Well, fuck me.
It actually happened.
Not only did PJ Harvey release a b-sides and rarities compilation, but she released it as a sprawling 3-CD/6-LP, 59 track box set.
Whilst blogging the recent vinyl reissues, I complained that I wanted a comprehensive b-sides collection similar to the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds collection released last year. I never imaged we would actually be graced with such a thing, but that's exactly what we got. Our Peej has come through with the goods.
And, it's almost perfect.
But before I lay my slight grievances with the set before you, I must say that they are tiny compared to the joy I feel that this thing was actually released. There is so much good material here, I do think it is the definitive collection that it promised to be - it never promised to be complete, even if there were some questionable decisions made. And hey, you can't please everyone. The hardcore devotees are always going to find missed opportunities with collections like this. Nonetheless, I am still one extremely happy customer.
The first thing I noticed, while excitedly perusing the track listing when the set was announced, was that 'Reeling' was curiously missing. I thought it may have been a typo, until I saw early photos of the actual vinyl box. It's a glaring omission and I can't imagine why it wasn't included. Given that it was the first non-album track that she ever released as a b-side (if we don't count 'Dry' on Dress), its exclusion here is puzzling. Maybe the master has gone missing? For me, I guess it's not that big of a deal, since I can pull out the 50ft Queenie single on CD, 7", 12" or cassette and can be singing along, telling Robert DeNiro to sit on my face, in no time. It still would have been nice to have it here.
More perplexing is the inclusion of the 'Cat On The Wall' and 'You Come Through' demos. I would love to know why they were included here instead of Uh Huh Her - Demos. There surely must be a reason? Uh Huh Her - Demos was the only disappointment of the demo albums. Had these two songs been included, it certainly would have felt more complete. As I've previously said, I would have loved to have seen that particular demo album follow the formula used for 4-Track Demos and included non-album tracks. Something like the below:
(I'm not sold on the track order, but you get the idea).
Happily, the 'Uh Huh Her' and 'Evol' demos are included on B-Sides, Demos & Rarities, and are highlights of the new set. Though, I am curious why the demos were used instead of the studio recordings. I remember an interview with Polly around the time that the album came out where she noted that Mick Harvey described her vocals on the unreleased studio recording of 'Uh Huh Her' as "two ferrets fighting in a bag". The Uh Huh Her - Demos album showed that much of the demo recording ended up on the album proper, so perhaps the finished versions of 'Uh Huh Her' and 'Evol' were essentially the demos with live drums? If you want to hear full band versions, check out the fantastic Peel Session from 2004 (sadly, left off the official Peel Sessions album).
Of course, a die hard PJ Harvey fan like me could talk all day about what other songs could have been included (LP 1 of the vinyl box is frustratingly short). While I could list a whole extra disc (or two)'s worth, I would have rounded this set out with 'Reeling', 'Primed & Ticking', 'Claudine The Inflatable One', 'Long Time Coming', 'This Is Mine', 'When Will I See You Again?', 'Nickel Under The Foot', 'This Mess We're In' without Thom Yorke, 'A Dog Called Money', 'The Water Is Wide' and 'Dance On The Mountain'. And if demo versions of songs like 'Glorious', 'The Mystery Of Love' or 'Slow-Motion-Movie-Star' exist, they would have been very welcome, too. Though, to be fair, a 6LP set is already very generous. I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.
That said, let's focus on what is here. Because this thing is overflowing with great material. The quality of PJ Harvey's b-sides has always been exceptional. As someone who has obsessed over PJ Harvey for over 20 years, only about 12 of the 59 recordings here are new to me. And only one, 'Instrumental #1', from an extraordinarily rare Is This Desire? promo CD, is a song that I'd never heard before.
LP 1 is all demos, except for 'Daddy' from Man-Size. The demo for 'Dry' claims to be a previously unreleased version, but it sounds like the version from Dress to me (maybe it's been slightly remixed?). Interestingly, the demos for 'Man-Size' (previously released on 50ft Queenie), 'Missed' and 'Highway 61 Revisited' give us the remaining songs from Rid Of Me in demo form that did not appear on 4-Track Demos. All 3 are pretty great, but would have been, sonically, out of place on 4-Track Demos. I am happy we finally get to hear them. As I said, LP 1 is frustratingly short, clocking in at a mere 20 minutes. All 6 tracks would have fit on one side - leaving plenty of room for 'Reeling', 'Wang Dang Doodle', 'Primed & Ticking' and 'Claudine The Inflatable One'. A few more songs from this era would have painted a more accurate of the original PJ Harvey trio. Though, given that 5 of the 6 tracks from this era are demos, I assume this was a deliberate decision (just like The B-Sides CD from 1995 appeared to be sequenced to focus on PJ Harvey as a solo artist). Maybe sequencing some of the early tracks released as b-sides later ('Angel', 'Dance', 'Heaven') by the date of their recording, instead of the date of their release would have evened things out? Either way, as good as the music on this disc is, it is distractingly fleeting.
If LP 1 left me (ever so slightly) wanting, the set really takes off with LP 2. Goddamn, those To Bring You My Love b-sides are fucking fantastic. I rate them all as good as the songs that ended up on the album. I discovered most of these songs when I first discovered PJ Harvey, furiously downloading every song I could find from Napster. They were among my favourites then, and they're still favourites now. We also get to appreciate the remastering on these tracks more than LP 1. It could be that this is the first vinyl appearance for many of them, but they all sound fantastic. This time around, I do understand the omissions - 'Long Time Coming' from Send His Love To Me was a BBC live session, so was probably too difficult to licence for this set (though, a demo of it would have been quite cool). Also from Send His Love To Me were two live tracks - 'Hook' and 'Water' - recorded at PJ's legendary Glastonbury 1995 appearance. As good as these performances are, the recordings on the single sound muted compared to the superb sounding BBC-sourced bootleg recording (if you're a fan of To Bring You My Love and these wonderful b-sides, then the My Life bootleg is essential listening). 'Naked Cousin' sounds so great following the To Bring You My Love b-sides (I always wished it was on the 1995 b-sides CD - even though, it hadn't been released when that disc was came out). LP 2 rounds off with three Dance Hall At Louse Point-era tracks. Again, 'Losing Ground' and 'Who Will Love Me Now?' are just as good as anything on (the supremely underrated) Dance Hall At Louse Point (though, I'm pretty sure both were compilation/soundtrack appearances before they came out as b-sides to That Was My Veil). 'Why D'ya Go To Cleveland' is one of the things I was most excited about in getting this set. While it is previously unreleased, it's been circulating as an mp3 for many years (the origins of which I have always wondered about), and it's a lot of fun. I was looking forward to finally having a decent sounding copy, and I am not disappointed. The only b-side missing from Dance Hall At Louse Point is a remix of album highlight 'Civil War Correspondent' that, while interesting, isn't really missed here.
LP 3 continues with the Is This Desire? and the start of the Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea b-sides. Aside from a few obscure soundtrack appearances ('This is Mine', 'Nickel Under The Foot'), this era is almost completely represented, and the next few discs are the better for it. Like To Bring You My Love, the Is This Desire? b-sides hold a special place in my heart. And like To Bring You My Love, these songs are just as good as anything on Is This Desire?, but didn't really have a place on that album. Though, it could have been a very different album had it been sequenced to include songs like 'Nina In Ecstasy', and the guitar oriented 'The Bay' or 'Sweeter Than Anything' instead of the electronic experiments (though, personally, I'm glad it didn't. If I were to change anything about Is This Desire? - and I wouldn't - I'd give it more noise along the lines of 'My Beautiful Leah' or 'Joy'). The same could be said for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, though every single one of PJ's albums are so impeccably sequenced that's it's hard to imagine any of these songs making the final album. 'Nickel Under The Foot' would have been perfect to include after the Is This Desire? b-sides, if for no other reason that 'This Wicked Tongue' is a little jarring coming right after the Is This Desire? b-sides (though, it must be said that, like most PJ Harvey albums, the whole compilation feels like it was sequenced for the experience of each side of vinyl, rather than for CD or streaming, where it just feels like one of the many PJ Harvey b-sides playlists that I've made in my time. Do yourself a favour and splash out for the vinyl set), but it is, chronologically, in the right place, which is good enough for me. Adding 'Instrumental #2' between 'Rebecca' and 'This Wicked Tongue' was a wise move.
Side One of LP 4 features the remaining Stories... b-sides (aside from live versions of 'A Place Called Home' and 'Angelene' from the This Is Love single, which would have sounded out of place here). While most of the Stories... b-sides are not quite as lush as anything on that album, they do suggest - along with the demo album - an entirely different direction that the album could have taken, especially on '66 Promises' and '30', my favourite b-sides from the era. 'My Own Private Revolution' (which is lush like the album tracks) and 'As Close As This' noticeably benefit from the remastering. Side Two kicks of the Uh Huh Her b-sides. Given that there are two whole sides dedicated to Uh Huh Her (LP 4, Side Two and LP 5, Side One), it is - interestingly - the most represented era. The most intriguing thing about the set for me is the recording info given in the liner notes. While there have been hints of older recordings being used for b-sides ('Kick It To The Ground', all of the White Chalk b-sides), I was surprised to see that 'Dance' was recorded in 1990 and 'Angel' in 1991 - though, I've always thought 'Angel' sounded like it could have been on Dry.
The Uh Huh Her b-sides continue on Side One of LP 5, which then concludes with 4 previously unreleased demos. Interestingly, every song on this side is a demo. While I wholeheartedly love the songs on this collection, the inclusion of so many demos in the first and last part of the collection does halt the listening experience, somewhat. I'm pretty sure this collection was aimed at fans, who won't mind too much (I do love her demos), but LPs 2, 3 and 4 do offer the most consistent listening experience. That said, I still absolutely loved LP 5, with Side Two collecting the White Chalk and Let England Shake b-sides. Interestingly, White Chalk is the only album that did not feature album outtakes as b-sides. 'Heaven' is a recording from 1988, the earliest PJ Harvey recording that's ever been released. 'Liverpool Tide', one of my favourites, seems to be a demo recorded in 1998. The two Let England Shake demos are great, especially 'The Big Guns Called Me Back Again', and like all that came before, would have sounded out of place on the actual album. LP 5 finishes with 'Shaker Aamer', a digital charity single that was only ever released as an mp3, which I'm glad finally has a home on an official PJ Harvey album.
LP 6 is an interesting one. While LPs 2-5 pretty well knocked it out of the park, LP 6 has the same problems as LP 1. The material here is really rather good, but I can't help think of what could have been. LP 6 collects a number of non-album tracks released since The Hope Six Demolition Project, so should serve as a neat collection of what our PJ has been up to in the years since her last studio album. Which it is. Though I do feel that this last disc should be stronger than it is. 'Guilty', released as a digital single after Hope Six, and 'A Dog Called Money' & 'I'll Be Waiting', released as a limited tour 7" in 2017, were all great appendages to the Hope Six album. There was also a fantastic sounding studio version of 'The Age Of The Dollar' featured in the A Dog Called Money documentary film (sadly, yet to be released). So, I find it curious that all of the Hope Six outtakes here are featured in their demo form (and 'A Dog Called Money' isn't even included). As a fan, they're very welcome additions, but having the studio versions on Side One of this disc would have made this last disc a more satisfying listening experience, coming after the Let England Shake b-sides on LP 5, and leading into the excellent soundtrack work that concludes the set on Side Two of the last LP. Hearing the Hope Six strays on this set also makes me wonder what, like Uh Huh Her, the Hope Six demos album might have sounded like if it didn't follow the original album's tracklisting.
The whole reissue campaign, which I have previously blogged, far exceeded my expectations. All I wanted was an Is This Desire? re-issue, and I had my doubts that that would ever happen. Instead, we got - including this box set - 27 LPs worth of music reissued. Though I may have complained about what is missing from B-Sides, Demos & Rarities, I do believe that what is here makes up for any omissions. As someone who has obsessively collected PJ Harvey for over 20 years, most of these songs are already imprinted on my psyche. Having them collected in one place - and on a lush vinyl box set - is a literal dream come true. I've always thought that any PJ Harvey fan that hadn't heard her b-sides was only getting half of the story. Happily, it's now easier than ever to explore these oft forgotten gems.
