PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

For not being much of PJ Harvey fan before this year, this album is really good. It didn't have to "grow" on me at all. I listened to it the first time, and I was like "wow?" I wasn't used to hearing songs from PJ Harvey that were inherently high-spirited and kind of joyful. Every time I listen to the album it gets better and better. There are no incredibly complex arrangements or solos on this record, because it would just get in the way of the songs. The minimal instrumentation on the album shows that a great album can be made with only the essentials necessary for the situation. Also, it is very nice to hear a female singer/songwriter that doesn't play the piano or write melodramatic love songs. And songs like 'The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore' and 'Kamikaze' rock out in that way that only PJ Harvey can. Furthermore, even though all of the songs on the album aren't up beat, the entire duration of the album is oddly up-tempo. Another fact that drew me to this album is the guest vocal appearances by Thom Yorke from Radiohead. He provides backing vocals for the song 'Beautiful Feeling', and trademark lead vocals for 'This Mess We're In'. Both songs just make the album that much more enjoyable for me to listen to. When it all comes down, this is the best PJ Harvey album I've ever heard. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an album of great songs, written by an incredible woman. In a weird way this album kind of proves to me that everything rock n' roll music was founded on isn't dead quite yet. [www.pjharvey.net]