Customer Reviews

A Woman A Man Walked By

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Beautifully packaged in stunning white accompanied by the stark photography of Maria Mochnacz, PJ Harvey & John Parish's A Woman A Man Walked By is a collaboration Harvey needed to put her back at the top of her game. While her last 3 albums didn't quite have the same punch as her 90s material, this is just a wonderful, sardonic, expressive, mature and intelligent record. When looking through the sleeve notes what struck me was how much Harvey's words were pomes rather song lyrics, they seem to be presented as pomes on the sleeve notes, and read as pomes , So it's almost like Polly's beautifully, sincere poems set to John's music, and it works superbly. It is expressive, uncompromising, dramatic, and more luminous than her last couple of albums. Songs like the tile track and Pig Will Not are as vigorous and menacing as anything she wrote in her early days, and the Chair and Passionless, Pointless are beautifully luminous and intense. It's also the first time Polly really gets political (The Solider and Cracks In The Canvas) and the most intimate since Rid Of Me.

Officially this is very much a great collaboration of two like minded artists working in tandem, but for me, A Woman and A Man, is a PJ Harvey record, and one that is up there with her best work, kind of like the proper follow up the Is This Desire? I'm so happy to have the PJ Harvey I spent my teenage years idolizing back!

More than 12 years ago PJ Harvey and John Parish released "Dance Hall at Louse Point", and while "A Woman A Man Walked By" constitutes an improvement of sorts, few will be disappointed if their ongoing alliance suffers another hiatus of similar duration.
As before, Parish supplies the musical arrangements and Harvey the words, in that order - a division of labour which sometimes makes for an uncomfortable fit, as with "The Chair", a frantic, piano-led piece about drowning, and "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen", about playing hide-and-seek, in which the opening banjo strums are bulked out with organ as the search gets more frantic.
Each piece draws a new persona out of her. In the company of her old colleague and confidant, she abandons herself to a diverse collection of vocal personae. On "April", her glottal, nicotine-rough delivery appears to be a homage to that other West Country vocal stylist, Portishead's Beth Gibbons.
For the adolescent hide-and-seek scenario of "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen", she regresses to a breathless Celtic bawl.
"Pig Will Not", yelled through a megaphone, is built on her cacophonous howls of refusal - "I will not!" - over Parish's threshing drums
They sound like they are having a little more fun on this record, which Harvey has described as a transitional work, produced for kicks but crucial to her ongoing development as a musician. The results are far from throwaway, but there is the sense that "A Woman A Man Walked By" is a lucky bag of styles, tossed together without much thought for the cohesion that usually characterises Harvey's own albums, such as 2000's " Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea", and gives her something to rebel against for her next musical incarnation.
All in all, the results that makes A Woman Man Walks By such fun. From the childlike waltz of "Leaving California", to the cracked lo fi blues of "April", this is an album that challenges and cheers in equal measure.
"Together, Parish and Harvey sound confidently experimental, like two soldiers daring each other to ever more stupendous feats of bravery. Here's hoping this exploration continues to feed back into the work she produces under her own name, and that Parish gets his dues as one of Britain's most resourceful and imaginative studio craftsmen". -Rob Young.
Highlights: "Black Hearted Love", "A Man A Woman Walked By/The Crow Knows Where All The Little Children Go", "Leaving California".

Dance Hall at Louse Point
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
White Chalk

If I could describe this album with a word this one would be "attitude". Definitely PJ Harvey has always been recognized for being so real and pure musically and lyrically in every word she sings and every note she plays wheter it's with a guitar (Stories from the city, stories from the sea, 2000) or with a piano (White chalk, 2007). These days Ms. Harvey is careless about labels (as a matter of facts she has always been) but on this record she yells this out loud. She seems to explore textures and sounds she had stood by for quite a few years. I must admit that I'm not familiar with the work that John Parrish has done musically but definitely he helps PJ Harvey here to find herself on this record. I would say that the only track that is "radio-friendly" is the first one "Black hearted love" but this doesn't mean that the song is lacked of deepness and integrity. On the other hand songs like "April" and "A woman, a man walked by/the crow knows where all the little children go" are a work of art and the beauty of them is that Harvey and Parrish use simple elements to make with these a moment to remember. Fortunely, the rest of the songs are strong enough to stand on their own without the need of looking for a special element in them. Pj Harvey is a true poet and musician as well that is here (as in every album has always been) to let people know what music means for a woman that is in the music business WITHOUT caring about the business itself.

I have all previous PJ Harvey's work and I like it a lot. But this album (co-authored by PJ and John Parish) is in an entirely different category. This is some of the very best music (and singing) I have heard in my entire life (50+). My review may be biased, because I do not like "nice" music. I puke hearing soothing music. I love aggressive, jarring, and provocative music. Some of my favorites are Bach, Coltrane, and Sonic Youth.

"Black Hearted Love" is a great rock anthem. Ranks among the very best of them. "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" is a great song with a strange melody and rhythm, that is one of my favorites. The title song is phenomenal. After PJ screams out some obscenities in a wonderful fashion, there is some real music. Like *really real* music. Not just entertainment crap. Finally, "Pig Will Not". Oh my God, what a great song! PJ actually barks like a dog, and her barks are so haunting that I often wake up at night hearing her "Woof, woof".

Thank you, PJ and John Parish for phenomenal listening experience! I have listened to the album probably more than 40 times now.

*sigh*
I love this kind of music. When musician's push themselves even when they know their fans won't like it, it thrills me. And Parish & Harvey certainly do that here. It's all over the place, even more so then their last collaboration 'Dance Hall At Louse Point', and I wouldn't want it any other way!
No two songs are the same here. It's chaos.

A Warning: If you didn't like White Chalk (& I love White Chalk) you might not like this one either. Listen to the songs before you buy it!

From the tenor of many of the reviews, I had braced myself for something abrasive and/or unlistenable. In other words, something I would probably like! The fickle commercial palate often acts like a dowsing stick for me, pointing the way toward someone's feverish creativity that is too rich or too astringent for mass consumption -- even if the mass in question is the diehard fans.

I've been following along with PJ Harvey since "Dry," and find her one of our time's most consistently exciting and interesting voices. While the Patti Smith comparisons I guess make sense in a culturally analogous way, Harvey has moved beyond Patti Smith in many ways. For a long time, I compared her to Neil Young -- fiercely prolific, unconcerned with merchandise, a bit too stark at times for even her own fans. Harvey seems to be shaking off this comparison too. This latest collaboration with John Parish, while not the disconnected and jagged noise that some of the more sensitive reviewers would have you believe, definitely falls into the uncompromising category. Yet in many ways it bears a delicacy that rings more true than the coy sonics of "White Chalk."

Those expecting an album full of polished Nick Cave-isms like the lead track "Black Hearted Love," replete with its imagery of rapture and murder and its darkly consistent rock guitars, are indeed setting themselves up for disappointment. However those expecting unlistenable song sketches are selling this bracing and creative album quite short. There is some real aggression here (the unfairly lambasted "Pig Will Not" could have been similar to "Black Hearted Love" if Harvey hadn't taken it in a resolutely unhinged direction with her distorted vocals and feral yelps, and the truculent title track with it's unabashed use of the F-word). There is also some real, unfiltered beauty here, and most points in between beauty and ugliness are at least visited.

My favorite since "Uh Huh Her." Those who give this a real chance will discover it's potent, dark power. I respect Harvey's willingness to slough off some of her more delicate fans -- after all, exfoliation is necessary to healthy skin.

This is the first release I've ever owned with the name 'PJ Harvey' attached to it. While I'd been familiar with her for several years, I had never really bothered to give a true listen. Mostly because:

1) People called her a Patti Smith rip-off
2) People compared her to Ani Difranco, Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette

I love Patti Smith, so I was not eager to support an artist who supposedly mimed her, but upon deeper listening, I must say that Harvey hardly reminds me of Smith. Where does the comparison come from: the fact that they're both dark haired women who occasionally sing aggressively?

As far as the second point, Harvey is thankfully head and shoulders above the other three artists mentioned. Their angsty Lilith Fair ballads are enough to make one sick and it's refreshing to note that, once again, people are off with their comparisons. (No offense to fans of Difranco, Amos or Morissette)

Once I got past the superficial comparisons and listened to the actual music, I was happy to find that this is a truly gorgeous album, which is revealed to be more rewarding with every listen. There's an eerie, wailing guitar that can be heard sporadically throughout the entire album and it's probably the only thing that holds the effort together as one cohesive work.

'April' is the real stand-out track, imo, but the others are not far behind. 4 1/2 out of 5

Like many reviewers here, I greatly enjoy P. J. Harvey's work and own pretty much everything she's ever released. That said, this album is pretty rough, hard to listen to. Perhaps that is the intent, never the less, it doesn't make it good music. Yeah, it's experimental and they're pushing the boundaries a bit, but the songs just aren't that good. "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" is one of the best records I own, but Ms. Harvey has kind of lost me recently. I understand true artists need to branch out, try new things, challenge themselves, etc., and I still respect her recent music. Unfortunately, I just don't want to listen to it that much.

A Woman A Man Walked By being the second collaboration effort between Pj Harvey and John Parrish and released 2009. All the music is written by John Parrish, whom also plays most of the instruments. The vocals and all lyrics are by Harvey. The sound is not so much alternative rock as experimental rock and has also a feel for the psychadelic rock. The album reached #25 in both Australia, UK and #11 in Belgium. The album gained some good reviews from Allmusic, NME And The Guardian. The booklet is very nice and has all the lyrics included and has 3 very nice photographs. 4/5.

Like many of her best albums (most notably White Chalk) this album will not be appreciated by people who are looking for accessible, pop-airbrushed melodies. It retains the sweet, haunting character of Dance Hall at Louse Point, but has an added edge, a wildness-- it is this element that many reviewers who disparage the album seem to be reacting to. I admit that some of the songs, especially on first listening, did raise an eyebrow-- once or twice I had to stop and think, "for real??" But then again, if PJ Harvey conformed her genius to my (and other listeners) expectations, she would not be the inventive master that she has always been. Highlights: Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen and April