"Death metal: the purest form of extreme metal, the least friendly to new listeners, the final destination of any true metallic journey (at least for those who don’t wimp out along the way), and my personal favorite heavy genre. "
Man, don't like the way you walk, but definitely LOVE the way you talk.
So far, it hasn't hit me the same way as her eponymous album, but I really love how it flows: I've listened to it 5 times today and didn't notice the time pass by. Also: the movie. I only saw it once but I can already say that it adds some layers to the autobiographical approach of this (fine) review.
Hope Sandoval voice is probably the thing that I hate more in this world. In the 90s, there was a time when I felt curious about Mazzy Star: all the sexy chicks in college loved the band, they had in did some nice chord changes and melodies, but her voice (and the omnipresent reverberated production) was always a challenge to me. One day, I woke up in the hospital after a procedure to break a kidney stone and there was this little voice humming from afar through the radio set of a nurse: it was fucking Sandoval singing a Jesus & Mary Chain tune whose name I don't even want to remember. Good Lord, how I hate that voice.
Two tracks LPs defy conventions? In 2016? Have you heard of prog? Thursday Afternoon was revolutionary back in 1985 because it had only one track (released on CD).
Love to read your comment and that is why I must ask you to keep spinning LES, there's no way it will not connect to you. And here's a tip: watch all the great videos Seamus Murphy did for every single track (they are all on YouTube). I remember perfectly falling hopelessly in love by the record precisely when i reached the 1:41 mark of this video: https://youtu.be/Fws4fEE8Yy0
Ok, let's have a go at this monster.
First things first, the bottom of the list is a no-brainer: Uh-Huh Her, followed by her collaborations with John Parish (Loose Point and A Man A Woman). But there is a considerable quality gap between Uh-Huh Her and those two Parish collabs: in either of this albums you can find some of PJ best vocal performances.
You can throw 4-track demos and Dry at the bottom part of that list. I absolutely LOVE both of them, but hey, this is the oeuvre of PJ Harvey that we're talking here.
The top of the list is almost as simple as the bottom: To Bring You My Love OR Let England Shake. These are two absolutely opposite records and not only thematically (the role of women in a rural landscape and society vs. WW1), but musically as well: the first one minimal and maniac in its details; the second one loosely expansive and rough on its edges. These are records that I not only absolutely adore but respect.
A PJ Harvey ranking will always tend to be unfair to both Stories and Is This Desire because, you know what?, both could absolutely be also in the top of that list. Desire seems to be loved by new generations, which I think is a (nice) surprise, but Stories is one God Damned Good Record Too, probably her most underrated LP.
Rid Of Me and White Chalk are great too. Upper half of the list, definitely. To make Ride Of Me #1 is so unfair to her fabulous career: she grew so much as a composer, lyricist and musician in the following years. White Chalk is really her black swan: I really have to be in the mood to listen to it, but when I am, it really takes my breath away.
My favourite band nowadays. Absolutely love them. California Plates might be my favourite album of theirs but all their LPs are stellar. Really looking forward to this one.
"It seems kind of ridiculous that there aren’t already Pono headphones, because even if the sound quality really is as special as Young says it is, it’s pretty much useless without equally special headphones, no?"
Peter Helmann is this week's unfortunate Tom Breinan.
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