The PJ Harvey Albums Poll

On a side note:

Quality cover art on most of these, innit?

Gotta go with Rid Of Me. Always thought she lost the plot after that one. Not completely (Is This Desire? had it's moments, when she wasn't trying to be Bjork), but she's never reached that level again.

Sara Sara Sara OTM.

Yeah, I'm with you guys, although I voted for Dry. I hate to say it, but crazy PJ Harvey is way better than somewhat stable PJ Harvey.

she's "stable" on Uh Huh Her and the new one??

she's "stable" on Uh Huh Her and the new one??

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, October 8, 2007 4:08 PM (31 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

OTM; the only PJ album I'd categorize as "stable" would be Stories from the City

I really really love White Chalk, but it's too new - can't we do this poll in 6 months' time?

No.

:-(((

TBYML now and (probably?) forever.

I'd rank the rest:

ROM
SFTC/SFTS
Dry
ITD?
WC
UHH

dry. the production on rid of me still annoys me. i get what she and albini were doing, and as an aesthetic statement it's probably her best record (and strongest collection of songs), but it's designed not to be warmed to and i never warmed to it. (if 4-track demos were on the list, it would be my vote.)

ROM

Dry. One of the best debuts I ever heard. Lord, does that album rock.

ellaguru OTM -- Dry

None of these albums is all that good innit.

Stories From The City

"None of these albums is all that good innit."

some are good. some are great. what can you do?

I voted for 'dry' with 'rid of me' close behind.

i hate to vote for it but to bring you my love might be the strongest full album of any of these; it's not my favorite though.

"Is this Desire?"

she's "stable" on Uh Huh Her and the new one??

On Uh Huh Her yeah, she's hella stable. Only a stable mind would think saying "fuck you" on a song (in a transparently premeditated fashion) was somehow daring.

I feel bad voting for Dry because I love something about all of them, even Uh Huh Her, which I think is pretty bad. I'm not trying to say she should have kept putting Dry out over and over again. but yeah, Dry.

TBYML no contest

(ie, I only own that, ITD? and 4TDs and I like TBYML a lot more than the other two)

On Uh Huh Her yeah, she's hella stable

I can't listen to "The Pocket Knife," "Who the Fuck," or "The Darker Days of Me and Him" and think she's stable, and it's got nothign to do with curse words. Stories From the City comes closest.

you guys are talking about her persona and not her, right? it shifts considerably from album to album; I see no evidence that she's personally unstable, nor do I think it's any of our business, really.

The instant this turns into a Cat Power-esque thread, I'm gone.

I'm talking about the songs, dears.

Then again, happiness seems like a peculiarly hard-won state, and she's always teetering between it and fear; it's her gift for making it compelling, like Lennon or Rosanne Cash, say.

you guys are talking about her persona and not her, right?

I was talking about her personal life. I go through her trash. I'm her AJ Weberman.

women be unstable, shopping, etc

is 'stories' stable because she's carrying a handbag on the cover?

Quality cover art on most of these, innit?
while i wouldn't want to contradict i cannot refrain from noting that her covers are pretty self-centered.

TBYML no contest

-- HI DERE, Monday, 8 October 2007 19:01 (1 hour ago) Link

(ie, I only own that, ITD? and 4TDs and I like TBYML a lot more than the other two)

-- HI DERE, Monday, 8 October 2007 19:03 (1 hour ago) Link

it's actually more of a contest if the first two are excluded, seeing as they DESTROY anything that she's put out since....

I have never been interested enough in either of the first two albums to buy them. Also, I don't think anything else she's released is as majestic as "To Bring You My Love".

i guess it is too late for you now, dan but "dry" is definitely one of the most amazing rawk debuts ever together with "horses" and "unknown pleasures".

I was talking about her personal life. I go through her trash. I'm her AJ Weberman.

I guess I deserved that. I'm touchy because I love her.

Dude, I heard Dry and Rid Of Me when they came out. "Dress", "Sheila Na Gig" and "50 Foot Queenie" were all inescapable on modern rock radio. I am fully aware of how everyone reacted to those albums but, for me, they weren't really anything I wanted to connect with; at the time, I was diving VERY deeply into rave/house/techno/breakbeat/trance/etc and was having so much fun exploring that realm that I didn't really care about what PJ Harvey was doing beyond "oh, that's a good song". When I bought To Bring You My Love, it was mostly because I liked her older stuff and wanted to here the new album. That opening guitar line miced in with the Hammond is still to date one of the most haunting, personally-affecting pieces of music I own.

Personally, I think her best song is "Hardly Wait".

Best to worst:

Rid of Me

To Bring You My Love

Is This Desire?

White Chalk (might get better/worse over time)

<4-track demos of Dry, not in poll>

Dry

<4-Track Demos, not in poll>

Uh Huh Her

<Peel Sessions, not in poll>
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Stories from the City blah blah

what about that album with that guy?

Let's leave Nick out of it.

I really don't think of Dance Hall as a PJ Harvey album, but if I did it would come between Uh Huh Her & Peel Sessions.

yeah, what about dance hall at louse point & the 4-track demos?

"Who the Fuck" is funny! it's about straightening her hair!

that's what bothers me about "White Chalk".. it's not funny at all.. depressing as hell

it sounds like villette when lucy snowe goes crazy

i really like the white chalk cover but didn't really like the first single off of it

for sentimental reasons i am voting RoM tho i probably like TBYML more

"rid of me" is one of my favorite albums ever, i listened to that so many times in high school! "to bring you my love" is close, though. i've read so many 19th century english novels you'd think i'd appreciate her storytelling about miserable victorian women more, but i wish she'd make songs like on "is this desire" and "white chalk" about people that actually sounded like they existed today

it sounds like villette when lucy snowe goes crazy

wow! that's a great allusion1

bertha mason would've made a better record

To Bring You My Love gets my vote. It's velvety warm and theatrical. Rid Of Me is great but icier (something 4TrackDemos successfully addressed). Dry is, uh, drier, and patchier (altho I agree with other posters re: its historical impact). Is This Desire? is also warm but is less dynamic than the previous three (still, I have a soft spot for it), Stories from the City... I don't much like, really, Uh Huh Her is an underrated return to form and aside from the impact is on a par with Dry in some ways, and I haven't heard the new one.

yeah, what about dance hall at louse point & the 4-track demos?
-- daria-g, Tuesday, October 9, 2007 1:08 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Uh...read the original post.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

stories...

Y'know, just because it's not what we got to PJ for doesn't make "You Said Something" any less a beautiful song.

Still, Dry. Or TBYML... crap.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

lol

Wrong. Is this Desire? shits on SFTCSFTS. From a great height.

almost entirely chronological

Could someone please tell what the results are? All I see is numbers and no pictures to help. And no I'm not going to use fucking Internet Explorer if that is problem.

Results:

1. Dry 19
2. Rid of Me 17
3. To Bring You My Love 9
4. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea 7
5. Is this Desire? 4
6. Uh Huh Her 1
White Chalk 1

I think "White Chalk" will move up in the future. "Dry" as #1 is fine with me.

Dry wins. Hmm. I would have picked Rid of Me, but Dry is close I guess.

Thanks Alex and I'm delighted we agree on the new Radiohead! :)

I haven't heard Rid Of Me since it came out. God, it's aboslutely blistering my brain right now. Steve Albini has never been put to such good use. I remember seeing her on that tour, too. She was shit hot. Gallon Drunk was support.

live and godlike in Chicago 1993

White Chalk definitely deserved a higher ranking.

My favourite song has become "Missed"

holy shit that 50ft queenie performance

Rid of Me - so much energy. Still love that Peel Session around this time she did with Wang Dang Doodle, Claudine, Naked Cousin and erm, Primed and Ticking was it?

Never been able to find it - apart from Naked Cousin and Wang Dang Doodle, but I remember absolutely loving it.

<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2OereGvmfMw/SKea7eS2O4I/AAAAAAAAAlI/g5gUC8Kp60Q/s400/Rom+comic.jpg"; alt="ROM" >

I'm apparently HTML deficient...

The quality of PJ Harvey albums is directly related to the quantity of Rob Ellis. Which is why, had I voted, I would have said "Dry," "Rid of Me," and "Stories," followed by the rest in some random order of Harvey albums I don't really listen to on a regular basis.

("Stories," without a doubt, is the best before-the-fact 9/11 album. I saw her perform here that week while she was stranded in America, unable to fly, and it was indeed chilling.)

would've gone for is this desire?, easily.

is this desire? > to bring you my love > dance hall at louse point > dry > white chalk > uh huh her > 4 track demos > rid of me >>>>>>>> stories from the city, stories from the sea

i've been listening to 'white chalk' a lot lately. it feels... strange, in the way i felt TBYML and Is This Desire? were strange when i was diving into them. that's when i like her the most, although rid of me is pretty unbelievably great too. i love 'dry' too of course. stories... is definitely my least favorite, it just sounds so boring compared to everything else she's done. still haven't heard 'uh huh her.' anyway all of this is saying that the poll results are kind of disappointing somehow. love 'dry' but rid of me or TBYML should have won, white chalk should have been a lot higher.

i think what links my favourite pj albums is that they're her most introverted and self-absorbed, but also her most theatrical and 'cabaret', as if she has to create all these characters to deal with the relentless inward gaze, like she's playing smoke & mirrors with her own personality. makes for a deeply strange tension.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2OereGvmfMw/SKea7eS2O4I/AAAAAAAAAlI/g5gUC8Kp60Q/s400/Rom+comic.jpg%22

hehheheh

love TBYML so much, that is really "my" PJ Harvey album

I'm a "stories from the city" man, myself.

this may well be my fave performance of her's ever:

i think what links my favourite pj albums is that they're her most introverted and self-absorbed, but also her most theatrical and 'cabaret', as if she has to create all these characters to deal with the relentless inward gaze, like she's playing smoke & mirrors with her own personality. makes for a deeply strange tension.

Very OTM!

those results = about right.

Well, not totally. I for one HATED her "falling in love in NYC" album or whatever it was.

live and godlike in Chicago 1993

Had a friend in high school with a "50 Ft Queenie" t-shirt that I am guessing she bought at that exact show.

i have a feeling i've done myself a grave disservice, having ignored pj all these years

Okay I cannot believe that I heard "Ecstasy" from Rid of Me before I'd ever got into Led Zeppelin.

Why didn't she do 16 other albums like that? My god! I mean White Chalk is okay, but come on. I have a real soft spot for Stories From The City, though I recognize that only about 40% of it is really any good.

Haven't heard the Dry album in a long, long time. Will rectify soon. Still remember Sheila-Na-Gig being played on Peel though!

She just absolutely kicked ass with Rid of Me. Just kicked ass out of the whole universe. I don't understand how anyone could vote for anything different, I'm sorry.

Okay, I pulled out Dry, but couldn't really deal with it. It was an okay album, but even the good parts have too many bad memories attached to them for me.

On the other hand, I've just got Stories now again for the first time in some years, and I still love this album. In fact, I think I love it more now. It's doing something to me right now that I don't know that it did before.

Love a few songs on the new album, love a few songs on White Chalk. But Stories cannot be fucked with.

stories is worth returning to, I disliked it immensely when it first came out, but find much of it pretty good these days. White Chalk though towers over it.

Yeah, it's weird I saw Stories as spotty at the time, but I can't seem to fuck with it now.

Ranking Peej.

Nice work!

Great picks, I can't argue with the ranking either. Is This Desire? is an enigma I never tire of, and I'm an easily-fatigued listener. Rid of Me is likewise as fresh and commanding as a slap in the face.

Nice! I find her albums very difficult to rank, I can only divide them into 'fantastic' and 'pretty good' (yes, I'm aware I like UHH, THSDP and the Parish collaborations more than most people). Whether I'd choose Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire?, White Chalk or Let England Shake as my ultimate favourite depends on my mood, really.

Correct #1.

Thanks. The affection for White Chalk, which I don't share, I find heartening.

she's totally released like 3-4 masterpieces

hell yeah