Dry is the debut album by PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

. It was recorded at the Icehouse, Yeovil

Yeovil

Yeovil is a town and civil parish in south Somerset, England. The parish had a population of 27,949 at the 2001 census, although the wider urban area had a population of 42,140...

, UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and released in the UK on Too Pure

Too Pure

Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...

 (with the first 5000 LPs and first 1000 CDs including demo versions of the album's tracks), and subsequently on Indigo Records in the US. Both versions were released in 1992.

Background

Speaking to Filter

Filter (band)

Filter is a rock group formed in 1993 in Cleveland by singer Richard Patrick and guitarist/programmer Brian Liesegang. Filter has released five studio albums, the most recent being The Trouble with Angels, which was released on August 17, 2010....

magazine in 2004, Harvey said of her debut album: "Dry is the first chance I ever had to make a record and I thought it would be my last. So, I put everything I had into it. It was a very extreme record. It was a great joy for me to be able to make it. I never thought I'd have that opportunity, so I felt like I had to get everything on it as well as I possibly could, because it was probably my only chance. It felt very extreme for that reason."

Reception

The album generated an overwhelmingly strong critical response. According to Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

, the album was “not so much stripped-down rock as it is flayed-alive rock”. MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 described it as "a dark, twisted, arresting work which sounds both rubbed red raw and invigorating", while the NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

praised it as "a crossover point possessing natural songwriting and scorching guitar noise" in its 9/10 review. Around the time of the album’s release, Harvey attracted some controversy for posing topless, with her back to the camera and baring an unshaven armpit, on the cover of NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

. Received as well in the States as the UK, the album prompted Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

magazine to name the then-22-year-old Harvey the year's Best Songwriter and Best New Female Singer. In spite of the acclaim, "Sheela-Na-Gig

Sheela-Na-Gig (song)

"Sheela-Na-Gig" is a song by English alternative rock singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, written solely by Harvey. The song was released as the second single from her debut studio album, Dry, in February 1992. The single was the second, and final, single from Dry and only single from the album to enter...

" was the only single to chart in the US, at #9 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Accolades

In a 1993 critics' poll of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time, NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

ranked Dry at number 71, and in a similar poll conducted by Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

in 2000, the album was placed at number 86. It was on Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

's 50 greatest albums list. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...

.

Track listing

All songs written by Harvey, unless otherwise noted.

1. "Oh My Lover" – 3:57
2. "O Stella" – 2:36
3. "Dress
   Dress (song)
   "Dress" is the debut single by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey from her debut album Dry Released in 1991, two promotional music videos were also recorded.-Background and history:...
   
   " – 3:16
4. "Victory" – 3:16
5. "Happy and Bleeding" – 4:50
6. "Sheela-Na-Gig
   Sheela-Na-Gig (song)
   "Sheela-Na-Gig" is a song by English alternative rock singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, written solely by Harvey. The song was released as the second single from her debut studio album, Dry, in February 1992. The single was the second, and final, single from Dry and only single from the album to enter...
   
   " – 3:11
7. "Hair" – 3:45
8. "Joe" (Ellis, Harvey) – 2:33
9. "Plants and Rags" (Ellis, Harvey) – 4:07
10. "Fountain" – 3:52
11. "Water" – 4:32

Limited edition release

1. "Oh My Lover" – 4:02
2. "O Stella" – 2:30
3. "Dress" – 3:18
4. "Victory" – 3:15
5. "Happy and Bleeding" – 4:50
6. "Sheela-Na-Gig"– 3:10
7. "Hair" – 3:46
8. "Joe" – 2:33
9. "Plants and Rags" – 4:09
10. "Fountain" – 3:54
11. "Water" – 4:35
12. "Oh My Lover (Demo)" – 2:30
13. "O Stella (Demo)" – 3:16
14. "Dress (Demo)" – 3:16
15. "Victory (Demo)" – 4:19
16. "Happy and Bleeding (Demo)" – 4:44
17. "Sheela-Na-Gig (Demo)" – 3:15
18. "Hair (Demo)" – 3:37
19. "Joe (Demo)" – 3:16
20. "Plants and Rags (Demo)" – 3:32
21. "Fountain (Demo)" – 3:05
22. "Water (Demo)" – 4:32

Personnel

• PJ Harvey - guitar, violin, vocals, producer
• Robert Ellis - drums, harmonium, vocals, producer, mixing
• Steve Vaughan - bass
• Ben Groenevelt - bass, double bass
• Ian Olliver - bass
• Mike Paine - guitar
• Chas Dickie - cello
• Vernon - producer

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1992	UK Albums Chart	11

As of 2005, "Dry" had sold 176,000 copies in the US.

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1992	"Sheela-Na-Gig"	Modern Rock Tracks	9
1992 (Feb)	"Sheela-Na-Gig"	UK Singles Chart	69