Album: PJ Harvey & John Parish / A Woman A Man Walked By

Artist: PJ Harvey & John Parish

Album: A Woman A Man Walked By

"Where does the passion go?" PJ Harvey asks near the end of this album, which I'd also been wondering for much of its length. I can't say I entered with high expectations, given that it was the sequel to the okay-not-awesome Dance Hall at Louise Point (1996) and the follow-up to her rather dull White Chalk.

In one sense it's hard to kvetch that she doesn't hit it out of the park all the time, when at least you can get the impression that she had a restless creative spirit, and is always experimenting with new voices (Mark E. Smith here, Karen Carpenter there) and new ideas. An album of "Meet Ze Monsta" rewrites might sound fab, but it's impressive she generally doesn't stoop to doing the easy thing. Which means, basically, I can appreciate this album, but I don't particularly like it.

"Black Hearted Love" has a little bit of obsessive zest, but does verge into rehash territory. The title track, with its "I want his fucking ass" refrain, has a bit of edge¹ but quickly descends into "The Crow Knows Where All the Little Children Go", a mild, uninteresting coda. The sparer songs, like "The Soldier" and the concluding "Cracks in the Canvas" are perhaps the most rewarding.

Relistening reveals that this isn't a disaster, but I just can't find it fully engaging. Destined to be argued about in years to come as "perennially underrated".

Track Pick: 1 - Black Hearted Love

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¹ And provides some grist for those still working on their MA theses regarding "Power/Gender/Relationships in the works of Polly Jean Harvey".