PJ Harvey

5 Classic Crackers Turning 30

Posted on by JL

Top singles from the past

30 candles for 5 classic crackers in 2022

Artist: PJ HARVEY
Single: SHEELA-NA- GIG
Score: #69 in the UK,
#9 alt Billboard charts (US)
Album: Dry – debut LP

Sheela-na-gig, Sheela-na-gig
You exhibitionist

PJ HARVEY: Facebook

Band: RADIOHEAD
Single: CREEP – debut single
Score: #7 in the UK,
#2 alt Billboard Charts
Album: Pablo Honey

But I’m a creep
I’m a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don’t belong here

RADIOHEAD: Facebook

Band: MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Single: MOTORCYCLE EMPTINESS
Score: #17 in the UK
Album: Generation Terrorists – their debut

Under neon loneliness
Motorcycle emptiness

MANIC STREET PREACHERS: Facebook

Band: R.E.M.
Single: DRIVE
Score: #1 alt Billboard Charts (US),
#11 in the UK
Album: Automatic For The People

What if I ride, what if you walk?
What if you rock around the clock?
Tick-tock, tick-tock

R.E.M.: Facebook

 

Band: SUEDE
Single: METAL MICKEY – 2nd single
Score: #17 in the UK,
#7 alt Billboard Charts (US)
Album: Self-titled debut LP

She sells heart, she sells meat
Oh dad, she’s driving me mad, come see

Picked By TURN UP THE VOLUME – 10 Ace Albums Turning 30 In 2022

Posted on by JL

15 December 2021

1. ‘Henry’s Dream’ by NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS

Released: 27 April 1992 –  7th LP
Charts: #29 in the UK / #41 in Australia

Rolling Stone said: At times Cave veers into melodrama, but his songs
of suffering and sin are still convincing. With the Bad Seeds serving as the
exorcists for Cave’s demons, Henry’s Dream stands as provocative – albeit
harrowing – music.” Score: 4.5

TUTV: One of my all-time favorite
Bad Nick Cave Seed works

Stream here…

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2. ‘Dry’ by PJ HARVEY

Released: 30 March 1992 – her debut LP
Charts: #11 in the UK

Pitchfork wrote: “On her debut, Polly Jean Harvey matched
Patti Smith’s incandescence with Bessie Smith’s lasciviousness,
outplayed everyone on the British indie circuit, and became
an instant star.” Score: 4.5/5.

TUTV: A masterpiece. Still.

Stream here…

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3. ‘Automatic For The People’ by R.E.M.

Released: 5 October 1992 – 8th LP
Charts: #1 in the UK and New Zealand, #2 in the US

AllMusic: “A haunting, melancholy masterpiece… R.E.M. have
never been as emotionally direct as they are here, nor have they
ever created music quite as rich and timeless, and while the record
is not an easy listen, it is the most rewarding record in their oeuvre.”
Score: 5/5.

TUTV: They put a magnum opus
on the moon with this one.

Stream here…

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4. ‘Bone Machine’ by TOM WAITS

Released: 8 September 1992 – his 11th LP

Entertainment Weekly wrote: “Bone Machine finds Waits veering
along the midway barking his favorite themes — decadence and death,
purgatory and pain — but beneath his hellacious bellows and grotesque
arrangements lurks a caring, humanist heart.” Score: 5/5.

TUTV: I wonder if Waits still doesn’t want to grow up.

Stream here…

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5. ‘Lazer Guided Melodies’ by SPIRITUALIZED

Released: 20 March 1992 – debut LP
Charts: #27 in the UK

NME said: “There’s awesome, cool dignity here, a depth and
scope far beyond rock’s normal parameters, and an abiding
faith in the redemptive power of music which can embrace
both consoling murmurs and euphoric surges.” Score: 5/5.

TUTV: The start of a soul-searching
symphonic gospel adventure, still in motion.

Stream here…

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6. ‘Rage Against The Machine‘ by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

7. Slanted & Enchanted by PAVEMENT

8. It’s A Shame About Ray by THE LEMONHEADS

9. Code:Selfish by THE FALL

10. ‘The Southern Harmony And Musical Companion‘ by THE BLACK CROWES

PJ HARVEY Lets England Shake Again Next January

Posted on by JL

5 December 2021

Polly Jean Harvey aka PJ HARVEY celebrated the 10th anniversary of her eighth,
gilt-edged album LET ENGLAND SHAKE last February. An uncommon one as
the massive devastation of World War I – the Great War – was the central theme
of this monumental longplayer. Not an obvious event to write songs about, let
alone a full album. Yet PJ did it and she did it pre-eminently confirming once
more again that she’s an artist par excellence. The critics went wild.

The Guardian (British newspaper) said: “It’s a curious idea, but it’s a masterstroke. Rock songwriters don’t write much about the first world war, but, perhaps understandably, when they do, they have a tendency to lay it on a bit thick… Harvey clearly understands that the horror doesn’t really need embellishing: her way sounds infinitely more shocking and affecting than all the machine-gun sound effects in the world… You’re left with a richly inventive album that’s unlike anything else in Harvey’s back catalogue. ‘Let England Shake’ sounds suspiciously like the work of a woman at her creative peak. ”

Demo of the title track

28 January 2022 sees the reissue of the vinyl of the LP, alongside
a collection of unreleased demos which will be available on CD, vinyl
and digital through UMC/ Island. Order info here

PJ: “I never felt that I had reached the place with my writing that I could talk about these things well, in a language that would work. I think if you’re going to talk about giant subject matter, you’ve got to do it well and I didn’t think I had the skill as a writer to do that, up until this point.”

Original full album here…

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PJ HARVEY: Facebook

PJ HARVEY – Unreleased Demo Of Old Song…

Posted on by JL

7 January 2021

On 26th February, UMC/ Island will reissue another PJ HARVEY album
on vinyl, alongside a collection of unreleased demos available on CD,
vinyl and digital.

This time it’ll be her fifth LP Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
which turned 20 last October.

Ahead of it comes a stripped-down version of This Mess We’re In which
she did in duet with Thom Yorke for the final album version.

Listen here…

The album version with Thom Yorke…

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PJ HARVEY: Facebook

BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 5 Knockout Albums Turning 10 In 2021

Posted on by JL

1. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM THE VACCINES? by THE VACCINES

Released: 11 March 2011 – debut LP
NME said: “By fusing elements of US pop-punk (the Ramones – not Blink 182), chillwave
(they too are obsessed with reverb) and classic good-time pop’n’roll (The Strokes, primetime Libs/KOL), The Vaccines have recorded an album that – if things continue to go their way – should serve to give British rock music a much-needed jolt in the arm.”

Stream here

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2. SKYING by THE HORRORS

Released: 11 July 2011 – third LP
Pitchfork said: “While they may have started out as all glittering surfaces, the Horrors have evolved into a dependable band making wide-reaching rock music. Whether a calculated retreat or just a natural maturation, the Horrors have found a sound more content with background and atmosphere, and it suits them nicely.”

Stream here…

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3. NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS

Released: 17 October 2011 – self-titled debut LP
The Daily Mirror: “High Flying Birds is the best collection
of Noel Gallagher tunes since his Morning Glory days.”

Stream here…

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4. LET ENGLAND SHAKE by PJ HARVEY

Released: 14 February 2011 – eight LP
AllMusic said: “Let England Shake’s’ songs, touching on the disastrous World War I naval strike that left more than 30,000 English soldiers dead. Her musical allusions are just as fascinating and pointed. Its complexities make it one of Harvey’s most powerful works.”

Stream here…

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5. SUCK IT AND SEE by ARCTIC MONKEYS

Released: 6 June 2011 – fourth LP
NME said: “Suck It and See’, then, is the band’s ‘Rubber Soul’. Much like how The Beatles spent the early part of their career penned in by commercial expectations, they broke out and proved they were much more than novelty love songs on their experimental, but concise sixth album.”

Stream here…

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BIG BLASTS FROM THE PAST – 5 Awesome Singles Turning 10 In 2021

Posted on by JL

1. THE WORDS THAT MAKETH MURDER by PJ HARVEY

Rolling Stone: “Fairly peppy for a PJ Harvey song about murder.”
Released: 6 February 2011
Album: Let England Shake

Press play here…

2. IF YOU WANNA by THE VACCINES (UK)

NME: “They’ve really nailed it. The ending is heartstoppingly heavy.”
Released: 23 May 2011
Album: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

Let’s roll…

3. STILL LIFE by THE HORRORS (UK)

Pitchfork: “An appealing bucolic stupor.”
Released: 5 July 2011
Album: Skying

Listen here…

4. ICE CREAM by BATTLES (USA)

The Guardian: “Avant-garde music can be fun.”
Released: 23 May 2011
Album: Glos Drop

Tune in here…

5. I TOLD YOU ONCE by HOWLER (US)

Sputnik Music: “Listen to that track once and
that tune will be jangling round your head all day.”
Released: 1 August 2011
EP: This One’s Different

Check it out…

PJ HARVEY – Her Masterwork ‘STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA’ Came Out 20 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

23 October 2020

Artist: PJ HARVEY
Album: STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA – 6th LP

Released: 24 October 2000 – 20 years ago
Score: #23 in the UK, #7 in Ireland

NME wrote: “PJ Harvey’s sixth album purports to be a collection of songs drawn from experiences in various cities, and from her hermetic life on the English coast. In fact, from the opening chimes of ‘Big Exit’, the nervy guitars of Television recaptured, ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’ is a traditional New York record, both in texture and imagery. “Speak to me of heroin and speed/Of genocide and suicide/Of syphilis and greed”, she urges in ‘The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore’, and you get the impression we sure aren’t in Dorset… when rock is so invigorating, so joyous about love, sex and living, all arguments are null and void. Hey, take a walk on her wild side.”

PJ Harvey: “There’s so much you can do with laying words on a bed of music. You
can completely change their meaning with the type of music or the way they’re sung.”

Turn Up Turn The Volume: As usual, PJ chose integrity and honesty
over commercial success. Result: a masterwork.

Singles/clips: Good Fortune / This Is Love

– GOOD FORTUNE –

– THIS IS LOVE –

Full album…

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PJ HARVEY: Facebook