Customer Reviews

Let England Shake

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Kate Bush and Nick Cave had a baby. They named the baby "Let England Shake." This is absolutely brilliant. Last night, I listened to it for the first time with the headphones on. It was so mindblowing, I actually had to take them off and stop for a while. So much subtlety and grace. This album is simply beautiful. This album is simply horrifying.

It seems to me that, beyond being an album about war and an album about England, it is an album that is about death. It is about death and how responsible we humans are for it much of the time. To know that you are mortal, that your time is finite, yet to still construct rationales and to still be beholden to animal lusts that cut that already unfathomably precious time even shorter...for what? Staggering.

I've seen a lot of conservative comments, lacking vision, that feel Ms. Harvey is not the Ms. Harvey of old, that she has lost the fire of the 1990's. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ironic that the ravages of time and the descent into bitterness that are reflected upon in this record are echoed in the negativity of some of the reviews. But I suppose that's to be expected as the war of life drags ever on.

During the first decade of her career (1991-2000) Harvey was one of the most deservedly acclaimed artists in all of music. In fact much of her work during that period is among the most varied and challenging (and best) popular music ever released: Whether the potent blues-punk of "Dry" and "Rid of Me", the industrial/gospel/blues-mythology of "To Bring You My Love" (arguable her best work), or the refined, emphatically heartfelt "Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea" (2000), she seemed incapable of a misstep. Her work became both less prolific and less inspired. Apart from a collaboration with band-mate John Parrish, the next decade only saw two releases: "Uh-huh Her" was an uninspired hodgepodge of her previous approaches, while "White Chalk" consisted of decent, but somewhat pedestrian piano-based ballads. "Let England Shake" is her most inspired, consistent album in a decade.

Thematically "Let England Shake" is poignant and mournful like much or her earlier work, but the songwriting is more fully realized, and the music is richer and fuller than an White Chalk. While she doesn't really take any major departures, she finds ways to embellish her sound. Perhaps most interestingly, she sometimes directly uses other artists as a partial substrate: "Written on the Forehead," samples Niney the Observers' "Blood and Fire", while "The Glorious Land" includes a traditional bugled battle hymn of the U.S. Cavalry. On a few other tracks she subtly infuses elements like horns, brass, and maybe even a xylophone (I think). The result is a lush, warm album that deftly combines both modern and traditional musical elements: Perhaps the perfect stage for Harvey's mournful ruminations on the national and personal destruction wrought by war.

Though her emotional and thematic complexity always defies easy description and understanding, "Let England Shake" can be generally interpreted as both a love letter to and a eulogy for her home country of England and the carnage wrought by military conflict. Throughout the record, there are vivid, painful images of death in various forms and stages. Despite her agonizing lyricism, Harvey almost always manages to keep "Let England Shake" resolutely dignified and compelling; rather than wholly succumbing to the carnage and darkness, she uses the grief as a source of inspiration (and vocally, she's still in top form).

While they are very different albums, much as she did with "To Bring You My Love", Harvey has pulled off a rare accomplishment on "Let England Shake": She marries grand, inspired music with poignant, mournful themes in a way that makes both elements more compelling than they would be separately. While she's not as emphatic, bold, and immediate as she was in her peak, with this album she reasserts herself as one of the most sophisticated, poetic, articulate, and uniquely undefinable musical artists. To me, this is her first album that's both unapologetically mature and genuinely inspired.

English singer/songwriter PJ Harvey has released a number of great records since her classic debut, often changing her style and - aside from maybe Uh Huh Her - making sure that each record has its own identity. For her eighth proper studio record, the great Let England Shake, Harvey is changing things up more than ever, offering something of a new vocal style, a new focal instrument (the autoharp), some strange ornamentation (saxophones, you name it), and a very heavy and constant focus (war). All that said, this still somehow feels very much like a PJ Harvey record, offering all the bite and howl of her best work while giving the listener plenty to think about.

Long known not only for her howl, but also for her songwriting ability (see White Chalk or To Bring You My Love for proof), Harvey seems maybe more focused here than ever, admitting in the media that she spent quite a bit of time studying the history of conflict and war while writing her new record. And while its easy to listen to these 12 songs and think about things going on in the world today, most of the themes and concepts can be traced back through time, Harvey often referencing Anzac Cove, not Afghanistan. And while I do find the lyrics to be particularly interesting and even rewarding (Harvey supposedly spent over two years simply perfecting the lyrics with not instruments, but pen and paper), what I find most rewarding about this record are Harvey's arrangements and singing, which are as good here as ever.

It's not that I don't care about war or respect someone writing so elegantly about the evil of men (primarily in Europe, though I imagine it's hard for an American to hear the record and not feel like she's talking Bush and Obama), it's just that, well, I like music far more than I like war. War bums me out; music shoots straight to my mental state of well being in a way that nothing else can. The mixture of the two things, when you think about it, is strange; but, when done properly, it can work quite well. And while Harvey is often singing about sad history, you'd only know it if you paid close attention to her words with each spin - something I don't recommend. There's too much beauty in these often strange compositions to overlook. My theory is that, since Harvey, such a skilled album-maker at this point, took so long to pen these tunes, she very likely also had a whole lot of time to think about how she wanted to approach them in the studio. And so she came in with new voice, new sound and focused words, ready to record some of her most realized work ever.

Back when I was working in record stores I'd play Is This Desire? and, more than almost anything, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea very, very often. Both albums had songs that appealed to me instantly, not unlike Let England Shake tracks such as "The Last Living Rose," "England" and "The Words That Maketh Murder." But, as I stuck with those two records, they revealed themselves to me in new ways, growing as I listened, eventually becoming front-to-back favorites. England is no different, once again proving Harvey as a true blue AOR-styled artist with some serious longevity.

Take an artist, any artist, with loads of great albums. Picture that catalog and all its high points. Now imagine me telling you that that very artist has yet to release their best record. Chances are, you wouldn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me. But here we have PJ Harvey who, after two decades of releasing great - even classic, in some cases - records, has released what could very likely go down as her signature record. It's the music. It's the singing. It's the writing. It's the strange ornamentation. Everything comes together here to form a solid, memorable work that ups the ante for anyone trying to make a serious album made to move and inspire. That the backdrops are also so unique and cool is one hell of a bonus.

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When it comes to modern rock singer/songwriters, there is PJ Harvey and everyone else. This generation does not have a Dylan, Young or Mitchell walking through the door anytime soon (sorry Bright Eyes and S. Stevens.) Let England Shake is another masterpiece and her fans are going to have to follow her lead or get left behind.

Like Bowie, Harvey is constantly changing. Here's a quick run down: Punk goddess on "Dry" n' "Rid of Me." Magical temptress on "To Bring you My Love" n'"... Desire." She threw her fans a bone and gave them exactly what they wanted on the excellent yet relatively safe "Stories..." She quickly snatched the bone away with "Uh Huh Her" n' "White Chalk." "Let England Shake" is not an easy listen. With time, it may prove to be her best.

War? What is it good for? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) It's good for a spine tingling journey through the past, present and future of England. PJ mentions the hills, trees, landscapes within the context of battles that have shaped both her and the rest of the world. The price paid was and remains high. The lyrics on this album are some of the best of her career. She no longer pines for a lover or howls at the sea. She sings of life during wartime and the horrific reality of death.

While the hard charging Harvey of old may have been a perfect match for the bleak subject matter, the alt queen opts for a less obvious solution: sing sweetly and let the darkness in slowly but surely.

There are no obvious singles or sing a-longs here. The instruments float in and out like London fog. A sax steps in for a strummed guitar. A pretty harp or piano juxtaposes a harrowing tale. On The Last Living Rose, a torn Harvey sings the praises of a country where glistening gold sells for nothing. The line from All And Everyone, "advancing in the sun... sing Death to all and everyone" ranks as one of popular music's most chilling moments because of the sad and beautiful way Polly Jean delivers it.

Let England Shake will not be a soundtrack to anyone's spring or summer. It's much more: it's a soundtrack for humanity in the 20th and 21st centuries. Thanks Polly Jean for leading singer/songwriters and music fans to unknown destinations. I will follow...

PJ Harvey already has one album on Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums of All Time list (Rid of Me) and I don't think it would be a stretch to say that this one could handily bump another off of that list and take it's rightful place there. Good god, can this woman make music or what?

To be brief, if you're already a fan you'll absolutely love this album. Love. If you're not familiar with her work, before purchasing this, pleaseohpleaseohplease find some of her music videos or performances on YouTube and listen to at least 3-5 songs from as many albums as no two are alike. Her music is such that you will either love it or not. Period. I happen to love it.

I'll readily admit that this 5 star review is a bit biased and of no surprise as I've been a rabid fan of her since I was 11 years old and even named my first car "The Polly Jean Machine". As I've grown and evolved, so has she and her music. PJ Harvey is the soundtrack to my life. Sooo glad she afforded me the opportunity to add this album to that soundtrack. And thanks to my husband for the best 1st Mother's Day gift a PJ fan could hope for!

PJ Harvey's eighth studio album, Let England Shake, is a work of art. She recorded the album in a 19th century church in Dorset, located on the South West coast of England. Joining her in the studio were longtime friends and collaborators Mick Harvey (no relation) and John Parish and producer Flood.

In numerous interviews Polly Jean Harvey states that her goal with each album is for it to be different than the previous, and in that she is far more successful than her peers. The goth-electro foreboding of 1998's Is This Desire? gave way to 2000's pure rock Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, an album for which she won the Mercury Prize. 2007's White Chalk was also critically lauded and for this album Harvey ditched her Gretsch Broadkaster for the piano. While the instruments and the overall sound of each album differs from one to the next you could say that each of these albums dealt with the inner world and subjects ranged from subjects like unrequited love to death to sex; the personal politics and torments and joys that make us human. On Let England Shake, Harvey places the personal politics aside and focuses on the outside world. Images of war and its impact on the land are a common subject matter here with allusion to both Afghanistan and World War I, however, the music shifts the overall tone of the song so that the album does not feel heavy handed. To put it bluntly, Harvey does not preach to her listeners, which is unique for such a political album.

Final Impressions : If you are as much a fan of PJ Harvey as I am then this album will not disappoint. If you are a lover of music...this album is worth the cost. It is already receiving critical praise.

God save the Queen.. yes..

This is a great great great album. Beautiful, historic, epic, emotional..PJ Harvey deserves a big "thank you" by making music so meaningful. Definitely one of the best albums of 2011. Today, only and only PJ harvey could write an album like that.

I'm a big PJ fan, from her early hard rockers, to the more polished Stories from the City. This album is a lovely addition to her catalog. It's not big on hooks or pop chart sensibility, but the lyrics are arresting and it's both intimate and powerful to listen to. great headphone album.

PJ just churns out great album after great album. May not be the perfect introduction to her music for the uninitiated but those who know her wont be disappointed,

...to a brief review of what has turned out to be my favorite album of the year thus far. Still singing in her higher register ala' "White Chalk" but in a more lighthearted mood, Polly Jean has fashioned something of a history lesson/love letter/critique of her beloved 'Eeen-gu-laaa-haaand'and done so with some of the catchiest, tightest and folkiest tunes of her career. Collaborating again with John Parish, these short songs are sprinkled with dashes of light electronica and exotic percussion and seem to speed by in the blink of an eye. The flamenco laced "The Words That Maketh Murder" is my current fave and bears repeated listening. Overall, this is a delightfully caustic and melodic album that will please new and longtime fans alike.