PJ Harvey : Releases >>

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White Chalk >>

This carnival ride to the netherworld of the soul is PJ Harvey's most dizzyingly radical work since the raw pulse and grind of her 1993 debut. It's also entirely different. Harvey's created an emotionally fractured Gothic fairytale that rides on her spare, tattered piano playing and her voice, which she turns into a fragile siren's call: high, airy, and imperiled, and made otherworldly by a labyrinth of echo. Instead of pop tunes, Harvey offers an 11-song cycle that's the metaphorical story of a breakup in which the Devil, a drug-induced nightmare, and a seemingly bottomless pit of despair all play a part. At the end, in "The Mountain," her banshee wails conclude a journey so oblique it's worthy of David Lynch or Neil Gaiman. Flood, who co-produced Harvey's 1998 epic rock breakthrough Is This Desire? with her, reprises that role, but White Chalk is more chamber music--and a dark chamber at that. --Ted Drozdowski

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea >>

She may not break new ground with Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, but Polly Jean Harvey proves one thing: she sure knows how to tend to her plot. Hard-rocking, guitar-driven numbers, mesmerizing vocal wordplay, and plenty of noisy atmospherics prove that Harvey is still the queen of rock-noir. --Jason Verlinde

To Bring You My Love >>

After fumbling around with producer-from-hell Steve Albini on Rid of Me (1993) and signing with U2 manager Paul McGuinness, Polly Jean Harvey is ready to live up to her lethal early promise at last. With its growling bass tones, "Meet Ze Monsta" sets the stage early on as Harvey explores her feminine psyche with an intensity and raw power unheard since Patti Smith's heyday. Unlike the terminally inconsistent Smith, however, Harvey plots a brilliant course through slippery laments ("Working for the Man"), corrosive testifying ("Long Snake Moan"), and fuzz-toned menace ("Down by the Water"). Skeptics who think Harvey can't outgrow her art-punk base are advised to cue up the flamenco-inflected, string-caressed "Send His Love to Me." --Jeff Bateman

Rid of Me >>

PJ Harvey's second and most ferocious album finds her claiming images of sexuality, whether they're of a "hysterical" female (the obsessive title track and the indelible accusation "you leave me dry") or male "dominance" ("Man-Size," which also appears in an atonal arrangement with a string sextet, and the feral rockabilly size-brag of "50-Ft Queenie"). Recorded to play up the stark dynamic contrasts of Harvey's early trio, it's as harsh and abrasive as the gutter blues whose vocal style Harvey cops. And she demands a place for herself at the table of great songwriters--a hellfire take on Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" fits neatly alongside her own work. --Douglas Wolk

Dry >>

Dry is the cornerstone of the 1990s "women in rock" movement. To paraphrase what Lou Reed said about the Velvet Underground: Not many people bought the album, but those who did formed a band. The attraction is unmistakable: bluesy riffs played with punk-rock energy suddenly crash to a hush, while Harvey's desperate wails become fatigued moans. What is she so hung up about? Well, in the spirit of the Stones, love and hope and dirty dreams and sex and sex and sex. Through the raucous "Oh My Lover" and "Joe," Harvey airs her laundry quite loudly but never loses her wit, as "Sheela-Na-Gig," which features the mantra "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair / I'm gonna take my hips to a man who cares," attest. --Bill Crandall

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill >>

Uh Huh Her >>

How can someone so unpredictable behave so predictably? Every time PJ Harvey releases something sophisticated and clean like 2000's Mercury Music Prize tipped Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, it just about guarantees a contradictory follow-up album is around the bend. Her ambitious 1992 debut, Dry, inspired the bitter death rattle of Rid of Me. Her third offering, 1995's elegant To Bring You My Love, gave way to the stormy Is This Desire?. Harvey's sixth solo album, Uh Huh Her, doesn't disappoint. It's a nasty riposte to the success of its predecessor, built on grubby blues-punk riffs and the brooding, primal howl that Harvey uses when she wants to impersonate a she-wolf. Some of it seems disappointingly remedial ("The Letter," "Cat on the Wall"), but the best material ("The Desperate Kingdom of Love," "Who the Fuck?") just reconfirms that no matter how raw the British songwriter serves it up, the beauty of her work is undeniable. --Aidin Vaziri

Is This Desire? >>

Each of Harvey's previous albums has been a distinct affair as she took steps forward in not only forging her sound but also exploring the wealthy veins of rock & roll. So on first listen, Is This Desire? almost disappoints; it's very close to the same dark, woozy, and bluesy musical territory she staked out on To Bring You My Love. But it's been said that though good stories can be read once, great stories must be read twice, and, like great literature, this album deserves repeated listenings to appreciate its beautiful complexities and subtle shadings. A recommendation: Spend a few nonstop hours with Is This Desire? It will change you. --Tod Nelson

The Peel Sessions 1991-2004 >>

PJ Harvey does her best work naked. For all the tantalizing changes in direction over the past 15 years, it was the British songwriter's barebones disc, Rid of Me (and its raw companion piece, 4-Track Demos), that made the greatest impression. These recordings from the late John Peel's celebrated BBC Radio show see her returning time and again to her basic blues roots, offering delightfully bruised takes on both early classics like "Sheela-Na-Gig," from her first performance on the show, through "You Come Through," a track that was recorded at a tribute shortly after Peel's passing. Along the way, there are plenty of rarities, stylistic diversions, and traces of dark humor to make Harvey fans wish the package could have been twice as long. --Aidin Vaziri