PJ Harvey - Let England Shake

[Vitalstatistix]

This is great!

Listen at NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/06/133495228/first-listen-pj-harvey-let-england-shake

Really really digging this. Melodically immediate, musically interesting. Lyrically and conceptually intriguing.

Straight away I think this is better than White Chalk...

[Icehaven]

I've never been into her but I switched 6music on earlier and heard the last couple of minutes of All and Everyone, thought it was really terrific, and just assumed it was old material. I'm very glad it isn't, might have to get this.   

[Norton Canes]

From what I've heard so far, and based on how much I adore Miss Polly Jean (and her music), this could be the best album ever made, anytime, ever.

[benthalo]

Fascinating record. She did R4's Front Row and R2's Radcliffe & Maconie show on Tuesday night if you fancy visiting iPlayer.

[babyshambler]

Thanks for the recommendation. After one listen, I'll certainly be buying this. A lot of it reminds me of the Kinks Arthur, with the horn sections and very obviously English accents. Roll on Monday =)

[lipsink]

I love the wobbly effects on 'Written on the Forehead' and the title track. Warpaint have a similar sound on the guitars of 'Shadows'.

[babyshambler]

I got a torrent of PJH on the Radcliffe and Maconie Show from Tuesday, MP2 files. 14 tracks, mainly interviews but she plays The Words That Maketh Murder, Bitter Branches, The Last Living Rose and Written On The Forehead.

http://www.mediafire.com/?41ib5naw927k7a3

[trotsky assortment]

Reviewing this was one of my jobs for this week.  It's what you might call a "difficult" record.

[The Irrelephant Man]

She was also on the Culture Show on Thursday, interviewed by Miranda Sawyer. It's the last 10 minutes if you're iPlayer-ing.

I simply adore PJ for her invention and ethics. Luckily I'm going to see her for the first time at Troxy at the end of the month, and can't wait for that or the album. Written On The Forehead and The Words That Maketh Murder are sounding great so far. Has anyone caught her live before?

[Custard]

Oh my, what a record. She's just never gonna do a shitty record is she (i like Uh Huh Her, ya gits!)

Really loving her vocals on this new 'un too. There's something a bit different about 'em, that I can't quite put my finger on.

The album just drips with melody, and though i don't think it'll bring her many new fans (tbh i think them days are gone), it's easily the strongest since Stories, innit

I reckon I love her

[Rev]

Nah, she's been shit for years, since halfway through Stories...

This is a real return to form, though, and a surprising one.  Whoever it was that called her the Peter Greenaway of music had her spot on, because as much as I love her early stuff she is all theatre and no sincerity.  Or she was until this, which is the first thing she's done - including the early stuff -  that seems to have some real heart behind it.

I can't see how it's 'difficult'. it seems very immediate and accessible, and pretty poppy in places.

[trotsky assortment]

The tosser who reviewed the album at the BBC website has referred to her as the 'alternative Lady Gaga', just so they can stick a link in for an article about Gaga's new single.

[Ghost of Troubled Joe]

Whoever it was that called her the Peter Greenaway of music had her spot on, because as much as I love her early stuff she is all theatre and no sincerity

Yeah, god forbid songwriters actually make things up...it's a charge that's been levelled against her a lot, and I just don't get it. You don't have to drown your daughter to write a song about it, do you?

Anyway, Uh Huh Her was underrated, White Chalk was an absolute masterpiece and I'm really liking Let England Shake. Lyrically it's brutal, and musically rather inviting. An interesting mix, a lot to think about. It makes me want to listen to it more and get to the bottom of the themes/ideas...in that way, it's a proper concept album.

[Custard]

Nah, she's been shit for years, since halfway through Stories...

You don't rate Kamikaze, Horses In My Dreams, This Mess We're In, THIS IS LOVE?!?!?

I think our friendship is on the outs, Rev :-(

White Chalk is very good too, and her record with John Parish. SO THERE! *Fingers in ears*

[Vitalstatistix]

I don't see theatricality and sincerity as mutually exclusive. I feel heart in her earlier stuff, it's raw and passionate and intense, but contrived, insincere? I don't see it. She's always been a great storyteller and imagist, and this new one is no different. What's striking me is just how infectious the music is. It's a really tight, cohesive and engaging set of songs.

Never seen her live, but right now she'd be bang top of my wishlist...

[Custard]

Uploaded this cos i found it really interesting. Harvey talking to the Guardian Music Weekly podcast. Pretty in-depth about the making of the new album, her vocals, lyrical themes, etc. Well worth a listen

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ikt8mn

[Rev]

Yeah, god forbid songwriters actually make things up...it's a charge that's been levelled against her a lot, and I just don't get it. You don't have to drown your daughter to write a song about it, do you?

It's got nothing to do with 'making things up'.  Many of my favourite artists spew out outlandish bollocks by way of lyrics, but there's at least a small nugget of emotional truth there.  Peej seemingly got her truth out of her system early on, and from TBYML - her final album, as she claimed at the time - decided to become a bit thespy, taking to the stage at times looking like a skinny Leigh Bowery and pumping out wafer-thin attempts at pop.  She used to be so interesting, until she tried to be interesting.  That's why I'm so impressed with this new jobber.

Shameless:  Horses and This Mess We're In I can take or leave.  This is Love is technically alright, but it just sounds so horribly ersatz.  It could be a post-70s Rolling Stones track, and there's no greater condemnation than that.  Kamikaze is objectively fuck awful, though.  It's amazing that someone who wrote Hook could fail at writing a quick and dirty song, but she did.

[Doomy Dwyer]

I just bought this yesterday, so it's early days, but it's a beauty. The closing song with Mick Harvey, 'The Colour of the Earth' brought a lump to my cynical old throat. The most immediately enjoyable (that's not the right word) album I've heard in a long time. Feels like it's got some substance. Meat on it's bones. Not half arsed. Fully realised. Ambitious. Something to say. A story to tell. Depth is what it has. Fucking hell. This is how it should be done. 

[Marvin]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying this. Knocks spots off White Chalk and Uh Huh Her (although I did like the recent John Parish album).

Definitely one of her stronger overrall albums already I'd say. Haven't seen her live since 2004 (avid listeners of CaB Radio from 2-3 years ago will know the anecdote) and she was great then but never felt the urge to buy tickets on her recent tours, but would love to see this stuff live.

[jutl]

Nah, she's been shit for years, since halfway through Stories...

I'd say she lost it after To Bring You My Love, personally. I've tried to like every album since but they just seem contrived and tedious somehow. I'll try with this one too.

[Johnny Townmouse]

Whilst Harvey has sung before with Anita Lane, having a duet with Harvey is a lovely 'Cave Exes' moment. I will get this album tonight and see what I make of it. I also have trouble with Harvey from right after To Bring You My Love.

[jutl]

I'm surprised by the last.fm listening figures for Dry/Demonstration. I've always enjoyed the demos a lot more, but they seen relatively unheard, judging by that.

[Johnny Townmouse]

I can confirm, after many, many listens, that this will be hard to shift from the current position of Album of the Year on the Townmouse charts. What a compelling, imaginative and utterly original piece of work. Really.

The three accompanying videos on youtube are perfect and really show what sort of frame of mind Harvey is in at the moment. Oddly reflective, political but not blinded by anger. I can't see how anything this year will impress me as much.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Yep, I've listened to little else since getting this. This Glorious Land is the standout track for me...!

[small_world]

Ah god.
I've never seen the attraction. She's shit.
Although I'm eager to be persuaded, and admittedly I've only ever seen her live, and mostly on Jools' shows. So I'm going in for this with an open mind. A fresh start. Here goes.

[Neville Chamberlain]

PJ Harvey has always been someone whose music I've always 'admired' rather than ever truly loved, but it's a different story with this album.

[Doomy Dwyer]

It hasn't lost any of its charm since the day I bought it. It's a fully realised body of work and a bit of a rocker in places. It's rare that I dip a toe in the contemporary these days due to old age and cynicism, but I'm glad I kept the faith with Polly. I've always liked her stuff, but I found 'Uh Huh Her' to be very uneven, 'White Chalk' admirable but largely dull/unlistenable and even 'A Woman A Man Walked by' left me slightly underwhelmed when Compared to 'Dance Hall...'[nb]So, why compare it? Good question.[/nb]. But this is of an entirely different order of wonderfulness. I wish I'd seen the shows, they sounded marvellous 

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

It all rubs me up the wrong way. The layers of pseudyness just seem to throw veils over how simple and nothingy the actual tunes are. Add some consciously out of place samples to the intro, and an avart-garde section with a bit of 'challenging' wailing over the actually rather basic tum-te-tum indie pop and boom- you have some 'interesting' music, apparently.

I don't get any emotional feedback from it. Not touching, exhilarating, addictive. What am I supposed to do with it? (Here is the bit where I will be told she doesn't work like that and I need to expand my emotional scope blah blah)

[Vitalstatistix]

I'm still blasting this, lovely stuff.

Shoulders, your reaction is perfectly valid, but personally I don't see anything pseudy about the record. Sure, it has a historical concept and a literary quality but it's very accessible. You say yourself the songs are simple, which is part of its charm for me.

[Glebe]

Haven't listened to her in years, but caught her performance on Later and was suitably impressed:

PJ Harvey - The Words That Maketh Murder (Later with Jools Holland)