PJ Harvey

Started by godardian, May 02, 2004, 06:54:50 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

godardian

It seems fairly criminal that this great artist doesn't have her own thread, so I'm starting one.

Her new album is coming out end of May (in the UK, at least). You can see the video for the first single, "The Letter," at http://www.pjharvey.net    She gets all worked up and fetish-y over pen and paper and putting one to the other...



Also, has anyone else heard her years-ago but eternally memorable Brit awards performance cover of "Satisfaction" duetting w/ Bjork? Harvey on guitar/lead vox, Bjork on organ/backing vox, and they turn the song into this menacing, menacing drone that keeps building toward the final chorus, where they just cut loose. It's pretty fantastic.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

A Matter Of Chance

I've heard a lot about her... but I never heard her music. Where should I start?

Ghostboy

Well, I'd start with my favorite album of hers:



Really beautiful stuff. Although that could aptly describe all of her work, really....she's my all-time favorite female artist. If you want a more palatable introduction, I'd try her next-to-most-recent, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. It's her 'softest' record, considerably more upbeat than the rest of her stuff, and has some beautiful duets with Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

In addition to the Satisfaction duet with Bjork, be sure to pick up her old flame Nick Cave's brilliant album, Murder Ballads, to hear their treatment of the traditional classic Henry Lee, which defines the word haunting. And if you really get into her, you can pick up The Desert Sessions 9&10, in which she collaborates with a handful of other notable musicians. Oh, and then track down a copy of Hal Hartley's short 'The Book Of Life,' in which she plays the modern day incarnation of Mary Magdalene.

RegularKarate

What?  Ghostboy?  That's her worst album

Go with Rid of Me

Ghostboy

You think so? I love Rid Of Me too (and I've been listening to it a lot more recently, especially tracks 3 and 2, Legs and Missed). But To Bring You My Love has this mixture of naivete, sorrow and rage that I find quite beguiling. Maybe it's just because its the first album of hers I bought but it really works for me. When she starts doing those weird yelps at the end of C'mon Billy...I love that.

godardian

Quote from: RegularKarateWhat?  Ghostboy?  That's her worst album

Go with Rid of Me

I actually prefer Rid of Me to Love, but it's pretty astounding that both so eminently achieve their (180 degrees opposed) evident artistic aims. I love them both. I think they're both flawless achievements, really, but in two different veins. This places her in the company of David Bowie for being able to really achieve (rather than "dabble" in) entirely different things.

I think Is This Desire? is where there was a drop-off, and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea doesn't achieve the perfection of Rid or Love. Still, the presence of a few duff tracks doesn't prevent either of those from being terribly good and exciting in parts. She is fairly fearless and risks pretention, but there is so much passion and vibrance and attitude and intuition and a certain primal/spiritual (not in the New Age sense, but in the deeply probing sense that leads to the mythical) element in her best stuff that it really does sound like capital-A Art to me.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

phil marlowe

rid of me is my favourite too but i like is this desire alot too - stories... was NOT my cup of tea...i forgive her though, she's quite brilliant

mogwai

saw her opening for U2 back in 93. can't remember much but she was rocking. i have a rare track on a compilation album called "zaz turned blue". very good.

rustinglass

lets not forget the beautiful jeff buckley memorial "memphis".
"In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don't have experience of the west, they even believe that western shit is pie."
-Emir Kusturica

Mesh

You'll do yourself a favor by starting with either Rid of Me or To Bring You My Love.

The former is the Steve Albini-produced, harsh, abrasive, punkish masterpiece.  Everyone should own and love it.  The latter is more lush and beautiful, still near flawless in places....more akin to Bjork than to Shellac.

Really, though, she hasn't put out a bad album.  Buy the next one you see used, you'll find something to like about any of them.

Also, I've seen her live twice and she's unquestionably the best female act I've ever seen—among the best I've ever seen, period.

Ghostboy

The new album came out yesterday, and it's great. I haven't listened to it enough yet to be completely familiar with every track, but so far I've already got 'The Life And Death Of Mr. Badmouth' and 'The Desperate Kingdom Of Love' stuck in my head, and welcomely so. 'Who The Fuck' is also abrasively delightful -- she delves into some of those wonderfully inflected vocal hystrionics, a la 'C'mon Billy.'

Her instrumentation is also gorgeous; she uses more instruments than before, and plays them all herself, as usual. For the most part, it's got that lush metal edge that 'To Bring You My Love' had, but she also now and then breaks out the vibes or an accordion, or, on 'The Desperate Kingdom Of Love,' the faintest accoustic guitar, all to great effect.

godardian

Quote from: GhostboyThe new album came out yesterday, and it's great. I haven't listened to it enough yet to be completely familiar with every track, but so far I've already got 'The Life And Death Of Mr. Badmouth' and 'The Desperate Kingdom Of Love' stuck in my head, and welcomely so. 'Who The Fuck' is also abrasively delightful -- she delves into some of those wonderfully inflected vocal hystrionics, a la 'C'mon Billy.'

Her instrumentation is also gorgeous; she uses more instruments than before, and plays them all herself, as usual. For the most part, it's got that lush metal edge that 'To Bring You My Love' had, but she also now and then breaks out the vibes or an accordion, or, on 'The Desperate Kingdom Of Love,' the faintest accoustic guitar, all to great effect.

There's a whole Johnny Cash thing going on in "Desperate Kingdom of Love," which is one of my favorites on the album, too.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

mogwai

"grow grow grow" (live)



definitely not boring.

godardian

Quote from: mogwai on October 02, 2007, 04:21:37 PM
"grow grow grow" (live)

definitely not boring.

Elle chante dans une émission de télé française, aussi! Perfect way for me to TRY to understand the announcers beforehand, and then what a great version of the song! I'm really enjoying the new album; I bought the LP today just so I can frame that gorgeous photo that looks something like what Emily Brontë might have looked like in a daguerrotype had such a thing existed....

""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.