A Woman a Man Walked By.

Even if my life depended on it, I wouldn't be able to write a good review for an album, ever. But I am going to try, anyway.

P J Harvey & John Parish - A Woman a Man Walked By.

(Damn. I just realised P J's expression is the same as the chicken's!)

1. "Black Hearted Love" – 4:40 - First single. The lyrics are quite suggestive in that do-me-anally kind of way. Makes sense that her voice is very sexy in this one. The video is just OK (she looks simply gorgeous and vibrant, though!), but who even bothers to make music videos anymore? Guitars!
   
2. "Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen" – 3:35 - Shit!! -Not the song, just an expression- Love the barking!! This one, at first listen, reminded me of Driving. As the timer walks on, the listener erases first chrod impressions and is strangely reminded of The Sky Lit Up (especially towards the chorus) - As the chorus kicks in, you find yourself jumping around to it (if that's your thing, that is). Erikaahh!!!! There is no laughter in the garden - spooky-perfect for one of those blackout nights. What? Those are only for latinamericans?
   
3. "Leaving California" – 3:56 - Take that, Welcome to England! This one shows us what she's learned from White Chalk (which I absolutely adore), and matured since Is This Desire? (personal life-long favorite), haunting vocals! How could I believe that I could live and breathe in you? - haha! What is that instrument being used towards the end? Gorgeous. 8) - For some reason, it reminds me of Daddy, only it's actually quite different.
   
4. "The Chair" – 2:29 - If you were looking for something that is unlike anything she's done, this is it. Strident and hard, which we know she can do very well! I definitely need more time with this one. Might be the hardest to listen to.
   
5. "April" – 4:41 - Is That All These Is?'s bitter, old, unmarried, catraising sister. AWAMWB's Hulga, if you will. Need I say more? Beautiful!
   
6. "A Woman a Man Walked By / The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go" – 4:47 - Ho.ly.Shit. I still can totally see Flannery's influence in P J's lyrical skills. This one not only's got P J rocking, versatile vocals, it also has that taking-the-piss kind of humor, which P J has mastered. Hilarious and great when you want to freak your friends out. The "The Crow Knows..." instrumental is stunning. Definitely takes you off the I-want-to-bite-your-fucking-head-off vibe from "A Woman a Man" right into that "pass me my margarita, Felipe!" kind of soothing afternoon feeling.  I wasn't expecting something this great on the album, quite frankly.
   
7. "The Soldier" – 3:55 - Very beautiful lyrics- I am suspecting this was an actual dream she had. It sounds like it could've been a b-side from the White Chalk era. Who knows, maybe it is! There was no new material in the White Chalk b-sides, only songs writen/recorded in the early 90s, before she even was famous. The piano during the chorus is mesmerizing. What else is there, a synt? If I were to choose the weakest track on the album, though, this would be it.
   
8. "Pig Will Not*" – 3:50 - Now this is a Hot Mess™ (unlike 500 Miles - that's just a sad mess); I love the barking/screaming- The piano towards the end, with the rocky instrumental in the background, just makes me want to grab a joint and smoke the shit out of it. Or do it while I press "repeat", or do both over and over until I pass out. This one, even when having that RAW feel to it, shows how much both John and Polly have matured, musically. 
   
9. "Passionless, Pointless" – 4:19 - This is the slowest song on the album, I've mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, it's very dark, on the other...I'll just have to get back to this one later on.
   
10. "Cracks in the Canvas" – 1:54 - I think it's the perfect album closer. The backing vocals remind me of the Is This Desire? days, which is good. Especially since this song reminds me of Nina In Ecstasy. There is despair, doubt and fear in the lyrics, yet, the song sounds reassuring; it makes you feel like there is more to music than instruments and lyrics. "Life is about pictures, look at the biggest one", it tells me.
    

I'm giving this album 984.7 out of 1,000. Not over-produced, not under-produced. Not dated.

Thank you, Polly and John, for fucking like animals while making this album, and for being and staying cool. And for keeping on making wear-me-out music. Just what the world needs! More babies,  guns and music from you! <3

Now, where are the b-sides? April 6th can't come fast enough!

Full lyrics (transcribed by me, so there might be some mistakes in them):

Click <--- Still working on these -help appreciated!-

*Pig Will Not inspired by Charles Baudelaire's poem Le Rebelle**:

Falling abruptly like a bird of prey from the sky, 

A furious angel seizes the sinner by his hair 

And says, "I will teach you to behave, do you hear me? I 

Am your good spirit!" And shakes him angrily in the air.

"I will teach you to be kind — to love, without making a face, 

The poor, the deformed, the depraved, the uncivil, the dirty, the dumb 

That you may help with your charity to prepare a place 

Here upon earth for Jesus when he is ready to come.

"Such is true love — the only virtue that exists,

The only happiness that endures. Take heed, before

Your heart is completely petrified and your senses rot."

And pounding upon his victim with his colossal fists 

In love and in fury, the angel cannot cease to implore — 

Nor the accursèd one to answer: "I will not!"

**Translation by George Dillon from Flowers of Evil (NY: Harper and Brothers, 1936)

OK. There ya have it. I know that, if I were a journalist, I would be one of those "Tori Amos? The poor man's Kate Bush?" type of lazy journalists, but at least I didn't use the word "nice". Credit where is due!

Allimamashte.

CocoRosie - Malta 2006 (live).

Bear Hides and Buffalo

K-Hole

Promise

Sunshine

Noah's Ark/Eat My Pussy Right Medley

By Your Side

Click (32 MB/192 kbps)

Kate Bush Instrumental.

There Goes a Tenner

Click

Okay, remember

Okay, remember

That we have just allowed

Half an hour

To get in, do it, and get out.

The sense of adventure

Is changing to danger;

The signal has been given.

I go in-

The crime begins.

My excitement

Turns into fright.

All my words fade

What am I gonna say?

Mustn't give the game away.

We're waiting-

We're waiting-

We're waiting.

We got the job sussed;

This shop's shut for business;

The lookout has parked the car,

But kept the engine running-

Three beeps means trouble's coming.

I hope you remember

To treat the gelignite tenderly for me.

I'm having dreams about things

Not going right-

Let's leave in plenty of time, tonight.

Both my partners

Act like actors:

You are Bogart,

He is George Raft,

That leaves Cagney and me.

("What about Edward G.?")

We're waiting,

We're waiting,

We're waiting.

You blow the safe up-

Then all I know is I wake up,

Covered in rubble,

One of the rabble.

Needs mummy-

("What's all this then?")

The government will never find the money.

("What's all this then?")

I've been here all day,

A star in strange ways.

Apart from a photograph

They'll get nothing from me,

Not until they let me see

My solicitor.

Ooh, I remember

That rich, windy weather

When you would carry me,

Pockets floating

In the breeze.

Ooh, there goes a tenner.

Hey, look! There's a fiver.

There's a ten-shilling note.

Remember them?

That's when we used to vote for him.

Alanis Morissette in Guadalajara.

I got into Alanis back in 1995, when she was promoting Jagged Little Pill (well, who didn't?). I was 11 at the time (shit!), and remember thinking both You Learn and You Oughta Know were the best songs/videos I had ever seen. I still think the video for YOK is amazing- it captures the feeling of the song.

Later on I was the only one left of my friends who kept listening to her, then Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie came -becoming, to date, my favorite Alanis album-, and I was completely awed.

Moratorium was my favorite song of last night - the performance seemed quite honest (unlike many of the rest).

Highlights bolded.

The Couch 1

Uninvited

Versions of Violence

All I Really Want

The Couch 2

Not As We

No the Doctor

Head Over Feet

The Couch 3

Sympathetic Character

Flinch

Moratorium

You Oughta Know

Tapes

Hand in my Pocket

Everything

So Pure

You Learn

Ironic

Thank U

Thank you, Alanis, for such great experience. I thought the concert was overall excellent, though I was secretly expecting you to sing The Guy Who Leaves or, you know, Citizen of the Planet. Hand in my Pocket is such a great song, but I never liked any past-1997 live version of it. When you sung this one I thought you were about to have some sort of crib death, and then came Everything. No, Alanis, no. But you're forgiven because last night was the last show of the tour, if I recall correctly, so you must've been completely exhausted. At some point I also felt like giving you a sandwich.

We're making war,

Lover.

We are not getting on.

I will not change to keep the peace;

You won't admit you're wrong.

I’ve got a bellyful of grudges and I will not let them out.

The wreckage of your previous life

You will not sort it out.

The dirt we keep on raking,

The giving up, the taking.

And we keep on making war, darling.

The stand off is coming.

The wounds should heal without a scar,

But the stitches keep on breaking,

And you keep on phoning,

And I keep on moaning,

And we keep on making war.

War, sweetheart,

Destroying our best laid plans;

I will not explain myself and you refuse to understand;

Our friends all become traitors as we wave our piece of paper;

The ammunition's loaded,

And the troops are at the border,

But I might be bluffing,

And you might be faking,

But we keep on making

War.

Click.

Lie to me.

You're wasting all your time, here,

Riding around in the sun

Alone and idling, come wander back to me

You know I'll always be there.

Lie to me...lie to me

Make like you love me

Lie to me...lie to me

Ohh... woah...wohh.. ohhh..

But this one, you'll never go

And this one, you'll never show yourself

But this one, you'll turn it off

And turn your world into a ghost town.

Lie to me...lie to me

Make like you love me

Lie to me

C'mon, it's easy

Ohh, woahh..wohh.. ohh..

Don't think of what we can't be

I know what you need

And you know that you like it

The name you were born with

Is sewed on your sleeve

Let me believe in something.

Click.

A Man A Woman Walked By

Polly Jean Harvey, better known as P J Harvey and long-time collaborator and rumoured ex John Parish are releasing a second album together called A Man A Woman Walked By, follow-up of their 1996 effort Dance Hall at Louse Point on March 30th, 2009. 

The track list is as follows:

1. Black Hearted Love 5:38
   
2. Sixteen, Fifteen, Fourteen 4:17
   
3. Leaving California 6:42
   
4. The Chair 4:12
   
5. April 5:03
   
6. A Woman a Man Walked By / The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go 8:58
   
7. The Soldier 2:46
   
8. Pig Will Not 4:04
   
9. Passionless, Pointless 5:31
   
10. Cracks in the Canvas 6:54
    

Here are some promo shots:

P J Harvey, as always, looking utterly stunning!

• Polly Jean Harvey - Lyrics and vocals
  
• John Parish - Guitars, backing vocals
  
• Eric Drew Feldman - Keyboards
  
• Carla Azar - Drums
  
• Giovanni Ferrario - Bass
  
• Jean-Marc Butty - Drums
  

European tour information can be found at:

http://www.lucidnewmedia.co.uk/clients/pjharvey/news.asp?newsid=834&year=2009

March 30th can't come fast enough!

Wiser (different version)/La Confession.

When I see you, I see my own face
I want to save you from yourself

What could I do?
What could I say?
It’s a downward spiral

A downward spiral

I don’t know what causes sorrow
Or why it has to hurt to learn
But I have had a heart that’s empty
I’ve felt the vacuum nature hates

It’s clear to me 
I wish that you could only see it.

What could I do?
What could I say?
It’s a downward spiral

A downward spiral.

Bajar/DL.

////////////////////////////////////////////

Je n'ai pas peur

De dire que je t'ai trahi

Par pure peresse

Par pure mélancolie;

Qu'entre toi

Et le diable

J'ai choisi le plus

Confortable

Mais tout cela

N'est pas pourquoi

Je me sens coupable,

Mon cher ami.

Je n'ai pas peur de dire

Que tu me fais peur

Avec ton espoir

En ton grand sens de l'honneur

Tu mes donnes envie

De tout détruire

De t'arracher

Le beau sourie

Et même ça

N'est pas pourquoi

Je me sens coupable;

C'est ça le pire-

Je me sens coupable

Parce que j'ai l'habitude

C'est la seule chose

Que je peux faire

Avec use certaine

Certitude

C'est rassurant

De penser

Que je suis sûre

De ne pas me tromper

Quand il s'agit

De la question

De ma grande culpabilité

Je n'ai pas peur

De dire que j'ai triché

J'ai mis le plus pur

De mes pensées

Sur le marché

J'ai envie de laisser tomber

Toute cette idée

De "vérité"

Je garderais

Pour me guider

Plaisir et culpabilité.

-Versión Español-

No me da miedo

Decir que te traicioné

Sólo por pereza

Sólo por melancolía;

Entre tú Y el diablo

Escogí al más

Tranquilo

Pero nada de eso

Es la razón

De que me sienta culpable,

Querido amigo.

No me da miedo decir

Que me asustas

Con tu esperanza

Y gran sentido del honor

Me haces querer

Arruinar todo

Arrancar esa sonrisa

De tu cara

Y ni siquiera eso

Es la razón

Por la que siento culpa;

Eso no es lo peor-

Me siento culpable

Porque es un habito

Es lo único que puedo hacer

Con verdadera certeza

Es tranquilizante

Pensar que no hay error

Cuando se trata de la cuestión

De mi gran culpa. 

No me da miedo

Decir que engañé

Puse mis más puros pensamientos

A la venta;

Quiero olvidar

Toda esta idea de "la verdad";

Mantendré como guía

Sólo al placer y a la culpa.

Bajar/DL.