"The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore" by @diaryofaledger

Polly Jean Harvey how I love you so.

'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea' is an album that I try to introduce to anyone that'll listen to me.  As a piece of work it sits uncomfortably with much of PJ's output, commercially acceptable rock, less kooky, anger contained, with the romance and lightness of touch missing from her earlier albums.

However it still isn't an album that my mum is ever going to get into, there's a dark heart to it, a sense of longing and urgency to the writing.  Much of it is about running away, relationships starting and breaking down, but two songs in is one of the most uplifting songs ever written.  'Good Fortune', the lead single from 'Stories', is exactly how it feels when love starts, that joy at a meeting a person who paints your world view in a brand new way.

And I feel like some bird of paradise

My bad fortune slipping away

And I feel the innocence of a child

Everybody's got something good to say

Because it's PJ there's a sexual edge through out, her voice just drips with it, soft, husky, powerful and delicate all at the same time, even on songs about Kamikaze pilots.

America and New York, in particular, all colour the album, there's a distinctly US feel to it, both in production and style, a clarity to the sound and a crispness to the playing.  There's still plenty of low slung bass hooks though to keep the fans happy.

The high point comes half way through, the utterly incredible duet with Thom Yorke.  She wanted to make the album as different as possible to it's predecessors and here she delivers the beauty she was looking for.  Their voices dovetailing and blending like two lovers caught in an impossible moment of parting, 'This Mess We're In,' a staggeringly intelligent and grown up song sung with such intoxicating intensity.  Some people ooze class with everything they do, PJ and Yorke do that on a song that sits perfectly at the centre of this special album.

'Kamikaze' still blows me away 10 years after release.  Throbbing bass and guitar, PJ cutting lose, lyrics blending new tech with old images of planes hitting boats, an analogy for some kind of overbearing lover.  Brief and inspired.

'This is Love' follows, sex, love and desire bound up in thunder.  A message to Nick Cave?  Very possibly.

You're the only story that I never told

You're my dirty little secret, wanna keep you so

The album slows up towards the end, the dense and beguiling 'Horses in My Dreams' and 'We Float' two of the most beautiful songs I own.  Companion pieces that almost seem to fall into each other.  PJ seemingly ready to sign the album off within the lovely sound scape she's created.  Listened to through head phones, eyes closed, room darkened, just sat in PJ's head space, those two songs can still make tears fill my eyes 10 years after release.  It's not about relating to the tracks, just about the feelings they can invoke, songs of the highest quality performed by an artist seemingly so comfortable with her gifts.  It would have been easy for PJ to have left it there, 'We Float' clocks in at around 6 minutes and the album feels done.  But she's not quite finished with us.

'This Wicked Tongue' actually closes the album, almost a, 'hey guys, I'm still here, rocking,' although we get a two minute break to pull ourselves back together before she rocks us out.

PJ's never tried to repeat the trick, the two albums since have gone off in other directions and it stands alone as a piece of work.  She and her band made something special, beautiful and powerful in 2000.  She continues to do that now, last album in 2007 'White Chalk', could not be more different from 'Stories' but that's largely why I love Polly Jean Harvey.  Uncompromising, always herself, bending her music to suit her themes, but never breaking it.

'Stories' is a rare beast.  There's no fat here, not one song could be cut from it to make it a leaner, more compelling album.  It all falls together, strange and wonderful, easier on your ears than her earlier work but no less thought provoking.  She wanted to make something beautiful, as close to pop as she could muster, instead she made a classic of modern times.  

I can't believe that the axis turns on suffering

When you taste so good

I can't believe that the axis turns on suffering

While my head burns

This is love that I'm feeling

Even in the summer, even in the spring

You can never get too much of a wonderful thing  

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