I Can't Believe Life's so Complex

April 29, 2021 12:21 PM

This is Love (slyt) is one of just about every clip Miss PJ Harvey has made through her career, remastered (YT play). From Maria Mochnacz's Man-Size and 50 Foot Queenie to Sophie Muller's Stories from the City clips (all slyt).

The only one not included? Maketh Murder (sldailymotion)

posted by kfholy (20 comments total)

50 Foot Queenie is definitely the best White Stripes song/video ever made.
posted by dng at 12:26 PM on April 29, 2021

I've been fascinated by the the video for The Wheel for a while and have watched/listened to it many times: again now. Thanks for the post, kfholy - plenty here I've not seen, too.

By the way, the clip for The Words That Maketh Murder shows up for me among those shown in the third link: perhaps it wasn't there before?
posted by misteraitch at 12:34 PM on April 29, 2021

aitch: Yes I don't see that.
posted by kfholy at 12:36 PM on April 29, 2021

Clips?
posted by tiny frying pan at 12:37 PM on April 29, 2021

pan: Also known as vids?
posted by kfholy at 12:38 PM on April 29, 2021

Looks like the 'Maketh Murder' video I linked above is blocked in the US & Canada, but I think this live performance of it ought to be viewable there.
posted by misteraitch at 12:40 PM on April 29, 2021

Hearing the Rid of Me album for the first time was like getting hit by a truck. She's amazing.
posted by gwint at 12:54 PM on April 29, 2021 [11 favorites]

The video for The Wind is probably the happiest anything PJ Harvey has ever released. Peej is a god, and my wife and I are huge fans; we've seen her in concert together three times, plus I saw her once before the two of us met. The most recent show, in 2017 at Massey Hall, was one of the best half-dozen or so concerts I've ever seen. We've also been buying most of the vinyl reissues she's been putting out over the past year and a bit, plus some of the demos. Anyway, she's the best.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:54 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

I love PJ Harvey. I was a huge fan of Dry and Rid Of Me and then the 4-Track Demos came out which is like some of the songs off both of those, except angrier.
posted by Catblack at 12:56 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

I love PJ Harvey and have always thought this was a riveting live performance
posted by clownschool at 1:12 PM on April 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

My household drove from Chicago to Detroit back in 2017 to see PJ Harvey live because she didn't have a Chicago date announced at the time when the tickets were on sale there, and we all loved her but had never seen her live. (She ended up at Pitchfork, which I heard she was great at but wasn't any of our ideal venues that year.

Tickets and car rental and hotel were a large expense at a time when we were busting the budget to do so, and it was still one of the best decisions I've made in the last 5 years to be honest.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:32 PM on April 29, 2021 [3 favorites]

Seen PJ twice: once with U2, once during her TBYML set.
posted by kfholy at 1:59 PM on April 29, 2021

She's also been issuing every single one of her albums in demo form chronologically over the course of the pandemic, which has been just wonderful.
posted by mykescipark at 2:18 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Great post, thanks. Saw her Uh-Huh Her tour in a small venue. After blowing the whistle for “Long Snake Moan” she whipped it in a circle like she was about to throw a lasso. Which she already had... She owned the audience, their hearts, the night.

Was so thrilled to experience the surprise of her music in Peaky Blinders. Season 2, IIRC. And, yes, that Nick Cave connection.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 3:04 PM on April 29, 2021

This Meet Ze Monsta is probably my favorite PJ YouTube live clip. The charisma! I understand that the TBYML era was a really unhappy time for her personally and the overly theatrical stuff was driven by that, but it sure was good art.
posted by Phase Shifting Pulse Gate at 5:46 PM on April 29, 2021

I can't begrudge her at all, since she is 110% talent no matter what she does, but that PJ Mk I material was really something else.

It's not a small venue, but I did see the "To Send You My Love" tour at a big amphitheater where she opened for The Band Named Live Who Also Plays Live Which Means It's Always Confusing To Mention Them. It was good. We gave Live a two-song courtesy listen to see if it was worth staying, but we wound up beating the crowd out of the parking lot.
posted by rhizome at 5:55 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Question for the hive mind: who are her stylistic and spiritual successors? I want more raw, angry, desperate love songs, but I don't do a great job of keeping up with contemporary music.
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:42 PM on April 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

I love PJ Harvey and have always thought this was a riveting live performance

Oh yes, that performance is absolutely brilliant!
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 9:28 PM on April 29, 2021

Seconding that the demos that are coming out now with the remasters are tremendous! Just gimme her voice and a little bit of guitar. Anything more just interferes with her Presence.
posted by whuppy at 9:40 AM on May 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've been on a kick watching her live videos on youtube. Some great stuff, like Reeling with PJ Harvey which is a tour documentary from 1993. But with the exception of the Chicago Metro performance in 1993, almost all of the professionally shot concerts shy away from having any long shots of her. It's like whomever is editing them is afraid of showing her for more than 2 seconds at a time. I don't want to see 30% of the footage being the drummer, 30% the bass player, 25% the guitarist, and then 5% on Poly Jean herself, dammit!
posted by Catblack at 9:44 PM on May 8, 2021