PJ Harvey - B-Sides, Demos & Rarities (2022)

 

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.

Madonna - Finally Enough Love (2022)

Versions:
CD
3-CD
2-LP
6-LP Box Set

Best Tracks:
Everything up until (and including) 1992 
Impressive Instant (Peter Rauhofer's Universal Radio Mixshow Mix)
Sorry (PSB Maxi Mix Edit)
Celebration (Benny Benassi Remix Edit)

Currently listening to:
6-LP Box Set

While the release of any Madonna retrospective is cause for celebration in my house, I did go into this one with a little trepidation. The premise for Finally Enough Love is an interesting one, collecting her 50 (!) #1 hits from the Billboard Dance chart. I've often longed for a Madonna singles collection that collected every single one, and this is the closest we've come. Being a (very long) remix album, I wasn't sure if this would be as great as it could, or even should, be. Basing the tracks on the American Billboard chart - a chart that has not been kind to Madonna in the last 20 years - is an interesting choice. And while promotion for the album noted that these were #1 on the Dance chart, the album itself just calls them "50 Number Ones". The result is an album that features almost every single from 1999-2019, but doesn't include 'Crazy For You', 'Live To Tell', 'La Isla Bonita', 'Papa Don't Preach' or 'Lucky Star' (among others).

Firstly, credit where credit is due. This set actually has all 50 tracks on it, spread across 3 CD's, or 6 LP's (if you were lucky enough to get one of the vinyl sets). There is, of course, a truncated 16 track single CD/2-LP release, too. The 16 tracks selected are an odd choice (2 tracks from Madame X, but none from True Blue? Really??) and I'm not sure exactly who this shorter album is aimed at. While the four sides of the 2-LP, 16 track version are cleverly split between 80's/90/s/00's/10's, giving any Madonna compilation a mere one side of 80's songs is never going to do it any justice. While I bought both the CD and vinyl variations of the 16 track version, I'm yet to listen to it (so I guess I can't judge too harshly). The 3-CD/6-LP box set is the real star here.

I tried listening to the 50 track version on Spotify before the vinyl arrived. It just felt like I'd put a Madonna playlist together. And, once we got to about 1995 (or Disc 2 of the CD version), it became a bit of jarring listen. I know most of these remixes rather well. Even the ones I'm not particularly fond of. I was worried how the set would hold up once we got to this point of Madonna's career. The 80's remixes go together pretty well. Possibly because the first actual remixes are the You Can Dance edits from 1987, or because the 80's remixes didn't completely alter the tracks the way that the later remixes do. Which is not a criticism by any means. Merely an observation. If nothing else, Finally Enough Love is a good education in the evolution of the art of the remix in pop music over the last 40 years.

Listening to the vinyl is a different experience all together. It's certainly more digestible split over several sides of vinyl. And the box itself is a thing of beauty. Given that there doesn't always seem to be a lot of care put into Madonna's releases, especially reissues and the like (something like this would have been great for Celebration on vinyl), this box is a welcome surprise. The records are house in poly-lined sleeves (and not stored in the paper inner sleeves!), the booklet is printed on good, thick paper and the alternate black and red vinyl is a nice touch. As far as the packaging on the vinyl set goes, it gets full points from me. The sound is also surprisingly good. A lot of the later remixes have either not been easily available on vinyl, or I don't have them (and if I do, I don't play them often. I was impressed by the detail in 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina', which made me realise that I don't think I've ever played either of the two seperate 12" copies that I own). The earlier tracks, especially 'Express Yourself' and 'Vogue', I'm used to hearing on 30 year old 7" singles that have, frankly, seen better days. Thankfully, everything sounds fantastic here.

I have heard rumblings on the internet that the album uses edits of the remixes instead of the full length versions. While I understand this complaint (the 12" versions of 'Like A Virgin' and 'Material Girl' should have been included, if nothing else), it just wouldn't have been practical to put 50 6-9 minutes songs together on a single album. In some cases, I actually really enjoy the edits. Though, some do suffer - I was looking forward to the edit of the 'Hung Up' remix, which has always been a favourite. But the edit is edited in all the wrong places. I also disagree with some of the choices. Apparently, Madonna selected the tracks herself, which I hope is true. And far be it from me to argue with the good lady. But Stuart Price's superior Thin White Duck remix of 'Hollywood' - one of Madonna's best in my opinion - should have been included. The Beast Within remix of 'Justify My Love' is easily one of Madonna's best remixes, but it would have been out of place here, so I can forgive that one.

For me, the album is an interesting listen. I'm fully aware that I'm not going to be able to subjectively listen to any Madonna compilation, and Finally Enough Love is no different. I can certainly track my younger years through Madonna's singles discography. The remixes from Erotica through to American Life are particularly nostalgic for me. As a kid/teenager, when buying CD's was still a luxury, I played my coveted Madonna CD singles endlessly (and I was buying them all even then). These remixes are still etched into my brain, even if I rarely listen to them these days. I have enjoyed the edited version of most of these remixes - when the original CD singles had the edits, these were the ones that I preferred to listen to. From Hard Candy onwards, I still bought all the singles on multiple formats, but none of the remixes really grabbed me at the time, so they were largely forgotten. There were a few exceptions, of course, like the Offer Nissim remix of 'Girl Gone Wild', sadly not included here. One of the big highlights for me is that we finally get a commercial release of Peter Rauhofer's wonderful 'Impressive Instant' remix.

I had my doubts, even as an obsessive Madonna fan, but Finally Enough Love is - generally - a success. Listening to the album on vinyl, it flows way better than I expected. And the remixes together make for a better listening experience than I expected. It is nice to have them all in the one place, rather than reaching for the 50 individual singles. The elephant in the room here, however, is that the song selection does lean too heavily on Madonna's work in the 21st century. Yes, she's still topping the Billboard dance chart in 2020, which really is impressive. And I do firmly believe that her post-Confessions On A Dancefloor work is highly underrated. However, it does feel odd, after listening to the first 3 vinyl discs, getting such a complete picture of the singles from 2000 onwards. It does feel like we got to the Music singles too quick, when we still have 3 LP's left to listen to. I know the track selection is based on the chart, but the Billboard chart sucks (which is a whole other story. I could never understand how so many of Madonna's post-2000 singles hit #1 on the Sales and Dance charts, but barely troubled the main chart), so I'm not sure it was the best way to select the tracks for this album, even if saying "50 Number Ones" is a good selling point. As much as I've enjoyed the album, it would have been much more satisfying if it was as generous with the 80's and 90's tracks as it was with the 2000's and 2010's tracks. It evens leaves off 'Causing A Commotion', which was also #1 on the Billboard dance chart in 1987. I know "51 Number Ones" doesn't have the same ring to it, but when Madonna's whole 80's output is represented by 9 tracks, yet we have 7 combined from Rebel Heart and Madame X, it doesn't exactly paint an accurate picture of Madonna's career. We have 'I Rise', 'Crave', 'Turn Up The Radio' and 'Nothing Fails', but no 'Human Nature', 'Borderline', 'Hanky Panky', 'La Isla Bonita', 'Dress You Up',  'Lucky Star' or 'Burning Up'. It's still a solid collection, but hardly definitive.

The AllMusic review of the 50 track version of Finally Enough Love accurately describes it as "the photo negative of Celebration, the 2009 album that contains all the pop radio staples: where that largely played for comfort, this is percolating and alive, with even the biggest hits being offered in alternate single or video edits or different mixes". And, in that context, Finally Enough Love is a triumph. But, in 2022, we're still yet to receive a definitive Madonna retrospective, post-The Immaculate Collection.

PJ Harvey - Reissues & Demo Albums (2020-2022)

Now that the PJ Harvey reissues, announced back in 2020, are all here, I thought would be a good time to reflect on them.

The reissues of the studio albums was very welcome in 2020. Original pressings were nigh on impossible to find - and prohibitively expensive for most people when they occasionally did pop up. I was lucky to buy them either when they came out, or for the older albums, on eBay before prices sky rocketed. The only one that escaped me was Is This Desire?. Being that most original pressings of Is This Desire? were defective, I never found one for a price that I was willing to pay. Bootleg pressings, particularly of Dry, Rid Of Me and Stories From The City..., popped up in the 2010's. I never bought them, so can't comment on the quality of them, but I think it's safe to assume they weren't ideal. By 2019, a bootleg pressing of Is This Desire? had popped up, so when the official reissues were announced in 2020, they were long overdue.

Overall, I am thrilled with the reissues. And yes, I bought them all, despite only needing Is This Desire? to complete the collection. I couldn't help myself. However, before going any further, I really need to point out that these records need to be cleaned before you play them. Sometimes more than once. I can't stress this enough. It's been an issue with every single one. I've seen mixed reviews for some of them online, and many of the complaints that I also experienced were fixed with a clean (or two or three). Rid Of Me and Is This Desire? were the worst affected (Side Two of ITD? in particular), but they all suffered to some degree. Incidentally, my original pressing of Let England Shake was the same. I always thought it sounded like shit, until I finally learnt about cleaning records. After a clean, it sounded absolutely beautiful. These reissues are no different. 

Sound-wise, the reissues are on par with the original pressings. Only the original pressing of Rid Of Me seems to be a little more dynamic than the reissue. I did read somewhere that Rid Of Me was the only PJ Harvey album where the original was an analog pressing, but I can't confirm that (and I'm not going to get into an analog versus digital discussion. These records sound great, so I'm not fussed if they're digitally sourced or not). The Rid Of Me reissue, like all of them, is still excellent. If you're used to hearing these albums on CD or on Spotify/streaming, these records will be a revelation. While I could argue for any of these albums, listen to To Bring You My Love on vinyl and you'll soon realise why us geeks prefer it. When I first got To Bring You My Love on vinyl (which was the 2001 repress and is surprisingly outstanding), I didn't realise that these songs could sound as detailed and dynamic as they do. White Chalk is also worth a mention. The the vinyl versions have a clarity that I didn't think was possible when I first heard the CD.

All of the albums are beautifully (and faithfully) recreated, with the original labels and inserts, down to the super flimsy paper inserts for Dry (though, A Woman A Man Walked By doesn't include the poster that came with the original. Hope Six does). If I were to nitpick, I would have preferred To Bring You My Love to have the original back cover, but this is my one teeny complaint:

(Original on the left)

Most of the albums are printed on matte card stock, which I really like, even though the glossy covers of the originals are a little more vibrant than the reissues (particularly Dance Hall At Louse Point and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea). That said, I love the way the reissues look. 

I've seen rumblings that some of the albums included download cards, while others did not. None of mine did, save for Dry - Demos. From what I've read, the digital downloads were the standard CD masters, except for Dry, which appears to have been remastered. I've also seen complaints that the albums weren't reissued on CD, though I think CD reissues would have been pointless, aside from the remastered Dry. Even then, CD's are pretty much dead at this point, so I understand why they chose not to do so (though, there was a Japanese CD reissue of Dry in 2021 - if anyone knows if this is the remastered version, do let me know! Post-Covid shipping prices to Australia have stopped me from buying it myself to find out).

Now, onto the demo albums. This was the really exciting part for us die hard PJ Harvey fans. The demos for Dry and Rid Of Me are part of PJ Harvey lore, so I can see why it made sense to release the demos for the subsequent albums - Dry Demonstration and 4-Track Demos have become legendary in their own right. Though, I can't think of any other artist that has released the demos for all of their albums like this as stand alone albums. While it would have been somewhat logical to release the demos packaged with the corresponding album, much like the original Dry Demonstration, I do like that they've all been released separately, not as part of deluxe editions of the albums or anything like that (though, I still want deluxe editions of these albums, please and thank you). I do wonder how much mass appeal there is for the standalone demo albums (I'm already seeing them going cheap around the place), but I am certainly not complaining. 

Dry Demonstration and 4-Track Demos represented a very different time in PJ Harvey's evolution. Importantly, PJ Harvey was a band when these demos were recorded. I was intrigued, to say the least, to what these new demos albums would show us. I've met several people over the years who claim to prefer Dry Demonstration and 4-Track Demos to Dry and Rid Of Me. I wondered if these new demo albums would have the same impact. I also wondered how they would be presented. Would they be demos versions of the songs on the album in order, like Dry Demonstration, or would they include songs not included on the album, like 4-Track Demos did?

As it turns out, they followed the Dry formula. For the most part, I think this was the right decision. To Bring You My Love - Demos was the first look we got at the new demo albums (Dry Demonstration was re-branded Dry - Demos, but it's the same record). The first thing that struck me with the To Bring You My Love - Demos was how fully realised the songs were in their demo form. I've read several interviews with Polly Harvey where she says that she starts working on an album in the studio with the demos she's recorded. This became apparent on To Bring You My Love - Demos. There's an impressive amount of the demo elements that ended up on the finished record. This proved to also be true for Is This Desire?, Stories From The City..., Uh Huh Her and White Chalk. The quality of the demos is impressive, even if - now, as their own albums - they aren't quite the statement that 4-Track Demos was.

There are surprises to be had on each demo album. While some feature vocals and instrumentation that are very familiar, others show songs going in other directions. Is This Desire? - Demos features 'Angelene' with the beat from 'My Beautiful Leah' (which Harvey actually played live when touring White Chalk). The album version of 'The Wind' appears to be a remix of the demo, which features Harvey solo on guitar and vocals. It also made me realise that the demo of 'No Girl So Sweet' plays at the end of 'The Faster I Breathe The Further I Go', a b-side (and also a demo) from the album.

The demo for 'Big Exit' sees Harvey singing, "I'm immortal when I'm wit chu", which made me wonder how much input she had to 'Make It Wit Chu', a Queens Of The Stone Age song that was written when Harvey was part of the Desert Sessions in 2003 (she sang backing vocals on the original Desert Sessions recording). The album version of 'Big Exit'  - rightly - changes to 'when I'm with you'. 'Make It Wit Chu' was the right place for this inflection, rather than 'Big Exit'. The demo for 'A Place Called Home' features a drum pattern similar to 'We Float', while 'We Float' features a completely different drum pattern, complete with vinyl scratch samples. The demo for 'Kamikaze' sounds like it could have been on 4-Track Demos.

Uh Huh Her - Demos is the only demo album that feels like a missed opportunity. 'No Child Of Mine', 'Cat On The Wall', 'You Come Through' and 'The End' are missing. This is the one demo album that I would have liked to see follow the 4-Track Demos formula. 'No Child Of Mine', probably a demo itself on Uh Huh Her, was the coda to a song that Marianne Faithfull recorded on her wonderful Before The Poison album (on which she collaborated with Harvey on 5 of it's 10 tracks). Apparently, Marianne didn't like the ending of the song, so it ended up on Uh Huh Her. However, when Before The Poison was released a few months after Uh Huh Her, it was on that album also. I guess Marianne changed her mind. I would have loved to have heard Harvey's full demo of 'No Child Of Mine'. With the missing songs, Uh Huh Her - Demos clocks in at a mere 31 minutes - and one of the tracks ('Who The Fuck') had already been released a b-side. Most of the demos that are included are very close to the finished album versions, so it would have been good to fill it out with a few more songs, even if they weren't album tracks. A song called '97°' was a b-side to 'Shame' and featured the music to 'Cat On The Wall' with different lyrics. If this was the demo, it would have been cool to include it, along with some of the albums other b-sides. Two songs, 'Uh Huh Her' and 'Evol' were played live during the tour for the album, but recorded versions have yet to be released - the demos album would have been a great opportunity to do so (live versions were released on a promo CD, but if you want the best versions, seek out the Peel Session versions from 2004 that were also, sadly, left off the official Peel Sessions album). Given that, at the time, Harvey described that she wanted Uh Huh Her to be a 'patchwork quilt' (her words, not mine), it would have been the perfect demo album to not follow the track-by-track formula.

Things gets really interesting on Let England Shake - Demos. While some of the demo albums suggest different directions (Stories..., Is This Desire?) and others shows interesting variations on directions that are already clear (White Chalk, To Bring You My Love), Let England Shake - Demos are the ones I would compare most to Dry Demonstration or 4-Track Demos.. 'Bitter Branches' and 'Hanging In The Wire' were the real surprises here. More than any of the other demos released, I prefer these to the albums versions. I always felt that both tracks slowed the pace of the album somewhat (though, each of Harvey's albums are impeccably sequenced, so I always trust her judgement), however, the demos versions  - each considerably different to the final versions - show that the finished versions actually help the pace of the album as a whole. As usual, she was right. She was also right to excise the The Four Lads and Eddie Cochran samples from the albums versions of 'Let England Shake' and 'The Words That Maketh Murder', but boy, are they a hoot to hear on the demos album, especially on 'Murder'. As Pitchfork said in their review of the Let England Shake demos, "Let England Shake - Demos is by far the most enlightening of the bunch. Like an uneven block of stone, it allows us to witness how she chipped away at the album’s singular shape, abandoning ideas that might have lessened the songs’ impact". The same can be said for The Hope Six Demolition Project - Demos, but the demos for Let England Shake are the clear winners. As I said, I'm not sure who the target audience was for the demos albums (presumably the hard core fans, such as yours truly), but if you're a casual fan and only listen to one of the demos albums, make sure it's Let England Shake - Demos.

To say that I am happy with these reissues would be a massive understatement. Finally, in 2022, anyone can walk into a record store and buy a vinyl copy of Rid Of Me. Or White Chalk. Or Is This Desire? (or Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, if you really must - just don't stop there). And that's how it should be.

Being the insatiably rapid fan, of course, the big question is, what next? While there have been a few soundtrack releases in the six years since The Hope Six Demolition Project (and I do recommend her All About Eve soundtrack - not included in the reissues, but still easily available on vinyl), it has been a long wait for a new album. An article in The Guardian about her new book, Orlam, let slip that she's planning on putting a new record out next year. I'll believe it when I see it, but I am quietly optimistic. 

The other issue, that the vinyl reissues don't rectify (as wonderful as they are), is the staggering amount of non-album tracks that PJ Harvey has put out over the last 30 years. When interviewed about Dance Hall At Louse Point, and the reissues, John Parish stated that, 'I might be wrong, but I think there might be some kind of b-sides and rarities thing to come out as another package at some point down the line'. As I pointed out when blogging The B-Sides CD from 1995, a b-sides and rarities compilation is long overdue. If you're a PJ Harvey fan, and you've only heard the studio albums, I feel like you're only getting half the story. There was a three volume vinyl bootleg series of b-sides, titled Maniac, Harder and The Falling, released in the 2010's, that teased what an official b-sides compilation series could look like, but they ultimately fell short (many of the tracks sounded mp3 sourced, complete with poor vinyl rips of vinyl only tracks). I have long fantasised about a PJ Harvey collection in the same vein as Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' B-Side & Rarities compilation (a 3-CD collection from 2005 that was expanded to a 7-LP vinyl box set earlier this year). There are many obscure treasures lurking around PJ Harvey's vast back catalogue, from outstanding b-sides ('Nina In Ecstasy', '66 Promises', 'I'll Be Waiting', 'Reeling', 'Sweeter Than Anything', every To Bring You My Love b-side), to soundtrack songs ('Naked Cousin', 'Nickel Under The Foot', 'An Acre Of Land'), to songs yet to see a proper release ('Primed And Ticking', 'This Is Mine', the aforementioned 'Uh Huh Her' and 'Evol' and various Hope Six outtakes) and it would be nice for these strays to have a home as part of a bigger collection. These are some of Harvey's best songs, and they often feel lost to the ether. A b-sides and rarities compilation feels like the logical next step after the album reissues. 

Big Brother & The Holding Company – Combination Of The Two (Live At The Monterey International Pop Festival) (2021)

 

Versions:

LP

Tracklisting:

Side One - Saturday:

1. Down On Me

2. Combination Of The Two

3. Harry

4. Road Block

5. Ball And Chain

Side Two - Sunday:

1. Combination Of The two

2. Harry

3. Ball And Chain

Best Tracks:

Ball And Chain (Sunday performance)

Down On Me

Combination Of The Two (Saturday performance)

Currently listening to:

LP 

I've been waiting a few months for this one to arrive, and it finally came today.

This release is a perfect example of why I both love and hate Record Store Day releases. After an extensive search, I think it's safe to say that no Australian stores received their stock of this LP. Usually, that wouldn't present too much of a problem, but in the post-COVID world, having records shipped here from overseas isn't as easy as it once was. Plus, shipping from overseas now doubles, if not triples, the price. It's frustrating, and there appears to be no end in sight. I've certainly had to adjust. Five years ago, I'd have scoffed at paying $60 for a record like this. In 2021, I was pleased to find it for $60.

The flip side of this is, more importantly, the very fact that a record like this is actually being put out in 2021. If RSD is the only way to get records like this into my collection, then I'll (sometimes reluctantly) take it. For Janis Joplin/Big Brother fans, this one is well overdue. 

Big Brother And The Holding Company's 1967 Monterey Pop Festival appearance is famous for breaking them out into an unsuspecting world, and shooting them - and, Janis Joplin in particular - into fame. As is typical for Joplin's back catalogue, parts of the set have been released on official compilations and bootlegs, but this is the first time that both of their sets at the festival (they famously played a second because the first wasn't filmed) have been made available.

This release is a revelation. The tracks released on the 1993 Janis box set, from the Saturday set, suffered from rather average sound. I've had most of these tracks on a CD bootleg, also called Combination Of The Two, that featured Saturday's set with Sunday's rendition of 'Ball And Chain' (which is the famous one from the film, though both versions are quite similar). My expectations for this release weren't particularly high, but this record absolutely blows them both out of the water. I had no idea that these recordings could sound so good. It's a blistering little set that they played on the Saturday - and I really didn't appreciate that fact until I heard this record.

Also surprising for a Janis Joplin release, a lot of love and care seems to have gone into the presentation of this one. Housed in a beautiful tip-on sleeve and pressed on translucent purple vinyl with a black smoke effect, it is a thing of absolute beauty. I usually don't care for coloured vinyl, but this one looks real nice. Most recent Joplin releases, like her Woodstock set that was finally issued on vinyl in 2019, feel slapped together without much attention to detail. This pressing actually feels like there was some thought that went into it. I also bought the vinyl release of The Who's Monterey Pop Festival set that came out for RSD in 2020 (and was much easier to find than this one), which is also beautifully presented. Both were put out by the Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation, rather than the bands' big labels, which probably explains that care that has gone into them. If they keep putting these sets out, then we're in for some treats.

These are (mostly) recordings that I know well. I thought I was buying this record as something of a gap filler, but I am seriously impressed. There's been a surprising number of live Janis Joplin records come out over the past ten years or so, both officially and as bootlegs. This one, happily and unexpectedly, is one of the best.

The Donnas - Gold Medal (2004)

I'd all but forgotten about this blog until someone asked me about it the other day. So, here we go again. 

Versions:

LP

CD

Tracklisting:

1. I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)

2. Friends Like Mine

3. Don't Break Me Down

4. Fall Behind Me

5. Is That All You've Got For Me

6. It's So Hard

7. The Gold Medal

8. Out Of My Hands

9. It Takes One To Know One

10. Revolver

11. Have You No Pride

Best Tracks:

I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)

The Gold Medal

Fall Behind Me

Currently listening to:

LP

I first became aware of The Donnas just after they released The Donnas Turn 21. My group of high school friends were quite taken with them, as was I. While my friends' hormonal admiration was centred on the fact that they were a group of young women playing guitars (I don't think it really mattered what music they were playing), I was more enamoured with their tales of partying and chasing boys - which was my secret goal in life in my late teens. It was all good fun, and The Donna went from strength to strength in the early 00's, releasing the wonderful Spend The Night then this, Gold Medal, in 2004. 

Gold Medal tipped me from enthusiastic fan to obsessee for a time. While still rocking, this record was the hangover from the records that proceeded it. The beers and the 40 boys in 40 nights don't have the same appeal in the harsh light of morning, and it took The Donnas (an impressive) 6 albums to wake up miserable with sore heads. Instead of taking it off, The Donnas wanted you to fall behind them. From the anxiously obsessive 'I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me)' to the melancholic country of 'The Gold Medal', The Donnas got as close to catharsis as they ever would. And, Gold Medal is their best record because of it. 

Sadly, it was also their last hurrah. Their last album, the underwhelming Bitchin', followed three years later and lost all the momentum they'd gathered over the last 4 albums. Then they seemed to go out with a whimper. And, I've barely thought about them since.

When this album was reissued on vinyl last year, I wondered if I really needed to buy it. The few times I'd heard any Donnas song in the last 15 years were nostalgic reminders of road trips, friends and, funnily enough, partying and chasing boys (which I did touch on in a previous post). But did that need to be in my collection now?

It arrived today, so I guess the short answer is, yes. 17 years later, it's still pretty good, even if it is painfully nostalgic. I am continually surprised how dated music from the early 00's sounds now (not a criticism, by any means - just an observation), but Gold Medal holds up better than I had anticipated. I enjoyed it so much that I put Spend The Night on once it had finished. Which hasn't aged quite as well and is possibly even more nostalgic). I'm glad to finally add the vinyl copy to my record collection. 

Alice Cooper - Love It To Death (1971)

Versions:
LP
LP (Signed)
CD

Tracklisting:

Side One:
1. Caught In A Dream
2. I'm Eighteen
3. Long Way to Go
4. Black Juju

Side Two:
1. Is It My Body
2. Hallowed Be My Name
3. Second Coming
4. Ballad of Dwight Fry
5. Sun Arise

Best Tracks:
Second Coming/The Ballad Of Dwight Fry
I'm Eighteen
Is It My Body

Currently listening to:
LP

Love It To Death is probably still one of my favourite albums.

I'd always known Alice Cooper. I remember 'Poison' being everywhere when I was very young. My Mum - who is not into music at all - only ever had one tape that she played in the car, and one side of that was Welcome To My Nightmare. I became aware, however, of Alice Cooper - the band - on the same documentary series that introduced me to The Stooges and Patti Smith. There was something about 'I'm Eighteen' that seemed worlds apart from the Alice Cooper that I'd grown up with. And, of course, it was very much what I was into at the time. I promptly bought a cheap vinyl copy from my beloved Old Reynella record shop and played it to death (pun regrettably intended).

Love It To Death is more than just another early 70's rock album. It's subtly more sinister than Black Sabbath, it rocks harder than Bowie and is far less pompous than Led Zeppelin. Taking their cues from The Stooges and The Doors, Alice Cooper (the band, as well as the guy) create a world of their own, most notably the stretch on Side Two, from 'Second Coming' onwards. This includes what is unquestionably Alice Cooper's best song in the form of 'The Ballad of Dwight Fry' (and concludes - oddly, enough - with a cover of Rolf Harris' 'Sun Arise'). While the duo of 'Second Coming' and 'Dwight Fry' foreshadow similar ideas explored later in Alice's career (think 'Years Ago' and 'Steven' from Welcome to My Nightmare), here they are free of gimmicks (while still in it's infancy, the Alice Cooper gimmick was present at this time, however) and feel like a more sincere statement than much of the band's work after this. The high drama of 'Black Juju' recalls The Doors' more theatrical moments (and The Stooges' 'We Will Fall'), while the wonderful 'I'm Eighteen', 'Is It My Body', 'Caught In A Dream' and 'Hallowed By My Name' prove that they can rock with the best of them.

When I was 18, I met Alice Cooper. He was doing a record singing at The Muses in Rundle Mall and, of course, I took along my vinyl copy of Love It To Death to get signed. I was one of the first in line and, after exchanging pleasantries, I handed him my record. "Oh, wow!" he says, "You got a thumb!". Uh, what? I was a completely starstruck and hadn't expected much an exchange. So, I was a little taken aback. Not realising what he meant, I asked him what he'd said. "You got a thumb!" was his enthusiastic response. "Oh...uh....OK. Thanks", was the best I could muster and as I started to walk away, he kept on. "No, I really mean it. You got a thumb! That's a collector's item!". I thanked him again and, looking down at the record, finally realised what he meant. Once I got home, I checked my CD version and, sure enough, no thumb. Turns out, the thumb was airbrushed out of American copies of the cover, deemed too phallic and obscene. While original copies of the American thumb version may well be collector's items, I've never seen an Australian pressing without the thumb. So, I highly doubt that it's the collector's item that the great man promised it would be.

Oh, and we were on the Channel 7 news together, too. My best mate Alice Cooper and I. They have have filmed the signing. I never saw it, sadly.

The Troggs - I Can't Control Myself / Gonna Make You (1966)

Side A:
I Can't Control Myself

Side B:
Gonna Make You

I can't work out if this is a double A side or not. If it's not, it fucking well should be. This is another example of why I love hearing 60's music on 45. Both sides of this single - possibly my two favourite Troggs songs - jump up from the grooves and really come alive. Maybe it's the ragged mono mixes? Maybe it's that groups like The Troggs are carelessly issued on CD (and cheap LP compilations) so that many of the releases sound limp in comparison (no CD I've heard does that bass on 'Gonna Make You' any justice)? Whatever the case may be, this blistering little single is the best way I've found to hear these songs.