Polly Jean Harvey seemed to appear, fully formed, out of nowhere in 1992 with Dry. This wisp of a woman with a Telecaster, Marshall half-stack, and crack rhythm section was Britain's answer to and antidote to grunge. She was almost always compared to Patti Smith, but that's a lazy, male opinion. At worst, she was a one-woman Pixies, using lots of old blues forms, the loud-fast-loud ethic, and bizarre, psycho-sexual lyrics.
Coming from the rural South-West (Dorset) in a village of 600 people, she has hippie parents that listened to Pink Floyd, Howlin’ Wolf, and Captain Beefheart. She worked these influences like a maestro. Dry is one of the coolest and effective debut records since Costello’s My Aim Is True, and it firmly cemented Polly’s place in the rock firmament.
This is a timely and important vinyl reissue. Opening with ‘Oh My Lover,’ Harvey is resigned to sharing her beau with another. She seems resigned to the universal female condition, and the track, with spooky harmonium, has a bit of an Appilachian murder ballad feel.
Things start to rock with the one - riff ‘O Stella,’ then the magnificent ‘Dress,’ a precursor of ‘Man Sized’ from her follow-up Rid Of Me. It's a propulsive, drum heavy mover, featuring Polly’s remarkable vocals and lyrics, again about trying to please her man.
Put on that dress
I'm going out dancing
Starting off red
Clean and sparkling, he'll see me
Music play, make it dreamy for dancing
Must be a way that I can dress to please him
It's hard to walk in the dress, it's not easy
I'm swinging over like a heavy loaded fruit tree
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
If you put it on
This one is a total rager and a highlight of the LP, adding real cello to the track for emphasis. ‘Happy And Bleeding is a tale of losing virginity:
So fruit flower myself inside out
I'm happy and bleeding for you
Fruit flower myself inside out
I'm tired and I'm bleeding for you
This fruit was bruised
Dropped off and blue
Out of season, happy I'm bleeding
Long overdue
Too early and it's late, too
Too early and it's late, too
Mind and body
Polly plays some simple and essential slide on this one. It's surprisingly pretty and touching.
‘Sheela-Na-Gig,’ (a famous fertility statue) Is another psycho-sexual stomp, with an avalanche of drums and guitar chords, Polly is on a rampage:
I've been trying to show you over and over
Look at these, my child-bearing hips
Look at these, my ruby red ruby lips
Look at these my work strong arms and
You've got to see my bottle full of charm
I lay it all at your feet
You turn around and say back to me, "he said"
Sheela-na-gig, Sheela-na-gig
You exhibitionist
Sheela-na-gig, Sheela-na-gig
You exhibitionist
‘Hair’ has a syncopated guitar riff like Beefheart, as Polly spins her own version of the Samson story. It is a sly and understated song that explodes open in the middle. ‘Joe’ is super high energy, in the Pixies mode, almost like the Feelies doing the Pixies. ‘Plants And Rags’ has a Nirvana ‘Heart Shaped Box’ vibe, ending with an atonal violin part. The LP ends with ‘Water,’ great slabs of loud-soft Telecaster guitar, distorted, rubbery bass, and Polly’s vocal fragile in the back. A great way to end this astounding record.
Released at the same time were Polly’s 4-track demos, the reissue LP is called Dry - Demos. It has the eleven songs on Dry in order, on very clean, stripped down versions. Lots of acoustic and Polly’s vocals. ‘Dress’ again is a highlight, ‘Happy And Bleeding’ is a true lament, and ‘Sheela-Na-Gig sounds like a demented coffeehouse number. ‘Plants And Rags’ maintains that Nirvana vibe in a good way. If you are interested in how songs are built up and produced, Dry - Demos is a must listen. There are good bones to be built upon here.
As I mentioned, Dry is an astounding debut. I have nothing but admiration for PJ Harvey, then the name of the band, and Polly Jean Harvey, the artist. She arrived and stayed as one of the more interesting artists in rock, and she came out of the gate screaming. If you don’t know this record you should remedy that promptly. If you do, get the vinyl.
----Steve McGowan
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