no poll so sweet - PJ Harvey, Is This Desire? poll

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"I do think Is This Desire? is the best record I ever made—maybe ever will make—and I feel that that was probably the highlight of my career. I gave 100 per cent of myself to that record. Maybe that was detrimental to my health at the same time."

Poll Results

OptionVotes
The Sky Lit Up 7
Is This Desire? 5
A Perfect Day Elise 5
The River 4
My Beautiful Leah 3
Angelene 2
The Wind 2
Catherine 1
The Garden 1
Electric Light 1
Joy 0
No Girl So Sweet 0


لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 10:44 (fifteen years ago)

previously:

Oh My Poller: Dig the PJ Harvey Dry Poll
Poll Till It Bleeds: Dig the PJ Harvey Rid Of Me Poll
You wanna hear my long snake... POLL: PJ Harvey TO BRING YOU MY LOVE POLL
PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea poll

fwiw, i concur with polly that is this desire? is her finest album, and this is a really really hard poll.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 10:45 (fifteen years ago)

One of the things I love about this album is how all of my favourite bits are so different. I could easily vote for a good half of these.

Tim F, Monday, 16 August 2010 11:03 (fifteen years ago)

yeah agreed, a huge range covered here. i like how this variety actually enhances the album's relentlessly monomania - the same inward gaze from a different angle every time, almost like she has to create all these characters and settings to deal with it (or to play smoke and mirrors w/her own personality).

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 11:22 (fifteen years ago)

Yeah that's a really good way of putting it, it doesn't actually feel eclectic, though of course the stylistic range is vast, because the thematic/mood consistency is so strong.

Tim F, Monday, 16 August 2010 11:29 (fifteen years ago)

"The Sky Lit Up." I agree: this holds up well.

Where is that Harvey quote from?

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 12:03 (fifteen years ago)

the river. I remember everyone kind of hated this when it came out.

akm, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:05 (fifteen years ago)

i missed all those earlier polls!

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:08 (fifteen years ago)

i LOVED it when it came out. it was a pretty loopy and lonely time of my life and i felt like she was really there. i'm glad she likes this record so much because i do too.

xp - haha i knew it was a matter of minutes before hs and i would meet here

ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:08 (fifteen years ago)

<3 Amanda

can't find my copy of this album to help me decide! not having heard it in a while, i'm leaning "is this desire?" but i don't know!!!

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:12 (fifteen years ago)

me too -- i had to look it up on grooveshark. am listening now because i haven't heard it in FOREVER, will report back later. "the sky lit up" is making my head explode.

ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:20 (fifteen years ago)

This was never hated, but it's overlooked because its bookends are so massive, but it synthesizes her pre-SOTC tricks such that I never listen to Rid of Me and the others anymore.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:21 (fifteen years ago)

oh excellent, i'm listening to it now on grooveshark, too.

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:22 (fifteen years ago)

i think this is the best PJ Harvey album.

tylerw, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:23 (fifteen years ago)

aw, the sky lit up, that "my hair longer than it's ever been" line. pj harvey rules so hard.

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:27 (fifteen years ago)

I never feel the need to listen to this album anymore. Loved it in '98 though.

"A Perfect Day Elise" and the title track stand out from the rest. The whole album really should have been made in the ultra stripped-down style of the title track, I think.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:27 (fifteen years ago)

Where is that Harvey quote from?

uhhh wikipedia, and uncited :/ though i definitely remember actually reading the quote in an actual interview before!

i'm torn between "is this desire?", "the sky lit up" and "a perfect day elise"; her vocal performance on the title track is one of her finest ever imo.

one of the (many) reasons the SOTC hype was so supremely irritating was its implied "ahhh now she is making proper pop songs within an acceptable classic rock format, not like that unlistenable and difficult last album". HATED that shit.

still think 95-98 was her creative peak (TBYML/DHALP/ITD)

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:30 (fifteen years ago)

one of the (many) reasons the SOTC hype was so supremely irritating was its implied "ahhh now she is making proper pop songs within an acceptable classic rock format, not like that unlistenable and difficult last album". HATED that shit.

Also: rock critics, who are mostly male, love it when female artists "discover" their sexuality.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:31 (fifteen years ago)

aw, the sky lit up, that "my hair longer than it's ever been" line

yes! and the triumphant final verse - "i'm dancing with HIM, in this city, in this town, i don't care what he's thinkin' of, just take the car, just take my hand..."

can't believe it's under two minutes long.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

looooool is that the line about stories from the city, that she finally located her sexuality? that's the dumbest thing i ever heard.

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

Also: rock critics, who are mostly male, love it when female artists "discover" their sexuality.

or at least, discover their sexuality in a conventional "i love this man" kind of way, as what had pj harvey's career to that point been but an exploration of sexuality?

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

dancing around the room to a perfect day elise rn <3 <3 <3

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

xp seriously, were they even listening before?

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:34 (fifteen years ago)

I like SOTC a lot but the middle stretch faffs around a bit; she did that kind of atmospheric love-whisper stuff best on ITD and TBYML.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

her characters on this record really make it for me. there are so many of them, and they're so different from each other.

ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:35 (fifteen years ago)

Look at the last line of AllMusic's review: "Is This Desire? is cerebral where her other albums were visceral, both lyrically and musically."

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:39 (fifteen years ago)

note to allmusic: visceral ≠ loud

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:40 (fifteen years ago)

maybe she's one of those artists that elicits dumb criticism. hilton als had a profile of her awhile back that seemed totally rong to me. also possible that my psychotic obsession with her means nothing anyone else says about her seems good enough.

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:41 (fifteen years ago)

female singer-songwriters always tend to elicit dumb criticism, don't they? especially if they're not overtly indie rock-aligned; see also t.amos and f.apple

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:45 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, i mean part of it is sexism, but i don't think hilton als's problem is sexism exactly. his review seemed really obtuse to me. of course now i remember nothing about it.

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:46 (fifteen years ago)

btw, listening to "the garden" right now; it's pretty good!

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:46 (fifteen years ago)

"Joy":

30 YEARS OLD, NEVER DANCED A STEP

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:49 (fifteen years ago)

Man, I want to listen to this again. Haven't heard it in a while.

First time I heard it was on study abroad in the UK; I borrowed it from Nikki, a pixie with pink hair and silver trousers who lived across the hall.

jaymc, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:49 (fifteen years ago)

note to allmusic: visceral ≠ loud

Point taken, but if "Rid of Me" isn't a visceral album then I don't know what is.

NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:49 (fifteen years ago)

i think i listened to this album everyday my sophomore year in college; it's kind of eerie listening to it now, like it's conjured a ghostly version of 19 year old me into the room

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:52 (fifteen years ago)

This was the first PJ Harvey album I ever heard all the way through, I used to like it a lot but it doesn't seem to have held up so well for me (I don't actually own the CD anymore). That said, 'Angelene' is still my favourite song of hers.

Gavin in Leeds, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:54 (fifteen years ago)

"cerebral" vs "visceral" false dichotomy = fuck you, AllMusic.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 August 2010 15:54 (fifteen years ago)

oh you know i had completely forgotten about "no girl so sweet" this song rules

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 15:57 (fifteen years ago)

what a great album, guys!!!!!!

horseshoe, Monday, 16 August 2010 16:02 (fifteen years ago)

ha, see i listened to rid of me every day when i was a freshman in college, but i listened to this about a year after i graduated from college and my life was REALLY depressing and lonely and these people in these songs seem like friends i haven't seen since i was 23. it makes me feel like i'm going a little crazy but in a good way. esp. angelene.

ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Monday, 16 August 2010 17:07 (fifteen years ago)

i almost want to vote "the wind," even though it's hardly the best track, but because it always feels like a little peek at what the "pj joins slint" fantasy might have actually sounded like. as it is, i'm probably voting for the title track.

strongohulkingtonsghost, Monday, 16 August 2010 17:18 (fifteen years ago)

but because it always feels like a little peek at what the "pj joins slint" fantasy might have actually sounded like.

I think 'Missed' from Rid Of Me comes closest to fulfilling that one for me.

Gavin in Leeds, Monday, 16 August 2010 17:28 (fifteen years ago)

This is definitely my favorite PJH album. But sometimes it makes me really sad, so it's not always advisable to put on.

fear mongrels (Abbott), Monday, 16 August 2010 17:34 (fifteen years ago)

My goodness, I have not heard this album in nearly 10 years.

I had forgotten what all kinds of amazing it is. Think I need to spend some time with it to decide my favourite, but I think that it might be a kind of dangerous place to spend a lot of time. (Especially for me, especially at the moment.)

propranoLOL (Masonic Boom), Monday, 16 August 2010 17:51 (fifteen years ago)

it really is that kind of record. kind of dangerous, could whap a person in the head without warning. it's part of what i love so much about it. do not underestimate this woman.

ghee hee hee (La Lechera), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:33 (fifteen years ago)

Sod it, I re-bought it on MP3 anyway. I need this in my earbuds driving me hysterical woman mad.

propranoLOL (Masonic Boom), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:55 (fifteen years ago)

this is my favorite PJ Harvey album as well.

sleeve, Monday, 16 August 2010 19:00 (fifteen years ago)

I should get around to listening to this again, because I could never connect with it when it came out.

ô_o (Nicole), Monday, 16 August 2010 20:06 (fifteen years ago)

I remember this record has a lot of buzzing synths that sound suspiciously like farts. Especially on My Beautiful Leah.

I'm voting for the title track

kornrulez6969, Monday, 16 August 2010 20:17 (fifteen years ago)

I too haven't listened to this in a while. And I never really listened to it as intensely as the others. It was the first PJ Harvey album that I didn't buy upon its release -- not because I had gone off PJ Harvey, but because I had moved to another country and was for a time a little out of synch with my former music world. When I finally caught up with it, it had been overtaken by "Stories...." as it were.

Anyway, the fact that so many of you rate this as her best makes me want to listen to it all the more intently.

Duke, Monday, 16 August 2010 20:17 (fifteen years ago)

I love the buzzing bass synths that sound like farts. I'm voting for My Beautiful Leah.

Karen D. Tregaskin, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 20:47 (fifteen years ago)

I just listened to it!

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 21:01 (fifteen years ago)

I dunno, I couldn't and still can't really connect with it as a whole, I felt at the time there was a very specific type of person who'd go nuts over it (mainly cos I knew a couple of them) and I wasn't one.
Just had a quick listen for the first time in about 5 years and it's better than I remembered. "The Sky Lit Up" is awesome (it was always my favourite) as is Perfect Day Elise, although ever since PJH mentioned something about being on Top of the Pops I always picture hoards of TOTP audiences wooping at it. Angelene is pretty good too but I think I always felt the album could do with a few more belters like TSLU.

Not the real Village People, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 21:06 (fifteen years ago)

how completely bizarre this is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL2uxbAnGjU

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 21:13 (fifteen years ago)

My favorite PJ album (though White Chalk comes close to besting it) and one of my favorite and most-played albums ever. Voting for the title track because it closes a perfect album very well, and really, how am I to choose otherwise?

ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 21:46 (fifteen years ago)

Can't get over the title track's rhyming of "desire" with "higher" - I cannot hear a Morrisonism like that without wincing. Destroys an otherwise perfect mood in that song.

Karen D. Tregaskin, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 21:48 (fifteen years ago)

My favorite PJ album too. Don't know which song to chose yet.

LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 22:15 (fifteen years ago)

Could still vote for anything on this bar "Electric Light", whose slight drop in quality is measurable as it comes just after the similar but superior "Catherine".

I'm partial though to Jess choosing "The Wind", as this was around the time of Tricky's "Broken Homes" and I always felt Polly could have done a lot with that sound.

Also have no idea which album I'd choose of Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love or Is This Desire?.

Tim F, Wednesday, 18 August 2010 22:59 (fifteen years ago)

hard to choose, but I always loved the swagger of My Beautiful Leah

elephant rob, Saturday, 21 August 2010 04:03 (fifteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Sunday, 22 August 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

Usually go for something under-represented, but had to vote the title track this time. I've loved this album equally alongside To Bring You My Love, and never understood the critical approval of Stories..., fwiw.

Lostandfound, Monday, 23 August 2010 04:27 (fifteen years ago)

I'd forgotten my CD of this album came with the "Perfect Day Elise" single as a bonus disc. Some really good b-sides, especially "Sweeter than Anything". iirc, "The Wind" b-sides were pretty good too.

elephant rob, Monday, 23 August 2010 19:04 (fifteen years ago)

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

System, Monday, 23 August 2010 23:01 (fifteen years ago)

argh i didn't even vote

horseshoe, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 02:18 (fifteen years ago)

"Angelene" is pretty underrated here, otherwise I think these results are not bad!

ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:47 (fifteen years ago)

yeah, i voted "angelene" thinking it was the obvious choice. but i love that song -- her voice is amazing there.

tylerw, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:49 (fifteen years ago)

Damn. I've missed all these polls.

I really liked this album, but I've hardly listened to it in years. It's weird listening to it because I associate it so much with a particular time in my life. I feel like I'm transported back to late 1998, sitting on a bus at stupid o'clock in the morning in the suburbs of Milan, heading off to work with this on my walkman. In those pre-ipod days I only had a few cassettes to get me through a year abroad so this got played a lot.

I like the quiet closers to both sides, Catherine and Is This Desire?, but I'd have probably voted for A Perfect Day Elise.

Jerome Personnel Cheeses (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 17:56 (fifteen years ago)

btw, that youtube link is great, lex

Jerome Personnel Cheeses (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 17:57 (fifteen years ago)

i like angelene because it's SO SAD and doesn't have shameful 90s fart bloops in it
but i voted sky lit up because it shivers and shakes

The Great Jumanji, (La Lechera), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 18:57 (fifteen years ago)

I would have voted "Angelene" as well.

silence is a rhythm too (Turangalila), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 21:46 (fifteen years ago)

which is the one with the MASSIVE percussion loop and Peej shouting? Is it "Joy"? That deserved more votes.

Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 21:48 (fifteen years ago)

nice results, the top 3 are my top 3, though i can't fathom voting for "electric light" and "no girl so sweet" deserved a couple of votes

yeah "joy" is the terrifying intense one - the critical line that ITD? is too "difficult" to enjoy is so much bs, but it kind of applies to that one song. i do admire it though.

لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Tuesday, 24 August 2010 22:13 (fifteen years ago)

i love "electric light" just for the "siren's rising...'cross the sky" part

itsinthetrees, Tuesday, 24 August 2010 22:34 (fifteen years ago)

I never feel the need to listen to this album anymore. Loved it in '98 though.

This. I think this may be the first PJ album I'd seriously sat down with and listened to (this or TBYML), and so the electro/trip-hop feel didn't seem remarkable to me at the time, but now, it feels more sonically muted than I want my PJ to be.

Leee, Friday, 27 August 2010 04:39 (fifteen years ago)

Oh, and would've voted for "Angelene" too in all likelihood. Her voice just kills -- PJ doing Lilith fare and it's awesome.

Leee, Friday, 27 August 2010 04:40 (fifteen years ago)

eleven months pass...

This record is still perfect & her best.

The Not Liking Radiohead Awards (Turangalila), Tuesday, 16 August 2011 14:40 (fourteen years ago)

agree. this would be top ten all-time for me

i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Wednesday, 17 August 2011 04:00 (fourteen years ago)

seven months pass...

"angelene" kills me these days.

charlie h, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:13 (thirteen years ago)

ditto, still my favorite on this glorious album tbh

Turangalila, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:30 (thirteen years ago)

Dunno how I missed this poll back in the day, but I'd have voted for Angelene.

Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 10 April 2012 07:38 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

she said i have no one, even as i held her

Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 14 June 2013 13:34 (twelve years ago)

seven months pass...

come to me

Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 20 January 2014 06:27 (twelve years ago)

four months pass...

so she could waaaaashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 19 June 2014 02:17 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

Played this at record club last night; the other guys - all PJ fans - all kind of missed this at the time, somehow. I feel like everyone (outside ILM) did. Up there as her best, and very well received last night.

Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 8 November 2016 14:16 (nine years ago)

"My Beautiful Leah" for this part:

It never leaves my mind
The last words she said
"If I don't find it this time,
Then I'm better off dead".

Ross, Tuesday, 8 November 2016 16:16 (nine years ago)

eight years pass...

Ivy! Wonderful p4k piece on her best album, loved the literary analysis of an album I usually let soak into me without thinking about it.

assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 5 October 2025 06:34 (three months ago)

So good.

“You can hear this influence creeping most into the sunken realms of songs like “My Beautiful Leah” or “Joy,” both about women who can’t lift themselves out of the mud ensnaring their ankles. It’s these elements that help the album feel like you’re hearing field recordings of feelings—aching, burning, teeth-grinding emotions that make you walk a little more unsteadily and resentfully through your life. And the source of these feelings is always the same: someone alone, lost, wanting for something they can’t have, on the verge of disappearing as they and their desires never arrive anywhere they want to go.”

Tim F, Sunday, 5 October 2025 06:54 (three months ago)

Most of her other albums, it feels like Harvey is imposing herself on our reality, pushing her point of view into our ears. In a good way! But on this one it's like she is relaxing and letting us in to her. If that makes sense? Sorry, not trying to sound sexual there.

Cow_Art, Sunday, 5 October 2025 14:29 (three months ago)


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