PJ Harvey: "Rid Of Me"
PJ HARVEY
RID OF ME
INCLUDES "50 FT. QUEENIE," "RID OF ME" AND "MAN-SIZE"
Harvey's second record (her first on a major label) is sometimes jagged, rough and raunchy - the kind of album you wouldn't bring home to mother. She sings about death, dousing people with gasoline and lighting them on flre, and does a real cool yet disturbing cover of Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited."
Most of the songs build slowly. Then, like a hugewave, they come crashing down on your ears with hurricane force - 100 MPH winds, high water, sharks thrashing and snapping at anything that gets close. It is frenzied Rock 'n' Roll.
Harvey plays guitar, cello, violin and organ and is accompanied by drums, bass and an occasional squeaky violin and typewriter, but her voice is the main instrument. Her vocal style is a cross between Patti Smith and Captain Beefheart. She traverses the spectrum of singing - from poetic and melodic to someone trying to rip their vocal cords out by hitting one more octave.
The production is incredible. With The Pixies' producer SteveAlbini sitting behind the controls, the layers of sound move into the foreground and fade to the background, highlighting the raw energy of Harvey's performance.
"I might as well be dead, but I could kill you Instead," a line from the cut "Legs," typifies the feel of much of this album. It takes no prisoners. Look for this British trio on tour this summer.