PJ Harvey traffics in film noir pop and murder ballads

John Goodman

This Week Editor
Jgoodman@usnews.com

@ P) Harvey — Stories
from the City, Stories fram
the Sea (Island) *****

From a whisper to a
scream. Raised on a sheep
farm in the pastoral English
countryside (albeit listening,
to Captain Beefheart on her
parents’ sterco) Polly Jean
Harvey long ago made the
transition to big city pop star.

Stories updates us on what
she’s been up to — reading
like a cross between film noir
pop and Nick Cave and the
Bad Seed’s Murder Ballads
(which she appeared on). All
songs are by Harvey and per-
formed in a trio with long-
time collaborators Rob Ellis
and (Bad Seed) Mick Harvey.
The only other musician on
the disc is Radiohead’s Thom
Yorke who duets with Harvey
on owo ballads “Beautiful
Feeling” and “This Mess
We're In”.

On the cover Harvey,
dressed to kill, crosses a busy
city intersection at night.
Inside is the modern equiva-
lent of Robert Johnson at
the crossroads. Unsettling,
unforgettable.

U2 — All That You
Can't Leave Behind
(island) x**

U2 play at being pop stars
like nobody's business.
Chameleons capable of
switching gears with each
project. All That You Can't
Leare Bebind finds them back
with old friends Brian Eno
and Daniel Lanois.

Pee e ee cee trees
eae

The resulting production is
the most straight-ahead rock
album they've produced in
more than a decade.
Minimalist Eno has never been
one for embellishment — just
the kind of person needed to
keep Bono on track.

For the most part it works
although the Jatter half of the
disc foses focus around
“Peace On Earth”. The air-
port iconography used
throughout the CD and in
the video for “Beautiful Day”
is reminiscent of Eno’s own
Music For Airports. Perhaps
an homage to him from U2.

E Southern Culture on
the Skids — Ligsored Up
and Lacquered Down
(TVT Records) *% kte%

BROCE aE)

Southern Culture on the
Skids” (SCOTS) frontman
Rick Miller grew up listening
to both r&b and country
music. His Charlotte, North
Carolina band has been
around for more than a
decade foisting their version
of “southern boogie swamp
rock” on an unsuspecting
public.

Miler never allows his
enevelupedic knowledge of
music styles to get in the way
— like the 852s SCOTS
make party records. Their
timeless soulful tunes sound
like The Band, the Rolling
Stones, Irma Thomas, Chuck
Berry, and Ry Cooder locked
in a studio riffing on lost clas-
sics. Aside from two choice
covers (“Pass the Hatchet”
and “Hittin Ga Nothing”)
the 13 tracks are Miler origi-
nals.

While past SCOTS CDs
may have been hit and miss
they put everything together
on Liquored Up and
Lacquered Down. Highly rec-
ommended.

B Outkast — Stankonia
(Arista/LaFace) kkk*
Roni Size Reprazent —
In the Mode (Island)
kee

Adanta’s Outkast give us
funk on an epic scale — in
scope and ambition
Stankonia compares
favourably with the best work
of Sly Stone and George
Clinton.

The album's hip hop nar-
ratives are full of southern
attitude with layer upon layer
of sound filtered through
restless genius. Never satisfied
there’s always a riot going on

inside Outkast.

Andre 3000 said in an
interview recently that
American production is lag-
ging behind the European
digital jungle and he suggest-
ed (jokingly) that he might
move to London for awhile.
That would be to hook up
with people like Roni Size
who ts more than a little
interested in working with
stateside hip hoppers.

Wu Tang's Method Man,
Rage Against the Machine's
Zack de la Rocha and the
Roots” Rahzel all contribute
to the new CD trom the
U.K-*s Reprazent collective.

See Depp page 28

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