Released: April 1993
ID: 314-514 696-2

Track List:
01. Rid of Me (4:28)
02. Missed (4:25)
03. Legs (3:40)
04. Rub 'Til It Bleeds (5:03)
05. Hook (3:56)
06. Man-Size Sextet (2:16)
07. Highway '61 Revisited (2:57)
08. 50ft Queenie (2:23)
09. Yuri-G (3:28)
10. Man-Size (3:16)
11. Dry (3:23)
12. Me-Jane (2:42)
13. Snake (1:35)
14. Ecstasy (4:27)

Liner Notes:
Recorded by Steve Albini

PJ Harvey
Guitar, Vocals, Cello, Violin, Organ

Robert Ellis
Drums, Percussion, Vocals

Steve Vaughan
Bass


Melody Maker: "No other British artist is so aggressively exploring the dark side of human nature, or its illogically black humour; no other British artist possesses the nerve, let alone the talent, to conjure up its soundtrack".
John Peel: "You’re initially so taken aback by what you’re hearing. But you go back again and again and it implants itself on your consciousness."
Elvis Costello: "a lot of Harvey’s songs seem to be about blood and fucking", a statement Harvey disagreed with ( )
LA Times: "The themes are equally intense--tales of sexual politics and control, often fueled by complex threads of disappointment and lingering desire. In the most biting moments, including "Rub Til It Bleeds" and "Legs," Harvey steps beyond the usual politeness of pop and rock to touch on the pain of open wounds and hidden scars with both angry and confessional images."

PJ Harvey: "I do everything for myself primarily, and I was happy with it," says Polly. "I don't really listen when people say good things about my work because I tend not to give myself praise about anything. But I was really pleased with Rid Of Me. For that period of my life, it was perfect. Well, it wasn't perfect but as near to as I could get at that time.



Rid Of Me was my first introduction to PJ. I remember I was doing calculus homework and decided to play that album in the background. It seemed quiet at first, then barely 2 mins in I was like this:
I remember giggling through Legs out of nervousness and ultimately being confused and a bit scared. I'd never heard anything that abrasive before. It's probably my favorite Peej album because it gave me the biggest shock and changed the way I perceived music.

Please share your first memories with the album, favorite song (added a poll), or some interesting reviews or tidbits about it.

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I'll rub it, until it...

TBML was my first PJ, I bought Rid of Me not too long after that. RoM was so much rougher and so guitar oriented, but it also is still probably my second favorite of all her work. After the first track, Missed almost seems balladic, but it's hardly that, it's in an odd meter, "math rock." I hear a Slint influence, and this would have been a short while after she applied to sing for that band. Other songs eventually "took" too, but Missed is still the standout to me.

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Click to see the PJ Harvey Gigography

It's so difficult to pick just one, but it has to be Legs. I got 4 track demos first so that kinda spoiled the shock of ROM for me but Legs had me in tears. I can't even describe how much I love that song. And the sudden contrast in volume on Rid Of Me still makes me jump even though I know it's coming I remember loving the album on first sight for the cover alone!!

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with a palmful of stars I throw them like dice repeatedly until the desired constellation appears ♪♬

My 1st & I still love it to death. I can remember reading a review in either NME or Melody Maker that went something like "when I listened to this album I got the same feeling I get walking down a dark hallway not knowing what to expect" or something to that nature. Between that, the cover & I guess I bought into the whole "if Albini recorded it" thing I thought I needed to have a listen. Rid of Me blew me away as soon as the distortion kicked in. And the rest as they say is history (whoever "they" are). Picking single tracks off of any records that I like seems impossible as a rule but not a problem here. Legs is not only the stand out recording from RoM but in the top 2 or 3 from any of her albums for me.

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how will you ever walk again...

ROM has to be my fave PJ album ever and I love every song in it, but if it's about to pìck one song, it's easy:

Snake

She doesn't even need 2 fucking minutes to blow your mind

:}

Me-Jane's always done it for me. The whole album is absolutely phenomenal. But, that little garage-punk/rockabilly number with that killer riff and that brilliant chorus- I have to listen to it at least 5 times a day lol. Honorable mentions: 50 ft Queenie, Man-Size, Legs, Yuri G, Hook (I love how exhausted and disgusted sounding the riff is) , Ecstasy(the guitar work is literally jaw-dropping)

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I got my copy of Rid of Me the day after I bought Dry and To Bring You My Love. I should have bought it first, as the first PJ song I've ever heard was Man Size (on a "Women In Rock" MTV program) but reading some reviews it appeared that those two were her standouts album. It took me repeated listenings to get into them, I remember being alone in my home in Sicily, my first holiday alone, it was night and I was reading some erotic stuff with TBYML on the background: I was frightened. So I HAD to buy ROM the very next day, haunted by what I had been listening the previous night and by the cover itself: I still think it's the greatest cover-piece of Art ever.
Rid Of Me got me in a corner of an empty, huge room in my house, ringing out loudly and blowing me away while I was drawing some creepy stuff.
The title-track was a shock, I couldn't figure out the lyrics, but that feeling in her voice was extremely explicit and hot. I had recently discovered the grunge all-female band L7 and have been a long time Hole fan -so I could relate better to this album than the others I got fisrt- but I recognized immediatly how PJ is totally on a different level in terms of songwriting and singing. There was a twisted sensuality and enraged, raw hotness I had never encountered before in her voice, and in my opinion it all summarizes at its best in the closing track, Ecstasy.

Anyone else having issues submitting their answer to the poll? I keep getting INVALID - TRY AGAIN. (insert coin here)

ROM - Ah, I got this album when I was 16, borrowed from a friend, who later went on to give me all of PJ's albums up to that point (1998 - Is This Desire?) Safe to say I was blown away by the power of the music, mesmerized by that, now, iconic image of PJ on the cover and just amazed that this album had eluded me for so long! So grateful to that friend forever now. Seriously. I had never heard of PJ and she was rarely, if at all, played on the radio at the time. This album needs to be remastered. (Maybe by 2013 upon its 20th year anniversary? )

50 Ft Queenie is my ultimate fave song from that album - and the fact that she wrote it in mind of the rappers of the time just makes me love it that much more. The lyrics are just so spot on! Love blasting that song whenever it comes on. "I'LL TELL. YOU. MY. NAME! F! U! C! K!"

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"He intentado ahogar mis penas, pero el hijo de puta aprendió a nadar."

Faceplace • El Jay

If anyone is having problems, please post them here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15

Let me know which style you're using, some problems are specific to a particular style. Thanks!

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Click to see the PJ Harvey Gigography

Man-Size.

lol that's a brilliant description of the song.

I've always wondered about that song. Is it really about rough sex? And does she say "don't move in on me?" or "load it on me?"

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I'll rub it, until it...

I always assumed it was don't "ruin it on me". First few times I heard it I thought it was "Don't loot it on me"

That seems to be the most logical concept, most people seem to think it's about menstruation though haha. Possibly both, one caused by/associated with the other.

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my vote is for me-jane (though as most people have stated this is an impossible question to answer). i'm in absolute love with everything about this song. she manages to lose her mind during this song; right before she sings "tarzan im pleading stop your fucking screaming" she brings everything to a quiet temporarily sane pulse before tearing apart again. it's brilliant.

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if there's a want for something new, you might find me at the start, or where it ends for you.

I choosed Legs

Rid of me

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'Good Golly, Miss Polly!'