Dry

PJ Harvey

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 10, 1997)
• Original Release Date: June 30, 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B000001F0H
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,421 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #94 in

  Music > Alternative Rock > Singer-Songwriters

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Dry is the cornerstone of the 1990s "women in rock" movement. To paraphrase what Lou Reed said about the Velvet Underground: Not many people bought the album, but those who did formed a band. The attraction is unmistakable: bluesy riffs played with punk-rock energy suddenly crash to a hush, while Harvey's desperate wails become fatigued moans. What is she so hung up about? Well, in the spirit of the Stones, love and hope and dirty dreams and sex and sex and sex. Through the raucous "Oh My Lover" and "Joe," Harvey airs her laundry quite loudly but never loses her wit, as "Sheela-Na-Gig," which features the mantra "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair / I'm gonna take my hips to a man who cares," attest. --Bill Crandall

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kickin' the motorcart into high gear, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

Put your lipstick on and light a candle, this album is ready to take you for the ride of your life. Few bands or artists were able to kick off the "grunge" or "alternative" scene, but P J did just that. There's not a thing not to like about "Dry". The album starts out with the song "Oh My Lover" which pretty much tells you where her head is at, at the moment. If you can be a fan of PJ without having heard this cd first then you are a true fan. This album is like no other, with it's fast guitar slamming and despairing crackling of her voice (not to mention the cello) she trips this album like she's on the highway out. The album first takes you on with it's "bisexuality" theme with songs like "O Stella" and "Victory", and then gives you an eerie delightment with songs such as "Plants and Rags" and "Happy and Bleeding". But no album of her's would be complete without a nightmare to keep you thinking and "Fountain" does just that. This debut album of her's goes to show you she is not rythmically fallible and will get you going. In just 12 songs PJ signs her name in what will never be forgotten "a musical milestone".

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceeds the 5 star rating!, December 29, 2006

By	Cherise Everhard (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I bought this cassette when it came out in 1992. I had long ago worn out the cassette. I just recently purchased the CD's to all her music, man I have missed it.
PJ Harvey is a powerful singer, song writer and musician. This CD is not for someone expecting happy, sappy love songs or a tame beat.
She exudes a raw, feminine, tough, and sometime comical outlook in her songs. She holds nothing back.
Each song is an experience.

Oh My Lover: she sings to her lover "You can love her and you can love me at the same time, much to discover." Not only is this song sexual, it's also pretty emotional to me. She asks him to "take at your leisure, take whatever you can find." Then she almost pleads with him to say her name and offers to take on his troubles. To me this song always represented a woman willing to go to the extreme to please her man, to keep him.

Dress: this is a really fast, upbeat song. But the lyrics are kind of sad. She's lonely and gets all dressed up and tries to get male attention. It reminds me of all the uncomfortable stuff we do trying to attract the opposite sex. At the end of the song, she's still alone.

Happy and Bleeding: I always took this song to be a celebration of a woman's amazing body and its capabilities. Whether or not that is the correct interpretation, I have no idea. "...fruit flower myself inside out, I'm happy and bleeding for you."

Sheela-Na-Gig: if you have never seen a Sheela-Na-Gig, you need to look one up in order to fully appreciate this song. This is one of the songs I feel she takes a more 'comical' approach. She is showing off her child bearing hips and other assorted 'assets' while her 'partner' is accusing her of exhibitionism. All the while she professes to find a new man. At one point he asks her to clean her "dirty pillows" because he doesn't want to be unclean.

Fountain: I always thought this song was beautiful. She starts it off by standing under a fountain and washing away a man. Then another man comes and saves her, only to leave her like the other one did. The beat starts off slow and then builds.

That's just a few of the songs on this CD and each one is remarkable in its own right. I will never tire of this CD, its music or its lyrics. PJ Harvey is in a class by herself.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stunning album, June 17, 2002

By	Nick (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

and only the debut. PJ Harvey has to be one of the roughest, toughest rock/punk artists out there right now, and this album shows. Although her raw punk is more masterfully displayed on her next album, "rid of me", this CD takes awhile to grow on you and to sink in, but when it does it hits hard. This album lives up to all expectations i had for it. I own all of PJ's CD's, and this album comes in 2nd, behind the eclectic roller coaster of emotions, "to bring you my love". My favorites off this album are O Stella, Happy and Bleeding, Sheela-Na-Gig, and Water. But all of the songs are great and this album is filler-free. I dont know which songs were songs played on the radio or just album tracks, but that should tell you something, that all the songs are of that quality. the album creates a raw, indie, upbeat, dark, punk atmosphere you dont hear that much. So in conclusion, if you think Alanis Morrisette is on the edge, you ahvent heard anything yet.