Customer Reviews
pj rocks us all - By: Marlon Viviezca, 23 Oct 2008 
Polly Jean Harvey rocks & rocks some more. We all know this. It's a universal fact. Dry is a testament to how much, how hard she does this. It's short, brief but powerful. Her voice, beautiful but crazed, is the sound of feminine protest. But these songs are not one dimensional angry anthems. These are songs of crushing desire, red hot burning truth & exquisite despair. Listen to PJ, straining, crawling through sadnessin "Plants & Rags". Listen to her triumphantin "Sheela Na Gig". Listen to her roarin Dry.
Amazing album! - By: CK, 11 Aug 2008 In my opinion one of the greatest debut albums ever. There are no bad songs here but stand out tracks are O Stella, Dress & the incredibly catchy Sheela Na Gig.
My favourite - By: Emo, 07 Jun 2008 I have a few of pjs albums now & this has to be my favourite 40 mins of grungy like music. One of the few albums i own where i can listen to all the way threw, unlike some of pjs other albums where i'm skipping threw some tracks.
P j Harveys debut is still her strongest album . - By: russell clarke, 12 Mar 2006 P J Harvey is mainly known for her Mercury Music Prize winning album "Stories From The City, Stories from The Sea" but "Dry", her debut, is for this reviewer the best thing she has ever done. On its release the nascent Harvey was perceived as some kind of seer, her sexual ambiguity & mixture of scabrous rock & gender politics led to her being dubbed the "Indie Madonna". While quite prepared to utilise her sexuality (Debate has raged whether the photo of her on this album nakedin the bath was mere titillation) she has never been as explicit as Madonna, indeed who has? , & has maintained some of her mystique. Are we really, nearly 15 years down the line, any wiser about her? Mind you , there is an image that would get people talking.
Spurious connections aside "Dry "is a remarkable debut. It lives up to its titlein so much that it's an arid sounding album. Guitars chaff against each other like hessian on a cheese grater. It's like the recording studio had been filled with a dozen de-humidifiers, sucking the moisture out of the air. The songs crackle with tension & urgency so tracks like "Victory"; "O My Lover" "Happy And Bleeding" are alive with a tangible dramatic frisson. Emotionally it's raw, red of claw & tooth. The superb "Dress" connects with a characterin turmoil, & is performedin a real hurry, almost as if the band can't get it out quickly enough. "Joe" approximates thrash metal while "Sheela Na Gig" is the nearest to pop / with it's rallying sing-a-long "You exhibitionist "chorus. Cello's screech with more innervated abrasion on "Pants And Rags".
To record an album "Dry"in the technical sense means to do so without adornments , reverb effects etc, & that is maybe where the albums title comes from as it's produced with an uncomfortable harshin your face quality. Or it could be a reference to some thing all together more intimate which would be morein keeping with the album thematically.
P J Harvey has gone on to become artistically venerated, & rightly so, but for me this is her finest album, closely followed by "Rid of Me". While you could argue, probably quite convincingly, that musically she has progressed & that her persona has become more sophisticated "Dry "carries more of an emotional punch. Its coarse dynamics & seething undercurrent of anger & frustration make it her most honest work.....in all probability. As is so often the case an artist's debut leaves the subsequent catalogue,in terms of quality & impact high & .....you guessed it, dry!
Dry is right darling - By: Penny Crayon, 10 Jul 2004 Sometimes an album of great rock songs is all you want from an album & this is what Dry is. Every song on here is a memorable, exciting, raw & intense voyage into Polly's throbbing young heart - & if you've picked up on her as a result of her last few albums, you may be surprised by the youthful voice on this record. I think it's still her best album 12 years after its release & is probably the best place to start a collection of her music.
In terms of the sound quality, this is a record that could really do with the old ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED treatment - I find that I have to play it a few notches louder than all my other CDs, which must be blamed surely on the mastering process. So come on EMI - get Polly's debut remastered tout suite! Even if it does mean paying an extra fiver - upon its release of course, this version'll be available for a pittance, so you can snap it up then without stretching the purse strings.
