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Rating: PJ Harvey deserves respect.
I had read some incredibly pathetic things about her on this site that made me indignantly upset! (...I'll come back to this later)
PJ deserves respect, even after this album of hers with the unpronounceable title; "Uh Huh Her".
Listening to the first notes, one is tempted to check the cover again to ensure the album was released in 2004 and not in 1993, when PJ collaborated with Steve Albini on the superb "Rid Of Me".
The experiments from "Is This Desire?" seem distant.
Even the stupendous "Stories..." seems quite different from this release.
The sound here is raw, almost like a demo.
Nothing is pre-recorded, sampled, reproduced. Everything is played and captured on tape directly.
Emotions caught on the fly like butterflies caught in a collector's net and with the same rawness (or cruelty?) pinned through with a needle and stamped in the album.
"I'd jump for you into the fire
I'd jump for you into the flame
Tried to go forward with my life
I just feel shame, shame, shame
Shame, shame, shame
Shame is the shadow of love"
(Excerpt from "Shame")
What appears is a darker, more introverted Polly Jean Harvey, at times depressive and obsessive.
Raw, direct, with no half-measures.
"With no neurosis
No psychosis
No psychoanalysis
And no sadness
I'll pick up the pieces
I'll carry on somehow
Tape the broken parts together
And limp this love around"
(from "The Darker Days Of Me And Him")
The topics that plague PJ's mind are almost all centered on romantic relationships, this eternal dialogue between me (misunderstood) and him (bastard!).
A painful theme, addressed with pride and determination.
PJ's voice of despair rests on melodies as rough as sandpaper, distorted guitars and basses make your stereo speakers resonate.
There are two strange things on the album, like the instrumental "The End" and the hidden track that I later discovered is called "Seagull," which is nothing more than the noise of seagulls at the harbor.
The single "The Letter" is also nice (of which there's a successful low fi style video circulating on MTV Brand New recently) and the overwhelming "Cat On The Wall".
In the artist's musical journey, this represents a break from the recent past, almost a return to the origins.
The album is perhaps a bit timeless and at the same time dated.
It doesn't fully convince, but it fascinates and moves.
And perhaps this is precisely what one expects from an album.
"There's another who looks from behind your eyes
I learn from you how to hide
From the desperate kingdom of love"
P.S.:
Regarding the pathetic things read on the site, I was referring to the reviews of the HJF of Imola 2004.
No offense to the two reviewers, but since I missed the event, I at least wanted to know what she played and how.
Not the color of her shoes and how she moved on stage...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Life & Death of Mr. Badmouth (04:53)
Baby, you got a bad bad mouth
Everything is poison that's coming out
Cheating, lying since the day you were born
Someone outta rinse it out with soap
Wash it out, wash it out, wash it out
No kind words are coming out of your mouth
Plenty goes in but nothing good comes out
Badmouth, sad mouth, you were an unhappy child
That doesn't make your lying tongue alright
Wash it out, wash it out, wash it out
Cos everything is poison
You'll be the unhappy one
Your lips taste of poison
You're gonna be left alone
When you told me every word you said
Came from voices talking in your head
Baby, I just think you're out for what you can get
Your badmouth has killed off everything we had
Wash it out, wash it out, wash it out
Cos everything is poison
You'll be the unhappy one
Your lips taste of poison
You'll be in the corner crying
02 Shame (02:33)
I don't need no rising moon
I don't need no ball and chain
I don't need anything but you
Such a shame, shame, shame
Shame, shame, shame
Shame is the shadow of love
You changed my life
We were as green as grass
And I was hypnotized
From the first 'til the last
Kiss of shame, shame, shame
Shame is the shadow of love
I'd jump for you into the fire
I'd jump for you into the flame
Tried to go forward with my life
I just feel shame, shame, shame
Shame, shame, shame
Shame is the shadow of love
If you tell a lie
I still would take the blame
If you pass me by
It's such a shame, shame, shame
03 Who the Fuck? (02:09)
Who the fuck do you think you are
Get out of my hair
who the fuck do you think you are
Comin' round here
who the fuck who the fuck
who the fuck do you think you are
Get your comb out of there
combin' out my hair
I’m not like other girls
You can't straighten my curls
I’m not like other girls
You can't straighten my curls
No!
Who the fuck you tryin' to be
Get your dog away from me!
What the fuck you doing in there
Get your dirty fingers out of my hair
Who who who who
fuck fuck fuck you
I'm free, you'll see
I'm free, you'll see
04 Pocket Knife (03:44)
Please don't make my wedding dress
I'm too young to marry yet
Can you see my pocket knife?
You can't make me be a wife
How the world just turns and turns
How does anybody learn?
Mummy, put your needle down
How did you feel when you were young?
Cos I feel like I've just been born
Even though I'm getting on
How the world slips by so fast
How does anybody last?
As the world keeps coming
And the bees keep humming
And I'll keep running
Flowers I can do without
I don't wanna be tied down
White material will stain
My pocket knife's gotta shiny blade
I'm not trying to cause a fuss
I just wanna make my own fuck-ups
I'm not trying to break your heart
I'm just trying not to fall apart
05 The Letter (03:22)
Put the pen
To the paper
Press the envelope
With my scent
Can't you see
In my handwriting
The curve Of my g?
The longing
Oh
Who is left that
Writes these days?
You and me
We'll be different
Take the cap
Off your pen
Wet the envelope
Lick and lick it
Oh
I need you
The time is running out
Oh baby
Can't you hear me call?
It turns me on
To imagine
Your blue eyes
On my words
Your beautiful pen
Take the cap off
Give me a sign and I'd come running
Oh
It's you
I want you
06 The Slow Drug (03:25)
The slow drug
Blue now is the colour
Love the drug I'm needing
Got to keep this feeling
With the headlights burning
We're looking up for something
Answers on the ceiling
Watching out the windows
Watch the way the wind blows
Soon it will be morning
Still the question lingers
I twist it round my fingers
Could you be my calling?
See this winged boy falling
Falling out of something
Hits the drug I'm needing
Arrows that he's turning
Need to keep this feeling
Slow drug in the morning
With the headlights burning
Looking up for something
Something that we're needing
Still the question lingers
I twist it round my fingers
Could you be my calling?
07 No Child of Mine (01:08)
I have no time for hate or love
Hey child, you're so full of woe
I have no time for hate or lying
Hey child, you're no child of mine
08 Cat on the Wall (03:03)
I heard our song on the radio
It wasn't long before I think of you
Can't get the sound outta my head
Don't look now it's coming round again
I saved your voice from the telephone
I play it back on the message machine
It really sounds like you're having fun
I'm going out into the midday sun
Come night, I'm gonna step outside
Take a walk, I'm gonna clear my mind
The radio, still playing our song
You got me jumping like a cat on the wall
Turn up the radio
They play the radio in my dreams
Takes me back to when I was 17
Dancing in circles on the kitchen floor
I'll play this song 'til I can't take anymore
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