60 albums
1992 - Dry - PJ Harvey

I saw PJ Harvey three or four times during the early 90s and was never disappointed… until the last time, at The Town & Country Club. I remeber coming out realising that I hadn’t seen a band but had seen Polly Harvey. In retrospect it was silly of me to feel disappointed at an artist developing but I sort of was. I liked the band, particularly Rob Ellis’s vocal offsets and Polly, dressed in black, with her hair pulled back tight, and a guitar around her neck. That was the PJ Harvey I fell in love with.

PJ Harvey - Dry (1992)

Dry is great album and I haven’t listened to it properly for an age so it was great to dig out again. My copy came with an extra disc that was the albums demos, which is interesting but probably a bit unnecessary ~ although Discogs tells me that because of that it is actually worth a small fortune - median £167.86, although I suspect my well loved copy will be at the lower end of the Dry prices.

The last time I saw Polly on a stage was at ‘Howe Gelb and Friends Beyond Nashville’ at The Barbican in 2001 where, most memorably, she guested with much missed Mark Linkous (and with a guitar) on a version of Homecoming Queen. My pal Andy was there and recorded it, it was magical.

Mark Linkous and Polly Harvey - Homecoming Queen

Source: Howe Gelb and friends - Beyond Nashville - The Barbican - November 2001

I thought I’d see what I wrote to The Galaxie 500 Mailing list about that show and discovered that I practically wrote this post word for word 23 years ago!!

So Polly and her guitar...I first saw PJ Harvey when they were a band (like Alice Cooper!) and Polly was the guitarist - on stage - hair pulled tight back on her head and she rocked backwards and forwards in front of the mic pouring out her strange and bitter outpourings...exceptional - so powerful. I saw them half a dozen more times until it was PJ Harvey - the artist not the band - she hardly played guitar at all - the hair was down and wild - a red dress and feather boa had replaced the more conventional indie attire and I had lost another band I loved. I've not paid too much attention to Polly's career since (except for the excellent Hal Hartley film "Book of Life). I enjoyed seeing Polly Harvey again on Saturday and it sort of helped me come to terms with her musical evolution.

Andy Aldridge - The Galaxie 500 Mailing List - Monday 5th November 2001

I kept buying PJ Harvey albums up to White Chalk, but rarely listen to them either. I guess I should, like I suggested I should in 2001!