I love everything by PJ Harvey: I give five stars to every one or her CDs (even "Dance Hall At Louse Point" and "Four-Track Demo"). But "Rid of Me" will always hold a special place in my heart because . . . well, because it was my first. And it is the one I like best. I bought it close to five years ago, after reading an interview with her in Rolling Stone. I quickly grew to like her when I read what she had to say. Her attitude reminded me of the more serious girls I knew in art school. She came across as genuine and thoughtful; a humble individual, not impressed by herself, but interested in covering new ground artistically. I also liked it that she is a student of the Bible (I, too, am a student of the Bible, though I'm not going to say I'm a very good one [her most Biblically inspired CD to date is "Dry", and I'm not just taking about the songs "Hair" and "Water" either]).
I decided to check out PJ Harvey, so I set out to obtain "To Bring You My Love" (her latest release at the time), but that day there was not a copy available at Zia (a local CD outlet). So I settled on "Rid of Me". When I heard it the first time I thought it would definitely be a short-timer in my collection. It was more roaring and raucous than I expected, with profanity scattered throughout. So I said to myself, "I'm glad I got that out of my system," and I planned to offer it up, as soon as possible, at the trade counter. Yet . . . part of me -- that part that all artists and lovers of art know about, a part that views everything on its own without regard for any acquired personal taste -- had an aesthetic experience. Something inside felt I had just listened to something really great. I have loved PJ Harvey ever since.
Her singing voice is like a hybrid of Janis Joplin and Patti Smith (though she claims to have only heard Patti Smith only after comparisons were made). Her guitar work is not complicated. The places where you'd expect a lead guitar solo she gives you hard repetitive rhythm guitar. Yet it is more than purely functional. Her guitar style suggests a mercenary with an assault rifle -- a petite 90 pound shy little English country girl wielding the great equalizer, firing on all those things out there that has, or wants to have, control over her. Joe Gore, guitarist for Tom Waits and a guitarist for Harvey on "To Bring You My Love" and "Is This Desire", admires her method of guitar playing, saying she: "renders her tough and ingenious riffs with enough violent emotion to make Tarantino flinch."
Though I love PJ Harvey, she is not someone I recommend to everyone. It's kind of like telling everyone they should see "Reservoir Dogs", "Sid And Nancy", or "Fight Club" -- you're not going to convince everyone that something valuable is being rendered. And, I guess, I you shouldn't have to.
My first
Creepy in a Good Way
