PJ Harvey is pretty cool. I used to be really into her because she seemed really damn cool but I never fully connected with her or the stuff she was writing (I guess) and I eventually gave up. Dry, Rid of Me and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea are all quite good albums, and the rest of her discography is interesting enough in its diversity. I don't find myself coming back to her work much, though. I guess some songwriters and artists you can respect and find sort of interesting, yet never really connect with.

Her early releases are pretty low key, they almost have a subdued bohemian feel to it, but To Bring You My Love has a fuller rock sound to it, and is widely regarded as her best album.

I'm assuming that you've already heard it, but if you haven't give it a whirl before you pass her bye.

Really? I was disappointed when To Bring You My Love came out b/c it was her first step away from her raw, heavy, soulful sound. I guess it's got bigger production though.
For me, she's never topped Rid Of Me but I don't blame her b/c that album is absolutely blissful to me. One of my favorite-ever albums.

I thought Stories From the City was pretty much her stand-out album. I haven't been as consistently impressed with any of her other albums.

Yeah, I've listened to it a few times. I had the same immediate reaction that engine did, that I was turned off slightly from the album because it was a big departure from her previous style and not in a way i particularly liked. It's probably the pj Harvey I'm least interested in until uh huh her (I've only listened up to uh huh her, though). Maybe someday it'll grow on me though!

The Jungle Queen bootleg was pretty cool. I enjoyed hearing the stripped down Dry songs.

To Bring You My Love is a good album but it doesn't strike me as her best material. For me it's a toss-up between Rid of Me and Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, and I love both of them for different reasons. Rid of Me was the original PJ Harvey trio at the top of their game, and the no-frills, dirty production and raw emotion of the album never fails to give me goosebumps. Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea is her most accessible album and I think she did the whole poppier direction on that album remarkably well. I think some of the songs on that album are the best she's ever written, such as 'Good Fortune', 'This Is Love' and 'We Float'.

Well said, I hear you guys. In the past To Bring You My Love has been repeatedly hailed & praised by record critics as her primary work. It was also her commercial breakthrough and remains her top selling release to date.

So that's where I base my argument. That being said, alternative fans usually have a different take on things, and normally I would throw my musical taste behind an album like Rid of Me, but I just find tracks like "Down by the Water" & "To bring you my love", to be too damn good.

I do think To Bring You My Love is a great album, just not her best.
I definitely like her first 4 the most, and Stories from the City is also beautiful in a more purely pretty way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7R5UtMjIhQ

I've been doing a "RockTober" thing with some friends where one of us will listen a band for the day, and we just spin music from that artist. It's great because I'm listening to a lot of stuff from people I never listen to. PJ Harvey was our choice yesterday. Not only do I love this album, but this track is exactly the kind of stuff I wish I'd heard in 1995. It's like Garbage with balls.

I love this b side so much, feral stuff



IMO her first decade was absolutely great, some albums more complete than others but all meriting multiple listens. Something like Let England Shake, otoh, is just not for me.