P.J. Harvey

I know it's impolite to put it this way, but sometimes getting laid can really be good for a
person. On the recorded evidence -- with no claim to any lowdown on Polly Jean Harvey's
actual private life, a mystery as closely guarded as the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein and
the formula for Coke -- that's the secret of PJ Harvey's Stories From the City, Stories From
the Sea, which even she allows is the happiest-sounding album she's ever made.... More >

If Nirvana and Robert Johnson are rock's essence for you, so's To Bring You My Love. But if you believe the Beatles and George Clinton had more to say in the end, this could be the first PJ album you adore as well as admire. It's a question of whether you use music to face your demons or to vault right over them. Either way the demons will be there, of course, and nobody's claiming they won't catch you by the ankle and bring you down sometime--or that facing them doesn't give you a shot at running them the f*ck over. Maybe that's how Harvey got to where she could enjoy the fruits of her own genius and sexuality. Or maybe she just met the right guy. Tempos and pudendum juiced, she feels the world ending and feels immortal on the very first track. The other 11 songs she takes from there. (Grade: A+)