PJ Harvey: Rid of Me [ISLAND]

Why you'll love it

This Island reissue is pressed on 180g vinyl with a printed inner sleeve and download card. Rolling Stone ranked Rid of Me No. 153 on its 2020 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Printed inner sleeve
• Download card included
• Lyrics included
• Stereo mix
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Signing to a major label is supposed to sand the edges off an artist. PJ Harvey moved from Too Pure to Island after her debut Dry and promptly made something rawer and more aggressive, which tells you plenty about who was in charge.

Most of the album was recorded by Steve Albini, who captured Harvey's original trio, with Rob Ellis on drums and backing vocals and Steve Vaughan on bass, in all its bare-knuckle glory. The title track creeps in quietly before it erupts, "Legs" and "Snake" bite hard, and "50ft Queenie" is a swaggering blast of pure confidence. "Man-Size" appears twice, once as a string-led "Man-Size Sextet" and once with the full band, and "Dry," "Me-Jane" and "Ecstasy" round things off with real menace. "Hook" and "Yuri-G" are as catchy as they are ferocious, and "Rub 'Til It Bleeds" slow-burns into a storm.

It was the last record the trio made together, and it still sounds as thrillingly loud as any rock album of the 1990s. We'd advise turning it down slightly for the quiet bits, then quickly regretting it.

Also at Kops: more PJ Harvey on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Island (cat# 0851112), a reissue of the 1993 album.