pj harvey, white chalk, and without whom…
When I declaim here about the state of rock music I need to remind myself that there are many diamonds in the rough and of course one of the brightest (and darkest) is Polly Jean Harvey. I haven’t had chance to hear the whole album ‘White Chalk’ yet but the UK’s Observer is one of many places it is getting rave reviews: “It’s bleak, lacks guitars and is sung in an odd voice. So what makes this piano-driven set an unlikely triumph, asks Paul Mardles”. Never one to follow others PJ Harvey marches to the beat of her own drum. You can buy the CD new from Amazon for only $9.99
PJ Harvey - White Chalk [MP3]
Post Update: I noticed that this CD is not available as a pre-order download in iTunes. I presume that’s because it’s on Island Records which is part of Universal who are struggling with the iTunes model…anyone got anymore insight into this story. It would be unforgivable if this album was not to be available through iTunes. If it turns up in Amazon (All PJ Harvey’s previous titles are in there) it would be ironic…..they offer 256kb files and no DRM.
Upate #2 - Amazon MP3 link for the album. Available Oct 2nd.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:08 am
BTW, I noticed that this CD is not available as a pre-order download in iTunes. I presume that’s because it’s on Island Records which is part of Universal who are struggling with the iTunes model…anyone got insight into this. It would be unforgivable if this album was not to be available through iTunes. If it turns up in Amazon (All PJ Harvey’s previous titles are in there) it would be ironic…..256kb files and no DRM.
September 26th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’m so excited for this release. Judging from the sample tracks and live performances floating around the internets and the fact that Pitchfork panned it for being ‘oppressively bleak’ (HA!), I have a feeling this will prove to be her best release since ‘Dry’.
And I’m jumping ship to amazon anyways.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
[...] I started the day today with PJ Harvey as queen of darkness. Now I’m inclined to mention Emilie Simon as the French teen of darkness - Nirvana’s Come As You Are accompanied only by piano. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions though, this all I’ve ever heard of hers. Thanks to Ashley Plath. [...]
September 26th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I think with open format MP3s and 256kb files that play on all players then Amazon is in a serious horserace with Apple. The Amazon UI is clunky and not as easily navigable as iTunes but the price is right, most albums appear to be cheaper than iTunes. Plus you can’t get PJ Harvey at iTunes…..
September 26th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Excellent news. Ms Polly Jean is a dynamo. “To Bring You My Love” is on my desert island top 10.
Fwiw, my favorite download site is MusicGiants.com due to the high kbps or near lossless high quality downloads. I noticed they have all of PJ’s prior albums, but no mention of the new release yet.
http://mgn.musicgiants.com/Albums.aspx?ARTIST=29737
September 27th, 2007 at 7:44 am
I tried Music Giants but I can’t access the site. I get the homepage ok but clicking on the A-Z links doesn’t work nor does the search….I’m using Safari and Firefox…
September 27th, 2007 at 9:55 am
Hmmm….that’s odd. I use firefox at home but not what my office IT network provides. They both pop right up.
I just clicked on the embedded links above and went right to the site again.
http://www.musicgiants.com/
once I hit their “home” button, this changes to http://mgn.musicgiants.com/Service.aspx
September 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Loved this track! I dunno about iTunes, but maybe one of those Russian mp3 sites already has the album for 3 bucks… ;)
September 27th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Dunno, I searched long and hard just to find the MP3 of White Chalk
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
[...] I just used the Amazon download service for the first time. I very easily and seamlessly purchased and downloaded the new PJ Harvey album, down it came, straight into my iTunes music folder which instantly synced to my Apple TV; 256kb, DRM-free music files all for just $8.99. Open format for use on any MP3 player. I finally cheated on Apple and iTunes and it feels good. [...]
October 17th, 2007 at 10:33 am
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