User Score
Universal acclaim- based on 215 Ratings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 200 out of 215
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Mixed: 8 out of 215
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Negative: 7 out of 215
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Feb 17, 2011
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May 4, 2011Truly, and absolutely magnificent! I'll be honest...Prior to "Let England Shake," I never listened to PJ Harvey. (thank you NPR for 'first listen') I feel sorta phony and maybe I wouldn't have liked "Let England Shake," as much, if I gave any attention to her previous albums, but this is one of the year's best.
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Mar 21, 2011
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Feb 20, 2011
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Mar 1, 2011This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Oct 15, 2011PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake" is one of best albums of 2011, and may just be the best of her entire career. She ignites the punk formula with something genuine and raw, which is something rare concerning that particular genre and mood in the 21st century. Few rock artists can compete with what she's doing here. Terrific.
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Mar 2, 2011im sorry im a fan of THAT record, not of miss Harvey, which by the way i hated most of her afore creations. So just like i said, i am truly sorry, im a fan of THAT record and have to leave a 10 mark behind me... :)
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Feb 17, 2011
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Feb 15, 2011A truly exceptional and visionary work that combines unique storytelling with a distinctly English folk sound. Harvey here is really shining, bringing new light to ground that has been tread so often, and yet it feels like she owns this. Harvey has made the greatest contemporary war album sinceâ
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Feb 15, 2011What can I say. I'm biased about my favourites, just like the rest of us. You wont know if you don't listen. Fantastic use of the past and present, looking for a better future. Check it out.
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Feb 16, 2011
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Feb 19, 2011It's not just solid. It's great. It's incredible. I have never heard anything like let england shake. I love pj harvey, i know she's great, but I've never expected this from her. Thank you, polly jean.
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Feb 19, 2011This may sound like an overstatement, but this album is one of those that restore your faith in human creativitiy. What an amazingly solid, beautiful, happy, and sad album. Reminds us that we're all in the human condition. Sounds like nothing I've ever heard. This album simply FEELS important.
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Feb 22, 2011She proves it again and again that you can be creative and relevant without the need of starting all over again, from scratch and without necessarily breaking all musical conventions, but by just doing what you do the best and adding on top of it a little by little as you go along. No nonsense, indeed, with PJ Harvey. Radiohead, take a note!
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Mar 1, 2011Wow: Just about every song on this album is great...and I didn't think I ever liked PJ before: Now I love her and I'm going to scramble for tickets and grab all of her old albums! Not sure how to better put it than that.
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Mar 15, 2011
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Mar 24, 2011This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
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Apr 4, 2011A great Folk album nowadays... it's actually pretty hard to find, but when you look on PJ Harvey, it's just guaranteed. This album's soul and passion simply rocks, musical and lyrical perfection
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May 7, 2011
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Jun 30, 2011
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Dec 12, 2011When I started listening to this album I wasnâ
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Jan 12, 2012Even when this album came out in early 2011 it was obvious that it would be the album of the year. Best artistic and political statement put in music in 2011. Rave as much as you want about this album and your words will never be a hyperbole. This is that good. Thank you, Ms.Harvey.
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Mar 20, 2012This is easily the best album of 2011, and the best war album in the history of music. There is not a wasted moment on this album and every song is its own individual masterpiece. The album is inspired by WWII and it captures all its emotions. It is simply amazing, and if all you can focus on is her vocals, then maybe music isn't for you. A+
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Jul 18, 2023It's just a masterpiece - one of the most essential albums of the last 20 years. It's full of haunting images of England's past, but it's the way Harvey positions this past alongside England's troubled present that makes the album hit so hard.
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May 13, 2011This is the best album I have heard in 2011, and I don't know that I will hear one to top this the rest of the year. Thematically Harvey does a fantastic job in her lyrics, and the music that supports it is just as haunting. This is an album that improves with each listen. I also like how she brought English folk back in a modern way. A very good record!
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Nov 17, 2012PJ Harvey
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Feb 17, 2011
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Mar 9, 2011There's no sense of pride in Harvey's words and music; just a chilling reminder that judgement by spilling blood is never the answer. Her raw honesty for the beloved homeland is passionate beyond bounds and for that reason extremely effective in delivering her greatest recording. http://hackskeptic.com
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Feb 16, 2011I was a bit dissapointed with White Chalk but this is brrrrrrrrrrilliant, best album since stories from the city. The words that maketh murder and england(sounds bit like radiohead at points) standout.
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Mar 3, 2011
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Mar 3, 2011Maybe not a perfect 10, but so damn close. I was introduced to PJ mainly though her collaborations with Nick Cave. But now that I have all of her albums (except the Parrish ones), this may well be my favorite or nearly so. Probably the most consitent album since Dry.
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Aug 9, 2011So far the best PJ album. 'On Battleship Hill' comes up as her finest track and the vocals are absolutely haunting. It's been a while since I really felt like buying an album again.
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Jan 12, 2012Claimed for most of the critics as the best album of the last year, Polly Jean's "Let England Shake" makes a concept album about war, even though it embraces a mix of themes, and it doesn't fails in the whole message it should pass. If in those years she never made up something as good as "Stories from the city (..)", she came real close this time.
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Mar 8, 2011Maybe a bit overrated.. but it originality deserves recognition. Outstanding track in my mind is "The Words That Maketh Murder". Not the most accessible album in the world and a little repetitious in spots. But, the rich sonic pallet makes up for a lot.
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Mar 9, 2011
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Nov 1, 2011Death was in the ancient fortress / Shelled by a million bullets (â
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Mar 16, 2012
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Dec 7, 2011There is hardly any music like this getting this much attention. This is good album. I was surprised at how well I enjoyed it. "The Last Living Rose" and "The World That Maketh Murder" are really great.
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Jan 20, 2012
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Sep 4, 2022A great return to form from the prolific indie rock singer songwriter Polly Jean Harvey . I thought this album had a very cohesive and dark narrative and her vocals were very archaic as if sung by some1 dead looking at humanity with their newfound wisdom .i enjoyed the title track and the "the words that maketh murder "
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Jan 12, 2021Definitely a great album.
The vocals and production show experimentation just like the themes in the songs.
I must admit, some songs seemed difficult to listen to, but I'm sure it's something that will change as I listen to the album more. My favorites were: Let England Shake, The Last Living Rose, In The Dark Places, Hanging On The Wire -
Feb 15, 2011A solid album, though I don't understand all of the hype. NME seems to have an arbitrary ratings machine doing all of its work for them. PJ Harvey's "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" remains her best.
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Feb 16, 2011
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Feb 18, 2011Great album, has many wonderful moments. Definitely not her best work, if critics score it a 10 then I will score Stories from the City 14/10. Let England Shake is still a very good album though.
Awards & Rankings
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May 6, 2011Creating a suite of well-turned if unnecessarily understated antiwar songs, she's a gifted, strong-willed minor artist bent on shaking England in particular.
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The WireApr 28, 2011It feels crudely stitched together. [Mar 2011, p.49]
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MojoApr 6, 2011Of all her many guises [...] this may be her most powerful. [Feb. 2011, p. 94]