Stories From the City Stories From the Sea

"Stories from the city stories fom the sea" is a rush of adrenaline from beginning to end. Commencing with the startling 'big exit', you can already feel the overall tone of the album, which is a poppy-garage rock collection of ancedotes from PJ Harvey's stay in nyc, compared with her small town rural beginnings, the 'sea'.Track 2, 'good fortune' the lead single, too, is arguably the catchiest on the album, and it continues the same sound from 'big exit'. However, 'a place called home' is the weakest on the album, with a madonna-esque 80s tambourine beat in the background, and messes the up the big picture. The songs slow down during tracks 4-5, with 'one line' being another gem here, and 'beautiful feeling' being somewhat forgettable.Track 6, 'the whores hustle...' is the urban centerpiece of the album, with images of pimps, drugs, and poverty sung throughout. This song begins the best 3-song stretch on the album, leading into the beautiful duet with radiohead frontman thom yorke, 'this mess we're in' and ending with 'you said something' which teases first time listeners with the colorful melody and cliffhanger lyrics.'Kamikaze', turns that wonderful stretch into something reminescent of 'rid of me' pj's second album, and her most raw. Its the shortest track, but it's a blunt force object to the head in comparison with 'you said somehting'. Track 10, 'this is love' is a fan favorite, and for good reason, with its satisfying reptition and visceral uniqueness.'Horses in my dreams' is clearly exhausted by the last two tracks, as it is a slow moving, piano based ballad that reflects the extreme 'sea' part of the title. Moving, and gorgeous, and a diamond compared to the other gems. 'We float' is the archetypal calming album finale, taking note of 'horses' and allowing the listener to, well, float!This is a definite buy for any music fan, and a great starter album for pj harvey.The two best tracks are the 'city' extreme, "the whores hustle..." ans its opposite, "horses in my dreams".1. the whores hustle2. Horses in my dreams3. Good fortune4. This is love5. This mess we're in6. You said something/one line7. Beautiful feeling/we float8.kamikaze9. Big exit-1,000,000. A place called home ( just skip it!)

Along with many others, I consider PJ Harvey's Let England Shake to be the best pop/rock album of 2011 (see my review). Prior to that I had heard little of Harvey's music -- just the songs from To Bring You My Love (1995) that got radio airplay back in the days after the grunge explosion in the early/mid-Nineties when "alternative rock" stations were everywhere.The brilliance of the 2011 album led me back to this 2000 album, and it is great, really consistently strong from start to finish. Of course it lacks the piercing anti-war content of "Let England Shake," and is more similar to the earlier Nineties albums in terms of the lyrics and sound.For the most part there are three musicians -- PJ Harvey on vocals and guitar (and sometimes keyboards), Mick Harvey on bass (and sometimes drums), and Rob Ellis on drums (and sometimes other instruments). Thom Yorke makes guest vocalist appearances on "Beatiful Feeling" and "This Mess We're In."The standout track among many excellent ones is "The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore," which is the loudest song on the album, with a great guitar riff and scathing vocals. The booklet includes all the lyrics along with (very small) color photos from the recording sessions.Harvey does uncanny impressions of other singers on a few of the songs. On the opening number, "Big Exit," there are lines that she sings just like Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Then on the second song, "Good Fortune," she at times sounds like Patti Smith. And finally, on the last song, the lovely "We Float," when she shifts to falsetto, she sounds just like Kate Bush. Not just any Kate Bush, it's the Kate Bush of one of her best-known songs, but I'd have to pull out The Whole Story to identify which one...I have now heard "To Bring You My Love" as well, and I think "Stories From the City..." is better.

I have three or four PJ Harvey CDs, and my favorite one is Is This Desire?, which is widely hailed as her worst. The others I frankly just didn't get.This one, though, I do. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is haunting, engaging, and passionate. The songs make you feel her pain, her lust, her love. They transport you to the city, then take you back to the sea. It's wonderful music, plain and simple - just what I expect in a good rock album.Harvey rocks. There's a reason why this CD was on all the 'unsung heroes' lists of 2000 - it's great. Pick it up - you won't regret it!