Idolator: pj harvey

Crazy For Eight: Let's Make A Mix Consisting Of Albums' Eighth Tracks

Maura Johnston — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Today is the day to get all nutso about eights, or, maybe to just get nutso, if you have Olympic and/or Jonas Brothers and/or Boredoms-drum-extravaganza fever. (Woe to the person who's suffering from all three.) All the eight-related hoopla got me to thinking about how the eighth track on many an album is a hit-or-miss proposition; particularly on longer albums in the CD era, it serves as something of a midpoint, and albums become unfocused and maybe stick their not-as-good tracks in there. For example: track eight on Appetite For Destruction, for example, is the OK-but-not-great "Think About You," while track eight on Nevermind is the relatively irritating to my ears "Drain You." And not to be all lazy-Google-research about this, but the phrase "track 8 is my favorite" only has 22 hits on the search engine; spell out the word "eight," and you're down to four.) Anyway, I decided to root through my collection and find some outstanding examples of an album's eighth track—eight, in fact. They're unordered, although the last one on the list is probably my favorite (and I found an amazing live version of it, to boot). Feel free to add your own!

Michael Jackson - "PYT" (from Thriller, 1982)

Helium - "Superball" (from The Dirt Of Luck, 1995)

Love Is All - "Spinning And Scratching" (from Nine Times That Same Song, 2006)

Aerosmith - "Lick And A Promise" (from Rocks, 1976)

Mother Love Bone - "Captain Hi-Top" (Apple, 1990)

PJ Harvey - "50Ft Queenie" (from Rid Of Me, 1993)

Janet Jackson - "Miss You Much" (from the CD version of Rhythm Nation 1814, 1989)

Afghan Whigs feat. Marcy Mays - "My Curse" (from Gentlemen, 1992)

From The Basement, the Nigel Godrich-produced ...

Maura Johnston — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:15:00 EDT

From The Basement, the Nigel Godrich-produced music performance series that's featured bands like the White Stripes, PJ Harvey, and Radiohead in the past, will become a cable-TV staple in September; IFC is adding the series to its new programming block Automat, which is apparently designed to appeal to the young-male demographic. Well, thank God someone's finally serving that woefully under-pandered-to group of Americans! No word yet on whether Godrich is shooting new episodes for broadcast on IFC or if the six that are already in the can will just be endlessly rerun until The Minor Accomplishments Of Jackie Woodman comes back. (It is coming back, right?) [The Hollywood Reporter]

PJ Harvey Cuts Out A Million Little Black Bars

jharv — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:05:18 EST

This weekend I found myself in a bar where the pervy interior decorator decided to wallpaper the restroom in naked ladies clipped from gentlemen's magazines. For the video for "The Piano," PJ Harvey (or her director) brings that bathroom to life, while throwing some naked dudes in for good measure and taking care to hide everyone's gentialia to make it (more or less) safe for work. And those tiny paper bodies swirling in stop-motion are almost as odd and dreamy as Harvey's much-obssessed-over vocals on White Chalk.

PJ Harvey - "The Piano" [im:fv via Paper Thin Walls]

In case you missed PJ Harvey's brief tour ...

mjohnston — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:15:47 EDT

In case you missed PJ Harvey's brief tour celebrating the release of White Chalk, here's a TV appearance where she plays a few songs from the album, including a reprise of the autoharped version of "Grow Grow Grow." (NB: You'll have to install the DivX plugin, but it's so worth it.) [PJ-Harvey.net, via La Blogothèque]

"Have You Always Dreamed of Watching PJ Harvey ...

jharv — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:44:48 EDT

"Have You Always Dreamed of Watching PJ Harvey Sing 'Rid of Me,' Then Kiss Michael Richards and Discuss Castrating Sheep?" (Also I'm trying to imagine anyone in Jay Leno's audience shouting "Polly!" would Ms. Harvey be invited back today, and failing.) [The Stranger]

PJ Harvey Is Still The Greatest

mjohnston — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:33:20 EDT

I'm obviously biased in her favor, but PJ Harvey's forthcoming "piano record," White Chalk, is an astounding piece of music that's as up-front and urgent as Rid Of Me, only with a bit more world-weariness/howling at the moon—and like pretty much every other album I've loved this year, it's had its release date pushed back (only a week, but still). Anyway, Harvey recently performed the WC track "Grow Grow Grow" on French TV, and she swapped out the piano for an autoharp; the switch only makes the song more chilling, particularly at the end, when her voice reaches ghostly-high levels.

pj harvey - grow grow grow (live at french tv show) [YouTube, via Pitchfork]

The Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files: PJ Harvey Gets Aggressive With De Niro

mjohnston — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:30:29 EDT

Once again, we raid our cassingle casselection. looking for an overlooked song:

Artist: PJ Harvey
Song: "Reeling," 1993
What happened: Shortly after the release of PJ Harvey's second full-length, Rid Of Me, Island Records put out 4-Track Demos. The record was, for the most part, a collection of early versions of tracks from Rid Of Me; a demo of "Reeling," which was a b-side on the "50ft Queenie" single, was also included.
Why it should have been a hit: "Reeling" is Harvey at her brawniest—her choppy guitar strokes and the freaked-out organ only heighten her demands that Robert De Niro sit on her face and that every eye in the house focus solely on her. Sure, it's jagged and raw, but it was released in 1993, remember? If "Heart-Shaped Box" could make it on the radio, this could have, too.

~~PJ Harvey - Reeling (Demo)~~ [MP3, link expired]
BONUS TRACK: ~~PJ Harvey - Yuri-G (Demo)~~ [MP3, link expired]

Videodrone: PJ Harvey Anticipates The 'Lipsyncing In Front Of Your Webcam' Era

mjohnston — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 10:45:12 EDT

We're sort of surprised that YouTube is free of clips with their own take on this 1993 Maria Mochnacz-directed video, to be honest. (And no, Beavis and Butt-Head don't count.) Get cracking, people!

PJ Harvey Man-Size [YouTube]