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- By date
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From the start, she's made an ideal record for people who already like her.
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''Uh Huh Her'' reasserts that Harvey, now the grande dame of this genre, remains unrivaled.
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Alternative PressOften reaches back to the unfettered rawness and earthy seduction of earlier albums like Dry. [Aug 2004, p.116]
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I hate to say it, but she might have finally overextended her ambition, resulting in an uneven, discomfiting album.
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Both pared down and unengaging at the same time, this appears to be a dead end.
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While nowhere near as unlistenable as Is This Desire?, Uh Huh Her is one of Harvey's bleaker efforts.
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BlenderFor an album almost four years in the making, it's frustratingly half-finished, like a series of preliminary sketches. [#27, p.142]
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It is a short disc (41 minutes), and not an entirely satisfying one: instead of stories and characters, we get a series of gestures, a few false starts, pockets full of poses. This is an album of shards, then. But they're sharp. [7 June 2004]
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UncutIt's hard to deny the emotional weight and beauty of Polly's personal, if comparatively uncommercial, sixth album. [Jul 2004, p.108]
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Perhaps the most nuanced album in PJ Harvey's body of work, Uh Huh Her balances her bold and vulnerable moments, but remains vital.
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Rather than coming across as an unfriendly piece of self-indulgence--which may or may not have been the intention--her latest CD is quietly captivating.
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It's a near-perfect piece of art, a level of accomplishment Harvey achieves with amazing consistency.
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SpinThe rubbed-rawness of Uh Huh Her might seem like backpedaling. But the best tracks use the pleasure principles of Stories to update her old approach. [Jun 2004, p.101]
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Polly Harvey’s contradictory sure, but the complexities of her character and where she is right now are expressed with an honesty and intensity few artists can ever even begin to think about mustering.
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Her varied approach yields varied results: Sometimes the disc sounds like a mature summing up of previous work; at other times, it sounds like a closet-cleaning.
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Once you get acclimatized to the torturous messages and the dynamic, diverse musical accompaniment shifts from song to song, it becomes obvious that Uh Huh Her is one of Harvey's most rewarding albums.
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If you take it as a whole, Uh Huh Her is deeply engrossing: Harvey has never explored the minimal-verging-on-primitive side of her music so thoroughly, or captured so exactly the sound of a mood swing.
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Uh Huh Her is a lesson in contentment, anger, disappointment, independence – seductive psychosis.
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PJ Harvey can still pack a resonant, emotional wallop, even when the recording is devoid of frills.
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Harvey doesn't brandish many new moves here.
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This album sounds in many ways like an amalgamation of her previous work.
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It's truly intriguing in the way PJ albums haven't been since the commanding "To Bring You My Love" back in 1995.
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Under The RadarThe single-mindedness with which she approaches these songs is ultimately responsible for much of the album's distinctive flavor. [#7]
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MojoAt times, it's almost too tasteful a refinement of her work.... Yet there are some fabulous moments from both sides of Harvey's brain. [Jun 2004, p.100]
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Uh Huh Herb is a disappointment, the tepid, not-quite-there record that many artists seem to make after hitting a career peak.
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Uh Huh Her is as discrete--and ravishing--as her other works.
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But if Uh Huh Her doesn't rise to the level of Harvey's best work, it does possess a grim, unvarnished beauty; a beauty that, while it might repel a few of the fans she gained with Stories, capably rewards devotees of her earlier, unburnished and uncompromising works.
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Q MagazineWhen Harvey stretches herself things really become interesting. [Jun 2004, p.100]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 42 out of 54
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Mixed: 5 out of 54
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Negative: 7 out of 54
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SetherbOct 31, 2005
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vandeyJul 6, 2005
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MattTMar 23, 2005