Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey is yet another in a too-long list of outstanding musical artists who I somehow just simply missed altogether when they were definitely available to me as a listener and concert-goer. I remember hearing her name a lot, and she was spoken very very highly of by a number of people whose musical tastes were similar to mine. Anyway, even though I can't quite explain how I didn't listen to her 21 years ago when this album was released, I can say after having listened to it that I think it's fantastic work. Compelling, intriguing, very interesting chord progressions and rhythms, and I just dig the overall vibe. Dark without being too self-referential or too harsh. Really solid album.

It starts off innocently, a couple of fairly standard rocky numbers, which had me worrying about lack of diversity. Then we hit the numbers she did with Thom Yorke, which sandwich the genius of "The Whores Hustle..." Now we start hearing the Nick Cave influence. There is light, shade, darkness. She uses that voice to stab you in the heart. When it's over, you feel bereft. Thank God for replay. I knew she was good, but this is the best album I've heard in years.

Enjoyed this one. PJ’s seemingly odd and occultist personality really comes through in her own perception of love.

An exquisite album from an extraordinary artist at the top of her game, PJ Harvey’s song writing and playing hits another level. Beautiful, melodic love songs that rock hard.

Substantive and coherent. Thoughtful and driving. No real huge hits but a certain timelessness -- professionally executed at a very high level. Holds up and will continue to. Thom Yorke's guest appearance tells you all you need to know about the overall quality and band's position at the time.

This is the first artist that I've heard of - This is a solid album and PJ Harvey gets high marks for being influential, but it's not quite a 5 star album for me. Some obvious influences are Patti Smith on "Good Fortune" and Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl on the opening of "This is Love". There's also a great collaboration with Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

Her most accessible album, and quite possibly her masterpiece (it's either this or Rid Of Me). It's as close as mainstream America finally got to embracing Generation X's Joni Mitchell. It might be due to the fact that Polly Jean sounds happy and playful, at least compared to her earlier work. Polly Jean Harvey deserves to have as many albums on this list as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. And this one's my favorite.

Strong female vocals with driving guitars and a punk sensibility. I really like this! Favorite Tracks: Big Exit, A Place Called Home, One Line, Beautiful Feeling, The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore, We Float. Least Favorite Tracks: Horses In My Dreams

In which critic’s darling Polly Jean evokes rather than describes new love darkened by a generalised dread that, if you want to take things too far, kind of adumbrates 9/11 the following year. Twenty years on, it’s a useful reminder of two truths. One, love always wins the day. Two, the West had been demonstrating its skills in geopolitical goat-fuckery for decades, and 9/11 wasn’t the bolt from the blue many like to pretend. Anyway, the album. Again and again, Harvey throws a rope around her unwieldy themes: “I’m immortal when I’m with you, but I want a pistol in my hand”; “Does it have to be a world full of dread? I want to chase you round the table and touch your head”; “I can’t believe the axis turns on suffering when you taste so good”; “This world all gone to war. All I need is you tonight.”; “I draw a line from your heart to mine. A line to keep us safe.” Her themes are distilled to bold and beautiful physical gestures, but they wouldn’t carry half as much heft without the sonics that are the album’s greatest achievement. It’s a sound you feel could sweep across an ocean. That’s no coincidence, as there are more than a few references here to Polly’s separation from her man. If I’m reading it right, he’s in London and she’s in New York (omg, omg, omg: 9/11). The surprisingly sparse arrangements match the economy of her writing, averaging (yep, I’ve done the sum) 4.3 instruments per track. Only the blissful ‘We Float’ gets a big-finish 12! Shit, Polly, quit flexin’. As always, it’s not about how much is there, it’s about what it does. And the standard guitar-bass-drums—sprinkled with harmonium, harpsichord, tambourine, maracas, electric piano, E. bow, bells, and djembe—are deeper than a full orchestra because you can feel the spaces between them. At the dawn of a century (oh god, what am I doing?) defined for many by the alienating effects of globalisation, evoking ’the spaces between’ is pretty damn clairvoyant. And so I thank Polly for reminding me of the lines you can draw across those spaces, from one heart to another. [Vomits]

5/5, this album was fantastic, I was torn between 4/5 for a while but the last couple tracks swayed me. The album does it all and does it well, most tracks felt unique and well produced, the antepenultimate taking you high, followed by the horses taking you low was cool, but coupled with the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ resolution to end the album, truly impressed me. This is a prime example of the necessity of this website

PJ showing the world she can climb the charts keeping her alternative integrity perfectly untouched. Monumental.

The undisputed queen of indie rock pulls out her masterpiece!

Pulsating alternative rock. Even without Thom Yorke's cameos there are shades of Radiohead there. PJ Harvey certainly does concept albums well, these songs are indicative of New York

Unreal, very Patti smith

It's a good album, but not a great one. A lot of the songs sound very similar to one another. Where they vary, the album is a lot more exciting (This is Love, This Mess We're In, Kamikaze). Dry and Rid of Me are far more interesting records.

Beste plaat van PJ. Zo vaak gedraaid al en blijft elke keer prachtig.

What a great album, the rock the softness in parts, surprise Thom Yorke, I really had a fun time and will be back again.

This was my second PJ Harvey album to listen to on this list, the first, being 'Rid of Me.' I enjoyed this album, albeit not as much as I enjoyed 'Rid of Me.' I thought the vocals here were fantastic, as were the guitars and drums. The songs featuring Thom Yorke were really great too. "Big Exit" and "You Said Something" were my favorite tracks here.

Альбом, уже ставший классикой и обязательным для прослушивания любому любителю рока. Для себя отмечу песни с Томом Йорком из Radiohead. 7 баллов из 10.

Really enjoyed this. More rocky and less experimental than I expected. Such a powerful voice. A few real banging tracks. Liked the Thom Yorke cameos

Great storytelling sick guitar. Loved the little piano/organ situation on a track I can't remember the name of and can always get around a Thom Yorke feature. Kamikaze is my highlight.

Favorite Song(s): This is Love, This Mess We're In This sounds like something my dad would play when I was a kid (in a good way). Weirdly very soothing to me. In addition, her voice sounds a bit like Lana del Rey.

This album sounds so 90s to me. At least it did when it started. As it got closer to the end I was like oh shit, this is where Patti Smith's influence had taken us in the early 2000's. As I was thinking how much she sounded like Patti on the song "This is Love," the very next track was called, "HORSES in My Dreams." Coincidence?! Probably, but damn she was serving my Patti on a few of those songs. Vocally at least. I didn't feel the feverish raw energy that Patti brought me and the songs kind of sounded like the epitome of late 90s/early 2000s alternative. I'm sure at the time it was a head turning sound, plus we were visited by everyones favorite alien, Thom Yorke, on "This Mess We're In," so I'm not going to come down on it too hard.

You know, I didn't hate this album. I didn't love it either. It was just ... okay. I enjoyed listening to it in the background as I got stuff done. There aren't really any standout tracks and, on a whole, the album felt like a bit of a jumbled mess. Maybe it's my lack of connection to the material. The wiki says that this was a bit of a love letter to New York. That city doesn't need a love letter. It needs a tetanus shot and a month in rehab. But it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. It really wasn't. Perfectly adequate. Extremely middling.

Sparse, very 2000s. I like Thom Yorke's appearance. I also like this record a ton more than "Let England Shake". A little bit more rock foward, with some slow spots here and there. Favorite tracks: "Big Exit", "One Line", "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore"

I spent the early 00's constantly reading spin telling me to listen to PJ Harvey and I never did. That was my bad. Great record.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea I listened to this a lot when it came out, mainly on the strength of This Mess We’re In, which I loved. It really reminds me of coming home from Japan for Christmas in 2000. I haven’t listened to it in a long time, so I’m glad it came up. Big Exit, is a cracking start, great lyrics, kind of punkish and new wave but accessible. Good Fortune is similar, a bit less aggressive perhaps, but a great song with a great hook and an evocative lyric. A Place Called Home is excellent too, from relatively simple instrumentation and arrangements she manages to make very engaging and interesting songs. One Line has a kinship with those first 3 songs, but again is great, with a vaguely unsettling atmosphere. Beautiful Feeling is fantastic, has a very folky feel, like the Unthanks, with those great backing vocals from Thome Yorke. Superb song. The Whores Hustle and the Hustler’s Whore is the kind of spiritual centre of the album, a great melody with an undeniable edge and a searching, impressionistic lyric sketching loneliness and isolation in a big city. This Mess We’re In, still great, a lovely melody with a sad and resigned feeling and two great vocals from them both. You Said Something is another great melody and hook - again the strummed guitar and minimal instrumentation conjures up an atmospheric and intriguing song. Kamikaze has that aggressive punky edge to it, and nice unhinged-ness suiting the title and coming after two pretty pop melodies This is Love I really remember from when it came out, love the swooping riff and that great tinkly piano. Another great melody and lyric too. Horses in my Dream, feel like the title is nod to Patti Smith, who she obviously shares a commonality with, but it’s a great and haunting low tempo ballad, with an edgy folkiness to it. Her voice sounds great on this one too. We Float is great too, a sense of ending and coming to terms with the end of a relationship, with that hazy drifting chorus with that superb melody. Hidden tracks were such a CD thing, and This Wicked Tongue is a good aggressive and angry song, but feels kind of unnecessary now. Doesn’t detract from the quality of the album at all though. This has reminded me what a great album this is, kind of amazing how engaging and interesting each song is, despite it in the main being relatively simple drums, strummed guitars and bass with minor additional instrumentation (although from my limited understanding there are some interesting chords happening). Like Let England Shake, I can see how she might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and how if you don’t buy into her style you probably wonder what all the fuss is about, but I think she’s fantastic and like Let England Shake this is an easy 5. 📖🌃📖🌊📖 Playlist submission: Still love This Mess We’re In, but I’ll go Beautiful Feeling

My 1001th album, and it’s a cracker, probably my favourite PJ Harvey album, very accessible but also brilliant. Love Thom York appearance on this too.

I was unaware of this terrific album. In my defense, we had two kids under three at the time.

The best album ever made.

Brilliant album

YEAH!! Love PJ love this record! Easy 5/5 for me on this one!

Wow this is fantastic. I knew a few of the songs already but it’s really incredible as a whole. The standouts for me are the songs with Thom.

Two PJ records in one week! I dithered over giving a 5 star rating to Rid Of Me, because I love it but it’s simply not as flawless as this. So I’m essentially saying this would get a 5 plus, if such a thing existed. Every song is great; the beautiful softer moments just as much as the powerful rock tracks. The opening bars make me feel as excited now as they did when I first heard it age 13. Still looking for a karaoke place where I can belt out Good Fortune.

PJ Harvey was not fucking around when she put this album together. A lot of fantastic songs. Excellent stuff! Fave track - the duet with Thom Yorke was great an all, but I have to go with "Good Fortune" overall, but like three quarters of the other tracks come in a close second place!

I love PJ Harvey, and I love this album. One of her best. 5 stars.

Great album, great songwriter. She’s influential as hell, there’s not much more I can say about her

This Mess We're In - awesome Kamikaze - rock & roll The Wicked Tounge - Hidden track but on another spotify session album good stuff

I’m ashamed I hadn’t heard this earlier. What a marvelous album.

I love this album!

AMAZING album that I was unaware was a thing. Added it to my list of go-to albums and could listen to this on repeat with no issues.

Absolutely deserving of the Mercury Prize. PJ Harvey’s songwriting is haunting and even Thom Yorke blesses us with his presence. I wonder if she might have released another Mercury Prize winning album precisely a decade later, that we could enjoy later into the journey of this list? Let’s hope.

<3

POV: Your friend is driving you around in his mom’s car because his is in the shop. You don’t want to listen to the radio so you decide to rifle through her CD booklet. You pick one at random and pop it in. It’s boring. I like some of the PJ’s songs, but this is peak 2000 Toyota Corolla music imo. I unfortunately only started vibing at the chorus of We Float. However, I will give props for probably inspiring a lot of In Rainbows

I don't think I love this vocal style, or this singer song writing style. I don't feel anything strong on any of these songs. They don't grate or irritate me, but they also don't compel me either. I do like the track with Thom York. Repeats: this mess were in

Fucking hell

As much as I try to like PJ Harvey, I always end up getting annoyed with her music.

Lol

one of my favourites

Great album, with a great atmosphere.

Wow what an album. Knew some of the songs already but hadn’t heard the whole album. Class the whole way through

Wow, I really missed it the first go-round on this one! Thoughtful, tough, vulnerable, melodic … will rework to this one!

Such a nice album. Full of emotion. Fist few songs are full of energy and then its more mellow with sparks of energy.

Наконец-то реально интересный альбом. Тут я вот прям с кайфом слушал интересные звуки, музыкальные размеры и так далее, и это все при том, что в базе своей это такой обычный поп-рок. Но в некоторых местах тут интересного, конечно, навертели. Я крайне рекомендую музыкантам и любителям музыки ознакомиться с этим альбомом и почерпнуть как интересные моменты, так и просто кайфануть и порадоваться. Хороший альбом!

YEAAAA pj harvey!!! of course i know her. this was fucking beautiful

this is the shit

She can roar with the best of them, but it’s such a treat to hear her singing. We Float is so pretty. There’s a lot of range on this album.

This is genuinely one of the most engaging albums I've ever heard so yes, I agree this is an album you need to hear before you die. 10/10 Amazing

Total New York City vibes here. PJ Harvey is one of a kind and delivers another gem on this one.

on one hand, i think anyone can make a PJ Harvey record. this isn't a bad thing; her songs are brutal, visceral, straightforward as a punch to a chin. if you care enough about your art and how you can push it without ever breaking it into unidentifiable bits, like some car speeding down the highway with bits falling off of its chassis, i think you could make something similar to a PJ Harvery record, even something almost as good as "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea". like a vegan hot dog. on the other hand, nobody can make a PJ Harvey record except PJ Harvey. you can try to sing like her, you can thrash on your guitar, you can write your nice little hooks and it'll still be like trying to beat a cheetah in a footrace. you could even do the nice little touch of having the last two tracks of the album be relatively quiet comapred to everything that came before. but it just won't be as good. i'm sorry. every time i familiarize myself with her art further, the more and more sure i am that the whole "she was going to try out to do vocals on the third Slint album!" thing is complete bullshit. Nick Cave, as often as Harvey is compared to him, is still someone i could see being in a band. not so for PJ. so, it's a nine. honestly, if i spend more time with this, it might be a ten. i don't think i have a single track i even dislike here. need to get to know it a bit better, i guess.

The tone of this album is very striking. Murky with an excellent pop sense. Harvey is an artist that has unfortunately gone mostly unnoticed by me.

People say this is her best album. For years I've been saying it's "White Chalk." Hot take I know, but maybe I was wrong. Gimme a break okay?

i felt so much and yet im struggling with actual words. this is p much exactly how i think Guitar Music should sound, just an unbelievable production job on this...its not ornate or lavish, its still got some grit to it, but its so lush and beautiful in its sound and melodic ideas. ik pj harvey is a rly chameleonic artist (one that shamefully this was my first real sit-down listen with!) so i dont expect all her records to be the same way but regardless of what her other music is like i cant imagine a more appealing introduction for Me Specifically...just smooths out my ears and head and heart, the combination of mystical vibes and down to earthness evident in everything from its words to its timbres. one of my fave new listens in the whole project probably

YES. I have been sleeping on this for a while, because wow its much better than I thought. I think I have passively listened to this before, but I didn't realise just how good all round it is. It has a great mix of her earlier abrasive heavier rock sounds, and also some singer-songwriter/soft rock type ones, like the Thom Yorke ones, which are both great. Nothing bad whatsoever. The abrasive singing could be bad for some people but I think it makes some songs. Favourite songs: ABSOLUTLEY ALL OF THEM (not in a lazy way). Overall around 9/10

Up until this moment in her discography, there have been certain PJ songs that I’ve loved for their killer guitar sounds. Others, her incredible vocals. Some for her songwriting, melodically and/or lyrically. Some for solid arrangements and production. Literally every single one of those aspects is on full display on “Big Exit”, continuing her streak of outstanding opening tracks. The soundscape is wonderfully big without ever feeling bombastic (I especially love the textural piano), and everything sounds appropriately clear without feeling overly sheen. It’s the perfect opening to what I think is a pretty perfect album. Not only do I think it’s consistently her strongest record yet as a lyricist, I also think it’s her most musically rewarding. The way she’s able to juxtapose the jangly guitars on “Big Exit” and “Good Fortune” with their overall darker soundscapes and subject matters is so damn cool; I also love her channeling of Patti Smith’s vocals on the latter. I love the melodica on “A Place Called Home”, the vibraphone on “One Line”, Thom Yorke’s effective backing vocals on “Beautiful Feeling”, the relationship between the acoustic guitar and piano on “Horses in My Dreams”…everything just *sounds* perfect. And the balance of rockers - “The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore”, “This Is Love”, and the extremely frenetic “Kamikaze” are my favorites - and mid-tempo songs/ballads is also solid. Practically every song is a highlight; I can’t not mention “You Said Something”, which features one of my all-time favorite melodies and set of lyrics from her. Her vocals at the end of “The Whores Hustle…” are just otherworldly. “We Float” is a solid closer. No matter how many times I hear this record, I end up noticing another musical element or lyrical nugget that blows me away. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is her best album. 5/5

Fabulous album

Like a musical walk through a city you can't help but love.

Great album, have loved it for over 20 years

One of my absolute favourite albums. No notes. We Float is perfection. The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore remains one of the most exquisite live experiences of my life. Just pure love.

i want to lick her hairy armpits 😍😍😍

A surprise smash

Legend

Great transition album, from sexy punk goddess to bard/poet

4.8/5 this was my introduction to PJ Harvey a while back and i absolutely love this album! i needed to change my perspective some at first and after that i really started loving it. my fave songs are probablyyy… - this mess we’re in (feat. thom yorke) - we float - one line

While listening to the first song, Big Exit, I thought I was going to really dislike this album because of the heavy rock yelling/screaming-like singing but I ended up liking her actual singing a lot more. Towards the end of Big Exit, I really liked what I was hearing - cool rock vibe. I loved the vocals with Thom Yorke (okayyy feature, love him always) The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore - love the electric guitar Fav: The Mess We're In - love thom yorke's voice and her voice together, his vocals are so good love the piano and guitar too like how it switches from slower to faster more rock-like melodies Really like the female rock voice and sound Fav: This Is Love

Definitely, PJ's most accessible album by far, but make no mistakes Harvey's artistry and songwriting are absolutely on point. When I originally heard SFC,SFS I felt disappointment. I felt that Harvey had compromised her artistry to make this straightforward rock/pop album, but the longer I lived with the album the more I appreciated it. Upon listening to it again today I see the absolute ridiculousness of my original assertions.

masterpiece

Incredibly consistent, fantastic, instant classic

A perfect album. Love it.

An emotional 5 star. This was a favourite for a long time.

Amazing!! Listened like 4 times in a day. She rocks.

this album was my ANTHEM when i was 13 years old, the title track made me so emotional as i haven’t listened to it in so long oh my god

PJ Harvey has a ton of range and it's all on full display here. Excellent album.

LOVE

great

10/10

I genuinely don't think there's anything I can say about this album that hasn't been said before, because it's so good and everyone knows it, but I will say this: it might be have the best album *title* ever. It's certainly one worthy of envy.

I said fuck it once, and fuck it again:

Love

This is still epic.

Not a bit of filler. Just perfect

This is one of her best albums. Every song is beautiful, strong and deep. I could listen to it forever.

One of my favorite albums ever!

horses LOVE

Good Fortune, A Place Called Home, One Line are great songs. The Whores Hustle and The Hustlers Whore may be the best song on the album. This Mess We're In is also great. You Said Something too. This Is Love too. I was already somewhat a PJ Harvey fan but this album sealed it.

Queen Polly Jean. There's nothing not to like about this -- raw feel, great playing, just tremendous sensuality in performance and songwriting. Pain, sex, longing, hope, dread, all balled up in this Irish punk pixie. 20+ years this has been out. Gads.

I didn’t expect to, but I really loved this. At its core, it’s impossibly simple good old fashioned rock and roll, but it’s got some nice ornaments too.

Have always loved this album esp "you Said Something" .. although weirdly has not acted as gateway to other PJ Harvey records yet.

Solid album. Great vocals. Really strong indie rock album. I'm glad I listened to this.

Have heard of PJ Harvey before and I loved this album. Really alt rock music.