Rid of Me

I will never understand why music critics fellate PJ Harvey albums the way they do.

If some British dude put this out he would be labeled a wanker.

Good thing this list is insisting on shoving PJ Harvey down your ear holes 4 times with 4 albums.

YAY!

She can’t sing and the instrumentals are nearly as intricate and complex as an AC/DC album. I can think of any number of teen garage bands that sound better than her.

An amazing album, honestly at first I thought it's pretty close to In Utero, but by the end I guess not. Nevertheless I loved the sound of it. I find albini's production to be a little inconsistent throughout the album, but it still manages to capture the essence of each song. Did not pay that much attention to the lyrics, but what i heard was pretty damn good. So I think this is either a stroooong 4 or a low 5. I think after first listen I'm gonna give it a 4, but I JUST might change it later

she has grown on me considerably.

Its so raw and hard in a way that music just isn't now? It's really interesting just how music is recorded and how mistakes have emotional intent. I think that is what is missing in music. It's not the guitar and it's not the rock n roll per se, rather it is the human intent and concept that is missing in music. I'm not really into this type of music, but man it hits very different in 2025 than I think it did when I listened to it for the first time in the late 90's. It's like an extinct animal.

It's good, but it feels a bit more unpolished and raw - and not always in a good way. Still, the vocals of PJ Harvey are a delight.

3rd or 4th album I've listened to from PJ Harvey and she still sounds like a dying cat too often for my tastes. Started out heavier and ok, but got pretty rough. Was a little better towards the end, but not something really worth returning to. 2/5

I'm feeling less annoyed by this album.
I guess this is progress in my appreciation towards PJ Harvey.

I liked a lot of this album, but too much of it came across as just noise for me to want to return to it.

PEEEEJ.

She just keeps getting better.

I prefer the Parish era but Albini is Albini

This is a fantastic record. I feel like more people need to listen to PJ Harvey and I never got why she wasn't more popular. I don't know that this is my favorite record of hers, I'd have to go back and listen to some of the others again, but it's up there for sure. My only real complaint with this album is that the dynamics are a little off for me. I shouldn't have to adjust the volume from song to song or especially not within the same song. That might have been a deliberate choice (like the first song starts playing for a minute and a half or something super quiet so you turn up the volume and then it's like 'joke's on you, now the real music starts!') but it's kind of distracting and irritating. But that's a pretty small complaint and otherwise this is an utterly brilliant album. 5/5

Another banger from Harvey. I love Albini's production on this one. It's super clean and tight and allows the intensity of her performance to shine.

Hated it, awful singing, abrasive guitar work. Just bad

No.

OK I guess.

Angry femme-positive rock from the '90's you say? Yes please!

2nd PJ Harvey album for me and maybe not as good as the first. However I scored that one low and warmed to it on a few re listens so knocking this one up by a percentage point to compensate

What even is this. It's the morning after the 2024 election, and this is not the hangover cure I need for that shitshow. 2*

I've listened to PJ Harvey's music before, both the song "Good Fortune" and her recent album I Inside the Old Year Dying. She is a singer-songwriter who genuinely tries to make each album unique in its musical style. For example, Rid of Me takes a more aggressive approach to songwriting compared to the preceding Dry, complemented by Steve Albini on production.

From the onset of the title track, PJ plays around with the intensity of the sound, teetering between the quiet storm of the verses into the loud and abrasive chorus. This experimental attitude carries throughout the rest of the album, effectively using distorted guitars, banging percussion, odd time signatures, varying dynamics, and PJ's artistic lyrics in her off-kilter delivery that blends well into the constructed madness. Even the cover of Bob Dylan's "Highway '61 Revisited" is manic in its presentation.

I get that Rid of Me's abrasive nature might not be a sell for everyone, as the overall experience can come off as esoteric. Given PJ's tendency to change styles with each album and her rejection of the notion that the lyrics have much to do with her personal experiences, the mileage one can get can vary from album to album.

That said, I can walk away having enjoyed this album, value its inclusion on the list, and find myself revisiting the songs here, even if I can't extrapolate meaning from every song's lyrics and structure within a day of receiving it from the generator. I'm sure this album will grow on me, but for the time being it is still getting a solid recommendation for those adventurous.

Not quite my favorite PJ Harvey album but still magnificent.