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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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

Where is that Harvey quote from?

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

i missed all those earlier polls!

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

<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!!!

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.

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.

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

i think this is the best PJ Harvey album.

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

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.

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)

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.

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.

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

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?

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

xp seriously, were they even listening before?

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.

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

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

note to allmusic: visceral ≠ loud

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.

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

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.

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

"Joy":

30 YEARS OLD, NEVER DANCED A STEP

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.

note to allmusic: visceral ≠ loud

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.)

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.

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

this is my favorite PJ Harvey album as well.

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

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

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.

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

I just listened to it!

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.

how completely bizarre this is

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

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?

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.

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

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?.

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

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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.

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.

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

argh i didn't even vote

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

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

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.

btw, that youtube link is great, lex

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

I would have voted "Angelene" as well.

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

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.

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

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.

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

This record is still perfect & her best.

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

"angelene" kills me these days.

ditto, still my favorite on this glorious album tbh

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

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

come to me

so she could waaaaashhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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.

"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".

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.

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.”

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.