p j harvey Is This Desire? CD

Personnel: Polly Jean Harvey (vocals, guitar); Eric Drew Feldman (various instruments); John Parish, Joe Gore (guitar); Jeremy Hogg (slide guitar); Richard Hunt (violin); Terry Edwards (trumpet); Mick Harvey (bass); Rob Ellis (drums).
Recorded at Small World Studios, Yeovil, England and Whitefield Street Studios, London, England from April 1997 to April 1998.
IS THIS DESIRE? was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Personnel: Richard Hunt (violin); Terry Edwards (trumpet).
Recording information: London, England (1997-1998); Small Wonders Studios (1997-1998); Whitfield Street Studios, London, England (1997-1998); Yeovil (1997-1998).
Unknown Contributor Roles: Eric Drew Feldman; Joe Gore; John Parish.
Arrangers: Mick Harvey; Rob Ellis.
Retreating from the limelight after the tour for To Bring You My Love, PJ Harvey returned to her small hometown of Yeovil and isolated herself from most pop trends, eventually writing the material that would come to comprise her fourth album, Is This Desire? Released over three and a half years after To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire? has all the hallmarks of a record written in isolation; subtle, cerebral, insular, difficult to assimilate, it's the album where Polly Harvey enters the ranks of craftsmen, sacrificing confession for fiction. It's an inevitable transition for any artist, especially one as lyrically gifted as Harvey, and though her words are more obtuse and not as brutal, painful, or clever, she still draws some effective character sketches. Similarly, the music on Is This Desire? is hardly the immediate, blunt force that characterized her first albums, nor is it the grand theater of To Bring You My Love -- it takes its time, slowly working its way into the subconsciousness. There are a few guitar explosions scattered throughout the record, but it's primarily a series of layered keyboards, electronic rhythms, and acoustic guitars; it's so quiet that at times it barely rises above a murmur, and occasionally floats away without leaving a lasting impression. It seems to challenge the listener to accept it on its own grounds, but once you dig deeper, it winds up offering diminishing rewards. It is more concerned with texture than any of her previous records, but it doesn't push forward enough -- it's either standard hard rockers or mournful ballads underpinned by lite electronica beats, which would have more impact if they were more pronounced. Since Harvey is an extraordinarily gifted songwriter, the album is hardly devoid of merit, but it's her least focused or successful record to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Retreating from the limelight after the tour for her acclaimed third album, To Bring You My Love, PJ Harvey became something of a recluse, appearing only on her colleague John Parish's Dance Hall at Louse Point, as well as a Nick Cave record, over the course of the next two and a half years. During her self-imposed exile, Harvey returned to her small hometown of Yeovil and isolated herself from most pop trends, eventually writing the material that would come to comprise her fourth album, Is This Desire?. Released over three and a half years after To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire? has all the hallmarks of a record written in isolation; subtle, cerebral, insular, difficult to assimilate, it's the album where Polly Harvey enters the ranks of craftsmen, sacrificing confession for fiction. It's an inevitable transition for any artist, especially one as lyrically gifted as Harvey, and though her words are more obtuse and not as brutal, painful, or clever, she still draws some effective character sketches. Similarly, the music on Is This Desire? is hardly the immediate, blunt force that characterized her first albums, nor is it the grand theater of To Bring You My Love -- it takes its time, slowly working its way into the subconsciousness. There are a few guitar explosions scattered throughout the record, but it's pRolling Stone (10/15/98, pp.128-129) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...A less carnally confident singer would fall flat with so much melodrama....Harvey's charismatic growl hasn't failed her yet, and she struts her stuff all over these twelve dark jewels....Most of the album is muted balladry..."
Spin (11/98, pp.132-134) - 8 (out of 10) - "...There are more contempo club textures here than the blues riffs she was firing off when we met her....Even though her increasingly aquatic arrangements have the delicay of Debussy, her delivery has more to do with Chuck Berry--from her gut to your heart as fast as you can say `Maybelline'..."
Entertainment Weekly (10/2/98, p.74) - "...Sure, Harvey's a romantic nihilist, but she's also a brilliant formalist, and this may be her most musically daring and fully realized effort....DESIRE seethes with hypnotic power." - Rating: A
Q (11/98, p.120) - 4 stars (out of 5) - "...IS THIS DESIRE? is the most artfully truncated missives of bleakness and pain to have emerged from a jewel box or Digipack since the dawn of the CD..."
The Wire (1/99, p.27) - Included in Wire's "50 Records Of The Year [1998]"
Vibe (11/98, p.174) - "...Revealing the pre-millennium influence of her friend and collaborator Tricky....IS THIS DESIRE? delivers one standout classic..."