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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Positively corrosive guitar rock., November 12, 2000
The cover says it all. Emotions laid bare, defiance incarnate, grimy and harrowing, Rid of Me is a listening experience unlike any other. The closest comparison is probably Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, except where Trent Reznor's main instruments are intricate sonics and technology, PJ Harvey's weapons are more primal -- Harvey's versatile, devastating voice; a battery-acid guitar sound and technique; volcanic songwriting; and a backbreaking backbeat. Three-chord angst doesn't come on stronger than on title track "Rid of Me", starting off as a faint whisper but plowing into an energetic monster in the veins of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" come chorus time, drummer Robert Ellis supplying a degenerate scream ("Lick my legs, I'm on fire") that sounds like it came straight from a Richard Kern film. And as angry as Harvey is, she backs it up with punk hookery aplenty; "50ft. Queenie" could have been a Ramones hook in all its simplicity and raw adrenalized power, and "Rub It 'til It Bleeds" sounds like the unholy child of Nico and R.E.M.My only reservation comes in the production front. Though perhaps somewhat fitting for an album of this decayed nature, but I've never been fond of the way producer Steve Albini treats vocals. As strong as Harvey's music is overall, her voice is still her preeminent instrument, and I would've liked to hear it a lot more than on here. But to correct that, there's always the 4-Track Demos collection. As it stands, Rid of Me is still a damned powerful piece of work.
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grrrr!, December 30, 1999
The words "Polly Jean Harvey" and "frightening" are certainly synonymous, as proved in Harvey's second full-length album, RID OF ME. The album begins with the soft picking of a guitar and her delicately deep voice barely above the whisper, pleading, "Don't leave me, I'm bleeding.." About two minutes into the song, you relax and it suddenly explodes into "don't you wish you never met her! " ferociously and abruptly. There's a lot of schizophrenia in the 14 songs on this CD. Most of the songs, with the exception of the sadder, desperate "Missed", are freakin' scary. However, my friends, don't mistake "scary" for "bad". The songs are quite good indeed. There's a lot more ferocity to the tunes than on DRY or PJ's later albums. Raw anger, bone-chilling wails of desperation.. Fast-paced riff-driven anthems like "50 Ft. Queenie" and the amazing "Yuri-G" give an abrasive edge to the album. "Man-Size" and "Hook", with their heavy driving riffs, seize you and burrow into your skin. The harsh wails over discordant guitars in "Legs" lead to the powerful gut-wrenching growls of "Snake". Sexual tension seems to be one of several themes on RID OF ME, as heard in "Snake." Some may be turned off by the atonal, avantgarde "Man-Size Sextet", a strange take on "Man-Size" with spoken lyrics and harshly dissonant violins. This does not overshadow the album as a whole, though. The tribal jungle sound of "Me-Jane" is definitely the best song on the album. Going from soft to fierce and back with each second, you too will be sucked into the blazing lungs of Ms. Polly Harvey. I give this album the highest rating and my personal recommendations. I also would recommend any of her other albums.
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My first, September 4, 2000
I love everything by PJ Harvey: I give five stars to every one or her CDs (even "Dance Hall At Louse Point" and "Four-Track Demo"). But "Rid of Me" will always hold a special place in my heart because . . . well, because it was my first. And it is the one I like best. I bought it close to five years ago, after reading an interview with her in Rolling Stone. I quickly grew to like her when I read what she had to say. Her attitude reminded me of the more serious girls I knew in art school. She came across as genuine and thoughtful; a humble individual, not impressed by herself, but interested in covering new ground artistically. I also liked it that she is a student of the Bible (I, too, am a student of the Bible, though I'm not going to say I'm a very good one [her most Biblically inspired CD to date is "Dry", and I'm not just taking about the songs "Hair" and "Water" either]).I decided to check out PJ Harvey, so I set out to obtain "To Bring You My Love" (her latest release at the time), but that day there was not a copy available at Zia (a local CD outlet). So I settled on "Rid of Me". When I heard it the first time I thought it would definitely be a short-timer in my collection. It was more roaring and raucous than I expected, with profanity scattered throughout. So I said to myself, "I'm glad I got that out of my system," and I planned to offer it up, as soon as possible, at the trade counter. Yet . . . part of me -- that part that all artists and lovers of art know about, a part that views everything on its own without regard for any acquired personal taste -- had an aesthetic experience. Something inside felt I had just listened to something really great. I have loved PJ Harvey ever since. Her singing voice is like a hybrid of Janis Joplin and Patti Smith (though she claims to have only heard Patti Smith only after comparisons were made). Her guitar work is not complicated. The places where you'd expect a lead guitar solo she gives you hard repetitive rhythm guitar. Yet it is more than purely functional. Her guitar style suggests a mercenary with an assault rifle -- a petite 90 pound shy little English country girl wielding the great equalizer, firing on all those things out there that has, or wants to have, control over her. Joe Gore, guitarist for Tom Waits and a guitarist for Harvey on "To Bring You My Love" and "Is This Desire", admires her method of guitar playing, saying she: "renders her tough and ingenious riffs with enough violent emotion to make Tarantino flinch." Though I love PJ Harvey, she is not someone I recommend to everyone. It's kind of like telling everyone they should see "Reservoir Dogs", "Sid And Nancy", or "Fight Club" -- you're not going to convince everyone that something valuable is being rendered. And, I guess, I you shouldn't have to.
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