Customer Reviews

To Bring You My Love

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

PJ Harvey has to be about the most underappreciated rock artist out there, bar none. If you're sick of the formula played on pop or alternative radio or think that Lilith Fair's a great idea but doesn't embrace the harder feminine spirit, give PJ Harvey a try. This album may be about as accessible as any of hers (save for the nearly inscrutable "Dry"). She's a challenging artist. Her songs veer from oblique studio concoctions with whispered, highly distorted vocals to upfront soul-baring, confrontational episodes--sometimes consecutively. "Meet Ze Monsta" and "Long Snake Moan" were two of the best full-out rockers that the public never heard in 1995. Harvey opted to release the angular, loungy "Down By The Water" instead, which doesn't do justice to the rest of the album. The two last songs,"Send His Love To Me" and "The Dancer" show PJ Harvey at her most despondent and desperate. "How long must I suffer?/Dear God, I've served my time/This love beomes my torture/This love my only crime," she agonizes over dry, rhythmic flamenco guitar on the former; on the latter, she moans over the loss of a lover "bathed in light and splendor and glory" while an eerie organ and watery guitar strumming mirror her emotion. Spirituality also comes into play here quite often; she speaks of God, Jesus or the devil in at least half her songs. PJ Harvey's not easy--she dives straight to the heart of the wildest emotions. But she deserves credit(and a bigger audience) precisely for being hard--and compelling.

After splitting from her partners Rob Ellis and Steve Vaughn, Polly Jean Harvey spent two years making a CD which would recreate her image. She traded in her heavy combat boots and jeans and tank tops from the men's department for striking brightly-colored dresses. She grew her curly black hair down her back and painted her face with slashes of bright red lipstick and black eyeliner. Essentially, she transformed from a starkly militant asexual performer to a theatrical epitome of femininity. However, as the record proves, this transformation was completely on her terms.

1. To Bring You My Love--A kind of slow, heavy metal song. A real tension builder complete with an organ. Harvey really throws herself into this song with throaty vocals and dramatic lyrics. "And I'd travel over the dry earth and floods; Hell and Highwater to bring you my love. To bring you my love..."

2. Meet Ze Monsta--A song with growling and snarling guitars that crunch and stomp. This is kind of a fun song, probably one of the faster ones on the album. "Yeah, I'm read to meet ze monster tonight."

3. Working for the Man--This one is interesting. It's has a nice beat but it is so quiet that you can barely hear the lyrics. It's worth trying to find them on-line because they are interesting. The song could easily be about a nun or a prostitute. I've heard claims that it is actually about God. It is eerie though to hear Polly Harvey insisting acquiescently, "I'm just working... for the man," as one gets the impression that Harvey would never let herself be subdued thus.

4. C'mon Billy--This is probably the closest PJ Harvey has ever come to producing a folk/country song. It is very pretty and the premise is probably one of the less complex for a PJ Harvey song--a woman who has given birth to an illegitimate child pleads for her lover to return to see the child he deserted. Harvey sounds heartfelt and affectionately subservient as she begs, "Come home, is my plea, your home now is here with me."

5. Teclo--Probably one of the more interesting tracks on the album. It begins with what sounds like ice being shaken in a glass and then dark, eerie guitar chords kick in. I have no idea what this song is about, but it seems to involve darkness being redeemed by dignity. "I've learned to beg, I've learned to pray, send me his love... Let me rise, let me rise, let me ride on his grace for a while."

6. Long Snake Moan--My personal favorite. Probably the most intense song on the album. It begins with a sort of moan and then guitars just slam in and the song practically explodes. The song almost seems to be daring the listener to enter a personal hell. "You ought to hear my long snake moan." Special sound-effects include the noise of a whip cracking in the background. Who can resist Harvey asking of the listener: "Is my voodoo working?"

7. Down By the Water--My second favorite song and probably the most well-known. This song kind of ambles eerily along, mingling a sense of parental protection with lost innocence. Reportedly the refrain is taken from a Captain Beefheart song, "Little fish, big fish, swimming in the water/ Come back here and bring me my daughter.

8. I Think I'm A Mother--Another dark song with a tension-building guitar opening. The kind of song you could imagine playing on a dark and stormy night. Again, it's a little bit hard to understand what Harvey is saying. Ostensibly, the song seems to be about abortion, but in an interview, Harvey claims she was writing about herself.

9. Send His Love To Me--Another folksy song. Although it's lyrics describe being kept prisoner in a desert away from one's love, the song itself seems almost lighthearted in tone. Reminiscent of C'mon Billy, but good.

10. The Dancer--Frankly, I didn't like this one much. It's supposed to be Flamenco-tinged, but I couldn't tell. It is kind of in the same vein as C'mon Billy and Send His Love To Me, but I did not like it as much. The bird calls in the middle struck me as kind of weird and I didn't know what they were as first. Probably the worst track on the album, but still mediocre.

Overall, this album is extraordinary and quite a departure from DRY and RID OF ME. Many people consider this to be Harvey's finest work and it seemed to pave the way for her later albums, most especially my personal favorite, IS THIS DESIRE? Polly Jean Harvey proved that not only could she retain the name of her trio and bring it to new heights, but that she could metamorphose and change herself and her image, while still retaining her edgy, won't-go-quietly roots. Apparently, the strain of this album was too much for Harvey as she suffered a nervous breakdown after this album came out. Fortunately for us, she recovered and managed to use the depth of her pain as fodder for her next album. In the meanwhile, she seems to have found a renewed and permanent happiness.

i bought this a few years ago, and i was a bit young, and expected so much from this, seeming how it had been heralded her "greatest" album.
i didn't understand why anyone liked her when i first listened to it. her vocals sounded strangled, like she COULD sing, but wouldn't, and the guitar/organs had a bleak, anorexic feeling to it. pj harvey looking psychotic and sick in the cd booklet topped it off.
but, since then, i've grown accustomed to getting spit on by this record by it's chill and noise.
this isn't a record you can snuggle up to, it would be kind of masochistic to love on it.
i LIKE this record. i think it's pj harvey's worst, mainly because it's so hard to get into.... not good for a pj harvey beginner.
if you like sweeter harvey, get "stories from the city" or "is this desire"
if you like something a little more unpolished... "dry"

I was at first put off by the slick Flood production and the popularity of "Down By the Water". I was definitely more into the rawness of Rid of Me. But years later i see this as one of her best and certainly in a class of its own.

This album comes off with a blues-based impetus. Surely PJ's no stranger to confessional song writing but this one has her sounding like an honest to god 50ft. Queenie. Listen to the title track and hear her yell from the bowels of hell. "Meet Ze Monsta" has that deep fuzz bass that permeates a lot of this album. "Working for the Man" is an incredible sparse groove. Other notables are "Long Snake Moan" and even "Down By the Water".

So many PJ fans just can't get into this record. They either care for early (Dry, Rid of Me) grunge or the later, (Is this Desire, Stories From the City,) more polished recordings. This really stands alone for the production and depth of soul searching she does. A must have.

"To Bring You My Love" is easily my favourite album and one of the very best ever! "The Dancer", the closing track for the album, is one of the most touching, brilliant and utterly devestating songs I have ever heard, along with "Roads" by Portishead. But don't you dare think that this song is the best song in the album, because THIS album doesn't have a best song, they are all flawless masterpieces. Songs like "Meet Ze Monsta" with the lyric "big black monsoon, take me with you" and "Long Snake Moan" are cosmic and terrifying, just amazing pieces of brilliance, surpassing everything Patti Smith has ever done, songs like "Teclo" and "I think I'm a mother" are triumphs of how a song can reach into your soul and just take over, while songs like "C'mon Billy" and "Send his Love to Me" under the beautiful string arrangements hide darker elements, and are characteristic of the album's theme: love. But not the kind of love that you hear from Celine Dion and Co., but destructive, passionate love, love that defies logic. And also death, and religion and your very existence. This is a remarkable album from start to finish. Buy it, put in your stereo, turn out the lights, unplug the phones and you will experience the glory of this album and of PJ Harvey. And don't you dare skip any tracks because the demons in PJ Harvey's closet and in yours will certainly hunt you down and destroy you. It's her voodoo working alright.

This is a seriously outstanding album. It is easily one of the greatest pieces of music recorded in the last 20 years. Buy it and you will not be disappointed.

To Bring You My Love is a collection of swampy, slow-burning Southern Gothic blues and erotically charged balladry built around smouldering bottleneck guitars, spooky church organ and distorted keyboard bass. Subtle shades of flamenco, electronic sound effects and classical orchestration from a nicely understated string section further enrich the mix. And Polly's versatile, deep, muscular singing voice has a new power and range that reveals the operatic training she underwent while writing this record.

It's just as dark as before, only in a different way. Dry and Rid Of Me were full of youthful anger and reactive, externalised rage. This album sees Harvey growing up and coming of age a lot. There's still some morbid horror and confusion on the record, but less anger. Now she's more concerned with the nature of longing and loneliness, desperate melancholy, a spiritual yearning and existential pain that's harder to define.

I think the reason listeners find this album more accessible than her others is simply because it sounds so much more mature and sophisticated. Flood's production is tastefully elegant, giving Harvey's songs room to breathe and echoing his past work with U2, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Smashing Pumpkins. He brings out the space, texture and depth of sound in her songs, and the overall sound is more luxurious and resonant as a result. The exotic atmosphere is rich, vivid and well captured on every track. Also, Harvey projected a playfully seductive image, sexy attitude and elaborate theatrical glamour for this album's videos and tour that made people sit up and take notice.

Ultimately though, what makes To Bring You My Love such a masterwork is its raw power and simmering passion, the brooding emotional intensity, the pure heart and guts and soul that pours out nakedly from every note of the record.

PJ Harvey sings these ten songs like her life depended on it, and no other modern artist can convey such dizzy extremes of emotion in their music.

TO BRING YOU MY LOVE was PJ Harvey's third release and honestly I didn't know what to make of the album at first. I had heard that the band had split up and she was going it alone, with help from producer Flood (!). In a way I was prepared for a different sounding PJ Harvey but looking back I guess I had no idea HOW different. I had just come off quite a high with her first two albums, the excellent RID OF ME and the beautiful debut DRY. When I first caught sight of the cover I thought, "Waaahhh!" It looks like our dear lil Polly is all growns up, and quite the force to be reckoned with, fierce in that red dress.

Gone are the days of the raw Albini produced sounds, this album has got a major blues vibe to it. I had heard the single "Down by the Water" and seen the video but yet I still wasn't prepared for this record. I wasn't prepared to fall in love with another PJ album, especially one that's such a departure from her beloved earlier works. But of course I did fall in love again and I think this album is her strongest work to date, both in songwriting and in use of instruments. Polly explores a darker range of topics with her lyrics this time around, especially in reference of a religious nature. Plenty of guitar, lush organs and standout vocals make for this dark, dense record. The ten tracks will take you on an intense musical journey and stretch your imagination, leaving you in awe of the complex yet spare sounds and its brutal melodrama will bring you to your knees.

We start off with the title track, "To Bring You My Love." This song to me is the only song reminisce of ROM on the record. It's a bit raw but in a moody kind of way. As soon as you hear Polly's voice you'll immediately sense this is a powerful song. What I love throughout this record is the usage of her vocals, clear and urgent, Polly's singing is impeccable.

"Meet Ze Monsta" is a crazy restless song. It's all over the place, I imagine a very strong woman trying to fight a "big black monsoon" but of course she loses and eventually gives in to suicide to "meet ze monstra." Over a quarrel with her lover. Alls fair in love and war.

"Working For The Man" is a strange, strange song. In a good way. It is very sinister, PJ's somber vocals very effective in lending to the eerie effect of the song. I think this song is about a psychotic serial killer who preys on women and insists he's doing well because he's "working for the man." You know, HIM.

"C'mon Billy" is bluesy folk rock at its best. I love the acoustic guitar, the emotion the strings bring out of me and the desperate yearning of PJ's voice here. A very heartfelt plea from a very desperate woman for the father of her son to return and lay with her on golden cornfields for days on end.

"Teclo" is stranger still. I read in a magazine that PJ said Teclo is someone's name. I would've never guessed. Hearing this song makes me conjure images of angels, halos and God. I dunno why.

"Long Snake Moan" is awesome! I swear this song helps me curb my road rage. I shout along to the lyrics and instantly feel better, it's like a stress reliever of a song. This song makes me feel powerful and important because I can work voodoo and make mere mortals and even "God above, All drunk on my love..."

"Down By The Water" is the single off the album and one that actually did well on the charts, I think. It's a very catchy song, with the heavy steady keyboards, playful bells and the malevolent chorus, "Little fish, big fish swimming in the water/Come back here man gimme my daughter."

My favorite song on this album has got to be the very dark, "I Think I'm A Mother." Reason being, well, frankly I just don't understand the freakin' song and I long to find out! I'm fascinated with this song, from the slow opening of the guitar and the building of the drums to the nonchalant-ness of her voice as she sings something about wanting to have an abortion because she despises the mother-in-law. Wait, what?! I know, hence the fascination.

"Send His Love To Me" is very similar to "C'mon Billy" in that it's very folksy. A very heartfelt, beautiful song.

"The Dancer" is without a doubt the most passionate song I've ever heard. I dare anyone to come up with a more beautiful, soulful song! The swaying of the strings, the gut-wrenching
wails of her voice and the killer lyrics just leaves me begging for more:

He came riding fast like a phoenix side a fire flame
He came dressed in black with a cross bearing my name
He came bathed in light and the splendor and glory
I can't believe what the Lord has finally sent me
He said "Dance for me, fanciulla gentil"
He said "Laugh for awhile, I can make your heart feel"
He said "Fly with me, touch the face of the true God"
And then he cried with joy at the depth of my love...

Oh Lord, how that song kills me. And what a lovely way to end an epic of an album. At first I wasn't sure how to feel about the album but a listen is all it took for me to be very impressed indeed. 5 stars all the way.

This album is completely stunning. First off, I basically bought all of PJ's albums in reverse order: "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea"; "Is This Desire?" "To Bring You My Love", "Rid of Me", "Dry", "4 Track Demos", "Dancehall at Louse Point." But this one has to be my ulitmate favourite. I feel so depressed when i listen to it, but that's the beauty of it: once it's over, i feel better. I love all of her albums dearly, but this one is really great. SPIN magazine even hailed it the #3 album of the 90's.

TO BRING YOU MY LOVE
Perfect way to start off the album, what with her amazing vocals and the eerie organ in the background.

MEET ZE MONSTA
Remniscient of a real hard-rock song, with the loud guitars, PJ's howls, and whistles. Excellent.

WORKING FOR THE MAN
This song is a little weird, but i still love it. You can barely understand a work she says, but the song is actually about God. The only instruments found here are her voice, some drums, and some bass.

C'MON BILLY
One of 3 highlights, this song is so full of emotion, especially towards the end.

TECLO
I don't understand this song, but i like it anyway...kinda prepares you for "Long Snake Moan."

LONG SNAKE MOAN
Ahh, the second huge rocker on this album. This is a good and loud song, and i especially love the line "It's my voodoo working...moan!!"

DOWN BY THE WATER
The album's best (and oddest) song. I was definately surprised to see this one as a successfuln single, but it IS a great song. And everytime it's on MTV2's ControlFreak, it wins :-)

I THINK I'M A MOTHER
Good follow up to "Down by the Water." Here again, you can barely understand what she says her, and the music's so low and full of bass. I love the lyric "I need you mother/more than ever."

SEND HIS LOVE TO ME
Reminds me of "C'mon Billy"...really good song, with an excellent ending.

THE DANCER
I *love* this song!! It's such a perfect way to end the album, and i'm almost in tears by the time it's over with. This song contains the best lyrics: "cause i've prayed days/i've cried nights/oh Lord be near me tonight/is he near?/is he far?/bring peace to my black and empty heart."

This album is so good, and is definately worth the money.

Why? Because even now, all these years later, I can pop this baby in and
still rock to LONG SNAKE MOAN,
still Dance to SEND HIS LOVE TO ME and DANCER
still sing my lungs out at the end of TO BRING YOU MY LOVE
still get scared during I THINK IM A MOTHER
Still shudder during TECLO
Still strum along to CMON BILLY
still beat box and chest slap to WORKIN FOR THE MAN
Still frolic during n scream to MEET ZE MONSTER
still get chills as I remember my first love to DOWN BY THE WATER

This album invokes raw emotions, and refuses to die from memory.

Enjoy this one, its a classic.

TO BRING YOU MY LOVE won virtually every Best Album award that could be won in 1995 and won the prestigious Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll (as voted by several hundred top rock and music critics) as the Album of the Year. Polly Jean Harvey also managed the Rolling Stone Artist of the Year Award on the basis of this album. But the album is even better than that. By any standard, the nineties has been one of the worst decades in the history of rock, but this album stands as one of the glorious achievements of the nineties, and PJ Harvey one of the few contemporary artists who can stand comparison with rock figures from previous decades.

All of these songs are about sex and sexuality, and not a very healthy sexuality at that. Despite the title of the album and opening song, love and its healing power is completely missing in these songs. What is present is sex as obsession, as compulsion, as an animalistic force of nature, as destructive, inescapable, and irrestible as a tidal wave or volcanic irruption. The album could as easily have been titled, TO BRING YOU THE PLAGUE.

But the power in these demonic love songs surpasses that of any other artist working in the nineties, and represents an exceptional achievement by one of the few creative artists working in popular music in an otherwise bland and banal period of time.