Performer Notes
- Personnel: PJ Harvey (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, vibraphone, marimba, percussion, chimes, bell); John Parish (guitar, organ, drums, percussion); Joe Gore (guitar, E-Bow); Sonia Slany (violin); Jules Singleton, Jocelyn Pook (viola); Sian Bell (cello); Mick Harvey (organ, bass); Joe Dilworth (drums); Jean-Marc Butty (drums, percussion).
- Producers: Flood, Polly Jean Harvey, John Parish.
- Recorded at Townhouse Three, Battersea, England in September and October 1994.
- TO BRING YOU MY LOVE was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance. "Down By The Water" was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
- Personnel: PJ Harvey (vocals, guitar, strings, piano, organ, vibraphone, marimba, percussion, bells, chimes); Joe Gore (guitar, E-bow); John Parish (guitar, organ, drums, percussion); Sonia Slany (violin); Jules Singleton, Jocelyn Pook (viola); Sian Bell (cello); Jean-Marc Butty (drums, percussion); Joe Dilworth (drums).
- Audio Mixer: Flood .
- Recording information: Battersea Townhouse Three (09/1994-10/1994).
- Photographers: Kate Garner; Valerie Phillips.
- The same stylistic evolution which separated DRY from RID OF ME is taken a step further on TO BRING YOU MY LOVE, PJ Harvey's fourth album. No longer relying on the guitar, bass and drum format of standard rock, Harvey takes cues from the likes of indie instigator Trent Reznor to define the new vibe in alternative rock. TO BRING YOU MY LOVE's casual mix of organic and inorganic sounds replaces Harvey's earlier electric precision with a deadlier, more brooding sound.
- Marking a departure for Harvey, she plays many of the instruments herself, creating a collage of sound that seemed impossible on past recordings. Where the material on those albums was built on driving guitar lines and band interaction, TO BRING YOU MY LOVE flavors dancier grooves, decorated with bass and rhythm patterns. The guitar is more orchestrated--as opposed to obvious--making TO BRING YOU MY LOVE a dramatic feat of arrangement and poise. Once again Harvey far surpasses even the most confident expectations placed upon her as a performer and songwriter, to produce a wholly original and daring album.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.58) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (1/25/96, p.41) - Ranked #1 in the 1996 Critics' Poll.
Rolling Stone (3/9/95, pp.63-64) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Harvey envisions a teeming underworld where she is victim, aggressor and accomplice, song by song....all these are put in the service of a primal vision on TO BRING YOU MY LOVE: Harvey's bitter struggles with her demons and her wicked, wanton sympathy for the devil..."
Spin (9/99, p.117) - Ranked #3 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (12/95, p.62) - Ranked #3 on Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums of '95.'
Spin (4/95, p.195) - 10 - Classic - "...She knows that rock'n'roll... stimulates desire, and if you're hungry enough, it can...break you apart....Harvey uses it...to free the man in her, and the madwoman, the goddess and the ghost. While most of her peers graze pop culture's surfaces for inspiration, Harvey plunges under. She's bent on touching rock's magical core..."
Entertainment Weekly (12/29/95-1/5/96, p.132) - Ranked #5 on EW's Top 10 Albums Of 1995.
Entertainment Weekly (3/10/95, p.68) - "...Her lyrics convey desire and love, while her barbed-wire voice betrays uncertainty about giving over that much of herself....TO BRING YOU MY LOVE is the most welcome of rarities: a move toward maturity without any loss of Harvey's visceral power..." - Rating: A
Q (2/96, p.63) - Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995 - "...it's sensual, intoxicating stuff, compelling--and expertly--performed..."
Alternative Press (5/95, pp.74-75) - "...TO BRING YOU MY LOVE could be described as menstrual, in the primeval, ritualistic, sense of the word, the Earth Mother unleashing powers which man would rather lock up for fear of the dark....In another time, they'd call it the blues. But really, it's blacker than that..."
Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #9 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...Rapacious, bluesy, stylistically drawing on Zeppelin and Cave..."
Musician (5/95, pp.85-86) - "...No matter how good her earlier records convinced you Polly Harvey was, she's lots better...an innovative leap forward. She's written primal blues and country-based songs about love, death and longing and sung them passionately with no irony or distance..."
Village Voice (2/20/96) - Ranked #1 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Mojo (Publisher) (p.62) - Ranked #40 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[A]n unprecedented slice of coal-black, freakily obsessional avant-roots-rock."
New York Times (Publisher) (1/6/96, p.C16) - Included on Jon Pareles' and Neil Strauss' list of the Top 10 Albums of `95 - "In Polly Jean Harvey's songs, love becomes immolation and salvation, holy quest and desperate obsession..."
NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #8 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...Obsession, voodoo rituals, religious visions, murder, revenge and a kind of spiritual search for love...set to a creaking, flinty modern-day blues..."
