PJ Harvey
The Peel Sessions 1991-2004
(BBC/Island)
Of the countless artists who recorded sessions for the John Peel, probably only a handful truly embodied the spirit of his love for raw, flawed-is-beautiful intimate performance. One of those is PJ Harvey, who performed in his studio at least five times. It must have been hard to edit down the available material to a single CD, but what has been included is the essence. She could be in total control and near note-perfect, like on “Beautiful Feeling” and “Victory.” Or she could hang perilously close to the edge, like on “Snake” (the disc’s centrepiece), a fierce kick in the gut sung with exhaustive desperation.
—Dave Hayden
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
