Top albums of 2009 – number 3
Just a reminder that you can hear my December show on Dandelion Radio throughout the month at
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3. PJ Harvey & John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By (Island)
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it but, having loved ‘Dry’, I expressed doubts at the time that PJ Harvey would have sufficient staying power to go beyond maybe the third album stage. It scarcely needs stating that I was wrong, and that she’s never released, for me anyway, a disappointing album in the seventeen years since.
Among so many fascinating twists and adaptations of that initial template, this year’s jointly credited effort with John Parish has established itself among my favourites. It’s Polly Jean at her screaming, PMT-fuelled best on, for example, the title track but contains more depth and variety than perhaps any of her albums since that initial, arresting blast.
If only people would stop lazily comparing her with Patti Smith (who she is nothing like) and get used to the fact that we have here one of the two or three truly great artists of the last two decades, justifiable world domination might ensue and we’d all be a hell of a lot better off.
PJ HarveyPJ Harvey & John Parish