I really love Rob Ellis' drumming on PJ Harvey's earlier albums as well as stuff from "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea" and "Uh Huh Her." His drumming complimented PJ's guitar playing and singing. What does anyone think?

This may be of interest

http://www.thetrapset.net/189-rob-ellis ... pecks-etc/

Thank you very much, stimpy.

Many thanks for that. Really interesting insight into someone who seems to have contradictory characteristics - very shy, diffident, rather nervous, yet selfish & impulsive at the same time. Got the feeling there was an awful lot he wasn't going to tell us about!

I agree with you, diogenesagogo.

Yes, thank you indeed, I would never have looked for that. Rob Ellis has always struck me as a seriously good musician, rather more than Polly herself really: but I'm not musical at all so that's just a layperson's impression.

Great point, AineteEkaterini.

I follow Rob on Twitter, which is where I saw the link.

Hy!
I've always thought that without Rob Ellis' drumming,PJ' songs would have been a little bit banal.
He is so clear but never foregone,powerful and destabilizing at the right point (just think to Man-size,for example:masterpiece of uneven tempo).He knew how to underline PJ songwriting better than others.
I still miss him,never admitted the others .

I truly agree with you, Giusy!

He is a genius drummer, really one of the best. The intricacies he worked into her already very odd songs (all those weird time signatures, which no music journalists ever discuss! WTF!) are magical. Agreed about “Man-Size”, which is my favorite PJH song, but really his drumming is nuts on most of her songs. Even a song in 4/4 like “Dress” still has accents on odd beats, it always keeps you off balance.

A nice interview with bits of insights about his time with the trio and his drumming style on the first two albums

I will always consider Rob Ellis as one of the best alternative/punk blues rock drummers in the world.