Whether you agree or not I always think that PJ Harvey and Uma Thurman are very similar. They are both beautiful,cold and maybe a little masculine. Both are very famous but never want to be a celebrity. Both names have excellent works and then some mediocre ones. Being a big fan of PJ Harvey’s first three albums , I decided to give it a try to her new album and the result was a big nice surprise.
Pj Harvey’s eight album “Let England Shake” released on February 14th 2011.
Let England Shake is an excellent creative album,because it has a concept( and I always like it when a music album has one). It focuses on WWI and generally on wars . The opening song has a reference to famous Four Lad song Istanbul(Not Constantinople).The lyrics are written so well and it feels like a slap on the face...
The third track Glorious Land : “ What is glorious fruit of our land?/ Its fruit is orphaned children”
Or In the fourth song “The Word Maketh The Murder” PJ Harvey sings ...” I have seen and done things that I want to forget/ Soldiers fell like lumps of meat”
There is an obvious but also beautiful influence of multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey(Ex-Birthday Party and Nick Cave and Bad Seeds) in this album , not with his instruments only but probably also with his background . Mick Harvey is an Australian and there is a song about Gallipoli here , where in WWI thousands of Australians,New Zealanders and Turkish soldiers died in this battle. By the way , they(Mick and PJ) are not related to each other but it is really cool to have the same last names!
Another surprise in the album is the sample on the song “Written on Forehead”. The song is “Blood and Fire” , a beautiful reggae/dub classic by Niney The Observer and PJ Harvey joined at the end... Let it burn, let it burn... RASTA HAIL!!!!
(You can listen the original at the end of the article)
No surprise to PJ Harvey fans, she never does similar albums.PJ Harvey loves to change her musical pattern and her fans should appreciate her efforts because she can be easily a much bigger millionaire pop star but she refuses it.And I have to add that I am hoping Mick Harvey will continue to make music with her! Now it’s time for her to visit our city...
