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Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea Image
Metascore
88

Universal acclaim - based on 23 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 118 Ratings

  • 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 2001PJ 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
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 23
  2. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. 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.
  2. Her strongest work since 1995's To Bring You My Love.
  3. The Wire
    90
    Given her capacity to align reinvention with a developing maturity, the 13 lucky songs of Stories deliver a complex text. It is certainly less frenetic, as if Harvey is finding new ways to exert her presence. In addition, its thoughtful spaces and pauses suggest room for doubt and manoeuvre. [#202, p.49]
  4. A beautiful album that even non-Harvey fans might relate to, Stories is an undeniable, unrelenting triumph.
  5. The swampy exotica that was draped around both 1995's To Bring You My Love and '98's Is This Desire? has been forgotten: as proved by the likes of Big Exit and the pleasingly frantic Kamikaze, the dominant sound is that of a three-piece garage band, fused with enough production panache to prove that Harvey remains an admirably intelligent auteur.
  6. The happiest-sounding album she's ever made.... it may also be the best. While her austere sonic signature remains, the vocals are discernibly more relaxed, the tunes welcoming and even expansive.
  7. 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

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. ofan
    Feb 10, 2005
    10
    just like a script for a movie, great story in it
  2. Jun 25, 2014
    10
    Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is intense, sexy, honest and absolutely chilling. One of the best albums of PJ Harvey's neverStories from the City, Stories from the Sea is intense, sexy, honest and absolutely chilling. One of the best albums of PJ Harvey's never disappointing career. Brilliant. Expand
  3. SusannahM
    May 16, 2004
    10
    PJ is amazing. This is her best work. I can't stop playing this CD.
  4. JamesB.
    Aug 8, 2008
    10
    Amazing! There's something new at every listen... can't say that about many CD's or artists. One for the ages!
  5. PerspicaciousCritic
    Jul 23, 2007
    9
    Dear Pitchfork: Regarding your review, I have just three words: wrong, wrong, wrong.
  6. Sep 4, 2017
    9
    Really powerful stuff from the Indie Queen and even after the monumental "Let England Shake", I still rank this as her greatest work. WellReally powerful stuff from the Indie Queen and even after the monumental "Let England Shake", I still rank this as her greatest work. Well over a decade old now, it sounds as fresh as ever and retains everything that made it such a great album at the time of release. Every track holds its own, justifying it's inclusion on this beast. Everything comes together, the lyrics, music, production are all consistantly top class from beginning to end. Radioheads Thom Yorke guests on a couple of tracks and elevates the whole thing to another level, complimenting Harvey's vocals in such a way that you feel the two voices were made for each other. "The Whores Hustle and The Hustlers Whore" is at the centre of the record and is an epic piece of work, turned up it's the equivalent of a wrecking ball. This is dark stuff but an indie rock masterpiece. Expand
  7. RobB
    Sep 25, 2007
    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 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 24 User Reviews