Product Description
PJ Harvey's new album was recorded in a 19th Century church in Dorset, on a cliff-top overlooking the sea. It was created with a cast of musicians including such long-standing allies as Flood, John Parish, and Mick Harvey. It is the eighth PJ Harvey album, following 2007's acclaimed `White Chalk', and the Harvey/Parish collaboration `A Woman A Man Walked By'. Such are the bare facts. But what is remarkable about `Let England Shake' is bound up with its music, its abiding atmosphere and in particular, its words. If Harvey's past work might seem to draw of direct emotional experience, this new album is rather different. Its songs centre on both her home country, and events further afield in which it has embroiled itself. The lyrics return, time and again, to the matter of war, the fate of the people who must do the fighting, and events separated by whole ages, from Afghanistan to Gallipoli. The album they make up is not a work of protest, nor of strait-laced social or political comment. It brims with the mystery and magnetism in which she excels. But her lyric-writing in particular has arrived at a new, breathtaking place, in which the human aspects of history are pushed to the foreground. Put simply, not many people make records like this.

01 Let England Shake
02 The Last Living Rose
03 The Glorious Land
04 The Words That Maketh Murder
05 All And Everyone
06 On Battleship Hill
07 England
08 In The Dark Places
09 Bitter Branches
10 Hanging In The Wire
11 Written On The Forehead
12 The Colour Of The Earth

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004GHYCKW/?tag=imwan-20

PJ Harvey to release new album in February
'Let England Shake' set for February 14 release

November 23, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/pj-harvey/53941



PJ Harvey has named her new album 'Let England Shake' and will release it on February 14, NME can announce.

The album, her first full solo release since 2007's 'White Chalk', has been recorded with producer John Parish, with whom she reached last year's 'A Woman A Man Walked By' collaboration album.

Produced by Flood (Depeche Mode, The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2), the album also features contributions from former Bad Seeds member Mick Harvey and musician Jean-Marc Butty.

"We played most of the music live," Harvey told NME of the album, part-recorded in a church in Dorset. "I didn’t set down any rules. For some reason, we were all in a very good place, with a lot of energy, intensity and vitality in us at that time. It was a really enjoyable experience, and I think the record’s ended up full of energy and quite an uplifting experience because of it."

Scroll down and click below to watch her performing the album's title track on The Andrew Marr Show earlier this year.

Wow - a FIVE star review in Q Magazine!

Check out lead single "The Words That Maketh Murder" here:

http://www.hardcandymusic.com/2011/01/p ... urder.html

Hi Linda:

Listed below are the tracks for Let England Shake.

Source = Her web site.

Tracks
1 Let England Shake
2 The Last Living Rose
3 The Glorious Land
4 The Words That Maketh Murder
5 All And Everyone
6 On Battleship Hill
7 England
8 In The Dark Places
9 Bitter Branches
10 Hanging In The Wire
11 Written On The Forehead
12 The Colour of The Earth

Rebel007

Thanks, Rebel. Tracklisting added to the first post.

PJ Harvey reveals 'Let England Shake''s political inspiration
Singer opens up about the lyrics of her new album

January 26, 2011
http://www.nme.com/news/pj-harvey/54707



PJ Harvey has given a rare interview to NME in which she discussed her new album's political inspiration.

In the video interview, below, Harvey opened up about 'Let England Shake' being motivated by the ongoing conflicts in the world.

Asked about the album’s lyrics, she said: "I've always been very affected by what’s going on in the world, politically, socially, in every way."

She added that, although she's always followed world politics, it was only during the writing of ‘Let England Shake’ that she felt comfortable enough to take them on lyrically.

"I never felt that I had reached the place with my writing that I could talk about these things well, in a language that would work. I think if you’re going to talk about giant subject matter, you've got to do it well and I didn't think I had the skill as a writer to do that, up until this point," she said.

‘Let England Shake’ is released on February 14.

Video: http://www.nme.com/nme-video/video/761243694001

The entire album is now being streamed via the KCRW website.



http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/ap/a ... let_englan

Thank you!

Five tracks in (or four...annoyingly, there's no track listing or indication of any kind, and I've been working while listening). So far, good stuff, except for twice now there's been trumpets, and they don't fit in at all with the songs they're in! It just doesn't work for me. But Polly is great so I adapt.

Found a track listing elsewhere (y'know, like...at the top of this thread!). I was four songs in as it turns out; although track five (All & Everyone) also contains trumpets! I think the Glorious Land is the song that had the terribly distracting trumpets.

Enough about trumpets though; this is great. On Battleship Hill is my favorite song so far. She's so much better than "Down by the Water" days...which wasn't bad, but feels so manufactured compared to her later work.

Brilliant album. Played it about 4 times (it's on NPR) and it gets better with each play. Her best pop melodies in ages, it's a protest album that doesn't forget to bring beautiful music along for the ride. Moving, elegaic and just so damn pretty despite the subject matter, this deserves the accolades it's already getting. If Sandinista was a folk/pop album , it would be this.

A couple of pretty stellar reviews:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/fe ... ake-review


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 10807.html

Finally got around to hearing this album a couple times today. I love the sound of this album I had heard or read that her vocals weren't appropriate for the subject material but having heard it, I can't imagine the songs sung any other way.