{"id":5857,"date":"2011-02-15T21:27:44","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T01:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=5857"},"modified":"2011-02-15T22:06:58","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T02:06:58","slug":"bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/","title":{"rendered":"Bullshit On PJ Harvey: Lose the Mascara, Already!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"data\" value=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/bullshit2.swf\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/bullshit2.swf\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"319\" src=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/bullshit2.swf\" data=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/media\/blogs\/rth\/bullshit2.swf\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>\n<p><strong>PJ Harvey<\/strong>&#8216;s latest album, <em>Let England Shake<\/em>, can be previewed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2011\/02\/06\/133495228\/first-listen-pj-harvey-let-england-shake\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. I&#8217;ve only heard a couple of songs so far, but as I&#8217;ve felt with just about everything I&#8217;ve heard from her since her fourth album, I<em>s This Desire?&#8230; <\/em>(Read on at your own risk; I&#8217;m about to get uncharacteristically un-PC.)<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Va0w5pxFkAM?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E8ZE6XK89YA?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I want to wipe the theatrical mascara off her face, toss her hair curlers, and suggest she go back to being the tiny art-freak skank of her first two albums. I miss that mighty might, with her confusing cock-rock takes on femininity, or whatever was going on back then. <em>Rid of Me<\/em> is one of my favorite albums from the early &#8217;90s. The music kicked ass. She sounded cool. The lyrics cut to the bone. I turn up the volume.<!--nextpage--><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OVbnRDseLOQ?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Harvey (can we now call her &#8220;PJ,&#8221; or is that still a <em>band<\/em>, like the old <strong>Blondie\/Debbie Harry<\/strong> split?) first glammed it up for <em>To Bring You My Love<\/em>. It was a fine departure, and it brought her creepy-sexy persona into new creepy-sexy territory. Then she started to become more&#8230;feminine, even <em>girly<\/em>. This played well with critics and her younger generation of fans\u2014and who knows, maybe &#8220;girls,&#8221; too. But it bummed me out. My tiny art-freak skank was now making a pitch to be taken home to Mom.<!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BfJmGpaL18k?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I know these views are <strong><em>HORRIBLE<\/em><\/strong> on 999 levels, but on one level\u2014musically\u2014I feel justified in sharing these <em>opinions<\/em>. She&#8217;s beeen making &#8220;coffee-table rock&#8221; for too long now. Most of her albums sound just blow by now, depending on a mantra of backstory and <strong>Nick Cave<\/strong> references to be palatable.\u00a0<em>Fresh Air<\/em>&#8216;s <strong>Terry Gross<\/strong> thinks there&#8217;s something significant, something mystical in her choice of recording her new album in a 19th century church. To her credit I could sense PJ squirming at the question. I hope she&#8217;s getting the message that her message is getting to too many of the wrong people, turning her into some <em>healing<\/em> crystals witch for suburban power moms to talk about while drinking chai after dropping the kids off in the SUV.<!--nextpage--><\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZON2rv5XKzo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I know she tried to make some tiny art-freak skank music on one of her recent albums. Keep on pushin&#8217;, PJ! Ditch the autoharp; you&#8217;re not <strong>John Sebastian<\/strong>. Get the Led out, Polly Jean, and not <em>Led Zeppelin III<\/em>! Pull out your Beefheart albums. Rock &#8216;n roll needs its tiny art-freak skank back in her jackboots, or at least I do. Your absence has opened the door to too many poseurs. <strong>Avril Lavigne<\/strong>&#8216;s not doing it for me.<\/p>\n<nav class=\"page-links\"><strong>Pages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">1<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">2<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/3\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">3<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/4\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">4<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/5\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"page-num\">5<\/span><\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PJ Harvey&#8216;s latest album, Let England Shake, can be previewed here. I&#8217;ve only heard a couple of songs so far, but as I&#8217;ve felt with just about everything I&#8217;ve heard from her since her fourth album, Is This Desire?&#8230; (Read on at your own risk; I&#8217;m about to get uncharacteristically un-PC.) Pages: 1 2 3 <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/bullshit-on-pj-harvey-lose-the-mascara-already\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[87,428],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}