The incomparable and untouchable greatness of PJ Harvey

[Nico]

My absolute favorite female musical artist of them all; a genius in my opinion. Polly has reinvented herself time and time again and has never released a poor album. She is fierce, brilliant and quite incredible. Her voice is amazing, and she plays literally every instrument. Her recent masterpiece, Let England Shake, is receiving nearly unanimous recognition as a brilliant piece of work and many people are finally tuning into her.

I had to ask if there are any Polly Jean fans on here? My favorite albums by her are Is This Desire?, Stories From The City, Stories, From The Sea, and Let England Shake. My favorite songs? Too numerous to mention, but let me share some pretty awesome ones:



















I have seen her live and let me just say: she is pulchritudinous in every way imaginable.

[mylittledemon]

Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea... ' nuff said!



I saw her live in 2000-ish also? Before that I had heard really nothing of hers, although I might've heard one or two tracks from her first record.

[beccamorrisfift]

I'm just getting into her music thanks to Charly

[wild-heart]

Originally Posted by beccamorrisfift

I'm just getting into her music thanks to Charly

you're welcome.

Love, love, love PJ Harvey. Brilliant artist. I think stories from the city is my favourite album of hers. Let England shake is brilliant too, with an incredible thought provoking concept. I'm yet to see her live though Why don't my friends like the same music as me?

[Nico]

Well then...please share becca. It's an open thread for discussion. What are your thoughts?

I am personally taken aback by so much of her work. Her album Is This Desire? is so atmospheric and eerily beautiful. It's like reading a dark and incredible piece of 19th Century literature in some kind of a dungeon with music playing in the background.

I sort of escape with her, and her sense of depth is so penetrating that you kind of get hooked for a while and it almost doesn't seem like modern times.

[Nico]

Polly live is breathtaking. You will never experience anything like it. In pictures and whatnot, she seems almost distant and dark. But in concert, she has soooo much energy. I saw her, barefoot and in a slinky black dress, and she was the most gorgeous woman...and her voice was out of this world. It was in San Fran and she was with John Parrish- none of the songs she performed were the ones I had hoped to see live. And yet she blew everyone away.

[beccamorrisfift]

Originally Posted by wild-heart

you're welcome.

Love, love, love PJ Harvey. Brilliant artist. I think stories from the city is my favourite album of hers. Let England shake is brilliant too, with an incredible thought provoking concept. I'm yet to see her live though Why don't my friends like the same music as me?

I think the real question here is why don't we live closer to each other

Originally Posted by Nico

Well then...please share becca. It's an open thread for discussion. What are your thoughts?

I am personally taken aback by so much of her work. Her album Is This Desire? is so atmospheric and eerily beautiful. It's like reading a dark and incredible piece of 19th Century literature in some kind of a dungeon with music playing in the background.

I sort of escape with her, and her sense of depth is so penetrating that you kind of get hooked for a while and it almost doesn't seem like modern times.

I don't think I can top that decription, and I absolutely adore the fact that she can play the auto-harp. That's so unique, as is the rest of her I guess.

I'm just really getting started on her stuff so when I've developed a more rounded opinion I will get back to ya Nico

[Nico]

Thanks Becca!

In the meantime, let me share Polly performing one of my favorite fun songs of hers: "Dress"

Put on that dress
I'm going out dancing
Starting off red
Clean and sparkling he'll see me
Music playing make it dreamy for dancing
Must be a way that i can dress to please him
It's hard to walk in the dress, it's not easy
I'm spilling over like a heavy loaded fruit tree

If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on

It's sad to see
Lonely all this lonely
Close up my eyes
Dreamy dreamy music make it be alright
Music play make it good for romacing
Must be a way I can dress to please him
Swing and sway everything'll alright
But it's feeling so damn tight tonight

If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on

"You purdy thang,"
My man says, "But I bought you beautiful dresses."

"You purdy thang,"
My man says, "But I bought you beautiful dresses."

Filthy tight, the dress is filthy
I'm falling flat and my arms are empty
Clear the way better get it out of this room
A falling woman in dancing costume

If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on

[Sleepless-Child]

So, spotify came into my life 4 months ago ...and then i started to make a list of artists i've always wanted to listen to, but never had the chance to do so. And PJ was on the list, but i had no idea where to begin. I don't like grunge so i decided to listen to Let England Shake, as many people said that it was one of the best albums of 2011. And damn was i SHOCKED at how good, great, brilliant this album is. The best thing i discovered these past few months, with Joni Mitchell.
So i have to ask, what do i do now? I'm afraid to be a bit disappointed by the first albums, that might be a bit too "grungy" for me (though i love "Rid of me")...any suggestions?

My favorite songs from Let England Shake are definitely "In the dark places" (masterpiece of a song!) and The Glorious Land.

[Travisevian]

I'm not familiar with her musical catalogue but have heard Good Fortune, which is a really good song.