Yore Blues

Call me ol' fashioned, but I was sorry to see Polly Harvey put down her guitar and slowly morph away from her original persona and become what she is now - I don't get it; neither White Chalk nor Let England Shake float my boat, and really, since Is This Desire? I have found her music trying and lacking the dynamism of her earlier material - but like I say, I'm just ol' fashioned I guess.

Harvey's initial collaboration with John Parish was really the last of the 'old school' sound.
Suggestions were certainly evident that Harvey was soon to be heading off into avant garde territory, and her work with Parish seemed to represent the point of transition.
She put her guitar down (too often), picked up a hand mike or went to the piano (admitting she couldn't play it), and even began plucking a zither and an autoharp.
Shame.

I'm no Luddite, but sometimes it seems progress isn't necessarily progressive.

Anyway. This gig recorded as part of Radio 1's Live in Soho Week, captures Harvey and Parish on top form, performing numbers from their reasonably successful Dance Hall at Louse Point album; playing some blinding gutsy blues and at times sounding rather reminiscent of the Virgin period Magic Band.
And that's no bad accolade.

PJ Harvey & John Parish - Live, London Astoria, 11/11/96.

Rope Burning Crossing
City of No Sun
Urn With Dead Flowers in a Drained Pool
Civil War Correspondent
Taut
Dance Hall at Louse Point
Un Cercle Autor Du Soleil
Losing Ground
Heela
Is That All There Is? (fades)

Excellent cassette captured FM broadcast rip @320kbs
PJ and Duncan John here