posts: 4,349
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Quote:
I disagree with that. All of the acclaim and awards for 'Let England Shake' shows that keeping things relatively simple can be very effective and her vocals are fine still. I would say the rawness and distinctiveness of her voice and sound are the very things that appeal to most people about her. I think you're confusing you not liking the albums with there being something wrong.
![]() as it goes i like LES a lot, but i find it lacking in some areas as i do all her albums |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,282
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Quote:
or you're confusing liking them with there not being
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11,708
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Quote:
Rid of me. Hard as nails with a bone crushing production by Syeve Alobini.
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