Track Listing

1. Oh My Lover
2. O Stella
3. Dress
4. Victory
5. Happy And Bleeding
6. Sheela Na Gig
7. Hair
8. Joe
9. Plants And Rags
10. Fountain
11. Water

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25841 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Dry is the cornerstone of the 1990's "women in rock" movement. To paraphrase what Lou Reed said about the Velvet Underground: Not many people bought the album, but those who did formed a band. The attraction is unmistakable: bluesy riffs played with punk-rock energy suddenly crash to a hush, while Harvey's desperate wails become fatigued moans. What is she so hung up about? Well, in the spirit of the Rolling Stones, love and hope and dirty dreams and sex and sex and sex. Through the raucous "Oh My Lover" and "Joe", Harvey airs her laundry quite loudly but never loses her wit, as "Sheela-Na-Gig", which features the mantra "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair / I'm gonna take my hips to a man who cares," attest. --Bill Crandall

Customer Reviews

"Look at these my ruby-red ruby lips"
Upon its release in spring 1992, Dry was hailed as one of rock’s most stunning debut albums by the press, and 12 years later it still sounds as striking and relevant as ever. Music like this will never date, fade or grow old. It will always sound this vital, powerful and alive. Independently recorded in her native Yeovil on a shoestring budget of £5000, and issued on the underground label Too Pure, it introduced a puzzled rock scene to its most exciting newcomer in many years.

From the bruised, abraded guitar tones and exasperated sigh of opener Oh My Lover, this record is a jarringly fresh and immediate listening experience. The single Sheela Na Gig is a stone-cold classic and remains an audience live favourite to this day; its Carrie-inspired refrain of “He said wash your breasts, I don’t want to be unclean/He said please take your dirty pillows away from me” still manages to shock with its directness. The lyrics are ugly/beautiful poetry of the highest order – check out lines like “Petals green cover me in all my shame” in Fountain, and hear Polly Jean sing them like her life depends on it. It closes with the Biblical baptism/drowning epiphany of Water - a big, bluesy, stomping rocker powered by chunky buzzsaw guitar and chugging double bass.

If I had one minor criticism, it would be that the mastering and lo-fi sound mix of Dry is a bit too quiet for my liking. You need to blast the volume way up for full enjoyment of this one. But that problem can be very easily sorted. And besides, the raw bedroom production adds to the spirit of the record. Forget about rubbish like Linkin Park and get a load of this instead.

A MASTERPIECE!
Polly Jean Harvey and her band had the musicall press in awe with this stunning debut and it is easy to see why; raw-nerve vocals, abrasive harmonies and uncompormised song structures present you with 11 pure, unglossy masterpieces. It has kind of a bluesy early alt-rock feel so may take a while to get used to if you are not used to that kind of music.

Pj's songs are snappy and variable in structure. The cd opens with the a loving wail of "oh my lover, don't you know it's all right, you can love her, you can love me at the same time" and includes quite a few classic lines.

In short its the kind of music you'd expect if Bob Dylan had a sex change, listened to a Pixie's record and then picked up a guitar.

P j Harveys debut is still her strongest album .
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 and mixture of scabrous rock and 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 naked in the bath was mere titillation) she has never been as explicit as Madonna, indeed who has? , and 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 title in 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 and 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 and tooth. The superb "Dress" connects with a character in turmoil, and is performed in 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, and that is maybe where the albums title comes from as it's produced with an uncomfortable harsh in your face quality. Or it could be a reference to some thing all together more intimate which would be more in keeping with the album thematically.
P J Harvey has gone on to become artistically venerated, and 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 and that her persona has become more sophisticated "Dry "carries more of an emotional punch. Its coarse dynamics and seething undercurrent of anger and 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 and impact high and .....you guessed it, dry!