Let England Shake

When I first listened to this album, I put this repeat for 3 or 4 times then I read the lyrics for each track and my first thought was how much research she should have done to write like this ? Then I found out she spent about two and half to three years on researching. It has definitely paid off. Brilliant album. These are highly poetic songs full of rich dreamy melodies which reminisces the poetry of Randall Jarrell. "Francis Ford Coppola can lay claim to the war movie. Ernest Hemingway the war novel. Polly Jean Harvey, a 41-year-old from Dorset, has claimed the war album."

Normally I like pretentious shit like this, but this one just felt like… well, pretentious shit. Like a female Thom Yorke without anybody to ground him.

Anything making England sound good can fuck off

The glorious land has a very nice trumpet sample. The last living rose is a very fulfilling song. I like how the album flows, on the first glance the songs show similarity on an level that it sounds like an concept album. Also, how PJ sings on this album (quite different than on other her albums). Awesome album, I really liked it.

This was my first PJ, I feel like a fool

Let England Shake I was a big fan of Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, but I’ve never dived into anything else she’s done, I just know the odd song as they play her a lot on 6 Music and have watched her on the Glastobury coverage, as she seems to play every year. I guess she can be a bit of an acquired taste, and you could easily accuse her of a kind of studied eccentricity, especially vocally, but I do think she is genuinely a bit odd in a great way, and I totally buy into her earnestness. Musically I love its modern take on folk and folk rock. You can hear the echoes of those old, old folk songs, evoking an almost supernatural, spectral atmosphere across the whole thing. The horns add a mournful feel, with their obvious military connotations, and everyday, early 20th century tactility. Thematically and lyrically this is fascinating, and is just fantastically well done, weaving English folklore, mythology, the landscape, nature and history with our common cultural touchstones into an otherworldly, hazy, unsettling examination on England, Englishness and War and all the longing, loss, destruction, despair and sadness that entails. I’d recommend reading the lyrics in full on her website, they genuinely have a powerful and poetic grace to them. Every song is connected but it feels to me like a lot of the songs seem to work in trios or pairs. The Last Living Rose, The Glorious Land and Words That Maketh Murder feel like a triptych, I love the imagery of The Last Living Rose and the Glorious Land, painting a picture of yearning for a homeland that is simultaneously imagined and real, beautiful and squalid, balancing affection, melancholy, futility and despair. The interpolation of Summertime Blues is great on Words That Maketh Murder, kind of bringing you forward in time while still conjuring the past Even though All and Everyone feels a little like a continuation of Words that Maketh Murder, it sits naturally with On Battleship Hill to me, with the folky, delicate, shifting, undulating fragility of the latter and the more tumultuous dominant former. England, In the Dark Places and Bitter Branches seem like another grouping. The melody and vocal on England take a while to settle, but I feel that’s purposeful, the backing vocals sounding almost like a call to prayer and the discordant piano all adding to the discomforting feel. The bleak imagery of In Dark Places and Bitter Branches is really moving, the electronica touches on In Dark Places contrasting well with the more rhythmic and guitar driven Bitter Branches And then the final 3 song run of Hanging in the Wire, Written on the Forehead and The Colour of the Earth is utterly fantastic, elegiac, haunting, sad, tender, melancholy but also beautiful, death has come and war is in people’s homes and cities and towns. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite such a magical record really, it’s almost startling in how affecting I found it and how much I like it. She does that great thing of being both specific and universal, alluding to Afghanistan, WW1 and WW2, anchoring you in a time and place, while also giving you the feeling of floating timelessly across the centuries. It really is a stupendous record and this might be my favourite record on the list I’d not previously heard. 💧💧💧💧💧 Playlist submission: Could be all of them, but I’ll go with Hanging in the Wire

PJ Harvey’s songwriting skills are on full display with this powerful, poetic, impactful collection of songs lamenting the history of England’s wars and the West’s more recent military interventions. Harvey has assembled a team of talented musicians to produce a clear and consistent vision and the album is a cohesive, satisfying whole. The mood is sorrowful and contemplative whilst also pulsating with an insistent tempo and a laconic wit. Harvey’s vocals are soft and exquisite. This is a stunning record and a fine work of art.

Very coherent sound, dark but futuristic, relaxing but engaging, like an elf making a nick cave album. Has something of björk I'd say... Definitely sounds of maturity and maybe a bit of complacency, but not in a bad way.

listening on loop

There comes a point in every PJ Harvey album when you realise you're hooked. This time it was On Battleship Hill. Once again I was lured in to the world she'd made. So I finished it and listened again. It's what you do with the glorious, varied genius that is Polly Jean.

There's something in the instrumentation that compliments the subject matter perfectly. That autoharp has a ghostly quality about it that makes me thing of old-timey soldiers trudging off to war, and rugged, wintry English countryside. Not every track is a galáctico (The Last Living Rose and On Battleship Hill are my favourites) but as a self-contained album it's more the sum of its parts. 4.5.

Rarely does a record get unanimously touted as a masterpiece upon its' release, and even more rarely does such a label stand the test of time. Let England Shake really is fantastic and stands as one of the best, most British, albums ever. A handful of stellar tracks: 'Let England Shake', 'The Words That Maketh Murder', 'On Battleship Hill', and 'Hanging in the Wire'.

She definitely doesn’t have as much gruff in her voice as her past records, but I think it suits her better. The intro track is a little odd. It’s not COMPLETELY blowing me away but I definitely enjoy it. The production from inside the church definitely has this cavernous feeling to it. Like you gotta lean in to it. Nice reverb to everything. GREAT instrumentation. It sounds pretty consistent, maybe “uniform” if you want to be harsh. Butevery track is super solid.

1001 albums that to listen to before you die and/or before considering putting Let England Shake on deck in Spotify: play the White Album 1000 times and Clair de Lune once. Then die. Don't listen to Let England Shake. It's entirely about death anyways and 100% hell. I thought I liked PJ Harvey, but maybe that's just 90s PJ Harvey. Or maybe Liz Phair? I was absolutely fine living the rest of my life without listening to this one.

1001 has sent us other artists who've made left turns late in their career like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, but in those cases, I felt that they were doing it just to show respect to well-established performers and not because the album was outstanding. This album on the other hand is a brave change in direction, a full-on anti-war album with gruesome lyrics and imagery of sewage, decaying bodies and deformed children, all set to a dark, haunting, folk-based sound with minimal production. For me the LP takes a song or two to settle in then “This Glorious Land” is a shot to the solar-plexus (love the bugle) and it continues for the next 10 songs. The infrequent back-up vocals come in at just the right time and Harvey’s high-pitch voice is unrecognizable but beautiful “On Battleship Hill” and grating in “England”. My co-judge, listening to it over dinner, didn’t think the LP was a big deal, the songs weren't catchy, but that shows that it has to be listened to more intensely – and peeking at the lyrics once and a while helps. Not many song-writers read “modern-day testimonies from civilians and soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan” for inspiration. I know a lot of anti-war songs but can't think of anti-war albums. This must be the best one ever?

wow. an incredible album. the lyrics, of course, were excellent, and i love the timbre pj sings with on this. the standouts were, of course, the sax and autoharp. not much else to say, a really excellent album.

Stunning album

I think there are two types of PJ Harvey. Great ones and greater ones. The power of the work is extraordinary, and the work is one of beauty notwithstanding the pervasive images of war. Time will tell if this is her career peak.

Completely new to me!! Really inventive and exciting. Not only have I never experienced PJ Harvey before, I've never heard other music I could compare this to. I think that makes this extremely clever and enticing. Love the mixture of sounds and the album kept my interest throughout.

I'm assuming that this was included on the list of albums to hear before I die just so I could understand how bad music can be. I've gotta check to see if my ears are bleeding now. Absolutely awful.

Great PJ Harvey album, liked it more than the previous three PJH albums (after which I lost interest somewhat).

PJ Harvey does not disappoint with a more delicate and wavering voice which communicates the disillusionment that is found throughout this album. The music is more atmospheric with jangly new wave inspired guitars which further build the sense of disillusionment and distrust

I really don't get it. One of the songs I had to mute because it was squeeling and I thought something was wrong with my car

Gen X angst as it ages. I didn’t care for it.

Second time I've listened to this and still terrible.

This album makes me proud that the USA seceded from England.

Let England Shake by PJ Harvey (2011) This is a concept album, and the concept is intense, but naïve. PJ Harvey writes songs depicting the horrors of war, especially those fought by the English (specifically WWI and the more recent wars in the Middle East), as if generations of soldiers had not composed literature treating the theme more authentically and powerfully. She laments the fact that England achieved greatness with bloodshed, apparently unconcerned about possible alternatives. In other words, her worldview is shaped by horrified indignation and spiced with gore, without providing any evidence of an awareness of either history or political science. Musically, it’s a mess, and she should have either revisited her decision to play saxophone or she should have tuned it to the guitar. Rarely have I been so eager to hear the final strains of the closing track. 1/5

Not great, really folky (with an indie tinge to it as well). Reminds me of something Yoko Ono would have come out with at points.

Not sure what to say, usually a fan of PJ, didn’t really like it

Not a fan, sounds confusing for me, I prefer other melodies, couldn't get to the end, had to stop listening it.

Um, what? Terrible.

Despite her popularity, I had never heard anything from PJ Harvey. I guess this is different from her usual style, which I'll presumably explore in the future, but this album was really consistent and enjoyable already.

For some reason I wasn't expecting this album to be very good. Maybe because I had to scrounge up some youtube downloads because this album randomly left spotify. But boy, I was proven wrong. This is fantastic. Love the guitar work and the subject matter of the album. It's all great

Classic

This is my favourite PJ Harvey album, it's ruddy good stuff.

Meh. This album was boring. I've really got no other word for it. I thought I'd be able to get into some of the dark concepts around this album, but I didn't find myself becoming interested at any point. In fact, it almost felt like it was trying too hard, and came off as pretentious. This was another album where I didn't feel like it warranted the "must hear before you die" label. This was my second PJ Harvey album on this project so far, and I know there are many, many more to come, and I'm just wondering...why? What is this author's obsession with them?

Meh. Not really for me. I think I might have appreciated the more political songs if I was a bigger lyrics person but nothing melodically gripped me here.

This is the third PJ Harvey album we've had and listening to half of it was enough to give this album the same rating as the other two. It's weird, unpleasant and I can't hear any justification for this album's inclusion on this list.

Lots of polyphony which was interesting, but not fun to listen to a lot of the time. It was not my cup of tea. She's interesting and definitely a musical pioneer. It just wasn't enjoyable for me.

Why do I have such a problem listening to PJ Harvey?!

What in the wordle? I'm not really sure that's how you play it, but it sounds good to me, so I'm going to go with it. This has the same classic PJ vocals, but seems even hauntier. Yeah, I just made up that word. Wordle it. The last few tracks here offer voices other than PJ (VOTPJ) more than we have experienced in the past, and some of them don't quite compliment as much as you'd like.

I haven't listened to this album since the year it came out, it didn't stick with me back in 2011 but I was absolutely gripped this morning in 2025. Maybe I'm just older, maybe I've been hankering for a meditation on war, colonialism, and nationalism, but I was excited to listen to this today and was blown away. (Sidebar, I always read reviews and honestly, people writing that this album is some sort of pro-England propaganda piece must also think Born In The U.S.A. is a rabid patriotic anthem.)

I’m only 36 albums in and this is my second by PJ Harvey. That’s not a complaint because I love her and this is one of her best. Bonus points for quoting Summertime Blues (“take my problem to the United Nations”) in the context of a song about war crimes.

PJ Harvey albums are always interesting. This one had crazy layers of meaning while still sounding good, which can be hard to pull of without sounding too pretentious but I think she did it well. Occasionally had a Kate Bush or Siouxsie Sioux vibe which I'm not opposed to. 4.5 stars on first listen, but I feel like it would reach 5 on repeated listens so I'm just going to bump it up there now

A quieter, more reflective Harvey on display here. The songs, no less effective or powerful for it. She is a genius

PJ Harvey’s greatest album vocally. The songwriting is absolutely gorgeous and she never misses on yet another masterpiece.

A perfectly polished PJ album with some interesting vocal and instrumentation changes. Her songwriting and delivery always pair well for me.

PJ est de loin la personne ayant fait les progrès les plus visibles sur le générateur. Après un premier album catastrophique sanctionné d'un 1, elle revint avec une nouvelle proposition couronnée d'un 3. Pour continuer sur cette lancée, je suis très content d'accorder un 4 à Let England Shake.

This is the third PJ Harvey I have rated and I must admit, this one kept my interest the least. The earlier albums were more raw and hungry, while this one never connected with me maybe because it wasn't very interesting or unique. A bit too bland for my taste.

Keep your released music released. I’m not here for demo records.

Disappointed in this one - feels way too tame for a Harvey album. Missing the usual frenetic, undeniable energy of her past LPs and feels deflated and limpid as a result.

i don't get it. not my thing

I can't do anymore quirky clap clap

A haunting and stunning album.

I wasn't too familiar with PJ Harvey's music before this challenge and I liked all of her albums that came up here. 'Let England Shake' was the best one so far - I only listened to it twice, but I'm giving this 5 stars in advance. I have to read the lyrics more carefully as I read she put a lot of years and effort to write this album. The music is stunning and completely unique, it isn't comparable to anything I have heard before. The singing, the arrangements, the production and the songwriting are all top. What a special and beautiful album it is.

The year this was released was the year I moved away from England moving overseas. This has a deep nostalgia to me and I’m a big fan of PJ Harvey

First pj harvey album I’ve listened to and my GOD the bar has been set high. Absolutely gorgeous, ethereal, richly layered, etc. I’m a sucker for some somber chord progressions with some horns thrown in. It might lose its momentum a bit towards the end but that might just be because I have a short attention span and need to revisit the last few songs another time. But still rounding up for how incredible it is as a whole

Wow this one was wicked and was so much better than all the other PJ Harvey albums. Why don't all lists just have this one and sack the others off?

Probably my favorite PJ Harvey album. Listened to it twice in a row. Hard to pick out a favorite track here, but I love the guitars in "In The Dark Places".

Rating: Incredible (Decent ☆☆☆☆☆) Favorite Tracks: The Words That Maketh Murder, In The Dark Places, The Color Of The Earth, and All & Everyone. I can’t believe I got 3 5’s in a row, this gonna be a dope ass week if it keeps going.

Possibly my second favorite PJ Harvey album, after "Stories." While all of Harvey's albums sort of feel like concept albums I feel like this one delivers the most in those regards, and is a complex and rich enough reckoning of England's legacy that it still feels new to me almost 15 year on.

The way PJ Harvey can veer from bad bitch rocking out (Dry, Rid of Me) to introspective melancholy (White Chalk) to albums that masterfully do both (Stories from the City, To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire?) is seriously just genius. The fact that she can also drop an album that's a haunting meditation on war and the through line of colonialism - while also making it eminently listen-able - is just another example of her amazing versatility and talent.

She's just one of a kind

This was a powerful and intense album. Brilliant. Favorite tracks: Let England Shake and The Colour Of The Earth

One of her best works. Unique, urgent, melodic, colorful.

Mesterværk. Helt fantastisk og unik lyd, et af de mest gennemførte konceptalbums. Virkelig hårde tekster, jeg får stadig kuldegysninger over det hele hver gang jeg hører første vers af All and Everyone. "Goddamn Europeans -- take me back to beautiful England". - mig når jeg lander i MUC den 18. marts, måske. Alternativt: "England -- you leave a taste, a bitter one."

Another surprise from PJ Harvey. Smart, catchy and just strange enough to keep my interest piqued. Really enjoyed this.

Best album of the 10s imo. Wonderful

This was a really good album. It doesn’t have the raw, unpolished, and gritty feel of her earlier work—instead, the production is crisp and more atmospheric. The arrangements are minimalist and stripped-down, but despite the simplicity, they’re still intricate and carefully layered. The way the elements interact shows just how much thought was put into the details. The layered vocals and harmonies really enhance the album’s ethereal quality. Thematically, the album draws inspiration from World War I, focusing on conflict, loss, and the decline of England, exploring how war shapes society.

Intelligent and wonderfully crafted - the history, poetry, antiwar sentiment, unique take on folk music, the drastic change of her vocal and instrumental style. Truly special.

La imagen de Bjork y PJ Harvey cantando juntas el I can´t get no Satisfaction en la gala de los Brit´94 fue tan potente como clarividente: dominarían la escena musical de las siguientes décadas. Y eso que lo que estaba programado era otra cosa muy diferente: (un duo Bork- Meat Loaf y luego otro de PJHarvey-Jamiroquai) pero ellas decidieron hacer uno solo ellas juntas. Ya antes, y desde entonces, ni una ni otra han defraudado y siguen publicando obras de enorme valor. Let England Shake no es un álbum para comenzar a descubrirla, para eso están los eternos To bring you my love y Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Jamás ha publicado un disco que baje del notable alto, y tiene unos cuantos en su mochila. Aquí su voz se vuelve sorprendentemente aguda y contenida, inlcuye arpa, saxo, trombón, cítara, xilófono, violín al margen de sus colaborades de confianza (Parish y Harvey). Todo ello compone un disco que a pesar de su tono (anti)bélico e initimista luce como un rayo de sol. Dejó de hacer discos formidables para hacer obras de arte. Otros discos de 2011: Debut de Anna Calvi, la que puede considerarse en parte su heredera. R.E.M. / Collapse Into Now, Washed Out / Within And Without, Veronica Falls / Veronica Falls, Manos de Topo / Escapar con el anticiclón, The Rapture / In The Grace Of Your Love, Arctic Monkeys / Suck It And See, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart / Belong, Adele/21, Borjk/Biophilia, The Drums/ Portamento, -The Vaccines / What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?, La Casa Azul / La Polinesia Meridional, -Kurt Vile / Smoke Ring For My Halo, Low/C´mon, Panda Bear / Tomboy, Lykke Li / Wounded Rhymes, Fleet Foxes / Helplessness Blues, M83 / Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, Bon Iver / Bon Iver, Destroyer/ Kaputt, Girls / Father, Son, Holy Ghost, James Blake / James Blake, Fernando Alfaro / La vida es extraña y rara, Florence & The Machine: Ceremonials, Real Estate – Days, The Horrors – Skying, The Black Keys – El Camino, Yuck-Yuck, Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams, Radiohead – The King of Limbs, Charles Bradley-No time for dreaming, Wilco - The Whole Love, Balam Acab - Wander / Wonder, Wye Oak - Civilian, Jay-Z / Kanye West - Watch the Throne, St. Vincent- Strange mercy... También Born this way, Angles, Mylo Xyloto, 4...

This is so good, and completely different from the other PJ Harvey album I listened to (“Rid of Me,” which was also excellent). Not as raw or energetic, but haunting and sad, which fits the theme. After listening to albums on this list for just over a year and hearing so many that sound similar and blend together, this album stands out as something unique and beautiful. I keep going for gems like this, and I’m grateful to this project for introducing me to Harvey’s music. Favorite track: On Battleship Hill

Qué buena es! Me recuerda, a veces, a Clap your hands and say yes.

Finally a true five star album. I'd give it six if I could. She's made something that tells so many stories, all of them unique with their own songs but they all work together so well. The colour of the earth is the most beautiful, moving war song I've ever heard. I've never had an emotional response to an album like I still have to this one.

I don't remember how I found this album. I knew of pj, but wasn't a huge fan. I really can't define why the album speaks to me so deeply, but it's so rich and rewarding the more I listen. I think about it randomly, those plucked out notes of the first track popping into my head. It's brilliant and I thought it was a secret pleasure for me. I was shocked it came up here and it's validating.

Qué buena es! Me recuerda, a veces, a Clap your hands and say yes.

i worship u pj harvey

An absolute must listen to - never tire of listening to it

I've seen PJ Harvey live now 3 times this year (thanks festivals!) so I've seen a bunch of these songs live. I really enjoyed it. PJ Harvey has been a great discovery through this list.

Fantastic! In a world of Swifties there should be more Harvey’s

I'm mesmerized by PJ. This won an award. I play it often. I'll be generous and give it a 5.

Það eru einhverjir töfrar hérna, dáleiðandi beat og söngur. Er langt eftir í á í þessu góða verkefni, en ég hef bara verið of upptekinn við að hlusta á þessa plötu á repeat. Njótið.

Whatever I thought of the three previous PJ Harvey albums (I liked them), I totally fell in love with this one! Just has an amazing unique sound (autoharp!) and such interesting lyrics, but most of all this one is one I want to listen to more times for pure enjoyment.

This had a different sound. I liked it!

Unique and moving. Amazing.

PJ Harvey is an artist new to me from this project, and I’ve really liked what I’ve heard. This is different from those other albums, but stands with the best of them - a contender for favorite PJ Harvey album for sure! I loved the odd folksy/old-timey military feel of a lot of this. It really felt like it was from another time and yet still strangely modern and new. That’s quite a feat! Terrific!

PJ Harvey is brilliant. I really admire her drive — and ability — to continuously push her art to new and challenging places with each release. When this album came out (I can't believe it's been 13 years), I was blown away. On this listen, I was equally captivated and really struck by how this seems to channel ghosts from the past. The songs sound like they were written a century ago, and there is something haunting the album as a whole. As much as a collection of thought-provoking and emotionally evocative material, there's a heart-wrenching sheen cast by the performances here, and I am all in.

I tried getting into PJH for years (Jeff first tried to get me into her back in 95), but I could never find my way in until Andre played this for me on a road trip. I was immediately smitten. The songwriting, performance, production... it all came together for me, and I've been a PJH fan ever since. Sometimes you just need to find the right door. There's so much to admire here, but I especially love all the interpolations, samples, and subtle call-backs to older songs: Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Summertime Blues, Caroline No, Blood and Fire, etc.

There's not an album of hers I don't love. A few years back I read a New Yorker article about her work on The Hope Six Demolition Project. What I recall is how she's inspired by and takes a few different historical/political themes and weaves them into her work after deep research and thought. I knew Let England Shake must have had similar inspiration and this morning Andre confirmed---WWI, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars. The purpose and meaning she puts into her work is in part some of the reason why every single album Polly Jean puts out is a banger. Plus she fucking rocks. Jen introduced me to PJ back in the 90s (Down by the Water) and Andre helped me explore her canon of work. Just opening this album with Let England Shake merits 5+ stars but every single song is immense in lyrics, sound, and meaning.

Probably her best album, Polly Jean forever. A-

beautifully realized and fulfilling piece of art; that being said I don't love what she's doing with her voice here as a big time Rid of Me fan, and there are some stretches that are definitely on the grating side. have to give it up and give it a 5 for the excellent realization of a vision, but this is not something I'd ever have going on repeat

I love it! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Polly for president!

I remember when this came out just after the riots and thinking wow, it was so impactful. Even though it was written beforehand it really felt reflective of national anger, and that real change was on the cards and people weren't going to stand for austerity and Tory cunts for any longer. Obviously we know now how that turned out, the focus of anger was successfully diverted onto hate of minorities and division, things got much worse, and now we're about to swap one bunch of tossers for another crowd of red Tories who are openly talking about doing austerity all over again and blaming it on the last government for years just like Cameron did. Still, thanks Peej for a glint of hope in the darkness.

Used to own Down by the Water which I really liked but I feel this album really shows her maturity as a songwriter. All songs are great. Less quirky than previous work but that's not a bad thing. A pleasant album I will listen to again.

PJ Harvey.

Let England Shake: 5/5 The Last Living Rose: 5/5 The Glorious Land: 4/5 The Words That Maketh Murder: 4/5 All And Everyone: 5/5 On Battleship Hill: 5/5 England: 4/5 In The Dark Places: 4/5 Bitter Branches: 5/5 Hanging In The Wire: 5/5 Written On The Forehead: 4/5 The Colour Of The Earth: 4/5 Avg.: 4.5

One of her best.

Before I listen to this I am writing down that I've always thought this is one of the ugliest album covers ever made. After listening, that was as good as expected, very

Qué buena es! Me recuerda, a veces, a Clap your hands and say yes.

Beautiful!