PJ Harvey CD Reviews: To Bring You My Love, Stories From The City Stories From The Sea

When I was in high school a friend of mine decided I needed to start listening to PJ Harvey so he stole a copy of “To Bring You My Love” from the record store. Of course, I didn’t know my friend was going to do this but he told me that’s how he obtained a copy of the CD. I initially was shocked at the cover of the album it appeared as though PJ Harvey was dead the smoke rising from her body.

I placed the CD in the CD player and almost like a trance the music possessed me. “To Bring You Love” is considered PJ Harvey’s first international breakthrough the album sold over 1 million copies worldwide. I love the title track “To Bring You My Love” the power of PJ Harvey’s voice is incredible. I never listened to a rock album before until I heard this CD. I started to branch out after listening to this album I soon became a fan of Hole I love their second CD “Live Through This”. I know a lot of people hate Courtney Love but I just hate it when people say Courtney doesn’t have talent this is not true. Courtney can sing and play the guitar just like PJ Harvey.

The big hit is the song “Down By The Water”. Some other songs I love are “Meet Ze Monsta”, “Long Snake Moan”, and “The Dancer”. I remember so many times walking through malls and listening to the song “Down By The Water” I wonder if people really understand what the song is about? The song is interesting it is about a mother murdering her daughter but even PJ Harvey has said people shouldn’t take the lyrical content of the song too seriously. I love PJ Harvey because she’s a woman that makes her own decisions she is a multi instrumentalist. PJ Harvey can play the piano, guitar, organ, sax, and numerous other instruments. PJ Harvey also writes all the lyrics to her own songs. I kind of wish there were more women in rock music as successful as PJ Harvey. The only other women I can think of in rock at PJ’s level of success are Courtney Love and Shirley Manson from the group Garbage.

The second PJ Harvey CD I love is “Stories Of The City Stories From The Sea”. I bought the CD myself this time around PJ won the Mercury Prize in the UK for this stunning album every single song is wonderful. I love “Is This Love?” the lyrics are great and PJ Harvey’s voice is incredible. I notice a trend in the music industry there aren’t any female rock musicians hitting it big these days I wonder why? The 1990s was so amazing for women in music. I remember listening to Liz Phair, PJ Harvey, Hole, Garbage, and now I can’t think of any ladies in rock exploding on the music scene. I still have fond memories of the ladies that made rock so much more interesting and exciting over a decade ago. PJ Harvey is still here and Shirley Manson is still with Garbage but I wonder if they can recapture their form and set the album charts on fire again?