PJ Harvey: Siren Rising (Hardcover)

~ James R. Blandford (Author) "Situated on the south-west coast of England, nestled among the cluster of counties known as the West Country, Dorset's rugged landscape and vast bleak moorlands..." (more)
Key Phrases: unique artwork, audience recording, backing vocals, New York, Automatic Dlamini, Rob Ellis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In the first ever biography, PJ Harvey’s development is fully traced, from her childhood in the sleepy Dorset village of Corscombe, through her signing to independent label Too Pure back in 1991, right up to her headlining tour of Australia in 2003. Includes new and archive interview material with Harvey herself and her associates. Black and white photos.

About the Author

James Blandford is a music journalist who has contributed major features to Record Collector, Attitude, Mojo Collections and dotmusic.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Omnibus Press; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844494330
• ISBN-13: 978-1844494330
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,064,008 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars some good information, but prob. not for diehard fans, October 17, 2005

By	spacedog "spacedog7" (boston, ma United States) - See all my reviews

i enjoyed this book, but this def. isn't the definitive biography (although as there aren't any others we'll just have to make do w/ this one). diehard fans prob. already know the vast majority of this info. also, i def. noticed several glaring inaccuracies ("nickel under the foot" was not written by PJ, for example), so i wouldn't believe everything he says, esp. since the vast majority of his quotes come from previously published magazine articles and interviews. it's nice that all that info is organized, though you could prob. find a lot of the interviews reprinted online.

as is often the case, the book oftentimes is little more than "and then she released this album, did this tour, put out this single, had a song on this soundtrack, collaborated with so-and-so", esp. near the end, but the first few chapters about her early life and bands are worthwhile. in any case, a book like this is a good checklist if you're looking for PJ-related tracks you don't already have and great excuse to re-listen to all PJ's albums and re-evaluate and re-appreciate a great artist's career. as an added bonus there's a good discography and bootlegography.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No New Info for PJ Fanatics, February 14, 2006

By	Jody (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This book is basically a gathering of articles and interviews regarding the singer/songwriter PJ Harvey. PJ Harvey was a big influence on music in the 90's and inspired a lot of the styles in artists that are around today like the yeah yeah yeahs.

I found that this book did not delve very far into her life story and this is probably not the author's problem but because PJ Harvey is a private individual. I am not a die-hard fan and I did not read any information that I did not already know. The book is short, easy reading.

If you are a collector of PJ Harvey related items then you should still buy this book for your collection. If you are just looking to read more about her, this is probably not the book for you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Finally a book about PJ!, March 27, 2006

By	Ralph Gordon "Ralphie" (Detroit) - See all my reviews

Unfortunately, this book is spotty.

The early stuff seems well-researched. Perhaps the people she associated with then are not famous so they're more likely to tell all those cool stories. Perhaps famous people are tight-lipped, hoping for the same treatment. I'm just guessing, though, I have no idea.

The really interesting stuff (and a much bigger proportion) covers her early career (before and during the Dry period). After that, it seems mostly written from interviews and magazine articles.

I was thrilled with the chapters on the early stuff, but by mid-way this thing ran out of gas. If the author could've kept it up this would be a 5 star. Peace.