POLLy Jean Harvey (The PJ Harvey ballot poll voting thread)

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Brad/pjharvey-2.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJ_Harvey_discography
Tracks
Pick your top 22 tracks and rank them 1-22, scoring system as follows:
1:40, 2:36, 3:33, 4:30, 5:28, 6:26, 7:25, 8:24, 9:23, 10:22, 11:21, 12:20, 13:19, 14:18, 15:17, 16:16, 17:15, 18:14, 19:13, 20:12, 21:11, 22:10
Albums
Pick your top 5 albums and rank them 1-5, scoring system:
1:10, 2:8, 3:6, 4:4, 2:2.
Voting closes on Monday 22nd April. Send your ballots to: nastybrutishnsh✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧.

loving that photo

Shame on you for that thread title

that picture is amazing. really looking forward to this one, it'll be the first poll I've voted in for quite a long time.

Did a kindly mod edit that e-mail address to keep away spam or did I somehow type that myself without realising?
Just in case there's any doubt, the missing bit at the end is 'ort' (and the other bits are even more obvious).

Yay, finally a new poll! (Miles and the Fall were really not my thing.)

It happens automatically to save you from randomly-generated hate mail, etc. I'll see what I can work up myself.

i'm gonna vote in all this polls

This one's gonna be more interesting than these usually are because there's basically zero consensus as to what represents 'The best PJ Harvey song', although there's loads of contenders.

Think I may be an outlier in that I rate the first 2 albums way more than anything else she's done (the only other one that I even like is LES)

I dunno, that's a perfectly defensible stance to take. Dry is probably my second favourite after Let England Shake. Although weirdly I've never much cared for Rid of Me, or To Bring You My Love (which was kinda the canonical pick for years).

I think her first one is her best. Although I like Rid of Me, it's a bit too abrasive. I wasn't impressed by Uh Huh Her and I don't think I've even heard White Chalk.

WC is the only one that leaves me unmoved, but who knows? With PJ there's always next time.

Rid Of Me has the best songs I think, but the production is just too confrontational for anything other than an (admittedly impressive) art statement. Four Track Demos is just as abrasive in its way, but way less harsh.

Actually, I take it you're not counting the different versions of those songs separately?

Nope

Think I may be an outlier in that I rate the first 2 albums way more than anything else she's done (the only other one that I even like is LES)

― pandemic, Saturday, April 13, 2013 8:31 AM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel the same way. They were probably my favorite band at that time, but TBYML was a huge disappointment. LES and WC are great, but I don't think she ever fully regained the urgency of those first two records.

Sent. This was an enormous pleasure to do. I got off the bus after Rid of Me and have barely heard her since - the catalogue is *incredibly* strong, I ended up with about forty songs on first pass, and it's not like the ones I was throwing away were dross either.

I was on board through Is This Desire (which I'll be repping for in the voting, because it seems to have become her most overlooked record), but then was not very interested again until LES. I could easily make a ballot from just those 5 albums, and probably will...

MY HERO

(Peej, that is)

An insanely talented and fearless person, she is.

Think I may be an outlier in that I rate the first 2 albums way more than anything else she's done (the only other one that I even like is LES)

― pandemic, Saturday, April 13, 2013 8:31 AM (59 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I feel the same way. They were probably my favorite band at that time, but TBYML was a huge disappointment. LES and WC are great, but I don't think she ever fully regained the urgency of those first two records.

― Pope Frank is the messenger of your doom (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, April 13, 2013 9:34 AM (1 hour ago)

me three

her post-rid of me peel session posits the 3rd album w/ the trio to be one of the great unrealized threats in music history

Reminder to self: vote in this one!

4 track demos are some of my favorite things she has ever done -- who could possibly argue with Easy?!

sorry

eeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaassaaaaaaaaay

oh man i really want to vote in this one. she is the best.

this'll be very tough to narrow down to 22 songs

She lost me with Is This Desire?, got me back big time with Stories, lost me again big time with White Chalk, got me back with Let England Shake. Honestly no idea what makes her tick. A major artist.

agree that the first couple albums (and the 4-track demos) set a very high bar, one from which she slipped in ditching the band. i've come to accept both to bring you my love and is this desire, but at the time, the former felt like a disappointing waste of potential.

that abrupt, mid-90s shift in approach caused me to tune out for several years. she's done great work in the new century, though. i love stories from the city (her most underrated set, imo), white chalk and let england shake. yeah, the thrilling punk intensity of those early records is for the most part gone, but she's traded it for a much wider field of musical possibility and emotional expression.

First two albums are my favorites, with White Chalk coming in at #3. I guess I love her best at the fringes.

Agree with that. The music press wet itself a bit when she emerged in 91, but she never seemed to need or engage with that aspect of the business at all. I dunno if she's completely self-contained in reality, but she gives that impression to me. I could equally imagine her as a visual artist, putting on shows that she doesn't attend or talk about.

I think she's better now than she's ever been. At the moment about a quarter of my ballot is Let England Shake with only one a piece from Dry and Rid of Me. Agree with Matt DC that the lack of consensus will make this really interesting.

Like with Bowie, we're going to have our favorite Peej phases. It took me a while to warm to Is This Desire?; now it sounds like the ruminative coda to To Bring You My Love. The only anomalous album in retrospect is Stories.

it's also the only album of hers to fit the kind of reductive narrative -- her "happy NYC" album and reach for higher sales -- she's avoided.

Hmm, I think White Chalk is the only real outlier. It's totally enervating (to me), but "Stories" is basically the "pop" apotheosis of what she does. But I think it's one of her most intense albums, actually, and the most personal (to me) of all the accidental 9/11 albums. I don't hear it as happy at all.

The Uh Huh Her-White Chalk-LES phase, on the other hand, sounds lke an attempt to record three discrete sonic and thematic entities.

(speaking of, if ITD was once the forgotten album, UHH most needs the rehab)

haha actually "Is This Desire?" is a better title for Stories if you think about it

Has she talked much about:

1) Why she disbanded the trio (though I guess stuck with Ellis)?

2) Largely shies away from the guitar?

3) Has abandoned touring?

as much as I love her style, the terms of the critical discussion -- by men -- so often made her merits commensurate with her guitar playing (remember all those reviews in 2000 going "Polly Jean is back and rocking!") that I can understand the reluctance.

CHRISTMAS IN APRIL!

Question for myself is whether Uh Huh Her is worth revisiting to try to glean any nominees from it. If not for my very fitful relationship with Rid of Me, UHH is the runaway winner for least favorite Peej disc.

People! Rep some of her b-sides/rarities!

For instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_vz_3VelU

It's funny that I adore the obvious folk influences in ^^^ and yet Let England Shake has been so difficult for me to access.

Actually, I take it you're not counting the different versions of those songs separately?

― Ismael Klata, Saturday, April 13, 2013 6:26 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nope

― BBC 'Witch' Song (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Saturday, April 13, 2013 6:32 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OK because it's early and I'm an idiot who can't parse double negatives, a vote for a demo version of say "50Ft Queenie" and a vote for the ROM version of "50Ft Queenie" will be combined?

Very much looking forward to this, although it will be a tough one.

People! Rep some of her b-sides/rarities!

Early, pre-relistening knee-jerk thought for my #1 is a b-side, actually. Of course I'll to go back to the earlier albums that I've neglected these past few years.

Quick question: can we vote for Dance Hall at Louse Point and A Woman A Man Walked By and songs from those albums?

50ft Queenie is the only one where I definitely prefer the Rid of Me version

xp I have voted for both tracks & albums from those fwiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tPfPBlo5oY

Uh Huh Her is probably my least favourite album, but I love It's You and placed it very highly

People! Rep some of her b-sides/rarities!

Probably half my votes will be non-album tracks. Will post some good ones in days to come. First, here's Claudine The Inflatable One - don't think was even a b-side, might just be from a Peel session. Rid of Me-era sexy song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5QXwuQgcs

xpost: Okay, I would think those albums (the PJ/Parrish co-billed albums) count, but it's not me running the poll. . .

Answer: the one with Thom Yuck.

"this mess we're in", easily

NOT "THE SKY LIT UP"

just get ballots in by tonight and it'll be OK.

Cool, was worried. Won't be able to finalize mine til this evening, but it will be sent before midnight EST.

I'm not sure I agree, but the people have spoken and I can't make a decision, so it's a sad goodbye to This Mess We're In.

Wise move. Cutting The Sky Lit Up would be crazy.

nasty, did you get my ballot? just asking as i didn't get a confirmation mail yet.

Yes - yours is the next one to add on. I'm going through the backlog in the order I received them.

Sent. Breakdown was pretty evenly split among the albums I know, the others are blind spots to me. Maybe the poll will fill me in.

Dry: 4
Rid of Me: 4
TBYML: 5
Desire: 5
LES: 4

Bear with me, folks. Still got 8 ballots to do. Alex - I have got yours (assuming yours is the one with 'Down By The Water' in 22nd place), but I was wrong about you being next in the queue, that was actually Lex.

hey, uh, did you get mine? some talk of confirmation notes upthread, but i don't think i've received one.

Yep - working on yours right now

Alex - I have got yours (assuming yours is the one with 'Down By The Water' in 22nd place
that wasn't me, i had "in the dark places" as #22.

Yeah, you're right, found you now. Something weird happened there - I accidentally leapfrogged over you. Don't worry, I'll add yours on. When I've finally finished adding everything I'll check everyone's had a confirmation e-mail.

not voting in this as my taste is basically Dry + some obvious shit from next few, but Alfred where the heck did you get this alleged Harvest clause of mine from?

I pulled the language from a blog post or something you wrote here in the mid 2000s but I consulted my lawyers and draped it in legalese.

man it must have been a long time ago if concerned Harvest

Whenever I haven't heard To Bring You My Love in a while I fall into the habit of assuming songs like "Working For The Man", "Teclo" and "I Think I'm A Mother" are just moody atmospheric breathers b/w the main events but then I listen to it again and it's like, woah, everything on here is flawless.

xpost if it concerned, rather. Anyhow, while I understand not getting around to an album or not being in a rush, I retract any alleged endorsement of willfully ignoring an album you know has to be good.

I think it's more the complacency of knowing you can check it out at any time, but I think it tends to apply more to entire artist catalogues than to single albums.

whatevs take my name off it or i'm suing

I retract any alleged endorsement of willfully ignoring an album you know has to be good.

haha wait: the Harvest Clause is holding back from purchasing an artist's classic album so that you can look forward to hearing it someday -- like denying yourself rocky road or something.

how catholic

a) i really don't recall ever doing that b) i definitely don't recall doing that with Harvest of all albums and c) even if I did in those hazy days of 2005 or something, I think it's stupid now

i have died of embarrassment and it is your harvest clause now, alfred

if I DID ever make that claim re: harvest, i'd say a corollary of the clause is that you probably aren't that excited about the album in the first place

http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sign-dotted-line.jpg

I specifically remembered you citing Harvest because (a) it made sense (b) I still don't own it.

best songs are on Decade, don't sweat it

xps Jim Carrey and Matt LeBlanc had a lovechild?

where are the poll results? did i miss something?

p. sure he's still working on it dude

Still got six more ballots to go through - I was on top of things, but then got deluged with people voting in the final 24 hours. Should be able to start the results by tomorrow.

thanks, i am looking forward to the roll-out.

how many ballots total NBS? apols if you already said

I dig that the PJH poll will probably be started, finished and rolled out in The Fall's voting+tabulating window.

compiling my ballot for this poll took no more than an hour, i dig that

and i dillydallied for about 45 min of that hour tbh

how many ballots total NBS?

It'll be 30 once I've added my own as well.

Yeah I banged mine out in an hour too. Hadn't relistened as much as I wanted because, well, because it's been glorious weather for the past week and PJH, bless her, has never suited the sun. Spent sunday in the pub with the bf, got home tipsy, thought it had to be done by mon morn, there you go. These things are best when semi-instinctual anyway

Won't be around this time tomoz tho :(

cool good turn out, thx

Won't be around this time tomoz tho :(
Lex, these things get rolled out over several days - you're not going to miss the entirety of the results

i like slow roll-outs of polls. where you have time to listen and discuss and evaluate etc.

OK - all ballots added now (apart from my own, which I'm about to do). I've double-checked and I received 29 and 29 have been added. All 29 have been sent a confirmation e-mail. If there's anybody out there who thinks they've voted and didn't get a confirmation, let me know a.s.a.p.

got it, thanks for the nice words. i am intrigued about the results now.

I didn't get any nice words

To be fair, you did get a litany of grievances

I got a "thanks" -- will consider that neutral.

OK, let's go...
POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

That was quick!