POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

http://www.themobhasspoken.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/pj_harvey1.jpg
Here we go...

Just albums tonight, I'll start the tracks off tomorrow

In joint tenth place with a mere six votes each:
A Woman A Man Walked By
Dance Hall At Louse
The Peel Sessions 1991-2004

she looks so immaculate & polished on that photo. fortunately her music is something else entirely.

9. Uh Huh Her (2004) - 8 points, 3 votes
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001XQ8E8.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Not a very popular one this. I have to say I don't think I'd listened to it at all for about 8 years until getting ready for this poll. Three or four tracks I like, but nothing special.

look at her
pretty shoulder/gnarly shoulder <3 <3 <3

Title + haircut put me off quite a lot

even the best tracks sound bored and disconnected. like she's all "shit, time to record another one."

singularly hideous album cover too

8. 4-Track Demos (1993) - 40 points, 1 first place, 8 votes
http://ukrmedia.biz/images/products/4track_demos_lightbox3_lightbox.jpg

xp - cmon, "who the fuck" is great
the video is cute too -- she's dancing around an apt in her undies
fuiud
also i like her haircut

yeah see that's how you dgaf

About Uh-Huh Her: I voted for this one. It has the songs, she just chose to record them in an odd way. No Child Of Mine remains one of the catchier things she's ever done.

4-Track Demos is my no.1. I like nearly all of it more than Rid Of Me.

Uh Huh Her has got some classic tracks on it, but it just doesn't gel as well as we'd come to expect from her.

7. White Chalk (2007) - 48 points, 13 votes
http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/albums/10501/homepage_large.2cdfc67a.jpg

love that angora bra thing from the 4 track demos cover
AND the white chalk cover is so beautiful and that dress makes me want to scream it's so pretty
she always has the best clothes! i love her styling through the years -- she doesn't get enough credit for sheer variety of looks.

UHH and WC placing exactly where they need to be.

4-Track Demos is my no.1. I like nearly all of it more than Rid Of Me.

i go back and forth. the demos are intimate and seem to capture more vocal nuance, but i love the meaty physicality of the albini drums. take "rid of me" (the song): i prefer the verses and the more balanced mix on the 4-trk version, but damn, the studio version's chorus just destroys. "yuri-g" is another case where the song is fantastic in both versions, and i can't pick a favorite.

4-trk does have "easy" and "reeling". can't imagine why those didn't make it to rom.

lecha otm: white chalk photo & style are lovely (and rather baleful)

this is one of those where I legitimately have no good guess as to the order in which the top three or four albums will place.

xp 4-Track demos is better than a lot below it, as is Demonstration, the equivalent album for Dry, but they kinda don't count.

Stories from the City better be next.

UHH and WC placing exactly where they need to be.

white chalk is her best record. then again i didn't vote.

It's got its cult.

Many may have already seen this -- wicked outfit and a bitchin' guitar (anybody know what kind it is?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwWP2Rr5JE

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

6. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) - 66 points, 2 first places, 10 votes
http://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/covers/stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea.jpg

Surprised to see this so low, to be honest.

I'm regretting not voting for "4 Track Demos" now ... it's always been hard for me to separate it from "Rid of Me", the two of them together kind of make up a complete set. I actually bought it before RoM and didn't hear RoM in it's entirety until several months later.

white chalk is an album i wouldn't have expected from her. it's so intimate and she seems so vulnerable on it. i quite like it as it is different. most songs have got a frightening, harrowing quality to them. a very intense album, i rated it higher.

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

Yeah, early copies came with an extra disc called Demonstration. I got it on vinyl - probably my favourite record/object I own. It's basically the demos for Dry, which I think were the tapes that got her signed in the first place.

Here's Oh My Lover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwVCOuQK6w

And Dress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYhPEEmzaY

a little surprised to see stories that low until i stop to think what it could've possibly beaten (w/ a different sample group it might've beaten is this desire? but that sure as fuck wasn't happening here)

SFTC.. is a flawed album w/ a handful of incredible high points.

xpost It's an Airline guitar, prolly from the 60s (not a reissue). I believe Jack White is a fan.

Very surprised to see the next one so low as well...

5. Dry (1992) - 122 points, 6 first places, 17 votes
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nsCT3EFoxK8/SSqlvEhwW8I/AAAAAAAAA0g/WBxppmlWqIg/s320/PJ+Harvey+-+Dry-1992.jpg

yeah that's crazy but somebody in that top five had to be #5, i get to keep on thinking let england shake is a little overrated though

yeah, not a huge surprise, though it deserves better. rom & les were shoo-ins, and the tbyml/isd backers seem p dedicated.

Dry is a cracking first draft, but not at all ridiculous to conclude she's made four better ones

i guess it has to do with the fact tat most people who voted probably were not around at the time. from my pov definitely her best album, very song is a killer. so much energy plus great tunes and a pretty perfect, dry production.

I thought "Dry" might win ... other albums had their backers but "Dry" seemed to be the album that everybody liked

every song a killer...

I was around at the time and I didn't feel the need to buy a PJ Harvey album until TBYML

I didn't vote tho

4. Is This Desire? (1998) - 124 points, 4 first places, 21 votes
http://merlin.pl/Is-This-Desire_PJ-Harvey,images_big,26,5245632.jpg

only on ILM! yay!

I was around at the time and have vinyl Dry somewhere, but am now really regretting not shelling out for the double-disc. (memory says it might've been in indie shops only, which is a pretty poor show Chain With No Name, if you're reading)

yeah there could be a gulf in perspective between ppl for who whom dry was first contact w/ huge impact and ppl for whom it was just 'the early stuff' or whatever

ITD really made folks in my neck of the woods go "whaaaa...?" in '98. Certainly it sounded like a holding pattern compared to its predecessors. It didn't grab me until three years later.

i am still hoping that to bring you my love might win this but that is probably a delusion.

Dry was my number one by a mile (and obviously the first one I heard).

No chance xp

Many may have already seen this -- wicked outfit and a bitchin' guitar (anybody know what kind it is?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_(guitar) or later copy

i loved it but was slightly disappointed, i think 'broken homes' earlier that year had probably warped my expectations

3. To Bring You Love (1995) - 128 points, 3 first places, 22 votes
http://images1.makefive.com/images/entertainment/music/greatest-rock-records-of-all-time/pj-harvey---to-bring-you-my-love-7.jpg

"Teclo" opened this album for me.

of course. but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?

sorry, there is the cover out of nowhere...

Re: Airline Guitars-Jimmy Reed was also fan in his post Vee Jay years

but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?
OK - To Bring You My Love

2. Let England Shake (2011) - 132 points, 3 first places, 21 votes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg/220px-Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg

Can you correct the no.10 while you're at it?

1. Rid of Me (1993) - 170 points, 10 first places, 22 votes
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ViblFdHNGDo/T6OrP2h37RI/AAAAAAAADgw/_nbZIB0d9SU/s1600/pj+harvey+rid+of+me.jpg

I didn't vote for it, but can't argue with that landslide

Lots of people were saying before the poll that it would be interesting because there was no real consensus. In the end, 'Rid of Me' won quite convincingly over the others, but it's true that there was hardly anything to separate the next four albums. It's interesting that Dry picked up noticeably fewer votes, but more number ones, than TBYML / IST? / LES.

Who else with so many great records, and without much of a pause between, would have a 1-2 so far apart?

Leonard Cohen might.

possibly the best album albini recorded which is saying something

same 1-2 as me so i am happy.

never heard those dry demos before. 'oh my lover', you came a long way baby

Chronologically? Eighteen years *is* a long time. Johnny Cash?

Let England Shake has the worst cover out of all of these I think. Or second-worst to Uh Huh Her.

i never understood why "rid of me" was supposed to be her token album. for me it represents a huge drop of quality after "dry". there is something cartoonish in the music. all the seemingly more experimentalish character of "rid of me" never conviced me. the songs are lesser songs, the title song is ok but can hardly compete with any of the songs of "dry". can someone try to explain?

Nope

Just let the rollout happen. I sure there will be plenty of chances for people to expand on why songs from Rid of Me are so facemelting awesome.

The songs are far better, as a cohesive statement it's a real work-of-art, the power of it is uncompromising and awesome. Which is not to say I like it (well, I do, but I don't love it) but as a *thing* it is uberimpressive.

It's like George Foreman's fist

that doesn't make sense to me. if you don't love it why the hell did you make it no. 1? in music impressive doesn't mean shit without a personal connection.

you can dance around george foremn's fist you know. muhammad ali did it.

actually ali didn't

ok he had a different winning strategy against foreman i forgot but that still doesn't explain anything.

indeed

I love it and I didn't even vote for albums! Some of the reasons that I love it are personal/biographical and I'm not all that interested in sharing those; the other reasons are related to the general amount of audacity it took to make a record like Rid of Me, then and now. The sensation of listening to it when I was 18-19 years old was unforgettable. You can't look at the cover and tell me that there's not a special record in there.

what the fuck at these results???

i don't think i've ever thought of Rid Of Me as essential - everything about that aesthetic was improved on 4-Track Demos. the production is absolutely horrible. i don't hate it because as ever, it has the songs - and i think i'd go for the ROM version of "50ft Queenie", certainly - but i can't have listened to it front-to-back more than 3 or 4 times in my life (i first heard it in 1995 i guess).

had been hoping Is This Desire would be the surprise ILM-ish #1 - surprised to see it so low. oh well i'll always have the joy of knowing that PJH herself agrees with me.

Uh Huh Her is maybe a minor work but i'll rep hard for it - when it's bad it's rote, but when it's good it's as incredible as peak PJH. i sort of feel its minor status makes it more interesting, somehow, and i'll ALWAYS appreciate its timing - to follow SFTCSFTS with that is kinda why i love PJH as an artist.

sad for Dance Hall, although i guess i didn't expect it to do well - i'm really surprised PJH fans in the '90s would just ignore it. it was the first PJH release after i became a fan, i remember being HYPED.

i find dry a tremendously accomplished debut, but in the end an, uh, dry run for rid of me. the latter is monumental, has great songs, and is menacing as hell (which i appreciate a lot).

it is also pure sex.

i can understand why she changed tack -- she could hardly have taken rid of me any further -- and i love nearly everything she's done. i don't find her more recent stuff as singular or striking, that's all.

i remember being put off by the production when i first heard it, but i came around. it's totally fitting, at any rate

i know ALOT of ppl who basically wrote her off once 'pj harvey' ceased to be the name of the band

she feels so BURIED in Rid Of Me, 4-Track Demos she's just out in front screeching as she should have been all along

i think i agree w/ lex, rid of me has kind of an oppressive sound, really hard to listen all the way through. used to love it but probably would take any of the others before that one.

oppressive is the point

lol at ppl being mystified that an intense rock artist's most intense rock album might prove to be her most popular

have a hunch that 'fool in the rain' didn't win the zeppelin poll either

i don't think ROM is as emotionally intense as ITD or White Chalk (or 4TD!) by a long way

sounds like a poll

lol who's talking emotions

The 5-4 were my 1-2. I bought Dry when it came out without having heard anything off of it, I think I'd read about her somewhere and I liked the cover. Was completely hooked from the opening bars of "Oh My Lover." I prefer its lo-fi spaciousness to Rid of Me's lo-fi assault, but I understand why Rid of Me is the monument.

Is This Desire is, to me, the closest of her albums to Dry in its range and unpredictability.

(the closest of her albums that I have actually listened to -- of the bottom half of the poll, I only have Stories and 4-Track, and I've probably only listened to Stories about twice.)

Airline Guitar -- thanks, gents

I also agree that 4-Track demos is far more affecting than ROM, might even be tuff for it to make my top 10.

Just outta curiosity, is Water a big fave? I love her voice on that song.

i mean 'one more try' by timmy t is more "emotionally intense" than '1969' by the stooges

"Water" is awesome but did not make my ballot... (two other water-themed songs did)

ROM's emotional intensity is misunderstood - it's mixed in with gigantic smirks and fuck yous in a way some of her other records aren't. It's thrillingly confident and self-referential and playful. I never understood it as being anguished at all, even if it messes with ideas of anguished women in order to make very loud noises. It's just wildly expressive: nobody else can do this and I can.

otm!!!!
she doesn't really want you to lick her legs, she just wants to say "lick my legs" because it's fun
i never thought she was being earnest about anything in that album -- what a fucking relief! everyone was so earnest in the early 90s.

what she was doing was (and is) way more challenging than being emotionally intense, imo

Rid Of Me was number 3 for me but I love it, esp. for its compressed carnal lurch, the way on a tune like "Missed" it feels like all this heaviness is squeezed into such a small space.

She went more widescreen forever thereafter which worked wonders as well* but Rid of Me is like being hit in the stomach with a ball bearing and I adore it.

*Even so many of my favourite moments post-ROM are ones which approach its qualities by different means - you could never mistake "Long Snake Moan" or "A Perfect Day, Elise" for ROM songs but in their own ways they recapture that sense of a mountain of energy being held within a very confined space (the space is more surround-sound though).

In a separate development, this poll process got me into White Chalk and I'm obsessed with it now.

Agree that Rid of Me is a very funny album as well.

everything about that aesthetic was improved on 4-Track Demos.

Not without Rob Ellis it wasn't.

Yeah the drumming on Rid of Me (and Dry too) is flat out amazing. I've actually listened to 4-Track Demos for the first time in the past few days and the performances are awesome but it misses Ellis going nutzoid on the drums.

Relistening to "Rub It Till It Bleeds" last weekend made me queasy like In Utero never did.

I love 4-Track, but yeah, Ellis was the first "rock" drummer I'd heard in years where I was like, "Waitwaitwait...WHAT the fuck did you just do?!"

xp

i never understood why "rid of me" was supposed to be her token album. for me it represents a huge drop of quality after "dry". there is something cartoonish in the music. all the seemingly more experimentalish character of "rid of me" never conviced me. the songs are lesser songs, the title song is ok but can hardly compete with any of the songs of "dry". can someone try to explain?

― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:23 PM (2 hours ago)

i and others responded to these questions upthread. in the end, the only thing wrong with the album is that you don't feel it. your criticisms are all just value judgments. that's fine, but you have to assume that others feel differently, right? the experimentation feels natural. it convinces me. the songs are great. the title track towers over most (but not all) of dry.

i love the unhinged, carnal exultation. eyeball kicks otm about the stance: "it's just wildly expressive: nobody else can do this and I can." i love that, the sense of this furious, ecstatic wind blowing through her. it is emotionally intense, but it's also joyful, smirky and playful. the sound of an artist completely mastering her material and identity and just letting it ROAR.

the production is absolutely horrible.

omg no, no, no.

i didn't get to vote in this because someone tried to blow up my city the week i was supposed to listen to pj harvey, but i did get to listen to rid of me today. in many regards it's a tough record to listen to, half the songs are barely even written beyond a riff and an amazing vocal performance. but if there's a better sounding 90s rock record you can please let me know what it is, thx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYO4FtX4qA#!

Man, I'm trying to find some Albini-interviews-Polly piece from the time. I've noticed that of all the high profile stuff he's done, I don't think I've ever heard Albini say a single bad thing about her or working on "Rid of Me."

i think he just said that she was weird and ate potatoes the whole time

BTW, watch that clip til the end to see her light Albini's feet on fire!

i appreciated albini mentioning that ___ was the only patch peej allowed on her voice

sometimes ppl act like dude runs roughshod over bands, but he's there to record the sounds they want, and obvs pj knew what she wanted

rid of me sounds like a million other albini recordings, it has its quirks but it sounds really fuckin' good

More bands should just track their drums with Albini. I think Trent Reznor did that once, recorded a bunch of drums there and then brought the tapes to another studio. If you're a drummer, you're going to sound good. Everyone else, singers, guitarists. you have to pay attention or he'll just make you sound thin or shitty. He seemed particularly well suited to PJ Harvey at the time. But then, she went from him to a long relationship with Flood, who at one point was the last producer I'd think was well suited to PJ Harvey.

gedge did something like that with him on the latter two cinerama albums iirc

I think he tracked the band there then did the strings somewhere else.

Honestly think that Dry would be a more apt name for Rid of Me. Far too claustrophobic for me in a direct, quasi literal way, it's just not enjoyable to listen to.

half the songs are barely even written beyond a riff and an amazing vocal performance. but if there's a better sounding 90s rock record you can please let me know what it is

i'll measure time
i'll measure height
i'll calculate
musical composition substance

i sort of agree with all the defences of ROM - i don't dislike it or anything, it certainly doesn't elicit even minor eyerolls in the way Stories does - but it's the "preferring it to any of her other albums" thing that is just like wtffffffffff have you even listened to TBYML or ITD

It's third after those for me.

I listened to Stories again for this poll and man aside from tracks 2 through 4 is that album ever rmde

"this is love" and "this wicked tongue" are the only stories standouts for me - "good fortune" is pleasant but not very exciting, "a place called home" is pleasant but basically "good fortune" redux

"big exit" absolutely slays live though

Anyone who would rank that ahead of anything else in her discography (inc. the John Parish albums) needs their head examined.

seriously, her worst album by such a long way

otm!!!!
she doesn't really want you to lick her legs, she just wants to say "lick my legs" because it's fun

Totally OTM, I sometimes imagine ROM (the album) as something she wrote just to screw with guys' heads, IOW, if a girl sang you these songs you'd probably shit yourself with fear and/or nervousness and that's the whole point of it all.

My top five albums were exactly the same as the poll results (in the same order too) except with "Stories" in place of ITD. I loved ITD when it came out but have cooled on it a lot over the years.

I will stan for "You Said Something" and "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" until the end of time, especially the latter, because she hasn't shown that kind of fire on record since.

You haven't heard A Woman A Man Walked By, then?

Stories is my #2, I've got fond memories attached to it but really I just love that guitar sound, I can't even think of any other records from around that time with the same sort of production. (FWIW I only got into PJ when a friend played me Is This Desire? so this was only the second of her albums I'd heard). UHH is definitely my least-favourite but even that's a minor mis-step.

Rid of Me wasn't in my Top 5 but I can understand people who prefer Rocking PJ picking it as their favourite.

Uh Huh Her isn't a very good record but it's a fascinating one in terms of her artistic path. It sounds totally like a sketchbook - confused, scrappy, sometimes falling back on old tricks but then, on Desperate Kingdom of Love for example, nailing her new direction. I hear that song and I'm like, oh hello White Chalk & Let England Shake.

Share Lex's lack of enthusiasm about Rid of Me. I thought Is This Desire? would be her Erotica (which it kind of is) and place in the top 3.

My beef with all ILX polls is that the early stuff is always overrated and the later work underrated, even with a career as interesting as PJ's. I'm not sure if that's to do with the lasting intensity of youthful fandom, or the impact of hearing an artist for the first time, but results often (huge generalisation here) confirm the cliche that it's all downhill after your first decade.

I listened to Stories again for this poll and man aside from tracks 2 through 4 is that album ever rmde

Yeah. Has she ever recorded a string of tunes as inert as "Good Fortune" and "A Place Called Home" and sequenced them consecutively? Ick.

I think "A Place Called Home" is incredible. I remember getting the advance of the album and listening to that track five times in a row on my DIscman on the train. Different strokes, etc. People who hate on this record are as perplexing to me as people who think "White Chalk" is her best.

yikes, 20 years

anyone else see the tour where Tricky opened?

Do you remember what year that was? 1995?

Yeah. One of the shows I most regret missing when I was at university.

My beef with all ILX polls is that the early stuff is always overrated and the later work underrated, even with a career as interesting as PJ's. I'm not sure if that's to do with the lasting intensity of youthful fandom, or the impact of hearing an artist for the first time, but results often (huge generalisation here) confirm the cliche that it's all downhill after your first decade.

― Deafening silence (DL), Thursday, April 25, 2013 3:41 AM (2 hours ago)

in the case of artists who eventually arrive at some measure of accessibility and popularity from a more challenging, perhaps punk-rooted starting point, it's almost inevitable. their initial ability to provide the shock of the new becomes the foundation of their artistic legacy. whatever they do afterward that may be interesting in whatever sense, but a great many fans will always reserve a special fondness for the early, calling-card transgressions.

Yes sure, in this specific case, but it's the same trend in practically every poll. Interested to see how the tracks roll out here.

There is a difference though - in their early tracks artists tend to rely on big hooks and impact; then later in their careers they explore more subtle pleasures, like form, textures or lyrical themes. It's no surprise that in a tracks poll the former gets the attention - my inclination is that that's more or less right, but later periods produce better albums.

Those things are true, but, again, the weird thing with PJH's discography is Let England Shake at the end of it, getting more attention (and votes) than most of what she's done.

in most cases, my favorite albums by my favorite rock & pop artists are from fairly early in their careers. not necessarily their very first public works, but typically from within the first decade of activity. i'd say that most get a 5-10 year run off their initial approach and energy, with long-running artists often managing a commercially and/or artistically successful last gasp or reinvention somewhere around the decade point. even allowing for such reinvention, though, the rock/pop artist who's still producing vital work and reaching a sizable audience twenty years out is a rare creature indeed. with that in mind, let england shake's #2 placement here is p remarkable.

or, uh, what eyeball kicks just said

i agree with stories being her worst but "you said something" and "one line" are breathtaking

oh wait and i love "beautiful feeling" too, the way it just rumbles out of nothing

thom yorke employed beautifully and subtly on the tracks he's on, two adjectives i'd normally never apply to him

Has she ever recorded a string of tunes as inert as "Good Fortune" and "A Place Called Home" and sequenced them consecutively?

I love both those tunes and the fact that they're sequenced together

anyone else see the tour where Tricky opened?

I saw it in NYC. Can't remember the venue. Irving Plaza maybe? I saw her on the Stories From The City tour at Bowery Ballroom which was phenomenal.

I do not understand all the contempt for that record here. And people hate Good Fortune? That is just nonsense.

delighted to see so much dissent

it's more or less a mainstream rock record, employs thom yorke, seems to issue from a position of domestic contentment, abandons most of the discomfort and experimentation of her other work

i like it a lot, but can see as how it might rub a lot of fans the wrong way

tbh the only song I loathe is the one about horses.

It doesn't even rub me up the wrong way. There are a couple of decent songs and a lot of OK but boring ones. The lyrics are embarrassing (to my ears) in lots of places. If Stories had been the first of her records I'd bought (and if it must have been the first for many people), I wouldn't have bothered with her again.

Alfred OTM about Horses ("Horses - In My Dreams" should've been the name of the album haha), but I also hate We Float. What an excruciating pairing.

It's only trendy to diss Stories because Beefheart doesn't like it.

I love that last pair of songs!

it's more or less a mainstream rock record

But it's a mainstream rock record of the highest caliber. She can write a hook like very few others. Stories is my favorite record of hers for the same reason Born In The USA is my favorite Springsteen: A world-class songwriter filling a record with hits.

I just wish she included Memphis on it, one of the alltime great B-sides.

What is this Memphis? I know not of it, and it's not on iTunes.

I mentioned this on some other PJ thread, but this is a good place to bring it up again:

A few years back PJ did the score for a Broadway show that a good friend of mine was involved in. My friend spent a lot of time with her, and said she is the nicest, most down-to-Earth person you could imagine. The polar opposite of her music: she was warm, friendly and unbelievably collaborative. Couldn't say enough nice things about her.

Memphis: her tribute to Jeff Buckley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcSkSTGrubo

"memphis" is awesome, yeah - so is "66 promises", the other "good fortune" b-side

Good Fortune and A Place Called Home have such massive singalong choruses, anyone who hates on those must necessarily hate fun.

The lyrics are embarrassing (to my ears) in lots of places

yeah this. good fortune is a good example - a catchy if unadventurous tune spoiled by these corny, pat lyrics. so un-peej.

She was happy! Happiness is simple. I thought Good Fortune did a great job of articulating the pleasant surprise of things actually going well for once, and also how delicate and fleeting that feeling is. I love that song.

feel like "good fortune" is hardly the nexus of terrible lyrics on that record. "big exit" despite its incredible exterior is pretty tough to endure lyrically

also i really love

things i once thought
unbelievable
in my life
have all taken plaaaaaace

I'll admit that Good Fortune is the only song from that album that I listen to at all. Don't remember the others tbh.

"and I feel like some bird of paradise" isn't bad either. At least that's what I think the lyrics are, I'm not 100% sure?!

You are missing out on some great songs, La Lechera. My #1 song came from Stories and it's not Good Fortune.

My #1 song came from Stories

mine too

"you said something" is so perfect, the music seems the casual expression of the lyrics

Huh, well I'll take that into consideration! I'm always willing to give PJ another chance.

love every bit of sftc, it's loose in a way none of her other records approach (or tbf attempt), and mature about happiness and love in a way nevermind none of her other records but few other rock records period attempt (maybe solo lennon on occasion)(maybe new morning?), in some ways the inverse of rid of me. at the time i was worried she was lost to mannerism (more due to the show i saw for itd? than itd? itself though the stagnation there was worrying also), this was the opposite of that and turned out to be the last time she was capable of surprising me.

The reviews at the time were overwhelmingly positive.

i mean i respect and admire and bow down before 'MAJOR ARTISTIC STATEMENT' records but increasingly i prefer the minor another day another dollar records. they're more revealing and human, they're usually funnier, and they're easier to live with.

I dunno – SFTC was a major statement, a typical I'm In Love and In The City record.

xpost well yeah the reasoning behind most of those contemp sftc reviews is suspect i will agree

soto i'm in love records are very different kind of artistic statments than i am now going to examine this thing we call love records, the former is dusty springfield the latter is sting

SFTC is both ("This is Love" the former, "Beautiful Feeling" the latter).

xpost well yeah the reasoning behind most of those contemp sftc reviews is suspect i will agree

― balls, Thursday, April 25, 2013 11:26 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Robert Christgau doubles his fun:

Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea [Island, 2000]
If Nirvana and Robert Johnson are rock's essence for you, so's To Bring You My Love. But if you believe the Beatles and George Clinton had more to say in the end, this could be the first PJ album you adore as well as admire. It's a question of whether you use music to face your demons or to vault right over them. Either way the demons will be there, of course, and nobody's claiming they won't catch you by the ankle and bring you down sometime--or that facing them doesn't give you a shot at running them the fuck over. Maybe that's how Harvey got to where she could enjoy the fruits of her own genius and sexuality. Or maybe she just met the right guy. Tempos and pudendum juiced, she feels the world ending and feels immortal on the very first track. The other 11 songs she takes from there. A+

I know it's impolite to put it this way, but sometimes getting laid can really be good for a person. On the recorded evidence--with no claim to any lowdown on Polly Jean Harvey's actual private life, a mystery as closely guarded as the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein and the formula for Coke--that's the secret of PJ Harvey's Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, which even she allows is the happiest-sounding album she's ever made. What she daren't suggest is that it may also be the best.
The shift is first apparent in the music, which is, not to beat around the bush, fast. Way more easeful than the tightly wound, dynamically extreme bluesism of the career-launching Dry and Rid of Me, it's also way livelier than 1995's critical triumph To Bring You My Love, where Harvey's desperate carnality took a sharply metaphysical turn, and 1998's rhetorical question Is This Desire?, the answer to which was maybe. While her austere sonic signature remains, the vocals are discernibly more relaxed, the tunes welcoming and even expansive. Listen for shadings on the guitar attack, too--piano, organ, marimba, is that bandoneon? The album's an up from the first strums of "Big Exit," unquestionably the most rousing opener of her career.

Granted, maybe you'll smell shtick even so--our Polly, getting archetypal with the elementals again. After all, "Big Exit" does meditate painfully on human suffering. But the song's aesthetic thrust is all in the two lines of euphoria her ruminations try to rationalize away: "I'm immortal/When I'm with you." That's why it's so rousing. As she reports in the redolently titled "This Is Love": "I can't believe that the axis turns/On suffering when you taste so good." Long blessed with uncommon talent and success, Harvey can finally accept her "bad fortune slipping away."

Harvey has always been sex-obsessed. But there are better things to do with sex than obsess about it--enjoy it, for instance. And though the love affair the album describes or invents may end badly--e.g., the furious "Kamikaze," or the lovely "The Mess We're In," sung mostly by Radiohead's Thom Yorke--at least it sounds like a true affair, rather more full-bodied than "Robert DeNiro, sit on my face." Harvey and her beau ideal dance and get drunk, walk through Little Italy and sit looking at the skyline from a Brooklyn rooftop. Maybe they'll fulfill the dream of the finale: "But one day/We'll float/Take life as it comes." Or maybe she'll attain that state of grace with someone else. Whatever happens, this album will be there to remind her how happiness feels.

Rolling Stone, Nov. 9, 2000

Note: When printed, this was a four stars. As written it was 4.5 stars. In the Consumer Guide it is graded A+.

God he is DISGUSTING.

I have to work this evening, but I'll try to at least get the tracks run down started. 116 different songs were voted for. I'm going to do a top 60 countdown.

Before that, let's shed a tear for the three songs I voted for that didn't make the top 60:

haha he always got so creepy writing about her good lord. i know ppl here are already on record as finding it horrifyingly abysmal but i've always loved 'we float' as the closer, if you take it as straight forward hakuna matata (it means 'no worries') i can understand the horror but it's always played to me as this concluding statement, that on sftc you have this person who's been able to shrug off or revel in the agonies of life w/ intelligence or 'art' or sheer force of youth but those aren't enough for her (at least not today) and so either by meeting the right guy or just being in the right city she finds herself opening herself up to another person and relating to him as a person and not a construct and she's never known love like this before now she's lonely never more etc and maybe this is how you beat the demons but in a corner of her mind and on the occasional lyric something whispers 'maybe not' and so at the end she acknowledges this but hopes if not today maybe tomorrow. ten years later cut to some crone banging away on a piano about the war.

73. Happy and Bleeding - 64 points, 3 votes

Wow, I didn't know that many fans dislike Stories. I didn't vote but it's my favourite album of hers. (I only heard all of Dry very recently, though. It could give some competition.) I'm not a very lyrics-oriented listener. The tunes just feel more complete and satisfying to me.

There are some really intense moments on Rid of Me, and the sound is great, but the songwriting just seems incomplete to me, musically. The title track is classic though. My OPO is either that or "Sheela-na-Gig".

Also, wow, Christgau's an ass.

xposts

69. Teclo - 68 points, 3 votes

62. Ecstasy - 80 points, 4 votes

Teclo too loooooooow

69 & 62 were both cuts from my ballot.

I love "Kamikaze", voted for it, not big on the rest of that album but that song is great

if I'd have waited a day to vote I'd have voted for "Teclo", it got stuck in my head after I sent the ballot in

Teclo too slowwwwwww

Teclo was cut off mine at last minute too.

It was only a few places below my cutoff too

'teclo84' was one of my first AOL SNs

haha

Teclo too loooooooow

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, April 25, 2013 9:59 AM (1 hour ago)

holy shit, no kidding! my #5 and easily my favorite track off tbyml. kind of shocked, as i'd for some reason assumed it was one of her acknowledged classics.

gorgeous fucking song, nothing else she's ever done really sounds like it

I felt like I had to choose between "Teclo" and "The Dancer" on my ballot and plumped for the latter. Great to see "Happy And Bleeding" made it though.

^ exactly what I did.

"Teclo" doesn't have "Ah-AHH? AHHH-Ah!" tipping the scales in its favour.

it does have that ear-shuddering bass note tho

Nice tremelo guitar part too.

Xgau always freed to let out his inner sleaze when the artist in question flaunts sexuality. No doubt he thinks he's being edgy, or even calling them on the banality of their modest transgressions, but it always comes off so poorly.

Y'all are crazy, "Stories..." is soooo good, pretty much start to finish, definitely a better album than "To Bring You My Love." And even if I'm clearly the only one in the world who thinks it's a pretty dark record - opening lines!

Look out ahead
I see danger come
I wanna' pistol
I wanna' gun
I'm scared baby
I wanna' run
This world's crazy
Give me the gun

- even the "love" stuff after that is definitely tinged with darkness. I hear it all as a search for security and comfort, romantic or otherwise, in a horrible, batshit world. The words "hold me" shift in meaning, depending on how you hear them. Hold me, I love you. Hold me, I'm scared. Hold me, I feel so shitty I need someone to help me feel better. And so on. Even "We Float" is clearly an end of a relationship song. Dark, dark, dark. Reminds me of "Achtung Baby" meets Murnau's "Sunrise."

I voted for "Ecstasy". It's got the biggest gap between the ROM and 4TD versions. On 4TD it sounds ordinary, on ROM it's just about the heaviest thing going.

I voted for it too -- I love a good dirge and it's also v evocative.

60. The Darker Days of Me and Him - 83 votes, 5 votes

59. Snake - 83 points, 5 votes

Collaborative spotify playlist

Goddammit, Snake was my #9.

"the darker days of me and him" is so powerful and so calm at the same time. so relaxed and so strong. a pj harvey grand cru. she is so determined, she knows exactly what she is doing.

The Darker Days of Me and Him is just boring to me, and the lines about "With no neurosis / No psychosis" etc embarrassing. I do not relate to earnest Polly I think.

I don't really have anything to say about either of those songs. The name 'The Darker Days of...' meant nothing to me, so I was surprised to find out it was on Uh-Huh-Her (which I have, unlike the more obscure ones). 'Snake' to me was always just filler before the far superior 'Ecstasy'.

http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/03/09/2030963_12576ab1.jpg

58. Fountain - 84 points, 4 votes

^ My number 4, love that song, the tension all the way through building up to

my I for
on hill wait wind

Hmph. ILX has fucked up the formatting of that last post and turned it into gibberish.

shame on you ilx

Yes, Fountain a great early example of building and building up to the end.

lol ecstasy was my no. 5

Ismael - I need spotify help. I can open that link to get the playlist you're making of the top 60, but that has spotify as a webpage without me being signed in. When I open the spotify program on my PC and do a search I can't find the playlist. Yet, strangely, my search turns up another Ismaelklata PJ Harvey ILM playlist, possibly something you used while my choosing your songs.

Cripes yes, I do have another one that I used for ordering the songs. This means all my lists are public?

In short, I have no idea how the damn thing works

xp - Every list you've ever made anywhere. I've just been perusing a shopping list of yours from 1996.

Me neither.

If you click the play button on the browser Spotify playlist page, it should open up your client and take you directly to the playlist.

Yes the whole world can see your Get Ripped workout mix

All that time and nobody said anything?

57. One Line - 86 points, 5 votes

56. The Mountain - 87 points, 5 votes

One Line, eh...

The Mountain is in my 2nd tier of favorites from White Chalk, and as such I didn't vote for it, but I like it anyway!

The Mountain was on my White Chalk list but got squeezed out. Final track on the album, terrific screeching. A version (filmed) for Norwegian radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xsddqZ8yTU

I had The Mountain pretty high. I try not to compare female singer-songwriters, but it does remind me a bit of Kate Bush's A Coral Room, only it explodes outwards rather than looking inwards.

55. Easy - 88 points, 4 votes

Easy is fun but very similar to Yuri-G, which develops it into something more interesting. Taken beyond a demo it would've made sense on Dry, but it seems weak compared to other Rid of Me stuff.

54. The Last Living Rose - 90 points, 4 votes

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasaaaay

totally different lyrically than yuri-g

also i love the rhythm of the lyrics in "easy" and the ha! ha! ha! ha! part at the end

Similar tune, but yeah different lyrically - the lyric would fit better on Dry though. The song missed its chance.

Only 4 votes for Last Living Rose!

Film by Seamus Murphy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWBrWhrKchQ

totes agree it would have made more sense on dry -- it has a lot in common with "dress"

53. Black Hearted Love - 93 points, 4 votes

PJ on a bouncy castle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWrfLhX964I

Easy is fun but very similar to Yuri-G, which develops it into something more interesting. Taken beyond a demo it would've made sense on Dry, but it seems weak compared to other Rid of Me stuff.

― Eyeball Kicks, Thursday, April 25, 2013 3:07 PM (17 minutes ago)

...i love the rhythm of the lyrics in "easy" and the ha! ha! ha! ha! part at the end

― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Thursday, April 25, 2013 3:14 PM (10 minutes ago)

both otm, but i love "yuri-g" SO DAMN MUCH that a lesser stab at the same thing is still aces in my book. plus i like the fact that it's not really trying all that hard. has a nice swagger, too.

Yay "Black-Hearted Love"!

http://www.britstore.co.uk/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/Walkers_Mega_Monster_Munch_Pickled_Onion_40g.jpg&w=200&h=200

52. Meet Ze Monsta - 97 points, 8 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtbfOKgWRFI

"Darker Days..." my only UHH pick. It points the way to the next two records.

I don't think I've ever heard Albini say a single bad thing about her or working on "Rid of Me."

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, April 25, 2013 12:01 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think he just said that she was weird and ate potatoes the whole time

― call all destroyer

wkiw

i remember the thing about potatoes! that really stuck with me. i thought she must come from some barren wasteland where the only thing to eat is potatoes, or she was raised in kaspar hauser levels of isolation and tossed potatoes for sustenance. lol?

Sad Last Living Rose is so low, that was my top pick off LES.

yeah, I was fascinated by her when the 1st & 2nd records were new. I didn't get any magazines that gave any details; I knew her because a friend turned me onto her. so I just had the records to go on. who is she? what kind of person is she? the songs on Rid of Me seemed homoerotic to me, but the songs on Dry didn't as much. what's the story? it was so hard to find anything out; you just have these wild pictures on the albums, & those songs. it's different now!

it is

can you imagine how much less interesting she would have seemed if she were constantly tweeting what she ate in between recording songs

potatoes
potatoes
potatoes
more potatoes
lol potatoes

fountain is so awesome

wow -- coincidence! I'm listening to the back half of Dry as I type. "Water"!

iirc the potato comment was interesting and/or perhaps loaded (haha loaded potatoes) b/c there was also a looooot of hubbub at the time about women who were very thin -- kate moss, heroin chic, etc -- and i think she took some INCREDIBLY STUPID heat for being small/petite/slender

thank god that's overwith but it pissed me off at the time

Lately only felt the full brunt of Fountain's power, but my gods, is it monolithic.

Meet Ze Monsta == mm hmm.

There is no way in hell 'Black Hearted Love' should be that low.

I mean, that's just. . .

**holds tongue**

wow -- coincidence! I'm listening to the back half of Dry as I type. "Water"!

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, April 25, 2013 6:28 PM (1 hour ago)

OTM

had to do a quick search to reassure myself it wasn't coming in this low. cuz i know y'all are crazy, but...

two of my votes so far - "the darker days..." and "easy", really hyped that both made it in - had always thought they were just personal favourites

"easy" is probably the funniest PJH song for me, i love the rhythm of the words and the lascivious fuck-you wink she delivers them with. LEGS WIDE HIPS SWINGIN LIKE A DOORWAY. and the "HUH! HUH!"s behind the chorus work so well - it's just a demo but it seems fully fleshed out. a stronger hook than most of ROM imo, too.

"meet ze monsta" and "the mountain" were on my longlist but cut, good to see them too.

also, just nine tracks in but almost every album already represented! (still waiting on ITD and DHALP.) and no album represented more than once (unless you want to count the 4TD version of "snake" which, actually, i do)

I didn't vote for anything off LES but probably should've given 'Last Living Rose' some points.

First heard 'Meet Ze Monsta' on that Britpop Now! programme, god knows how that performance ended up happening.

Especially given how high "England" landed among the albums, I'm curious which or how many individual songs from that album make the cut.

i gave the album a slot among my favorites, but only voted for two tracks (the good ones). wouldn't be surprised if that were a common pattern.

out of the blue it is he vision to me bearing leaves petals green covers me in all my shame

The next one is one of my favourites. Surprisingly few votes, but those that voted for it rate it highly. I love the drums and the menacing bass line.

a description that covers lots of Peej songs!

51. Working for the Man – 100 points, 4 votes

Been looking for a good live clip of that one, but the best one is from the same gig as the previous track as well (Glastonbury 95):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY8ELk4WX2k

50. White Chalk - 107 points, 6 votes

working for the man not a stand out for me personally. white chalk wasn't too far off my ballot iirc

49. All And Everyone - 109 points, 5 votes

wow, shockingly low for one of the highlights - if not THE highlight and centrepiece - of the album that placed second...

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln5rsgnjef1qbsoxo.jpg

48. Victory - 110 points, 5 votes

xp Yeah, All and Everyone is pivotal. As is White Chalk. Maybe they don't have stand-alone appeal to most folk.

"All and Everyone" is one of about three songs on LES that I have to hear when listening to the entire album start to finish. It's never worked for me as a standalone track.

working for the man my #3, great live performance, the way she moves is stunning.
victory my #2, can't believe the low rank, are u totally crazy? one of her most intense and most powerful songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAhpPDfH9ws

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAhpPDfH9ws

I gave All And Everyone 15 of those points. The problem with with Let England Shake is that there are so many great songs, all of a piece, that votes would have been divided. Few single songs stand out as on her other albums. They're all as excellent as each other.

nice performance - but jeez, i'm still not used to so many quick edits between camera angles -- i love watching footage from the 70s and earlier where they hold shots for long times and used the slowest possible zooms.

Victory is a great song, but back in 1992 when I was first listening to Dry I couldn't help but hear the similarities to the then recent Inspiral Carpets song Sackville. It seems absurd two decades later, and it is a very simple riff no doubt found on dozens of songs, but I couldn't ever enjoy the song as a result. I really hated Inspiral Carpets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBgygp73gFM

egads! that's bad !

how can all and everyone, a boring ballad without any spark, be so close to the magnificent victory in this poll? best version is the peel session btw.

hahaha! iirc inspiral carpets also had a song called "joe" and sinead o'connor had "just call me joe" and there was that concrete blonde song "joey" and i remember thinking that naming a song "joe" was a bit cliched too! (i also had a totally brain consuming and pointless crush on a boy named joe, which is why i had catalogued songs named joe in my head)

"a boring ballad without any spark"

I think you might be listening to an Inspiral Carpets song called All and Everyone by mistake.

Listening to A Woman A Man Walked By again, and reiterate that this album is deeply underrated. I love how both this and Dance Hall At Louse Point feel so loose performance-wise, in a funny way although they show Polly at her most theatrical there's a sense in which, overall, they're closest to capturing her as she is, maybe because she's so frequently funny. But yeah the way she wails "ERICA!... DANIELLE!" on "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen"... This is a song that feels like it could fit into basically any of her albums right up to Uh Huh Her, not in the sense of being generic PJ Harvey, but in the sense of sharing something of what is so fascinating about each of her incarnations over the course of that entire period.

I'll admit that I voted for Is That All There Is? for theatricality (and also because I love that song and her singing it is next level yesssss)

Yeah "Is That All There Is" is totally theatrical but also kind of unaffected in that theatricality? Like, there's something very honest-feeling about its overblown vamping?

That's partly the song, I think -- there's so much devil-may-care who-gives-a-shit why-bother in the song itself that it translates automatically no matter how it's sung. I love her version of it.

Oh yeah that too but I just mean that you really feel how much PJ loves plugging into the song's vibe and going ham with it, and that feels as "true" a pose as, like, brute churning rockers or windswept bronte balladry.

"Is That All There Is?" made my top 10 -- i think it captures the colour of the lyrics better than other version i've heard -- PJ's medicine seams to always be accompanied with the most appropriate dose.

That's why she is so wonderful imo! She can wear so many elaborate costumes with conviction. She is extremely versatile, and the dexterity she moves with is impressive.

no doubt -- a true cameleon

I've just listened to her 'Is That All There Is?' for the first time and realised it's the same song as this one that my dad got in the late 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w6bHzvikl8

Peggy Lee's was the version I knew and loved -- it's Leiber and Stoller!

many similarities with Giant Sand (whose 'Tucson' album is something all should hear) version, yet much more "carnival" and "come-what-may" in it's delivery than PJs dirge. Peggy Lee's harps on burlesque, and divine.

Victory seems kinda low. Thought that would be much higher.

Re: Inspiral Carpets
While listening to everything (some of it for the first time in years) before making my ballot I made a couple of strange connections. 'Meet Ze Monsta' reminded me of Spacemen 3 - Losing Touch With My Mind (just one of the guitar sounds really) and something about the bass in the early parts of 'Angeline' made me think of Joe Jackson - Geraldine and John.

47. The Devil - 112 points, 6 votes

outrageously low, shameful

http://vimeo.com/22956489

http://991.com/newGallery/ZZ-Top-Legs-289364.jpg

46. Legs - 112 points, 6 votes

Not great dinner party music

didn't realize it was a cover

xp, great song, i mean "the devil". somehow i did not include it in my ballot. in the beginning of the video her high-pitch singig makes me think of oskar matzerath, the kid drummer from the "tin drum" by grass. and i expect the water glass to burst. miraculously it does not break.

just a minor request: would it be possible to put the album in brackets after the song, nbs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-tIpWtqYk

I really like The Devil. It's such a great title, I'd probably have voted for it anyway even if it wasn't such a fine tune.

^ satanist

46. Legs - 112 points, 6 votes
DAMMIT!

I'm surprised but happy about how "White Chalk" is doing. I've always thought it was really underrated.

The album, that is.

http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/32800000/Catherine-Tate-ginger-heads-32891554-280-390.jpg

45. Catherine (Is This Desire?) - 113 points, 5 votes

wow, shockingly low for one of the highlights - if not THE highlight and centrepiece - of the album that placed second...

― flamenco drop (lex pretend), Friday, April 26, 2013 10:30 AM (Yesterday)

re: "white chalk". otm. it is the highlight and centerpiece of the album. expected it to place in the top 20.

that's probably true re: "the devil" but i think i love "dear darkness" from wc even more. and i expect it to place.

Gave you my heart/you left the thing stinking

When Under Ether will probably be the highest from White Chalk, but still, the title cut wuz robbed! Far too low. It's one of the creepiest songs you'll ever hear.

http://www.gardenvisit.com/assets/madge/clandon_park_dutch_garden/original/clandon_park_dutch_garden_original.jpg

44. The Garden (Is This Desire?) - 116 points, 7 votes

Catherine and The Garden were both late cuts from my ballot.

Catherine was one of my re-discoveries from ITD?

For confusion that's how I approve of acronyming ITD?

another phantastic powerful song (that bass!) which should have been in the top 20.

"and there was trouble taking place"

http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/letter.gif

43. The Letter (Uh Huh Her) - 122 points, 8 votes

Erk. Just noticed a foolish error.

So..... I foolishly forgot to put a column in the spreadsheet for the position of each song in the chart and was reading their positions from the row number, but obviously there were two blank rows at the top (with headings) which means every position I've given so far has been two too low. Fortunately I've noticed this early enough for it not to be a big deal - the poll would have been somewhat anticlimactic if it had built up to number three and then stopped (although I suppose it would have been funny seeing people scratching their heads trying as we entered the top five trying to work out what on earth could possibly be in it that they hadn't been expecting).

So you need to subtract two from every position I've given so far. I'll post a proper countdown shortly, but first we need to go back to the *real* number 60 and 59....

bonus results...nice

http://www.drugson-line.info/images/photos/ecstasy.jpg

60. Ecstasy (Rid of Me) - 80 points, 4 votes

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/55/5548/F6ELG00Z/posters/richard-l-anson-people-floating-in-pool-on-rubber-rings.jpg

59. We Float (Songs from the...) - 81 points, 5 votes

eek

re: the letter. another one of my faves. how come that all those raw songs place so low? some great, subtle drumming on that one.

Er...Stories from the....

*must concentrate*

i am assuming the low placing of the letter is more a reflection of general antipathy towards UHH, because that is one of her best singles

It was the only track from that album that I could actually remember when I started this poll. Once I'd re-listened to the album a bit I really liked It's You as well.

'the garden' is p hot

I was wondering if PJ had a song called "The Innertube."

swimsuit otm

The (correct) countdown so far:

60 Ecstasy - Rid of Me
59 We Float - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
58 The Darker Days of Me and Him - Uh Huh Her
57 Snake - Rid of Me
56 Fountain - Dry
55 One Line - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
54 The Mountain - White Chalk
53 Easy - 4-Track Demos
52 The Last Living Rose - Let England Shake
51 Black Hearted Love - A Woman A Man Walked By
50 Meet Ze Monsta - To Bring You My Love
49 Working for the man - To Bring You My Love
48 White Chalk - White Chalk
47 All and Everyone - Let England Shake
46 Victory - Dry
45 The Devil - White Chalk
44 Legs - Rid of Me
43 Catherine - Is This Desire?
42 The Garden - Is This Desire?
41 The Letter - Uh Huh Her

I am already regretting giving To Bring You My Love the shaft in my voting. Right now I'd put both "Meet Ze Monsta" & "Teclo" high on my ballot, like the album's finally making sense to me (& I got it the day it came out!). funny how long it can take.

To Bring You My Love is another album where I tend to twin the tracks, which played out in my voting: I went for "The Dancer" over "Teclo", "Long Snake Moan" over "Meet Ze Monsta", "C'mon Billy" over "Send His Love To Me"... though in each case the preference is marginal or even basically non-existent (could easily have switched the last choice, for example).

http://cdn.euroffice.com/eo/item/742887/0-Huge-0.jpg

40. Water (Dry) - points 124, 6 votes

"the letter" has one of the best riffs PJH has ever written

"catherine" - she does so much with so little

"the garden" - i think i voted for this; i always think i underrate it, though, because ITD is such an embarrassment of transcendent riches that something like this, where the intensity feels more muted, taking second place to the story she's telling, doesn't stand out so much.

Does anything exist of Polly's time before she became PJ Harvey? I gather she played coffee shops, gigging bands, etc for about five years before things started moving for her. But I know nothing about them, or the scene she was part of (if there was one).

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1321336763_ether.jpg

Twinning tracks is far easier with TBYML.

this was the band she was in with john parish before forming PJ harvey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr9K1MUmcuA

god that hurt

Yeah I wouldn't've voted for that

sticking with "sprang fully-formed from the skull of zeus" tbh

When Under Ether is really good though, glad it made it

i don't think it's appeared yet. expect it to.

It's coming (hence the picture), real life just interrupted me...

39. When Under Ether (White Chalk)- 127 points, 7 votes

Following the Youtube trail from that Automatic Dlamini vid, I came across a song of theirs called Water(!) that is a more interesting precursor of later stuff. You could really imagine this ending up on Dance Hall at Louse Point in some form:

(terrible sound quality by the way)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXfio75zGAw

That pre-PJH youtube clip is fascinating (xp - the first one, haven't seen the Water one yet)

If When Under Ether is this low, I'm suspecting The Piano won't make it. ;_;

I like that Water clip a lot. Could imagine that showing up on The Chart Show Indie Singles on a quiet week.

After a week or two thinking of PJ, I decided to try to get vinyl versions of all of her albums. Already had Dry and the most recent two (plus A Woman A Man Walked By). I used to have Rid of Me before an ex borrowed it permanently. But they're pretty expensive! This afternoon I got a replacement Rid of Me for £42 and 4-Track Demos for £20 on ebay. There's an Uh Huh Her auction ending in half an hour, but it's at £43 already goddammit.

I like that Water clip a lot
I'm surprised to say I do too.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/Sutton-Gallinsky_Adam_E-lowrez.jpg

38. Written on the Forehead (Let England Shake) - 130 points, 6 votes

great song

One of my votes.

never understand why people rated the closing stretch of LES over the opening stretch

i've just realised "the slow drug" might not place :(

the second PJH's murmured backing vox >>>>>>

Shit is getting real now.

i've just realised "the slow drug" might not place :(

I ranked it high.

never understand why people rated the closing stretch of LES over the opening stretch

OTM. For me, the first 8 songs on LES are incredible, and then it immediately tails off, with the final 4 all being just decent.

37. Reeling (4-Track Demos) - 132 points, 6 votes

Were we meant to specify between the demo and the b-side?

ROBERT DE NIRO SIT ON MY FACE

This is the best. Well not the actual best, I only had it no.11 - but woo, what an impact

Were we meant to specify between the demo and the b-side?

No - all versions get counted together, I was just asked upthread to put the album name after the track (if possible).

voted for "Reeling." Love that feedback screech.

In that case...

37. Reeling (4-Track Demos / 50ft Queenie b-side) - 132 points, 6 votes

http://www.whatalesyou.co.uk/ugc/beer/Stella%20Artois/Stella/st-patricks-beer-stella-artois-ss.jpg

36. O Stella (Dry) - 132 points, 8 votes
Live at Glastonbury 1992

(or possibly Reading)

let england shake may drop off toward the end, but "written on the forehead" is amazing. one of the last tracks i cut; wish i'd found a way to keep it.

and yeah, "reeling" has always been one of my favorites. as with "easy", i can't imagine why it didn't make the rid of me cut.

Reeling was high up on my ballot - I prefer the band version to the demo - but I wouldn't put it on Rid Of Me if only because the de Niro reference is too real-world (if bizarre) and might puncture the mythical atmosphere.

Holy fuck, I've just found the best PJ Harvey youtube item - the 1993 documentary "Reeling with PJ Harvey". I didn't even know this existed. Loads of behind the scene footage, interviews and live stuff. Here's part 1 - if the other parts don't follow on automatically click through to the uploader's account to get the rest. Amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyInQwNfIsA

Ha, that looks great

I enjoyed that, but there's almost nothing there about her art or what she thinks. Even the group dynamic is barely touched on. I don't feel like she's any more knowable. I prefer it like that tbh, but I'm not sure a filmmaker should count that as a success.

When you see her as her offstage self, there's a kind of Clark Kent effect. There are certain facial similarities, but there's no way I would ever suspect that it's the same person as the one onstage in sunglasses and feather boa yelling about sex etc.

I don't feel like she's any more knowable. I prefer it like that tbh, but I'm not sure a filmmaker should count that as a success.

audience victory and subject victory though right? i haven't watched it because i'm afraid of being disappointed. should i?

I can't imagine being disappointed, there are good live performances, lots of Polly, and Steve Albini doing something utterly ridiculous. Maybe if you're into pure cinematography, the aesthetic values are fairly low.

Polly herself seems like a very nice individual entirely focused on doing her job as best she can, which is a thing I am very happy to see.

If you're into her because she's the female Pete Doherty, then it would disappoint you.

yeah i would be disappointed in a lack of professionalism, or insisting that every room she's in be the peej show. if she doesn't do that, and is otherwise dignified, i would totally enjoy it. albini was funny in "you weren't there"

xp omg pls

she comes across as a generally nice, funny and grounded person, and the main hint of a connection between offstage polly and on-stage/record pj is an amount of obvious self-possession and confidence

an amount of obvious self-possession and confidence
now we're talkin

If you wanna skip to the P Doherty moment, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD5E6TZ9wgk&t=2m35s

Sorry, from 2:35 in that clip is the moment to look for.

No need to see Cocksucker Blues after that

http://www.verdensteatret.no/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/piano-2.jpg

35. The Piano (White Chalk) - 137 points, 7 votes

That's just a taster, much more coming up a bit later...

I sneaked that one in the bottom of my list, I like it. White Chalk is full of good stuff, isn't it?

Yay! I was worried that wouldn't make it!

really pleased that the devil and the piano made it

man I can't believe I never really sat down with White Chalk before now

yeah, it's p great

white chalk is so creepy and weird, it rules

Coming up - the first track so far to get a number one vote...

never seen that docu before! had no idea it existed. me and my sister were right down the front and very drunk for the gig she's talking about in Manchester right at the start. 20 years ago.. holy shit.

34. This Is Love (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea) - 140 points, 2 first places, 6 votes

well.

Two first places?!?

Nowhere near my ballot

Hi!

Explain yourself

Life is complex. Sex is complex. Which is why the track sounds ominous as fuck.

"this is love" is one of the few genuinely incredible songs on stories

(can't remember whether it was incredible enough to make my ballot)

I wouldn't vote for it today but in the early 2000s it was the track I'd burn on CD-Rs for PJ skeptics.

9th best song on Stories, imo

http://www.billythefish.com/mediac/400_0/media/Uncle~Peter.jpg

Back to the documentary a minute. I don't get how this thing exists but even heads don't know about it. Any indie band from that era that did anything - an art gig, bit-part in a sitcom, even just a trip to America - had it hyped to fuck in the music press.

Was there an entirely separate scene somewhere that she was a part of? I'm having trouble placing where she came from and who her audience was. They're flicking through Q at one point, but I don't think it's that.

33. In The Dark Places (Let England Shake) - 158 points, 8 votes

^^^ a marvel

re: "this is love"

it's a damn good song. didn't vote for it, but see no crime. live, it kind of sounds like "chinese rocks".

OK, This Is Love is better and rawer (esp in the context of Stories) than I remembered it. I'm just surprised it's anyone's favourite.

I wonder how many more Let England Shake tracks will place. Maybe just Words and the title track, though I voted for Hanging in the Wire as well.

if "On Battleship Hill" doesn't place you are all insane

It'll place, it's a masterpiece

Yeah I was really surprised by how low Written On The Forehead placed. I'd guess at mad vote splitting with virtually every song getting at least a vote.

in the dark places was my number 6 i think? my top track on LES, just amazing, and criminally low here imho

so y'all don't rate "the glorious land"? i figured it was a lock, easily my favorite thing on the album.

LES is so of a piece that I have trouble remembering songs -- one of the few albums I like about which this is a compliment.

I'd like to see Battleship place too but I had to draw the line at five songs on my ballot, otherwise I'd have voted for pretty much the whole thing.

"the glorious land" is top-tier LES for me, i expect it pretty high

"written on the forehead" is ok and works in the album, esp as the one song that drags the album into the (relatively) present day, but as a song it's also about as inessential as LES gets: i still remember thinking "oh noooooo, PJH has finally gone bad" when it was the lead single

i definitely don't think LES is too much of a piece that the (best) songs don't work by themselves

Written was my #3. That Niney sample works insanely well.

32. Send His Love To Me (To Bring You My Love) - 159 points, 7 votes

love the rolling organ

hmmmmm this was always "c'mon billy" but less good to me

do you want Polly Jean to be good to you

http://thefilmexperience.net/storage/1960s/TheHustlerNewman.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1302192205001

31. The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea) - 165 points, 1 number one, 7 votes

I voted for this. She sounds nice and angry.

Meanwhile after getting schooled by Jonathan Bernstein last summer, Kevin Williamson writes about civil rights some more.

wrong thread but still apt!

http://www.trendir.com/outdoors/terrain-nyc-unfolding-rooftop-terrace.jpg

30. You Said Something (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea) - 175 points, 7 votes

?!!! THIRTY?

I figured that would be top 3.

?!!! THIRTY?

I figured it would be NOWHERE TO BE SEEN -_-

stop voting for stories trax y'all

seriously only two ITD? trax have placed and at least a third of the top 30 now needs to consist of that album for justice to be done

I didn't see that getting nearly the same amount of votes as "The Whores Hustle" and "This is Love" ... I definitely didn't see those two songs each getting first place votes while "You Said Something" got none.

at least we are getting these tracks out of the way. i figure there can only be 2 more?

My problem with "You Said Something" is that neither the music nor arrangement are interesting enough to swathe the "something" in mystery.

seriously dng love for "the whores hustle" it's kind of dumb

alfred otm, "something" just feels like a placeholder word that she forgot to replace

"the whores hustle" is a gigantic dumb cliché but it's almost more forgiveable if you embrace it on that level; "you said something" is just blahhhhhhhh

whores hustle has some kind of energy to it i guess? the person who voted it #1 should post an impassioned apologia

i think this is because i am a lol english major and can't get past how dumb the lyrics are. i guess it sounds okay.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCBOySXv6yw/UDj_8mLFK2I/AAAAAAAAA3c/3aXpuKXIkKc/s1600/iStock_000003880585XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg

i should have voted in this. i am a criminal.

WAIT. "Fountain" is 58 and "Whores Hustle" is 31???????

"The Whores Hustle" is a bit dumb if you just look at the lyrics and view it as a stab at writing a gritty "streets of NYC" kind of thing but it ROCKS so I'd rather not nitpick.

ON my HILL i WAIT for WIND

^ My number 4, love that song, the tension all the way through building up to

my I for
on hill wait wind

― BBC 'Witch' Song (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, April 25, 2013 5:17 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

29. Big Exit (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea) - 175 points, 9 votes

ON my HILL i WAIT for WIND
^
exactly

"Beautiful Feeling" is a better take on what she aims for in "You Said Something."

now "Big Exit" is a helluva openier

ON my HILL i WAIT for WIND

so she's standing outside waiting for someone to fart on her, is my takeaway

(btw I don't remember the song at all)

"big exit" slays live but smfh @ this trolling over-representation of this fucking album

yeah what is happening

i don't want to pit the different polly jeans against each other; i love them all. but seriously.

maybe people like it?

i like it too tbf. i think i like Dry more than ilx does, though

Soooooooo tempted to falsify the results at this point and just keep posting Stories from the... tracks until Lex explodes.

xp there is lots to come from dry tho, whereas we have got everything but good feeling out of the way by #29

fwiwimo 'the whores blah, blah, blah' does nothing for me, 'you said something' is inoffensive but a little dull, 'big exit' is great

good fortune

i am assuming good fortune, i thought big exit was the big fave off that album and was going to place way too high

whereas we have got everything but good feeling out of the way by #29

TS: Good Feeling v A Beautiful Fortune

lol

this song isn't called good feeling and that's not what it's about

My problem with "You Said Something" is that neither the music nor arrangement are interesting enough to swathe the "something" in mystery.

FWIW, I don't think it matters what the "something" was. The music helps to paint a picture right up until the moment that everything changed (or so we assume), it's carefree without being particularly positive or joyful, and the contrast between that feeling and the knowledge (or so we assume) that something bad is about to happen is what makes the song poignant.

the knowledge (or so we assume) that something bad is about to happen

I don't make that assumption

http://greenlifegeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wind.png

28. The Wind (Is This Desire?) - 180 points, 10 votes

so she could waaaashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

sssshhhhhhhh

i always thought the "something" in that song was a declaration of love. is that too pat? does that possibly reflect my feelings about that album?

nothing about "the wind" in the context of PJH's discography should work; everything does. the entrance of that high head voice is such a moment

and that two-note string part

whores hustle has some kind of energy to it i guess? the person who voted it #1 should post an impassioned apologia

I was away for awhile when this placed hence my delay. I proudly voted Whores Hustle as my #1. The last 40 seconds or so, the high note on "to the core" and the ensuing riff are the greatest moments in any PJ song, and sum up everything that makes her special.

Mr. Spirali, spare us the suspense. What is your #1? I bet it's got plenty of synths (which means you're a pussy) LOL

i always thought the "something" in that song was a declaration of love. is that too pat? does that possibly reflect my feelings about that album?

Hmmm ... I've always thought of it a relationship she thought (in hindsight) was too good to be true, lines like "and I am doing nothing wrong" and "acting like lovers" (i.e. acting out something that isn't real) are the clues.

27. Is This Desire? (Is This Desire?) - 185 points, 1 first place, 8 votes

This was in my top 5.

I honestly have no idea what will be #1

I'm at the point in the countdown where I think boastfully to myself that the rest of my favorites are going to be in the top 25, surely, because they are the best.
Like obviously Angelene is going to be top 20.

Her best album closer?

I think so

i was the no.1 voter for ITD! i absolutely love her controlled, deep voice on it - it's such a careful song.

"The Dancer" is her best album closer by a mile, but "Is This Desire" is probably second (I voted for it).

PJH album closers:

1. is this desire?
2. the darker days of me & him
3. the dancer
4. the mountain
5. this wicked tongue
6. the colour of the earth
7. water
8. cracks in the canvas
9. lost fun zone
10. ecstasy
11. goodnight

lex, my top three exactly

Collaborative playlist - currently up to date

which album closed with "This Wicked Tongue"?

kornrulez6969 - i wasn't mocking your #1, it was a sincere request and i am glad you replied, i will listen to the track with your comments in mind. as far as my #1 is concerned, the top of my list was very unadventurous, and i think i'd actually be surprised if my 1 and 2 don't fall in the top 3. we'll see when we get there i guess.

looking at those closers together just makes me think closers are not a strong suit

yup

fwiwimo 'the whores blah, blah, blah' does nothing for me, 'you said something' is inoffensive but a little dull, 'big exit' is great

― The Horse Rustler and the Rustler's Horse (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, April 29, 2013 2:00 PM (1 hour ago)

otm. stories isn't a great album, but it's better than okay, and i understand why a lot of people dig it. it's got a patti smith vibe: tough, urban, romantic, steeped in but standing slightly outside mainstream radio rock. you're in the city, you're in love, specificity and words are kind of blown away in sweeping, soaring feelings. igi.

The Whores Hustles is a good title but easy (it's a fun game to come up with equivalents), and the song is kinda OK in that it reminds you of earlier glories, but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about. Bobby Gillespie would be mocked for this kind of gibberish.

Who cares about the lyrics? It's my favorite song of hers and I have no clue what it's about. It's all about the last 30 seconds, the high note, the riff, perfection.

so weird to me that 'big exit' and 'you said something' are the sftc trax so far that didn't get first place votes. knew all that sftc slagging off from twee types would backfire though.

I was one of the two #1 votes for "This is Love". I adored it like no other song of hers the first time I heard it, and I still adore it today.... it's just so primal and lusty and dynamic (the way she gets all quiet and chilling on the verse before the final chorus). I'm loving the lack of predictability with this poll--can't imagine what will end up #1.

"but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about."

ahah i've always thought that too.

"This Wicked Tongue" is a bonus track/b-side that got appended to the Japanese version of Stories, I think even the UK version has "We Float" as the closer.

Who cares about the lyrics?

This times a jillion.

never liked how my version of Stories closed with "This Wicked Tongue". i think "We Float" consolidates the mood and themes of the album much better. that said, i've never really felt that that album goes very deep.

apt then

"This Wicked Tongue" is a bonus track/b-side that got appended to the Japanese version of Stories, I think even the UK version has "We Float" as the closer.

― Hoster Tulleee, Lord of Riverrun, Past Eve and Adam's (Leee), Monday, April 29, 2013 10:39 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wondered as much. The only proper album with the song is Peel Sessions, which ends with the "You Come Through" from Peel's memorial.

On a related note, did you know there's a version of TBYML with 9 extra songs? IIRC, they only cut 20 numbers at the sessions.

but in the bit where she's singing "Speak to me of heroin and speed / Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed" it's too obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about.

She doesn't know about that stuff, so isn't she working about it?

asking about it, you mean, yeah?

Yes, asking about it!

While working for the man!

I'm going to make this typo work.

26. Let England Shake (Let England Shake) - 188 points, 1 first place, 9 votes

"this wicked tongue" closes my version of stories (and all UK versions) - i guess it's a bonus track but i've lived with it as the closer all these years.

"let england shake" is SO GORGEOUS. if PJH's closers can be hit-and-miss, she does have a knack for POW openers.

well, half the time, anyway

1. let england shake
2. angelene
3. rid of me
4. to bring you my love
5. the devil
6. big exit
7. black hearted love
8. oh my lover
9. girl
10. the life and death of mr. badmouth

"Angelene" is her best opener imo, but yeah they're all great.

so weird to me that 'big exit' and 'you said something' are the sftc trax so far that didn't get first place votes. knew all that sftc slagging off from twee types would backfire though.

― balls, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 01:29 (7 hours ago) Permalink

FTR nothing on Stories rocks as hard as "The Sky Lit Up", "Joy" or "No Girl So Sweet". Typically my favourite PJ tunes are weighted towards her loudest but I don't find that anything on Stories could come close to matching the intensity or power of "Long Snake Moan" or "Taut" or "Missed" or "Legs" or "Happy and Bleeding" or "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" or etc. or etc. or etc.

I actually think Let England Shake is the weakest track on that album, there's a flimsiness to it.

All the Stories tracks that have placed here are very good to great, that album is let down but its weaker half really, but there's no reason why its better tracks shouldn't place. If I'd voted then The Whores Hustle would have been pretty high on my ballet, the bit where she shoots up a register is so great.

Re: 'The Wind', I only realised recently that this got released as a single, which is kind of awesome (I was thinking about how there's never been a PJ 'best of' and how great a listen a chronological singles collection would be).

I really liked the version of Let England Shake she debuted on Andrew Marr where the Istanbul not Constantinople bit is a vocal loop. She probably made the right call reducing the sample to the melody but - that early version would get jarring on the album but it's so odd and sinister.

FTR nothing on Stories rocks as hard as "The Sky Lit Up", "Joy" or "No Girl So Sweet".

otm

my beef with stories is how toothless it is when it tries to "rock", about three songs excepted. "you said something" exemplifies this

SMDH 'You Said Something' isn't trying to rock.

Yeah that's its charm. This Is Love is trying to rock; You Said Something is warm and blissed out.

Keepers from Stories - Big Exit, Good Fortune, The Whores Hustle, You Said Something, Kamikaze, Is This Love, We Float.

That's more than I remember actually.

Actually now I think about it, Kamikaze is a bit of a second-rate The Sky Lit Up but I still enjoy it.

"We Float", seriously Matt?

It's not a candidate for this list by any stretch of the imagination but I enjoy its lightness.

Stories really is remarkably spotty for such a lightweight album. one of the songs did snag my no. 3 spot iirc, so it's not y'know, totally irredeemable. i don't mind "We Float" so much, even though the trade off between unsettling verse and calm-after-the-storm chorus is a bit of an obvious trick.

yeah, it's not a terrible song by any means. pretty great for what it is and probably her best album closer, imo. only complaint i'd make, and it applies to stories as a whole, is that she seems to stumble when trying to write more personal and tender lyrics (assuming that the album is more-or-less autobiographical). she's better when acting out in character, telling stories and/or examining ideas.

yeah, it's not a terrible song by any means. pretty great for what it is and probably her best album closer, imo.

We Float better than Water, Ecstasy and The Dancer! That's just an amazing opinion. But fair enough.

Insane

okay, i desist. "water" is miles better, hadn't thought it through. i mean, "water" got decent placement on my ballot when "we float" wasn't ever in the running. not a fan of "ecstacy" tbh, grating in a bad way, and would put "we float" and "the dancer" about neck & neck.

between "we float" and "the dancer", the former suffers for blandess, the latter for overwrought cavism.

Lol I tried to google definition of "cavism" before the penny dropped.

Right, here we go again...

25. On Battleship Hill (Let England Shake) - 195 points, 9 votes

TOO LOW

yes seems low. can't help but figure with 24 songs still to go there are going to be a couple of major surprises to me.

Oh, far too low

no song from dance hall at louse point has yet placed and i am starting to fear for "taut", the most likely :(

24. The Glorious Land (Let England Shake) - 197 points, 10 votes

On Battleship Hill is the most beautiful thing in her œuvre, it deserved better

I didn't vote in this (was on holiday and don't really vote in these big polls anyway) but would've slung Civil War Correspondent a vote. xpost to Lex re Dance Hall

my obligatory "too low" bawking goes out for the glorious land. how could it NOT be top 10 on every ballot? what has gone wrong with this country?

Wow, what happened with "On Battleship Hill"? After sending in my ballot I started regretting not putting it at #1.

Not guilty, I had it no.6. And Battleship at no.3

What would have been your no.1 Mr Poo?

(I don't believe you are really a colonel)

Probably something predictable like Man-Size or Sheela tbh

a we getting a cluster of LES tracks now?

The next one is a big favourite of mine. Before I started on my ballot I thought it had a chance for my no.1 spot, but in the end I put it sixth.

http://www.flowerpowerpictures.com/images/portfolio/8.jpg
&
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ipm/blue_pete_1975.jpg

FLOWER PONY!

You got it!

23. Flower Pony (Dance Hall at Louse Point)

too high

23. Plants and Rags (Dry) - 198 points, 10 votes

i try to be 'honest' when i am doing these ballots, whatever that means, but when i saw i had this just missing out that seemed fucked up so i bumped it a couple spots. a long time favourite.

man, the 20s got all the jams

I initially had it quite high, then when I started ranking them it dropped below nearly everything else on my shortlist

It's the exception to the 'Dry > Rid of Me for Klata Dinner Party' rule.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrgc9c4VZ01qfy8tro1_500.jpg

24. The Glorious Land (Let England Shake) - 197 points, 10 votes

ooh ENG-GA-LAND

22. Dry (Rid of Me) - 204 points, 9 votes

good pic

ok, i guess dry in this half of the rundown counts as a surprise to me

It's funny that for all Rid of Me's uncompromisingity, Dry is where it becomes unbearably raw for me

21. Rub Till It Bleeds (Rid of Me) - 208 points, 8 votes

TOO LOW

I guess you couldn't find a suitable picture for "Rub Till It Bleeds" ...

You're quite right

That song really sounds like a cancer sore getting poked by a stick.

all the perfumes of arabia will not sweeten this little hand

http://e08595.medialib.glogster.com/media/83/83b89d711258fdfd58756a47af07820ce70cba19cfeea07dce599863df07aee7/lady-macbeth-blood-jpg.jpg

"I'M CALLING YOU WEAK!!!" -- possibly her finest moment

"blood and fucking" indeed

listening to Dry for the first time in years... man this is great

20. A Place Called Home (Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea) - 213 points, 9 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m2NyS3IDjE

"Rub Til It Bleeds" is so great

God's truth, I'm not lying

even tho i actually like this song i am gonna offer up a "say what now?" at this juncture

one of my two sftc,,, picks. (the other being "You Said Something")

i think that what really impresses me about ROM - and rub til it bleeds is a good example as any of this - is that she is taking the ordinary insecurities of relationships - doubt and need, desire and fear - and blowing them up large like a bug under a microscope so that you can easily find yourself relating to this horrifying fatal attraction/misery stuff. and rather than flinch from it, she really gets stuck in, which makes it all the more hilarious to see the contrast with her in that film.

Okay I've defended Stories up til now but A Place Called Home at #20 is ridiculous.

Let's agree to disagree

I think 'Stories...' opens really strongly with three great tunes, then has a pretty good but not so strong mid-section, then tails off.

i think that what really impresses me about ROM - and rub til it bleeds is a good example as any of this - is that she is taking the ordinary insecurities of relationships - doubt and need, desire and fear - and blowing them up large like a bug under a microscope

She's one of the few songwriters who eschews the conventions of singer-songrwriters: painterly detail, situations. I guess that's why "Gothic" attaches itself to Harvey. I'd say it's closer to Romantic-capital-R.

http://www.aquabumps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/20090630-inferno-over-bondi.jpg

not certain but i am worried i hear thom yorke here

19. The Sky Lit Up (Is This Desire?) - 216 points, 10 votes

lol. that's more like it

TOO LOW.

This one increases my heart rate just thinking about it.

oh thank god this beat all those boring stories tracks //// TOO LOW

if you think anything on stories rocks harder than this, god help you

I should give Stories... another shake, I hated it right off and sold it back. The only Polly I ever felt compelled to do so with.

^^ what I did to White Chalk.

it's not even really that bad an album, would be perfectly adequate in most artists' discographies, it's just rating all these songs from it better than all of PJ HARVEY'S OTHER SONGS is complete insanity

I'm gonna WC another shot.

18. To Bring You My Love (To Bring You My Love) - 222 points, 11 votes

^^
It took me a while to like that album!

Frankly I wish id had my shit together to vote in this

figured that one to be a top ten lock.

http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/passtheremote/Russell%20Grant%20Strictly%20Come%20Dancing.jpg

17. The Dancer (To Bring You My Love) - 222 points, 2 first places, 9 votes

AAHHH AHH

the furious round of anti-stories bawking - every dang time a track shows up - is getting kinda funny

in in that spirit, "rub til it bleeds" WAY too fucking low bok bok bok

i was hoping that "dancer" pic was a late arriving "to bring you my love" illo

ha, I thought of "Meet Ze Monsta"

Was away all day and I am shocked, shocked by the low placement of Dry. Geez people, that is a doozy.

Rub Till It Bleeds (Rid of Me) - 208 points, 8 votes

my co-number 1, tho in a pinch i made it number 2 merely because of the other song's brief intro

My TOO LOWS:
Plants and Rags
A Place Called Gome
THE DANCER

The slightly off kilter vocal melody in the chorus of P&R -- did Polly nick that from someplace, or did someone else later steal it from her? Because it sounds so epically familiar, like some alternate universe lullaby (obviously everyone wears eye patches and goatees in this universe).

The Dancer is my all-time favorite, was praying that it'd get top ten at least. Instead, I'm going to put on Stories as a balm for my disappointment.

oh and TBYML title track also TOO LOW.

voted plants and rags higher, but tbf there are a lot of great songs

A Place Called Gome
I can't wait to hear this one