Worst PJ Album?

[HowardF]

I just can't get into Stories

[Thatwaslove]

Does "We Float" not work for you? I put that on my list for Desert Island Discs!

[Pitifuljoy]

The album I listen to the least is DHALP. There's maybe 2 or 3 songs on there that I frequently listen to. If I didn't have an iPod, the actual CD would be collecting dust somewhere in my apartment I'm afraid. :P

[pat]

I find it difficult to replay any of the records from UHH on. Her piano playing is just rudimentery and silly. The autoharp is an instrument for someone who can't play a real instrument. And despite what she says the songwriting is repetitious and trite. There's about one good song on each record. Love all.

[dickie]

I find it difficult to replay any of the records from UHH on. Her piano playing is just rudimentery and silly. The autoharp is an instrument for someone who can't play a real instrument. And despite what she says the songwriting is repetitious and trite. There's about one good song on each record. Love all.

Strong words! But on the whole, i agree!

[March]

I'd say my least favorite is Dry. It certainly has its gems but on the whole doesn't excite me as much as the others. I'm not surprised to see Stories listed here often, but am a little surprised to see UHH so much. It is definitely one of my favorites!

[DrDark]

I find it difficult to replay any of the records from UHH on. Her piano playing is just rudimentery and silly. The autoharp is an instrument for someone who can't play a real instrument. And despite what she says the songwriting is repetitious and trite. There's about one good song on each record. Love all.

Strong words! But on the whole, i agree!

Okay, I'll take the bait. This is going to be somewhat of a confession.

There is some truth in Pat's comment about the White Chalk piano playing. There's no denying it's rudimentary. Uncomfortably so. I'm surprised Pat didn't also bring up the intentional singing higher than her natural range. I found that even harder to listen to. The times when she's really reaching and briefly out of key are rough going. I did find it really admirable and brave of her to tour the album solo, but we know she did it basically so she wouldn't have to endure the grind of a typical tour schedule.

For the latest album she's found a different higher voice and yet she's been in excellent control. She's a really supurb volcalist this time out. I have to wonder if some coaching or training was involved. The autoharp? Yeah, what Pat said, but I forgive her since I see her as a singer/songwriter and musician (in that order).

Regarding the songwriting, for me Polly's earlier songs have an uncanny ability to seem like she is singing straight to the listener. How anyone could write such gut-wrenching stuff is amazing. I was moved many times. With White Chalk, that happened much less than before however if I imagined a few of the songs were autobiographical (and it's hard not to do that) there were some moving ones there as well. The new album, with it's focus on the outer world (as opposed to the inner world) just doesn't have the same punch. I don't agree with Pat's "repetitious and trite" characterization, but I'll have to say I've connected the least so far with the new album.

Sure she has to evolve artistically and she is the real deal, but LES ranks near the bottom of my list. Polly's music and performance these days just doesn't grab me the way the earlier stuff did. It's like night and day. Watch a clip of her in the UHH era (or almost any earlier era) and compare it to a LES clip. Where's the energy, emotion and excitment?

Yeah, I know she's 41 yo and can't keep doing the rock and roll thing, but damnit I miss the old stuff. We did get glimpses of it in the AWAM tour. I hope her next project evolves her back towards her roots.

[soulfadelic]

The autoharp is an instrument for someone who can't play a real instrument.

What's a "real" instrument? This is silly, and incorrect. It's a conservative opinion. I don't buy into the idea of a "real musician." The autoharp can have a range of timbres and textures, but on LES, unfortunately, it's used as a simple reverbed backing track more than anything else, so that doesn't really come through.

As for LES, I like it a lot more than I thought I would. It's her most melodic work to date. But Polly's current guise evokes what I think many Nick Cave fans must have felt during his plodding baritone balladeer period 10 years ago. I guess WC + LES constitute her "Nocturama" phase or something. I remember a Triple J interview from 2004 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrCc7Ae1 ... re=related, around 2:35) where she mentioned that she prefers the harder, earlier Bad Seeds material. I wonder if she realizes that many fans feel the same way about her own work.

[revenire]

PJ kind of reminds me of every new Bowie record where the critics go "best since Scary Monsters" in that a lot of fans seem to want her to keep making Dry or something.

Nocturama? Maybe. I hardly listen to that one (like never). Grinderman is great though.

[Hell and High Water]

I guess I object to the term "worst" in this thread, there's a lot of music that I find intellectually to be brilliant, but that I also rarely listen to. There are classical pieces that are totally original and push the envelope out, then others absorb what they've done and incorporate these new ideas into their own work.

I'm not raising PJ (or shifting?) PJ into the realm of classical music. But following that line of thought, I still think White Chalk is brilliant, but it will probably remain my least listened to PJ Harvey album.

ETA: The drum is the arguably the most "primitive" instrument, does that make it unworthy of our attention? It's the musician that makes music, not the instrument.

[pat]

Also, her sense of fashion & style has really hit the toilet. Boring! As someone points out she is older. But, I used to spend as much time pursu ing pictures as I did with music. Now, it's seen one........

[Hell and High Water]

^ Well that's an interesting point, I had to think about that for a sec. I do like what she's wearing this time around, it's more thematic than anything else she's worn I think. The photos from the tour are interesting, but it seems to be more from the qualities in the photographs rather than her wardrobe, because for all the shows I've seen or seen photos of -

SHE NEVER MOVES.

[Thatwaslove]

How has the 'worst album thread' become an analysis of her dress sense at age 41?

;-)

[revenire]

Also, her sense of fashion & style has really hit the toilet. Boring! As someone points out she is older. But, I used to spend as much time pursu ing pictures as I did with music. Now, it's seen one........

Come on. Hit the toilet? The LES shake dresses? Maybe I am looking at the wrong pictures. Older? She looks great. Stunning. Her LES dresses and headresses look like something out of epic myth. Like a Valkyrie riding in to scoop up the bodies.



What are you looking for anyway?

The last three records 'A Woman A Man Walked By' - 'White Chalk' - 'Let England Shake" are favorites of mine. In a very creative career filed with high points she hasn't made a dog of an album in my opinion. LES is her masterpiece if you ask me.

Everyone has favorite periods of all artists.

I saw her last in Chicago for the 'A Woman A Man Walked By' tour and she moved plenty. I could not take my eyes off of her. She was mesmerizing.

Yeah if you want her to keep making the same record over and over then I can understand your criticisms. To me that is like asking Tom Waits (who switched up around 'Swordfishtrombones'), or Nick Cave (the excellent Grinderman I and II or 'Dig Lazurus Dig' prove his creative vitality is strong), or ______ (fill in the blank) to keep recording the same thing for 20 years. Why not buy a Greatest Hits record and keep it rotating?

I'd be bored with that myself but I can understand it I suppose.

[Hell and High Water]

AWAMWB was the first time she actually danced, rather than merely stepping aside for an instrumental section. It was indeed, mesmerizing.

In contrast, she is only moving out of place to make adjustments this tour, and this is not a criticism of her performance, there is a reason she does this. It does create a certain sameness to the photos from the shows though.

People that discovered PJ through White Chalk definitely have a different appreciation for her music, and perhaps don't find some of her older music appealing. But for some of us that came in during the nineties, those rawer, more aggressive songs are what drew us in to begin with. TBML will probably always be my favorite album of all.