Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - PJ Harvey
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea Image
Metascore
88 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 23 Critics What's this?

User Score
9.1 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 55 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: PJ Harvey's fifth, and possibly best, album sees her venturing away from the electronic experimentation of 1998's 'Is This Desire?' and returning to the purer rock sound prevalent on her early releases. Radiohead's Thom Yorke guests on the duet "This Mess We're In." Winner of the 2001 Mercury Music Prize.… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
    100
    If Nirvana and Robert Johnson are rock's essence for you, so's To Bring You My Love. But if you believe the Beatles and George Clinton had more to say in the end, this could be the first PJ album you adore as well as admire.
  2. Ink Blot Magazine
    100
    Chiming, richly textured and potently rhythmic, this is starkly, explicitly rock n' roll, and the back-to-basics approach beautifully frames Polly's tales of fear, love, sex, sadness, ugliness, and beauty.
  3. Sonicnet
    80
    She has always been a good songwriter -- experimental, dynamic, probing -- but here she demonstrates that she has the potential to be a truly masterful one. With newfound clarity and restraint, and with her usual wit, she examines the ways in which we try to convince ourselves that we are safe in an unsafe world.
  4. Pitchfork
    55
    On her fifth solo release, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, she may be maturing, or more vulnerable, or more vulnerable to her maturity. But regardless, the sheen gets slicker and her music gets duller as the time passes.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. LuizCC
    10
    PJ Harvey's most famous album as well as her most acclaimed, this record shows the aging Polly trying to feel her love in the city ambient. And so she does, and it's a beauty. More pop than ever, she managed to make herself commercial regardless not being a sell-out artist. The songwriting is as bold as ever, and the dark sounds of both 'To Bring You My Love' and 'Is This Desire?' remains knocking our ears, but the tones of happiness subdue it. One of the best album of the 00's.… Expand
  2. ofan
    10
    just like a script for a movie, great story in it
  3. JamesB.
    10
    Amazing! There's something new at every listen... can't say that about many CD's or artists. One for the ages!
  4. RobB
    8
    For me, this is her best record. It's probably the most accessible but for me that's part of its success. Her other work was too often art rock in the worst performance art sense but this record, channeling the best of that genre (i.e Pattis Smith) and adding real tunes, is a bit of a triumph. 8!… Expand

See all 18 User Reviews

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