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Track Listings
| 1. The Life And Death Of Mr. Badmouth |
| 2. Shame |
| 3. Who The Fuck? |
| 4. The Pocket Knife |
| 5. The Letter |
| 6. The Slow Drug |
| 7. No Child Of Mine |
| 8. Cat On The Wall |
| 9. You Come Through |
| 10. It's You |
| 11. The End |
| 12. The Desperate Kingdom Of Love |
| 13. Seagulls |
| 14. The Darker Days Of Me & Him |
| 15. Who The Fuck? (Video) |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Review
So the question is, would she continue down the road of slickness or would we see get to see some of those exposed nerves once again?
The answer is both. There is a thin layer of grubbiness on Uh Huh Her which will secretly delight fans who were perhaps disappointed by the professional gloss of Stories... But this album certainly isn't as raw as Dry or Rid of Me. It would appear that the vitriolic rant, a recurring theme in her earlier albums, isn't one she's about to return to. The closest we get is "Who the F***?" - a vicious diatribe against (wait for it) her hairdresser. This is sung with such consummate glee that it positively sticks a tongue out at the younger Polly who, I expect, didn't even have a hairdresser.
First single "The Letter" and opener, "The Life and Death of Mr Badmouth" are basically missing tracks from Stories. However, Polly is still experimenting with musical styles, particularly with a number of wonderfully subtle lo-fi tracks towards the end of the album.
It's sad to say it, but Polly's (frankly awe-inspiring) musical ability does seem to impress all the more when it's tinged with melancholy.
"You Come Through" and "Seagulls" are beautifully understated in a way that wouldn't usually be associated with Harvey's dark, brooding blues. "The Slow Drug" with its electronic, hypnotic feeling of impending doom is made more disturbing by the fact that this doom never materialises and the song simply fades out.
There are now many artists who are so obviously influenced by Harvey (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills to name just two), that it's easy to forget how groundbreaking Polly has been. This album still isn't as stark or challenging as her early material, but her own personal musical development is still very much ahead of its time.
She remains a vital force to be reckoned with. --Kate Lawrence
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Customer Reviews
‘Stories from the city, stories from the sea’ (the critically acclaimed album that preceded this one) had long been on my Wish list after a friend’s recommendation, but before I saw what P J and her music were all about I was hesitant to buy before sampling and when I finally saw her perform…I was both relieved and regretful that I had waited- relieved because the taster-tracks she performed were very much my taste in music (and from what I’ve heard her previous album differs wildly from this latest offering) and regretful because I’d not been aware until now just how much of a musically exceptional and personally charismatic talent Harvey truly was.
“The Letter,” “Shame” and ‘Who the f**k?” were the tracks I was lucky enough to catch not just being sung, but embodied by Harvey and then catapulted from her soul into the studio. And luckily…the rest of the album is just as powerful as her performance of those three songs on that occasion- crammed with more of the same raw energy and conviction. However, these three songs are not the best examples of what this album is all about and definitely not an accurate cross-section of the record as a whole- in fact, there’s a complete contrast between these songs, which are consumed by negativity and bitterness and the rest of the album, which is just sublime- softly spoken lyrics, the bare-minimum use of instruments and a great deal more folksy. These softer songs reminded me of artists such as June Tabor, Azure Ray and even Tori Amos for their wild musings and utilisation of traditional instruments and it’s these ‘softer options’ that probably include some of my favourite songs from the album. ‘Pocket Knife’ is incredibly folksy with a monotonous tambourine jingle acting as a counterpoint to Harvey’s bizarre, but razor-sharp lyrics. ‘You come through’ is a wonderful change of pace- spiritual and uplifting as it builds to a crescendo, again very soft. But the most powerful example, be it of either the negatively-charged tracks or the softer, more benign ones has to be ‘The Desperate Kingdom of Love’ which is simply gorgeous- again Harvey is barely-audible as she whispers the lyrics, which are both beautiful and touching.
So, despite the critical characterisation of this album as angry and bitter, in equal measures it’s also at times very gentle and touching and that contrast works really well. Plus- this is by no means an over-produced record, with largely bare vocals and limited instrumental arrangements, making the music (even as it swings wildly between extreme chaos & negativity into utterly tender & peaceful ditties) incredibly sincere and heartfelt. A great introduction to Harvey.
this album will be a cause of great controversy
those who like 'big' production might find it boring
but those who love art to its purest and minimalest use of means are bound to love it
songwriting is personal and straight to the point
pj does almost everything by herself
that's why it's such a precious work of art.
a handmade jewel in times of corporate music hysteria...
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