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...
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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.
I've heard a lot about her... but I never heard her music. Where should I start?
Well, I'd start with my favorite album of hers:
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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.
What? Ghostboy? That's her worst album
Go with Rid of Me
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.
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.
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
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.
lets not forget the beautiful jeff buckley memorial "memphis".
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.
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.
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.
"grow grow grow" (live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZON2rv5XKzo
definitely not boring.
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....
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