Much like Björk, Ms Harvey ploughs an original and innovative furrow, with eyes firmly set forwards and not even a glance to the past. This results in some of the most exciting and unsettling
music you're ever likely to hear, "The Wind" being no exception. A brooding, claustrophobic track
that envelops you in siren-like wails and long-dead whispers like a shroud, the song careers along
in sinister fashion, like a driverless car in a horror movie. Discordant, barely identifiable sounds
flit across the mix like bats across a moonlit window, and all the while Harvey's voice haunts the
song, making a whole that is deliciously Gothic, unfashionably essential and by far and away the
release of the week.
B-sides commence with "Nina In Ecstacy", a mesmeric piece comprising Harvey's innocence-tarnished vocals and a church organ, in an elegiac tribute to a soul no longer of this earth. Listen with
the lights on. "The Faster I Breathe The Further I Go" is the other extra track, featuring the
scuzziest guitar this side of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, with street-drunk slur vocals to
match.
Whether her voice summons ghosts, charms snakes or seduces saints, P J Harvey is one of the UK's
most consistently impressive - and underrated - artists today. The fact that she is as detached and mysterious as a glimpsed shadow of something unnerving can only be a bonus.
Rating: 9/10
The Rest
Forget all notions you may have after this crew's compelling "The Beat Goes On" hit last year, and
instead revel in this bizarre collision between lounge singer Tony Christie, Jarvis Cocker-penned
lyrics, and a see-saw buzzing insectoid dance beat. Whilst by no means a classic, repeated listens shove
the song so far into your subconcious you can taste it, and the chorus becomes something you are
addicted to.
The b-sides reveal "Snake I", far closer in style to "Beat" with its sci-fi warblings that - without a hook to speak of - get dull quick. Then comes "Sweaty Walls", an old-style beeps and beats number
that sounds like those hearing tests you get in school, and is only marginally more exciting.
Rating: 7/10
This is probably a better track than the All Seeing I one, but I can't be bothered cutting and pasting it to shift it, so there you go. A riff so big it is almost obscene, "Powertrip" is
traditional hard rock only slightly dressed up in post-grunge credibility. After the eclectic cool
of "Walk Like A Panther", this blows the cobwebs away quicker than if you'd stuck a Dyson in your
ears (the fact that it also sucks out your brain is a happy by-product). Dumb-ass lyric of the week
also ("I'm never gonna work another day in my life, God's told me to relax, said I'm gonna get fixed up right") makes this an unchallenging but undeniably enjoyable little ditty, albeit
firmly rooted in Beavis And Butthead land.
"Dead Christmas" is the charmer on the b-side, just missing out on the festive number one slot
with its sweet lyrics ("I got my face in the furnace") and Chili Peppers-like rock n funk
bad-ass attitood. Also on the CD is the video for "Powertrip", the first such CD that I am able to
play since getting a new CD-ROM drive. Filled as it is with long hair, ill-advised beards, leather
trousers and rawk chicks, it was perhaps not the most auspicious of debuts. Nice flashing bikinis
though.
Rating: 7/10
A new release from 3 Colours Red is about as exciting as a new branch of Debenhams opening on your
high street, but "Beautiful Day" is one of their better efforts. Putting aside the three chord thrash
they are best known for, the band tread rock ballad territory with "Beautiful Day", similar - but not
as well - as they did with "Copper Girl". By no means bad, but by no means great, this is yet
another apathetic nail in the band's coffin that is likely to be passed over by all but the most
faithful 3CR fan. Hard to hate though.
"God Shape Hole" sees the guitars back and turned up to 11, with a post-punky scamper through
town that sounds a bit too much like U2 for my liking. I like "A Fine Time For It" better, being closer to the style of The Buzzcocks or similar, but that's just cos I'm a sad old fart who remembers
tartan bondage trousers (though I stress I never wore them. Very often).
Rating: 6/10
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