PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

My on-again, off-again affair with Polly Jean (PJ) Harvey began in the Summer of '96. Magic the Gathering's Alliances set had just released. Batman Forever had come out the previous summer, and on the sountrack was a tune by U2 that I finally decided I must have. I went to Newbury Comics Saugus with my mother, one of my many "pseudo"-cousins and her friend. I got a pack of Alliances and the soundtrack. I must have played the U2 tune hundreds of times.

But, then something else got my attention. Well, many somethings, but in the context of this review, it was the PJ Harvey tune, "One Time Too Many."

It was much harder than anything I was listening to at the time. The guitar was rough, very rough; her voice heavily distorted. But there was a sexual energy to it all. And a solid beat, if slightly hidden by distortion.

Being poor and ignorant at the time, however, I did not follow up with any more of Harvey's work until 2001 when I begin my first N. American tour with U2. Seeing that she'd be opening for them, I picked up her latest album, this one, and played it on loop. It was good, but nothing impressive. Or so I thought at the time.

After seeing her live, and listening to a large portion of her catalogue, I found that this gal really knew what she was doing. I came back to Stories and found I was a huge fan of it.

On the album, PJ has anger, love, hate, some longing, and beauty all in her voice. It's clear she's more comfortable with the louder, alt-rockin' side of her voice, but she holds her own on the quieter vocals.

The lead off track, Big Exit, does it's job being a loud, rockin', attention getting tune that keeps your head bopping. Good Fortune, the second track, has a simplistic but steady rhythm section that raises it from an mediocre ditty to something much better. The duality of Kamikaze, where Harvey goes from quieter, sweet-ish voice, to loud, expressive and back again, makes this another track to listen for. And, anyone familiar with Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back will immediately recognize and enjoy This Is Love.

In the End: From what I understand, this is PJ's "poppiest" album, and that really kinda says something to the rest of her catalogue. But I think this does a good job of straddling her normal style and the pop-rock genre without compromising her integrity and being able to bring in people who wouldn't normally listen to her.

On the Web: MusicisArt has tracks from PJ's recording sessions dubbed The Black Sessions.

Technoratu Tagged: PJ Harvey | Female Vocalists | Soundtracks