There was a time around that album Rid of Me when I thought she and she alone could save me from having to do what I did. And as it turned out, she couldn't save me from it at all. I still feel sad about that. But also sortof numb too.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 14:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Dare I ask, what did you have to do...?
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Sunday, 21 June 2009 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Change my gender?
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Sunday, 21 June 2009 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Ah, see I really didn't know and was asking. I don't read EVERY thread here. ;-)
― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Sunday, 21 June 2009 22:29 (fourteen years ago) link
She's so much more powerful now singing John Parish's mediocre music.
― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 June 2009 00:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Not meant as a slight, Stephen. Just a ginger tiptoe in the water of honesty?
Alfred OTM, LOL.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 02:04 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh shit. I can't breathe. Look at her hair, look at her earring, look at her outfit. Look at her unfashionable guitar. What in god's name is going on here? And can I play it again? And again?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzZxjbRua00
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 03:04 (fourteen years ago) link
A friend just sent me this one, and I still can't breathe. Look at her dress!!!!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk_GmlJxJTg
I told him I think I'm gonna play that and only that all night. I'm possessed, I'm obsessed.
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 03:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I thought she stopped screaming a long time ago?!? Or am I WRONG?
― I DIED (u s steel), Monday, 22 June 2009 09:51 (fourteen years ago) link
No, there's two tracks on the new album with John Parish where she does, yeah - "A Woman A Man Walked By" and "Pig Will Not". Haha, in fact the latter starts with her letting out a huge scream!
― A Breath of Fresh Culture (Bimble), Monday, 22 June 2009 17:08 (fourteen years ago) link
PJ Harvey Battle Royal! Entrances
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBzl1_uJeI
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 20 December 2010 01:01 (thirteen years ago) link
Queen of Wrestling! Where do people find the time?Thanks for that video, Brimble, it's delish.
PJ is classic from the word go. "Dry" is still completely relevant and is easily in my top albums for that decade. The raw sexuality of her earlier albums are as uniquely feminine as Kate Bush; PJ just presents her material with the guts and sputum of the grittier underbelly. Few, if any, Riot Grrrls can match the quality and variety in her catalog, to say nothing for that overpraised windbag, Ms. Phair.
Of late, I'm finding "White Chalk" returning to the player again and again. And while i do wish it was longer, have no trouble repeating it 2 or even 3 times -- which is as rarefied-an-act as there is in my listening conventions.
I swear that I recall a TV performance wear the stool-perched and biker leather-clad Ms. Harvey completely dismantled and episode of the Tonight Show with a redoubtable solo rendition of Highway 51 (or was it 50ft Queenie)? I also tend to want to believe that she appeared in 91/92 when Johnny Carson was still hosting, and her performance left him nearly slack-jawed as the audience mustered only a smattering of nervously polite applause. I've spent the better part of the last two hours Googling evidence of this performance but it appears to have never actually happen. Does this sound familiar to anybody?
― suspecterrain, Monday, 20 December 2010 12:46 (thirteen years ago) link
People do speak highly of White Chalk, but I found the album before it a bit inessential and decided to give up on her.
However, it is nice to think of her as a majorly Beefheart-influenced artist on this special day.
― The New Dirty Vicar, Monday, 20 December 2010 13:29 (thirteen years ago) link
"White Chalk" is the perfect example of an artist incredibly attuned to a specific instrument - in her case, a guitar - but choosing as her vehicle of choice an instrument she's not as fluent with - in this case, a piano. In fact, a lot of Polly Jean Harvey seems to be her intentionally shying away from the things that made/make her great. First she dissolved the incredible power trio. Then she largely put down the guitar. Then she started pairing up with one of the most technically adept producers of our time to make her recordings sound intentionally scruffy. Then she follows her glossiest album, which she subsequently dismisses, with her most DIY. Toss in a disc or two of songs written and played by Parish and her whole career seems like an effort to throw people off the trail. That's what makes her so vital, I guess.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 20 December 2010 13:43 (thirteen years ago) link
her whole career seems like an effort to throw people off the trail
love this way of looking at it
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Monday, 20 December 2010 13:46 (thirteen years ago) link
though i'm still not into her latest :/
― lex diamonds (lex pretend), Monday, 20 December 2010 13:47 (thirteen years ago) link
picked up 4 track demos on vinyl at a garage sale
she is amazing, what a talent, even in such a simple, raw form she's just jaw dropping, some of these versions are better i think
― Blink 187um (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 23 May 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
i like almost everything she's done (kinda couldn't get with stories from the city and uh huh her totally), but those first few PJ Harvey albums are all time stunners. pretty ferocious. question! i was listening to a bootleg from 93 recently and was wondering -- who's doing backup vocals? whoever it is, they're doing a damn good job of approximating pj's style.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
It's the drummer.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:14 (thirteen years ago) link
he's impressively high pitched.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
I remarked on the Let England Shake thread that while I stuck UHH in my top ten it sounds like a B-side comp now: the detritus of a phase she needed to collect and abandon.
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 May 2011 21:26 (thirteen years ago) link
4 Track Demos is great. the version of Rid Of Me on there will blow your hair back.
― dmr, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:29 (thirteen years ago) link
Those demos really underscore, along with the new Neil Young and, um, I guess Billy Bragg the strange power of the solo electric guitar.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:42 (thirteen years ago) link
hm, yeah, good point. is there a thread for solo electric guitar + voice records? probably not that many, really.
― tylerw, Monday, 23 May 2011 21:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Royals
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3741/11308844674_c79a360068_z.jpg
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:23 (ten years ago) link
Oh Lorde.
― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:29 (ten years ago) link
WHAT HAPPENED TO ENGLAND SHAKING
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:33 (ten years ago) link
haa
― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P), Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:34 (ten years ago) link
haha, that is a cute picture.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Let England Curtsey
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:35 (ten years ago) link
Let One of England's Monarchs Pin Something On My Blazer
― From the Album No Baby for You! (Matt P), Tuesday, 10 December 2013 23:37 (ten years ago) link
5'4" Queenie.
― Stevie T, Wednesday, 11 December 2013 00:25 (ten years ago) link
goddamn right!
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Wednesday, 11 December 2013 00:26 (ten years ago) link
"I wouldn't do this for Mick Jagger, you know?"
― Mark G, Wednesday, 11 December 2013 15:25 (ten years ago) link
Never really found her cute, before this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahLfsTQ18_o
― OutdoorFish, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 23:28 (nine years ago) link
God I was there, first time I've seen footage(One and only acid trip)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8mqk9pIaHo
― OutdoorFish, Wednesday, 17 September 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
cool story bro
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:21 (nine years ago) link
way to reduce one of rock's most interesting artists of the past three decades to her effect on your boner. well done. thanks a lot.
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:22 (nine years ago) link
i just hope that he can eventually find a way to find the cuteness in other musicians too, before it's too late
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:32 (nine years ago) link
Wow, all that just because he/she mentions PJ Harvey looks cute in yellow?
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 02:39 (nine years ago) link
- revive a thread after nine months- never mention her music or anything but attractiveness- ah now she is worth discussing because i finally found her cute
so, yes
― mookieproof, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:00 (nine years ago) link
That's assuming her cuteness was the entire point of sharing. Could have just as well been a side note. Second video had no mention of cuteness.
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:16 (nine years ago) link
Ship's computer: lock brain, please.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 18 September 2014 03:18 (nine years ago) link
evan it's nice that you want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but maybe giving the artist the benefit of thinking that she, you know, exists outside of what men think of her would be helpful too
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:50 (nine years ago) link
i don't understand why 'don't be a sexist jerk' is such a hard thing for men to comprehend
― maura, Thursday, 18 September 2014 04:53 (nine years ago) link
Maybe we can talk about this (the music, that is), probably my favourite PJH youtube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCruBKDt5Ys
This cuts to the bone and gives me chills every time I watch it. I love the crowd response in the last fifteen seconds of the song, they know they've seen something epic.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:23 (nine years ago) link
oh god enablers like evan are as bad as sexists like outdoorfish, what is wrong with you
― lex pretend, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:29 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, obviously I hate the music. I am also a fan of simpletons.
― OutdoorFish, Thursday, 18 September 2014 08:30 (nine years ago) link
Enabler, facilitator or apologist?
― Twist of Caliphate (Bob Six), Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:09 (nine years ago) link
enablers like me are just as bad as sexists, who we are totally 100% positive are sexists based on half sentences. how about let's not be horribly negative people and at least try to get a little tiny bit more information before we call everyone a fucking full blown sexist AND say that everyone who says "whoa, hold on a second" just as bad??
I get it, you really WANT to believe outdoorfish isn't a fan at all, but now he stumbles upon a clip of pj harvey in a yellow dress and checks his dick to see whether he should give her a chance.
maybe, this is crazy because I know his blood test came back sexist, but maybe he is just a fan of her music already and wanted to share a clip and add "she's particularly cute in this clip" and just chose poor wording. Is that possible? because it's worth getting a little more info before you call someone a sexist over admitting they hadn't found someone cute before. Plus, the next clip wasn't all "check out her titties in this one" it was "I was at this show!" I'm pretty sure that's enough to assume the entire reason for sharing was most likely not to talk about how attractive she is and how much more important that is than her great music
― Evan, Thursday, 18 September 2014 11:37 (nine years ago) link