I think we have gone on long enough without a PJ Harvey thread. Actually, there are a lot of artists and bands that don’t have their own thread—I might take time every day to start a new one because they deserve it.

So first, what do you think of her? She is truly one of the best singer-songwriters (male or female) that we are blessed to have making music today. I have always found her voice to be an inspiring and gripping thing to listen to. She has so much raw emotion while still being utterly flawless—truly, a gift from God.

Also, what’s your favorite album by her? Sure, she has a lot to choose from but do you prefer her darker, earlier albums? Maybe the most commercial, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea? Either way, all of her albums are essentials and if you are serious about music from the past 20 years, you need to have her.

Question:
Pick your favorite album:

Choices:
Dry
Rid of Me
4-Track Demos
To Bring You My Love
Is This Desire?
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Uh Huh Her
White Chalk

 

I voted for To Bring You My Love, because I'm not sure if the novelty of White Chalk being recently released is, in my mind, the reason why it's quickly rising up to rival TBYML for me. It's just so damned good. That said, I do like all of her albums, though some less than others.

quote:

Originally posted by FragileKidA:
I think we have gone on long enough without a PJ Harvey thread. Actually, there are a lot of artists and bands that don’t have their own thread—I might take time every day to start a new one because they deserve it.

This is a good idea. I like it better than the most recent album trend we got going. This way all the White Chalk stuff could go here and her next album too.

Is This Desire? really turned me on to PJ. She might be the only woman on earth that i'm attracted to for her talent, rather than looks, even though i think she looks good. She is one of the few artists that can do no wrong in my book, probably the only woman artist at that.

Anyone have a favourite song on White Chalk yet? I'm very fond of them all, though I must say that the progression of "Grow Grow Grow" to "When Under Ether" to "White Chalk" is one of the best Musical triptychs I've ever heard on an album. They alone could be a compelling short EP, in my honest opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie:
Anyone have a favourite song on White Chalk yet? I'm very fond of them all, though I must say that the progression of "Grow Grow Grow" to "When Under Ether" to "White Chalk" is one of the best Musical triptychs I've ever heard on an album. They alone could be a compelling short EP, in my honest opinion.

I really do like the new record, but I have to be in the right mindset for it-- it isn't very light-hearted. My personal fave off the new record is "When Under Ether."

Oh, and my favorite album by Polly Jean is still To Bring You My Love.

quote:

Originally posted by Merciless Jack the Rippah!:

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie:
Anyone have a favourite song on White Chalk yet? I'm very fond of them all, though I must say that the progression of "Grow Grow Grow" to "When Under Ether" to "White Chalk" is one of the best Musical triptychs I've ever heard on an album. They alone could be a compelling short EP, in my honest opinion.

I really do like the new record, but I have to be in the right mindset for it-- it isn't very light-hearted. My personal fave off the new record is "When Under Ether."

Oh, and my favorite album by Polly Jean is still To Bring You My Love.

You're right--White Chalk isn't very light-hearted. However, it's perfect Music for the San Francisco chilly, foggy fall. I love it. I could walk endlessly at night in this crisp gloom listening to it on repeat. I listen to it on the half-hour walk to work, and back.

But yeah, for the time being (I'm waiting until the WC obsession wears off and I can judge more objectively) TBYML is still the fave.

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie:
Anyone have a favourite song on White Chalk yet?

I really like all of the songs off her new one and I really like the overall album. I can put that on at anytime and it is so relaxing. With so much bad that has been happening in my life lately PJ Harvey’s music has been such a nice escape. If I was pressed to choose one song though, it'd be “The Piano.”

As for my favorite album of hers, I am still undecided. I love Rid of Me and how dark that one is. I especially love the atonal, motivic, avant-garde, “Man-Size Sextet.” That is something that Arnold Schoenberg or someone from the “Second Vienna School of Music” would compose—simply beautiful.

I also really like Stories… and she did a spectacular job with that one. I remember her stating that her previous albums were gritty, dark and rough around the edges. She wanted this one to be very pretty and beautiful. Not that the others ones weren’t good because they are but she just wanted every sound to be very nice. And although it is still a rock album—for the most part—it is rather nice and pretty.

Yeah, I think "Man-Size Sextet" may be my favourite off of Rid of Me, probably because of my background in classical. I just think the arrangement is outstanding and severely unique for the "pop" world.

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie:
Anyone have a favourite song on White Chalk yet? I'm very fond of them all, though I must say that the progression of "Grow Grow Grow" to "When Under Ether" to "White Chalk" is one of the best Musical triptychs I've ever heard on an album. They alone could be a compelling short EP, in my honest opinion.

I couldn't agree more.

Also I have a bootleg from the end of the "uh Huh Her" tour, shit i cant think of the venue, but it is excellent and highly recommended. i'll check the name and get back later

i would usually go for TBYML, but I'm shocked Dry hasn't gotten a single vote yet, so i choose....

DRY.

Well, I thought there would be more than 6 votes so far too. I am still waiting for mark to comment on it because I know he really likes PJ Harvey and well, he knows a ton about music and is smart!

I guess I figured that a PJ Harvey thread would get more talk and activity than a Sufjan Stevens thread. Not that I don’t like Stevens but still…

See now that's where you made a mistake. If you wanted traffic, you should have made it a silly PJ Harvey Vs. Sufjan Stevens or Radiohead thread.

I've honestly never heard Sufjan, but with all the hype surrounding him (which means I'd better check him out), I feel that a PJ vs. Sufjan thread may result in digital warfare. PJ vs. Radiohead very well may result in a digital world war. Eep!

quote:

Originally posted by Maximum Jack:
See now that's where you made a mistake. If you wanted traffic, you should have made it a silly PJ Harvey Vs. Sufjan Stevens or Radiohead thread.

Oh, how foolish of me!

PJ Harvey is my favourite artist of all time, hands down, I always end up going back to her music. I don't think there's a singer out there, male or female, who affects me emotionally as much as she does. Her voice has this primal, raw force to it and I love the way she can sound delicate and fragile one moment and ferocious the next.

I love/like all of her albums to various degrees, but To Bring You My Love is my absolute favourite. At the moment though I'm seriously addicted to White Chalk. It is very much a "mood" album, I doubt for instance that I'd want to listen to it on, say, a bright sunny summer day. But I just love how otherworldly and evocative it is; I very rarely get visuals in my head when I'm listening to music but this album fills my head with images of desolate-but-beautiful landscapes, chilly moors and hills and suchlike. In terms of individual tracks, I've heard "When Under Ether" first and I still love it the most, with "White Chalk" the close second.

And I was sooo happy to find out that she's coming to play live in Melbourne next year! Apparently it will be a one-woman show which should be interesting.

i've only ever listened to rid of me, but it's greaaaat, so it gets my vote.

It is so difficult to pinpoint one great PJ Harvey album, as each one is completely different and unique in their own ways. The only ones that I would disqualify from being contenders for my favorite album are "Is this Desire?", "Uh Huh Her", and probably "White Chalk" (which is also a fantastic album, but ill wait to form an opinion)

I voted Stories... But I've only actually listened to that and Rid of Me, and it was a very close choice.
I'm thinking about going to see her when she comes to Auckland next year, but I might take a listen to White Chalk first.

Tickets for her Melbourne show are 118.55!! I think I'll see Sufjan instead. I've seen PJ before, and Mr Stevens hasn't come to our shores before.

Dry was my favourite PJ album for a long time. It has a lot of her best songs ("Dress", "Sheela-na-gig", "Oh, My Lover" "Plants and Rags"...) but To Bring You My Love is more consistent and has better production and arrangements.