Rid Of Me

Polly Jean Harvey comes in with a roar with this album; the songs are abrasive, vulnerable, emotional, and at times even primal sounding. There's plenty of distortion to be found all over the place but every part of fuzz or feedback serves a specific purpose to compliment a song. PJ's lyrics have a lot of animosity/resentment in them but there's also a lot of passion in them. Her delivery can sometimes sound like a mix of Janis Joplin and Bjork; sometimes she'll even just howl or moan unexpectedly. You can almost feel her emotions and conviction when she really gets going. This sounds very much like the sound that was dubbed "Grunge" at times (Nirvana, Mudhoney, L7) but she also experiments a lot here to good result. Her style is very avant garde and is extremely unique. The production levels sound like Steve Albini at times but other times sound like a lo-fi boombox. You wouldn't expect it to work but it really does here.PJ Harvey can be hard to swallow for some people; I had to give this album 3 spins and it got better each time I heard it, PJ Harvey really grows on you if you give her a chance. This album sets out what it wants to accomplish: a set of songs tinged with a "grungy" sound but also experimental at times with lo-fi rawness.For people who like PJ Harvey, I don't have to sell you on this album.For people who haven't heard of PJ Harvey or have heard a song or 2, really give this album a shot because it will pleasantly surprise you. All the songs on this album are great and full of drive and energy.I highly recommend this amazing album.

Raw and gritty as I remembered. There have been few women in the genre that have rocked as hard as PJ HARVEY nor as convincingly as she does. The nineties where a time of stiff competition (excuse the pun) musically in the Alternative rock genre, but our girl still managed to stand-out, and was taking no prisoners or sparing any quarters through-out. Her main strength is probably the fact that as a musician/artist she is way more talented than the medium in which she has chose to work. As a result, we would eventually see her not only branching-out different territory, but taking us along with her. RID OF ME straps us in for what promises to be a wild ride, and its a white-knuckler for start to finish.

I've been waiting for years for PJ Harvey to re-release her albums on vinyl, and I'm not disappointed at all with this one. I'm not one of those people who insist that vinyl sounds better than digital; sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't... but it's much more enjoyable to play a record than listen to a digital album.Don't know if it was just my copy, but the first time I played it I got a lot of surface noise on the first track. I cleaned it gently and it was much better the second time through, so it must have just been a bit grimy, so don't worry too much if yours sounds a little grittier than you'd prefer at first.

Love PJ Harvey and this record is great! Only thing is the sticker on the album said free digital download card inside, and there was no card.

This has been my holy grail record forever, and I was fine with spending $200+ for an original pressing, therefore I was hesitant to bother getting the reissue since they are rarely if ever as good as an original. I'm happy to say that these PJ reissues are fabulous! Super rich sound, and thank the lord they didn't do that stupid thing where they get broken up into a double album - which is my biggest pet peeve about reissues! Don't hesitate to snatch these up.

PJ Harvey is an outstanding artist. "Rid of Me" is her second album, and in my opinion, it is outstanding. The only issue I want to note is that the production quality of her first two albums (including "Dry") is quite poor. The recordings were made at a very low volume, so you really have to crank it to get a good listening level. I wonder if these first albums could be remastered to improve the listening experience. As an example, on the song "Rid of Me", PJ whispers during some of her singing, and it is barely audible.The CD arrived with a crack in the case, which I am pretty sure happened during shipping. Minor problem, but slightly irritating.

Lots of emotion in here. Love Man Size. Just twists your mind all around. I think that was part of the intention. I think part of it has hidden meaning as well. Rid of Me song itself is classic. All sorts of full of emotion. 50 ft queenie - talk about attitude, and deep. You usually don't see both together. Reminds me of Dead Kennedy's a bit - attitude and deep. Whole album is sick though.

If heavy, brooding, and occasionally jangling guitar riffs are your thing, this is an album for you. How in the world did this gem elude me for... 23 years?! This is a special recording that has stood the test of time---while being aped by countless others. Sounds as fresh today as it must have in 1993. Rare combination of musical, vocal, and recording/producing talent featured here. If the culprits behind the music industry's "loudness wars" were ever put on trial, this album could serve as the prosecution's "exhibit A" as what a rock album *should* sound like. It combines rawness and subtlety in a way that when the power comes on full-blast, it's genuinely moving.