#431 - PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea - (2000)
MUSIC HISTORY WRITTEN BY HEAD WRITER DJ MORTY COYLE:
Released on Island Records on October 23rd 2000 this is the fifth studio album by English Alternative Rock vocalist, musician, and songwriter Polly Jean Harvey, known professionally as PJ Harvey. She also co-produced with longtime collaborator Rob Ellis and the unrelated Mick Harvey.
Born in Bridport, Dorset, England on October 9th 1969 Polly Jean grew up on her family’s farm in nearby Corscombe.
Her parents were in the stone quarrying business and also avid music fans. Harvey was inspired by her parents' record collection that included blues legends like John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Nina Simone, along with rock musicians like Bob Dylan, Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones, whose keyboardist, Ian Stewart was a close family friend and frequent visitor to the Harvey home.
As a teenager she took saxophone and guitar lessons and eventually joined several different musical projects.
Harvey began her professional career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist, guitarist and saxophone player. The ensemble’s founder and frontman, John Parish would become her long-term collaborator and musical soulmate.
In 1991 she left the band and with two other revolving members, Rob Ellis on drums and backing vocals, Ian Oliver on bass, and her on vocals and guitars, started the trio that they named PJ Harvey.
After Oliver returned to Automatic Dlamini he was replaced by bassist Steve Vaughn and the band relocated to London where Harvey studied sculpting in college.
The trio recorded demos that got them signed to independent label Too Pure and within one year they were a critical success with several singles and a well received album out.
Rolling Stone even named her Songwriter of the Year and Best New Female Singer.
That started the inevitable bidding war that saw Island Records sign the trio and release their major label debut produced by Steve Albini, “Rid of Me” in 1993 to even bigger critical and commercial success.
However friction with the other two members saw her break up the trio but keep the name PJ Harvey as a solo artist.
Her first solo album, 1995’s “To Bring You My Love” was wildly successful and included the surprise breakout Modern Rock single and music video, “Down By the Water.”
After several more albums and collaborations she pursued other artistic projects.
After spending some time in New York while acting in the 1998 Hal Hartley movie, “The Book of Life” the urban-environment inspired several of her future songs.
She moved back there in 1999 for nine months and despite her insisting that this isn’t her, “New York album” today’s album, 2000’s “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” certainly directly and indirectly reference life, love, and sex in the city.
The fuller, prettier, and more sophisticated sound of this record compared to much of the dark and unsettling moments on her previous ones was deliberate. As she said, “I want this album to sing and fly and be full of reverb and lush layers of melody. I want it to be my beautiful, sumptuous, lovely piece of work."
This is her most commercial record, selling over a million copies.
It earned her Grammy and Brit Award nominations and in 2001 made her the first female solo artist to win the prestigious Mercury Prize.
She followed it with four more to date, lots of other collaborations, and artistic endeavors with varying success.
In fact in 2011, she won the Mercury Prize again for her eighth studio album, “Let England Shake” making her the award’s most successful artist.
And in 2013 she received another huge honor when she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire or (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to music.
And my guest today is the royal