Search - PJ Harvey :: To Bring You My Love

Woman-Size

bharring | Living Under A Rock | 06/25/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After splitting from her partners Rob Ellis and Steve Vaughn, Polly Jean Harvey spent two years making a CD which would recreate her image. She traded in her heavy combat boots and jeans and tank tops from the men's department for striking brightly-colored dresses. She grew her curly black hair down her back and painted her face with slashes of bright red lipstick and black eyeliner. Essentially, she transformed from a starkly militant asexual performer to a theatrical epitome of femininity. However, as the record proves, this transformation was completely on her terms.1. To Bring You My Love--A kind of slow, heavy metal song. A real tension builder complete with an organ. Harvey really throws herself into this song with throaty vocals and dramatic lyrics. "And I'd travel over the dry earth and floods; Hell and Highwater to bring you my love. To bring you my love..."2. Meet Ze Monsta--A song with growling and snarling guitars that crunch and stomp. This is kind of a fun song, probably one of the faster ones on the album. "Yeah, I'm read to meet ze monster tonight."3. Working for the Man--This one is interesting. It's has a nice beat but it is so quiet that you can barely hear the lyrics. It's worth trying to find them on-line because they are interesting. The song could easily be about a nun or a prostitute. I've heard claims that it is actually about God. It is eerie though to hear Polly Harvey insisting acquiescently, "I'm just working... for the man," as one gets the impression that Harvey would never let herself be subdued thus.4. C'mon Billy--This is probably the closest PJ Harvey has ever come to producing a folk/country song. It is very pretty and the premise is probably one of the less complex for a PJ Harvey song--a woman who has given birth to an illegitimate child pleads for her lover to return to see the child he deserted. Harvey sounds heartfelt and affectionately subservient as she begs, "Come home, is my plea, your home now is here with me."5. Teclo--Probably one of the more interesting tracks on the album. It begins with what sounds like ice being shaken in a glass and then dark, eerie guitar chords kick in. I have no idea what this song is about, but it seems to involve darkness being redeemed by dignity. "I've learned to beg, I've learned to pray, send me his love... Let me rise, let me rise, let me ride on his grace for a while."6. Long Snake Moan--My personal favorite. Probably the most intense song on the album. It begins with a sort of moan and then guitars just slam in and the song practically explodes. The song almost seems to be daring the listener to enter a personal hell. "You ought to hear my long snake moan." Special sound-effects include the noise of a whip cracking in the background. Who can resist Harvey asking of the listener: "Is my voodoo working?"7. Down By the Water--My second favorite song and probably the most well-known. This song kind of ambles eerily along, mingling a sense of parental protection with lost innocence. Reportedly the refrain is taken from a Captain Beefheart song, "Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water/ Come back here and bring me my daughter.8. I Think I'm A Mother--Another dark song with a tension-building guitar opening. The kind of song you could imagine playing on a dark and stormy night. Again, it's a little bit hard to understand what Harvey is saying. Ostensibly, the song seems to be about abortion, but in an interview, Harvey claims she was writing about herself.9. Send His Love To Me--Another folksy song. Although it's lyrics describe being kept prisoner in a desert away from one's love, the song itself seems almost lighthearted in tone. Reminiscent of C'mon Billy, but good.10. The Dancer--Frankly, I didn't like this one much. It's supposed to be Flamenco-tinged, but I couldn't tell. It is kind of in the same vein as C'mon Billy and Send His Love To Me, but I did not like it as much. The bird calls in the middle struck me as kind of weird and I didn't know what they were as first. Probably the worst track on the album, but still mediocre.Overall, this album is extraordinary and quite a departure from DRY and RID OF ME. Many people consider this to be Harvey's finest work and it seemed to pave the way for her later albums, most especially my personal favorite, IS THIS DESIRE? Polly Jean Harvey proved that not only could she retain the name of her trio and bring it to new heights, but that she could metamorphose and change herself and her image, while still retaining her edgy, won't-go-quietly roots. Apparently, the strain of this album was too much for Harvey as she suffered a nervous breakdown after this album came out. Fortunately for us, she recovered and managed to use the depth of her pain as fodder for her next album. In the meanwhile, she seems to have found a renewed and permanent happiness."

Herky-jerky and fascinating

S. Isaacs | Denver, CO | 06/24/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"PJ Harvey has to be about the most underappreciated rock artist out there, bar none. If you're sick of the formula played on pop or alternative radio or think that Lilith Fair's a great idea but doesn't embrace the harder feminine spirit, give PJ Harvey a try. This album may be about as accessible as any of hers (save for the nearly inscrutable "Dry"). She's a challenging artist. Her songs veer from oblique studio concoctions with whispered, highly distorted vocals to upfront soul-baring, confrontational episodes--sometimes consecutively. "Meet Ze Monsta" and "Long Snake Moan" were two of the best full-out rockers that the public never heard in 1995. Harvey opted to release the angular, loungy "Down By The Water" instead, which doesn't do justice to the rest of the album. The two last songs,"Send His Love To Me" and "The Dancer" show PJ Harvey at her most despondent and desperate. "How long must I suffer?/Dear God, I've served my time/This love beomes my torture/This love my only crime," she agonizes over dry, rhythmic flamenco guitar on the former; on the latter, she moans over the loss of a lover "bathed in light and splendor and glory" while an eerie organ and watery guitar strumming mirror her emotion. Spirituality also comes into play here quite often; she speaks of God, Jesus or the devil in at least half her songs. PJ Harvey's not easy--she dives straight to the heart of the wildest emotions. But she deserves credit(and a bigger audience) precisely for being hard--and compelling."

Deep blues

K. Hernandez | Chicago, IL United States | 12/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was at first put off by the slick Flood production and the popularity of "Down By the Water". I was definitely more into the rawness of Rid of Me. But years later i see this as one of her best and certainly in a class of its own. This album comes off with a blues-based impetus. Surely PJ's no stranger to confessional song writing but this one has her sounding like an honest to god 50ft. Queenie. Listen to the title track and hear her yell from the bowels of hell. "Meet Ze Monsta" has that deep fuzz bass that permeates a lot of this album. "Working for the Man" is an incredible sparse groove. Other notables are "Long Snake Moan" and even "Down By the Water". So many PJ fans just can't get into this record. They either care for early (Dry, Rid of Me) grunge or the later, (Is this Desire, Stories From the City,) more polished recordings. This really stands alone for the production and depth of soul searching she does. A must have."