From the man who called 'Let England Shake' a masterpiece. Good blog too:
'Of course people wouldn’t have kept interviewing me if the book had been published a year or two earlier. I could never have imagined when I finished it, let alone started it, that 2011 would be a year of political upheaval to rank alongside 1968 or 1989, that Time’s person of the year would be “The Protester”, or that the most acclaimed album of the year would be PJ Harvey’s stunning song cycle about war and national identity. As an author I lucked out. As a citizen I was as concerned, bewildered and inspired as anyone else.'
[...]
'It is extraordinary that the most celebrated album of 2011 (and my own favourite) is also the best example of political songwriting in years. I said what I had to say about Let England Shake in a blog post and an Observer interview with Harvey but the moment that sticks with me is her performance of The Words That Maketh Murder at the Troxy on February 27. This was just as Gaddafi had threatened to take bloody revenge on the revolutionaries in Benghazi and the Libyan rebels were beseeching the UN to intervene. At that point the UN resolution was still a couple of weeks away and it was anyone’s guess how the uprising would end. And Harvey sang the line she took from Eddy Cochran, turning a goofy joke into a deadly serious question: “What if I take my problem to the United Nations?”
I supported the UN intervention; many people I admire did not. When Harvey sang that line it seemed to accommodate both points of view, reminding me that Let England Shake is an album about the horror of war but not a straightforward anti-war album, and that her own views on the Libyan situation (which she characteristically kept to herself) could not be assumed based on the songs. I asked her later if the relevance of the line had struck her that night. “It strikes me every time we play that song,” she said. “Or indeed any of the songs on the record – how you can apply them to different situations. Certainly that night at the Troxy it had a different meaning because of what was happening at the time, and I’m sure it did for many people in the room as well.”
If Let England Shake had a clear message it would not be the complex work of art it is: a record that speaks of war, history and nationhood in many different voices, and consists of stories rather than slogans. To anybody wondering if political songwriting can still be rewarding to both the artist and the listener, it’s a beacon of inspiration.'
[...]
'A pessimistic reading of the history of protest songs suggests an irreversible decline since the early 90s. An optimistic one says that they will rise again and there has simply been a missing generation of political musicians. With a few exceptions (credit to Lupe Fiasco for sticking his hand in his pocket and donating 50 tents to OWS) musicians aged between 25 and 35 have been invisible this year. Most high-profile Occupy supporters — Tom Morello, Thom Yorke, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja — are in their 40s, as are other politically astute artists like Nicky Wire, Damon Albarn and PJ Harvey.'
http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress ... -for-2011/
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
