Currently I’m thinking about one of the tracks off the new PJ Harvey album. I very much like The Pocket Knife, particularly as it abbreviates to “The Pock” on the car stereo display, which reminds me of the Doctor.
Or I could choose Seagulls.
But although I have listened to Uh-Huh Her quite a lot, I don’t feel as though I’ve formed a relationship with it yet, and the songs that are my favourites now might not be my favourites later. And they’re not really representative of anything, not meaningful enough, and certainly not as classic as Vaughan’s choice. Damn him, how can I match that standard?
July 11, 2004
Massive Indecision
I’ve heard bits and pieces of Uh Huh Her and am not entirely taken with it yet (despite me and Polly being old mates from our West Country days – oh, OK, not really; we occasionally went to the same pub). But any mix CD sounds better for having ‘Good Fortune’ on it, in my humble opinion.
I think “Uh-Huh Her” is a splendid PJ Harvey album. In fact, as I think I say every time a new PJ Harvey album comes out (with the exception of “To Bring You My Love”), it is a return-to-form.
This is because “Dry” was one of the most important albums of my late teens, and every album since must live up to the heady experience of discovering it. If it’s a classic you’re after, you could do a lot worse than something off that album.
I unfailingly describe new PJ Harvey albums as a “return-to-form” that sees her “mellowed-a-bit” or “angry-again-like-on-Rid-of-Me”. “Uh Uh Her” has the best of both Polly worlds. “Who The Fuck” wouldn’t have been out of place alongside some of her raging classics. And yet, “Pocket Knife” sees her beguilingly subdued.
And of course, it abbreviates to “the Pock”.
PJ Harvey was a contender for my choice. But not the winner…
Ah, Dry. Other PJH tracks that I have considered include Oh My Lover, Dress, Rid of Me, and almost all the tracks from Stories From The City….
But while Polly really has provided a substantial amount of the soundtrack of my life, complete with the mellowing out part, I’m not sure if it would be accurate to describe my current state of mind as a return to unhealthy teen angst.
Unless you chose Rid of Me, I think it would be overly dismissive not to choose an early PJ Harvey track on the grounds that it is “unhealthy teen angst”
If you choose ‘Rid of Me’, choose the version from the 8-Track Demos album, and then listen to it on headphones. And then tell me you’re not terrified . . . 🙂
At the time of “Rid of Me” I was much disturbed by the lines:
“Till you say don’t you wish you never never met her / Don’t you don’t you wish you never never met her”
You see, I did wish I’d never met her. But I was young, and foolish. Definitely one of the scarier songs.