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I saw PJ Harvey at Slim's in San Francisco in August of 1992. I had never heard any of her music but she got a positive writeup in one of the local alternative weeklies and I liked the opening act (Her Majesty the Baby) so I decided to check it out. They opened with "Rid of Me" and the tension built and built. When they exploded into the chorus, the audience exploded with them into a leaping, writhing mass of bodies, and when it was over I said "WHAT was THAT!?" out loud to no one in particular. It was one of the most thrilling, mind-blowing experiences I've ever had at a live show.
That song did it for me too, but not live. I was in a thrift shop around 1993 and Rid of Me started playing. After a minute I went over to my girlfriend elsewhere in the store and said "Are you hearing this?" She said yes. We asked at the cash what they were playing, and immediately went across the street to a record store.
Don't get the love for her but she is so charisma and pretty. Rid of Me is Brilliant and Good Fortune takes a happier view of life. Her two best songs by far as the rest are just good or OK - notice they don't play much of the other songs by Rid of Me. It a long flight to Neil Young, Dylan, Sex Pistols, The Replacements and even Chrissie Hynde is better with much bigger output of good songs, but Harvey captured greatness once in a while.
When you said she had been offered a place to study sculpture at St Martin’s College , all I could think was “She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge, she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College…”
A mate in high school lent me his CD of 'To bring you my love'. I listened to it once and thought 'wtf did I just listen to?'. Then I listened again. A couple of weeks later, I gave him his CD back, then went out and bought my own copy along with 'Dry' and 'Rid of Me'. Been a fan ever since.
I'd like to thank Beavis and Butthead for introducing a very young kid hungry for new music to PJ Harvey in the mid-90s. I learned about so many great bands through that show.
I learned about her through that show as a 20something. Ended up buying "To Bring You My Love." Classic album. I want to check out "Rid of Me" after streaming this. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
I just discovered P.J. Harvey and when I listened to Rid of Me (after hearing Down by the water and Bad Fortune) i felt absolutely captivated. It made me become obsessed. I can't get rid of her now.
Congratulations! I hope you get to see her perform live too. I'm not too big a fan of rock shows (the records are usually better) but she absolutely brings it. Visceral, expansive performer.
Enjoy. She will be with you for the rest of your life. I've been listen to her since 1994. Never gets old. Still have a PJ Harvey folder on my phone and car playlist.
agreed. i often wonder why she isn't lauded more often. "dry, "rid of me", "to bring you my love", "uh huh her", "white chalk", and "let england shake" are masterpieces in music while her other albums as well as her collaborations with john parish are just as essential. i'm still waiting for the next record and hopefully a tour in the u.s. "rid of me" is a record that is just RAW as i love that production and how hard those drums sound with harvey being the center of the storm. it is true, she has no equal and everyone else who has arrived afterwards aren't even on her level.
To this day I still listen to "Rid of Me" and "4 Track Demos". They are amongst my favorite of all time. The arrangements alone have me ill with envy and yet at the same time just brimming with inspiration.
Seeing PJ in the 90s is a badge of honor. Listening to her was like looking into a garage sale photo story album through her eyes & breath. She is criminally under-rated.
I believe her and Beefheart became friends and she was one of his few connections or avenues of communication with the outside world after he retired from public life.
Is This Desire and White Chalk are probably my favorite albums of hers, but all of them are very good. Dry and Rid of Me are obviously fantastic, but they are definitely very separate from the rest of her work, she totally abandons that sound and reinvents herself with each subsequent album. Extremely underrated and talented artist.
Is This Desire? had a very mainstream sounding track, ‘Perfect Day Elise’ and then very much abstract ones. I had listened to her music since 1993 by that point, and she created a different fanbase with ‘Is This Desire?’, with many first finding her, and many fans my age disliking it. I thought it was great, even songs I didn’t care for, because she changed so much, while still being very much PJ Harvey songs. I remember a lot of friends saying it wasn’t easy to listen to. To which I’d laugh, make an elevator music joke, then tell them that’s what some of our friends who didn’t like her first albums said. She has made more music I just don’t listen to since 1999, yet I’ll always be interested in what she does next.
I put her up with kanye and andre 3000 as the best songwriters I've ever heard. Man sized, dress, sheela na gig shaped my own feminism so much. I saw her at a show once, just sitting there and i thought about what i would say. I didn't say anything, couldn't put her impact on me into words.
The most intriguing thing about PJ’s music is that not only every of her albums could be a canon but a lot of her songs individually as well. Thanks for this video
I shat my pants the first time I heard 'rid of me'. I must've been 11 or 12, was in my grandmothers house and I had this CD borrowed from a friend of mine. It was a terrifying experience. then I tried again, felt this deep discomfort and kept coming back to it in secret in an attempt to unveil the stranglehold it had on me.
The greatest, gnarliest guitar tone ever committed to tape is on Rid Of Me. Gretsch Broadkaster 7609 and a Boss DS-1. Stereo amp rig. Nothing else like it. Polly’s playing & time signatures, humorous lyrics, and Rob Ellis’s intricate & thunderous drumming make this album her crowning achievement.
Your statement is, near enough by the criteria you've set yourself (i.e. semi-hollow, stereo rig), incorrect. Geordie Walker is still making music, and Killing Joke were going when PJ Harvey was just 10 years old. Albini is definitely influenced by KJ (and it'd be no great surprise if PJH is, too) and I doubt he'd argue that he'd bettered the sound here than on many of the KJ albums.
@@_Stroda I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is there a specific album or songs I should check out that feature a semi-hollow guitar that sounds as awesome as Polly’s on Rid Of Me? I’d love to hear more of it. From what I’ve heard and seen of Killing Joke, Geordie’s guitar really doesn’t sound anything like the 7609. The ES295 is a hollow body, not semi hollow, with P-90s. The 7609 has very hot Dimarzio humbuckers. He seems to use the bridge pickup, too, whereas Polly always used the middle setting. There is no comparison re: tone. All of the Rid Of Me guitar sound comes from the 7609 and Polly’s setup and playing, not Albini. I wish more hard rock musicians used that guitar, but it’s kept somewhat as a secret for whatever reason. Probably a good thing, because I was able to buy one last year at a reasonable price.
Actually, my favorite PJ Harvey period is the "To Bring You My Love" album. What an amazing record! There are several songs from it I'd love to cover. We'll see if I get to do that and do the material justice. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
To bring you my love is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's funny because I have the same dilemma. I've been wanting to cover something for a while and PJ Harvey keeps popping up along with nine inch nails, probably something from Pretty Hate Machine or The Fragile, Alone by Colin Newman, Botanica de los Angeles by Xiu Xiu, or even Breadcrumb Trail by Slint. It seems to me that Meet Ze Monster or Working for the Man would be the way to go for my style. I make mostly electronic music but I've been missing playing guitar lately and singing. Good luck on your decision. It's definitely a tough one.
PJ is such a contradiction. A soft-spoken diminutive farm girl, but on stage she is a 10 foot tall fire breathing vixen. Wildly talented, bawdy, yet still classy. If Audrey Hepburn and Prince had a love child...
I had THE biggest adult crush on PJ Harvey in the early '90s for *Dry* and *Rid of Me.* Smart, edgy, uncompromising, and insightful: a sort of female Bob Dylan. Saw her live twice... and then I got married, we had kids, and my days of being hip ended.
50 ft Queenie electrified me in 1993 when I saw it on MTV. Before it, music was just a background thing, and afterwards I was actively interested in music.
This video is long overdue. I love PJ Harvey. Rid of me is just one of those records that once you listen to it, you will never put it down for the life of you . It draws you in, uneases you and leaves you reeling for more. There is a reason why Elvis Costello and Courtney Love have shown so much praise towards it.
@@slacktoryrecords4193 he is indeed wrong about the sound of rid of me, which in my opinion is pj Harvey's second best work after white chalk. But no nonce is he, my man Elvis is an amazing artist with an incredible back catalog
Now you're breaking out the heavy artillery.. this siren still calls me to the rocky shore.. loved her in 97 in ATL concert for the ages dear!!!💋💋 ...or was it 98?? The blurry 90s 🖤
I wish I could be there and drop an E on PJ Harvey Trio’s concerts in the 90’s, during their tours during those first three LPs. Those pills were great in 1990. 8-)
We'd been through the music scene from the late 60s and 70s and we could see just how good PJ was from 92/93 onwards, good music and artistry is eternal. It just takes a lot more for it to surface these days.
I listened to Dry and especially Rid of Me separated only by the Jesus Lizard and Pixies for about a year of commuting between clients. It was triumphant!
@Helmuth-Von-Moltke-The-Elder It's raw and completely unhinged. Nothing she produced before or after hits you as hard. Only my opinion though. Welcome to your own.
Being a huge fan living in Indiana I was stunned to see she was opening up for Live in Indianapolis. I immediately put in for the best tickets available. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah Live was good too I guess.
I will never forget the years of late 80s early 90s while in college making that weekly trip to that record store in the cramped upstairs of that non-descript house a block off campus flipping through CDs discovering (new or new to me) music like throwing muses, Soundgarden, PJ Harvey, the Smiths, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, De La Soul, the Breeders, and so many lesser known bands. So many fun import copies and bootlegs.
4 Track Demos has always been my favorite . I’ve picked up the recent Island releases of the Demos for Dry, and , To Bring You My Love, and they are simply amazing. I wish that Dance Hall at Louse Point ( with John Parrish ) received more attention because it deserves recognition if not just for it being sung in her most desperate, primal, animal voice. PJ Harvey is that ultra rare breed, a total original. I simply could not have found a better female role model to look up to while growing up.
Excellent video! Rid of me is mixed so quietly it actually forces you to get up & turn up the volume, then when it kicks in it’s a shock to the system. My favourite on the album is “missed” I think you can really hear the early post rock/post hardcore influences in there & the guitars just sound incredible.
One of the best on the album for sure. The guitar tone on the chorus is sick. Also another great example of her odd and mixed time signatures. 6/8 + 5/8…
Forever those two first records will be amongst some of my favorite alternative albums ever. I love the challenge they put on the listener, you need to possess complete security from within
I was lucky enough to see the the trio at the Warfield Theater in SF for Rid of Me, and that show along with the record remains one of my favorite rock experiences of the 90's.
This is still one of the greatest major label releases EVER. This is a killer album start to finish truly one of the last great albums as a piece of work
This song was my top song for 2020 on Spotify. From memory, I managed to listen to it over 400 times during a week in early lockdown because I just had it on repeat for days.
I remember seeing the Rid of Me cover art, and having heard of PJ, but for some reason, I never picked it up at the time. This still baffles me as I usually sought out music like this. It was only a few years ago when I finally started exploring her music, and wow. I feel a bit dumb that I didn’t do that sooner. As much as I like her early raw music, I really like her recent work. Seeing what she evolved into, musically, emotionally, and the embedded social concerns of “England” and “Demolition Project” puts her right at the top of my favorite artist list... Thanks for this video.
Rid of Me album is classic. You can hear fingers sliding over the guitar cords getting in position for the next note. PJ coughing in the background. Drums echo as if you are in the room for the practice session. A surreal feeling listing to that album. I remember trying to study the lyrics from bring you my love album like they were poems. Teclo and Bring you my love were memorizing songs. Who the F*ck from Uh Huh Her was another classic. Incredible artist. Her songs haunt me to this day.
I was trying to think of who the wilder more discordant vocals Harvey did reminded me of, and finally it came to me, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Particularly on the song in question here. And that's not meant to be anything down on her regarding that, I think they are both great.
So yeah, I'm one of those superfans of Dry. My best friend and I bonded over our shared love of Dress and Sheela-Na-Gig, but I know and love that entire album backwards and forwards. Whatever PJ herself has to say about it, it's undeniable that no woman up until that point was singing the things she was singing. Hole wishes it was PJ Harvey. Honestly it's always made me a little sad that Dry is so overshadowed by Rid Of Me, because I didn't connect with that album nearly as well. Tongue in cheek can be another way of saying impersonal, and that's what Rid Of Me feels like. Side note, it makes me queasy to think that PJ had to suffer Jay Leno for one second - I'm sure he was his usual douchebag self to her. It also makes me sad that the one time I saw her she was opening for fucking Live, and the drunk jocks around me didn't get her at all. Anyway, I still listen to Dry every couple of months.
Me too. I was gutted when that band broke up because for me the drums are also VERY important. I haven't felt the same about any of her other albums. I like a song now and again but it has lost its magic.
I did a long overdue deep dive into PJ Harvey’s catalog a few months ago and I just couldn’t believe how powerful it was! They probably should have had far more success in the US. I LOVE her approach to sexuality and gender and as she does, I see her as transcending her gender (as the best artists, and humans all do) but she still has this unique approach to pushing buttons that almost would require liver experience of typical male and typical female experiences. Just totally brilliant and my words are failing me, while her use of language is totally masterful, so go deep dive her stuff if you never have!
I grew up about 5 miles from Polly and her family farm..We went to the same school - she was in the year above. Still amazing to think we used to watch Polly in the local pubs/ village halls when she was in Automatic Dlamini and then the early days of her solo career... Great memories. I sure her on Saturday at Glastonbury and she was on top form, as usual.
love your videos and analysis so much! It’s all so interesting and I love listening to artists you share that I wouldn’t have found on my own! thanks for your hard work and dedication !!
Saw PJ Harvey around the release of Rid of Me' in Birmingham...despite heckling from the crowd Polly refused to take off her shades. Am incredible band, tight as hell and raw. They played for an hour and left. I was already transfixed after 'Dry'.
When rid of me came out i was in high school and it blew my mind. Angry female rocker? Wow!!! No alanis for me. Pj spoke to me!!! I recently bought them on vinyl and high school me was ecstatic. Thank you for giving her early work props!!!
Met polly in a Glasgow bar in 1995 when we’d just signed to an indie label, she was wonderful…our guitarist got on very well with her and she gave him her number….which he subsequently lost as he got soooo drunk and we didn’t see her again until two years later….talented and funny….
Those first two records thwacked me over the head like Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’ did, and they sound as fresh as a new days sun and as dark as your inner fear. Love and fear, all wrapped in one. She always surprises me.
Saw her on 21. Februar 2011 in Admiralspalast in Berlin...it was the BEST concert I ever went to this day. I was speechless and overwhelmed with her creativity and performance. I love her so much.
I usually just listen to music and avoid the back stories, but I enjoyed this. PJ is my favorite artist for so many reasons, even though I know very little about her other than her music. I love how every album has a unique sound (with the initial 2 being the most similar style wise - but not sonically). There's also an experimental nature to a number of tracks on each album. I'm not certain about this, but I think many of my favorite songs weren't really written to be "hits". Anyway, on a side note, I once saw PJ in a movie by my favorite writer/director Hal Hartley and apparently they're friends. I just thought that was so cool. Thanks for the video.
CORRECTION: PJ Harvey sent her Rid of Me demos to Steve Albini who loved them and replied "why do you need me? put them out'' but she re-recorded them anyway and eventually put them out as 4 Track Demos - something she continued in 2020-2021 with her demo album releases
I love PJ Harvey so much!!! I admit that I haven't heard a lot of her newest music but up until A Woman A Man.. I bought all her albums. I think she is so talented & so beautiful. The song Legs is so freaking amazing. She's a treasure.
I never get tired of hearing about Polly Jean Harvey. She is at her best and most fragile on Rid of Me. That is the best album recorded in the 90s. Fallowed closely by Doolittle and In On The Kill Taker.
Been waiting for a video on PJ Harvey, and I was not disappointed. Even though To Bring You My Love is my favourite PJ album, Rid of Me is a helluva record that demands your attention when you hear it. She's a brilliant artist.
Thanks for the great quality doc. Discovered him with Xtal, like lots of people, and now digging Warp compilations. Definitely my favorite musician alive.
I admit in the 90’s I dismissed Harvey as another Lilith fair fem act. I remember a lot of my gal pals adored her but I never gave her a fair listen. I was definitely wrong. I can see now she’s a true blue artist. It’s hard to find anything close to her nowadays.
I was definitely the coolest 12 year old at Whiteaker Middle School when I picked up Dry and Rid of Me at Groovacious Platters back in '93. And they just treated me like a loser weirdo because of their jealousy.
I’m almost ashamed to say this is the only album from PJ Harvey that I have, and only one that I ever got deeply into. That said, I’ve not tried to get back into her music for years, like probably close to a decade, when she released “Let England Shake”, which I liked, but only listened to once or twice, and it fell to the wayside like so many other albums I like, but forget about… Perhaps this will inspire me to revisit her work. Good job, as always! ✌️
@@richardwellend3806 I’ll definitely listen to it, but I’m curious why you say it’s her best? Like, what about it makes it better, in your opinion? I’m just curious, I’m not like asking you to try and objectively defend it.
@@dodotheripper11 yeah, funny how life be like that sometimes, or most of the times (and almost definitely always, but we’re just not always aware of it)… not to get all metaphysical, but it’s just one more trait that reinforces the realization, specifically mine in this case, that “the all is one, and the one is all”.. But enough of that cheesy bull, I’ll stfu now..
@@nikolademitri731 to me it's more fragile, darker, more gothic than the rest.... which appeals to my taste, theres not much guitar more piano, I personally love the album... give it a listen for sure in the dark with some candles on haha x
When Leggy Mountbatten was asked what initially drew him towards The Ruttles, he said that it was their trousers. I think that an entire generation of 'music' lovers would say the same about PJ's skirt.
Likely it would be her pink catsuit. Or the Q magazine cover with Tori Amos and Bjork. Or her relationship with Nick Cave. A lot of *very online* people seem to prefer those things over her actual music.
I happened across PJ due to her work with Nick Cave, and instantly caught the Pixies vibe, - who remain one of my biggest musical influences.Black Francis maintained a skilled magic unrivaled for well over a decade.His ability and influence can't be overestimated. Steve Albini is one of the other common denominators; there is the sensibility of the raw, Blues, structure, the dynamics, and then the way you fundamentally HEAR music.I've come to realize that many, even many actual trained musicians,are unaware of vital elements. PJ remains one of the select few I would consider essential listening.
