Let England Shake
Encyclopedia
Let England Shake is the tenth studio album
by PJ Harvey
, released on 11 February 2011 in the UK. Work on it began around the time of White Chalk
s release in 2007, though it is a departure from the piano-driven introspection of that album. The album was written over a period of two-and-a-half years, and recorded in a five-week period at a church in Dorset
in April and May 2010. The album's first single, "The Words That Maketh Murder
", was released on 7" vinyl and download, backed with the b-side "The Guns Called Me Back Again". The album entered the UK album charts at #8, her second release to debut within the top ten in the United Kingdom, and the first since Rid of Me
in 1993. It was certified Gold in the UK on 23 September 2011, making it Harvey's second gold certified album. The album won the Mercury Prize
in September 2011, Harvey's fourth nomination overall (including another win in 2001
), making her the most successful artist in the prize's history. The album also won the Uncut Music Award in November 2011.
and T.S. Eliot as influences, as well as the artwork of Salvador Dalí
and Francisco de Goya and music of The Doors
, The Pogues
, and The Velvet Underground
. She has also spoken of researching the history of conflict, including the Gallipoli campaign, and reading modern-day testimonies from civilians and soldiers in Iraq
and Afghanistan
.
During some solo shows some years prior to working on this album, Harvey had begun playing the autoharp
. She told local newspaper Bridport News in 2011: "I was really enjoying this different, enormous, wide breadth of sound that the autoharp gives. It's quite a delicate sound, but it's also like having an entire orchestra at your fingertips. I began by writing quite a lot on the autoharp, and then slowly as time went by, (because this album was written over two and a half years)… my writing started moving into experimenting with different guitars, and using different sound applications, ones that I had never really experimented with."
On the subject of a new vocal style for the album, Harvey commented that "I couldn't sing [the songs] in a rich strong mature voice without it sounding completely wrong. So I had to slowly find the voice, and this voice started to develop, almost taking on the role of a narrator."
After initially searching for recording studios in Berlin
in the summer of 2009 while touring A Woman a Man Walked By
with John Parish
, Harvey instead opted to record at St. Peter's Church, Eype
, near Bridport
in Dorset. She told Bridport News: "I remembered that the man who now runs this church as an arts venue had said to me a few times if I'd ever wanted to use it for a show or rehearsals that he'd love that, and that's when I approached him and asked if we could use it."
The album was recorded in the church in a five-week period in April and May 2010 with long-time collaborators John Parish and Mick Harvey
, and with Parish and Flood co-producing; drummer Jean-Marc Butty added parts at a later stage. Much of the record was recorded live, and Harvey has described the recording as reasonably improvisational, commenting: "I wanted to leave room for them so they could bring their feelings into it as well. Usually I would have planned everything and known what instrumentation I wanted. This time I demoed the songs mostly with one or two instruments with a voice and that was as much as I had. So I basically had the chords and a couple of saxophone melodies, a couple of voice melodies and that was what I took with me to the church. We rehearsed the songs as if we were rehearsing to play them live and found quite quickly that we had only rehearsed a song through maybe twice and Flood had started recording us." The sessions were recorded by engineer Rob Kirwan.
The album features Harvey's first on-record use of the saxophone
.
", was released by Island Records
on 17 January 2011 digitally) and 7 February 2011 on vinyl (together with the non-album track "The Guns Called Me Back Again" from the album recording session). The album followed on 14 February 2011 (Europe
, rest of the world) and on 15 February (Canada
, US
). As Island Records released the album in Europe, Canada and rest of the world, it was released by Vagrant Records
in US. It is available as Digital Download on several platforms, CD
and LP
.
in 2008, Harvey contacted Murphy as she "wanted to speak to him more about his experiences being there in Afghanistan". The collaboration grew, with Murphy taking promotional photographs in July 2010 before filming accompanying videos for each song on the album which were completed in January 2011. On 14–17 July 2011 the 12 films (as whole or individually) are screened for the first time at several UK festivals.
's The Andrew Marr Show for an interview and performance of "Let England Shake", in front of then-Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
.
Harvey previewed the album with a show at the St. Peter's Church, Eype
, Dorset (where the album was recorded) on 18 December 2010, performing songs from the new album as well as songs from her back catalogue.
A European tour took place in February 2011, with a US leg in April, and festivals scheduled in the summer. A live performance in "La Maroquinerie" in Paris on 14 February 2011 was streamed as live webcast
by Deezer
and also by Arte
. On 12 July 2011 Arte broadcast on television a 73 min recording of a February 2011 live performance in Paris Olympia
. Selected live performance dates to promote the album (not complete):
, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 86, based on 42 reviews, which indicates "Universal Acclaim". NME
s Mike Williams stated, "Francis Ford Coppola can lay claim to the war movie. Ernest Hemingway the war novel. Polly Jean Harvey, a 41-year-old from Dorset, has claimed the war album", and gave the record a very rare 10/10 rating. Amanda Petrusich, in her 9/10 review for Spin
, praised its "bloody and forceful" sound, Victoria Segal in Q
praised its "remarkable lyrics" and "ethereal music" and gave it top marks, while Peter Paphides
in Mojo
called it an "uncannily timely piece of work", with the artist at "her most powerful". Alexis Petridis
in The Guardian
, awarding the record a 5-star rating, called it "a richly inventive album that's unlike anything else in Harvey's back catalogue" with the artist "at her creative peak". Uncut
, giving it the "Album of the Month" accolade, said that it is "the sound of someone as maddened as they are enthralled, aglow with anger and passion." In The Daily Telegraph
, Neil McCormick awarded it five stars out of five, calling it an "extraordinary album" and "a profound and serious work from a singer-songwriter at the height of her powers, a meditation on mankind's apparently endless appetite for self-destruction". Financial Times
Ludovic Hunter-Tilney also gave it five stars, calling it "a powerful, deeply layered album about warfare" which "depicts a country poisoned by an unfinished century of bloodshed", while Andy Gill in The Independent
stated that the work "may be her best album", described it as "a portrait of her homeland as a country built on bloodshed and battle," and awarded it four stars out of five.
with first-week sales of 22,468. This was an improvement of over 8,000 sales on the debut of Harvey's previous solo album, 2007's White Chalk
, and made Let England Shake Harvey's second career UK Top 10 album – and first for 18 years, since Rid of Me
peaked at #3 in the spring of 1993. After Harvey won the 2011 Mercury Prize, the album re-entered the chart at number 24. It was certified Gold, becoming only her second album to achieve such success, the first being Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
, which won the 2001 Mercury Prize.
The album also entered at #32 on the Billboard 200
with sales of around 18,000, making it her second highest-charting album in the US after Uh Huh Her
peaked at #29 in 2004.
Reference:
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
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...
, released on 11 February 2011 in the UK. Work on it began around the time of White Chalk
White Chalk
White Chalk is the eighth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 in the UK, and on 2 October 2007 in the US.Work on the album started in 2006, with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire? albums...
s release in 2007, though it is a departure from the piano-driven introspection of that album. The album was written over a period of two-and-a-half years, and recorded in a five-week period at a church in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in April and May 2010. The album's first single, "The Words That Maketh Murder
The Words That Maketh Murder
"The Words That Maketh Murder" is a song by English alternative rock musician PJ Harvey. The song was released as the first single from her eighth studio album, Let England Shake, on 6 February 2011...
", was released on 7" vinyl and download, backed with the b-side "The Guns Called Me Back Again". The album entered the UK album charts at #8, her second release to debut within the top ten in the United Kingdom, and the first since Rid of Me
Rid of Me
Rid of Me is the second studio album by British musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry...
in 1993. It was certified Gold in the UK on 23 September 2011, making it Harvey's second gold certified album. The album won the Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established by the British Phonographic Industry and British...
in September 2011, Harvey's fourth nomination overall (including another win in 2001
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, released 23 October 2000 on Island Records. Recorded during March to April 2000, the album contains themes of love that are tied into Harvey's affection for New York City...
), making her the most successful artist in the prize's history. The album also won the Uncut Music Award in November 2011.
Background and development
Harvey began writing lyrics for the album before setting the words to music. She has cited the poetry of Harold PinterHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
and T.S. Eliot as influences, as well as the artwork of Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
and Francisco de Goya and music of The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
, and The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
. She has also spoken of researching the history of conflict, including the Gallipoli campaign, and reading modern-day testimonies from civilians and soldiers in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
.
During some solo shows some years prior to working on this album, Harvey had begun playing the autoharp
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
. She told local newspaper Bridport News in 2011: "I was really enjoying this different, enormous, wide breadth of sound that the autoharp gives. It's quite a delicate sound, but it's also like having an entire orchestra at your fingertips. I began by writing quite a lot on the autoharp, and then slowly as time went by, (because this album was written over two and a half years)… my writing started moving into experimenting with different guitars, and using different sound applications, ones that I had never really experimented with."
On the subject of a new vocal style for the album, Harvey commented that "I couldn't sing [the songs] in a rich strong mature voice without it sounding completely wrong. So I had to slowly find the voice, and this voice started to develop, almost taking on the role of a narrator."
Recording
Harvey told Spinner in March 2009 that she had recorded demos for the album and planned to record in the spring of 2010, commenting: "All I can say is that I am pleased with it, because I feel it's a grand departure from anything [I've done] before. If I've done that, then for me, it's worked. I'm already feeling like I did, and I'm happy. I'm very pleased because I'm not repeating myself."After initially searching for recording studios in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
in the summer of 2009 while touring A Woman a Man Walked By
A Woman a Man Walked By
A Woman A Man Walked By is an album by PJ Harvey and John Parish, released on 30 March 2009 on Island Records.-Background:It is the second collaboration between Harvey and Parish, following 1996's Dance Hall at Louse Point. The album was recorded in Bristol and Dorset, and mixed by Flood. This...
with John Parish
John Parish
John Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...
, Harvey instead opted to record at St. Peter's Church, Eype
Eype
Eype is a small village in south west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the Jurassic Coast, several miles west of Bridport.Eype means "steep place" and many of its buildings can be traced back to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, but little is known in detail until the...
, near Bridport
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England. Located near the coast at the western end of Chesil Beach at the confluence of the River Brit and its Asker and Simene tributaries, it originally thrived as a fishing port and rope-making centre...
in Dorset. She told Bridport News: "I remembered that the man who now runs this church as an arts venue had said to me a few times if I'd ever wanted to use it for a show or rehearsals that he'd love that, and that's when I approached him and asked if we could use it."
The album was recorded in the church in a five-week period in April and May 2010 with long-time collaborators John Parish and Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey
Michael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
, and with Parish and Flood co-producing; drummer Jean-Marc Butty added parts at a later stage. Much of the record was recorded live, and Harvey has described the recording as reasonably improvisational, commenting: "I wanted to leave room for them so they could bring their feelings into it as well. Usually I would have planned everything and known what instrumentation I wanted. This time I demoed the songs mostly with one or two instruments with a voice and that was as much as I had. So I basically had the chords and a couple of saxophone melodies, a couple of voice melodies and that was what I took with me to the church. We rehearsed the songs as if we were rehearsing to play them live and found quite quickly that we had only rehearsed a song through maybe twice and Flood had started recording us." The sessions were recorded by engineer Rob Kirwan.
The album features Harvey's first on-record use of the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
.
Release
Preceding the album release, the first single, "The Words That Maketh MurderThe Words That Maketh Murder
"The Words That Maketh Murder" is a song by English alternative rock musician PJ Harvey. The song was released as the first single from her eighth studio album, Let England Shake, on 6 February 2011...
", was released by Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
on 17 January 2011 digitally) and 7 February 2011 on vinyl (together with the non-album track "The Guns Called Me Back Again" from the album recording session). The album followed on 14 February 2011 (Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, rest of the world) and on 15 February (Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). As Island Records released the album in Europe, Canada and rest of the world, it was released by Vagrant Records
Vagrant Records
Vagrant Records is an indie rock label based in Los Angeles, California and is home to such artists as The Hold Steady, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Active Child, PJ Harvey, Reptar, School of Seven Bells, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Thrice, James Vincent McMorrow, Placebo, and many...
in US. It is available as Digital Download on several platforms, CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and LP
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
.
Films
After seeing Seamus Murphy's "A Darkness Visible" exhibition in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2008, Harvey contacted Murphy as she "wanted to speak to him more about his experiences being there in Afghanistan". The collaboration grew, with Murphy taking promotional photographs in July 2010 before filming accompanying videos for each song on the album which were completed in January 2011. On 14–17 July 2011 the 12 films (as whole or individually) are screened for the first time at several UK festivals.
Tour and live performances
In April 2010, around the time of the album recording, Harvey appeared on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
's The Andrew Marr Show for an interview and performance of "Let England Shake", in front of then-Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
.
Harvey previewed the album with a show at the St. Peter's Church, Eype
Eype
Eype is a small village in south west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the Jurassic Coast, several miles west of Bridport.Eype means "steep place" and many of its buildings can be traced back to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, but little is known in detail until the...
, Dorset (where the album was recorded) on 18 December 2010, performing songs from the new album as well as songs from her back catalogue.
A European tour took place in February 2011, with a US leg in April, and festivals scheduled in the summer. A live performance in "La Maroquinerie" in Paris on 14 February 2011 was streamed as live webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
by Deezer
Deezer
Deezer is a free music streaming service based in Paris, France. Deezer was launched on August 24, 2007. Deezer has negotiated rights to make 165,000 songs available for streaming legally via an agreement with Sony, as well as some of Universal's catalog...
and also by Arte
Arte
Arte is a Franco-German TV network. It is a European culture channel and aims to promote quality programming especially in areas of culture and the arts...
. On 12 July 2011 Arte broadcast on television a 73 min recording of a February 2011 live performance in Paris Olympia
Paris Olympia
The Olympia is a music hall in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber....
. Selected live performance dates to promote the album (not complete):
| Date | City | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | |||
| 18 February 2011 | Brussels Brussels Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union... |
Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
Cirque Royale |
| 19 February 2011 | |||
| 21 February 2011 | Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... |
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
Admiralspalast Admiralspalast The Admiralspalast is a theatre in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, located on Friedrichstraße No. 101. Opened in 1910, it is one of the few preserved variety venues of the pre-World War II era in the city.... |
| 22 February 2011 | |||
| 23 February 2011 | London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... |
United Kingdom 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... |
O2 Academy Brixton |
| 24 February 2011 | Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Olympia Paris Olympia The Olympia is a music hall in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Located at No. 28, Boulevard des Capucines, its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin and Auber.... |
| 25 February 2011 | |||
| 27 February 2011 | London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its... |
United Kingdom 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... |
Troxy Troxy The Troxy is an art deco theatre and concert venue at 490 Commercial Road in Stepney, in the East End borough of Tower Hamlets, London, UK.-History:... |
| 28 February 2011 | |||
| North America | |||
| 14 April 2011 | San Francisco | United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Warfield Theater The Warfield The Warfield, also known as The Warfield Theater, is a 2,300 seat music venue located at 982 Market Street, San Francisco, California. It was built as a vaudeville theater, and opened as the Loews Warfield on May 13, 1922.-History:... |
| 17 April 2011 | Indio Indio, California Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border... |
Coachella Festival Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley... |
|
| 19 April 2011 | New York New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
Terminal 5 Terminal 5 (venue) Terminal 5 is a New York City music venue in Hell's Kitchen, located at 610 West 56th Street, west of 11th Avenue. It has a multi-level event site with five distinct room environments. It has a capacity of 3,000 people.... |
|
| 20 April 2011 | New York New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... |
Terminal 5 Terminal 5 (venue) Terminal 5 is a New York City music venue in Hell's Kitchen, located at 610 West 56th Street, west of 11th Avenue. It has a multi-level event site with five distinct room environments. It has a capacity of 3,000 people.... |
|
| Europe | |||
| 25 May 2011 | Lisbon Lisbon Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban... |
Portugal Portugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
Aula Magna |
| 28 May 2011 | Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... |
Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
Primavera Festival |
| 30 May 2011 | Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population... |
Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
Paradiso Paradiso (Amsterdam) Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije... |
| 31 May 2011 | |||
| 30 June 2011 | Roskilde Roskilde Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.... |
Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
Roskilde Festival Roskilde Festival Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer... |
| 2 July 2011 | Werchter Werchter Werchter is a small village in Belgium, belonging to the municipality of Rotselaar. It is site of the festival Rock Werchter. The origin of the place name is unknown but it's thought to be a watername.It is the birthplace of painter Cornelius Van Leemputten.... |
Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
Werchter Festival Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is a Belgian annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, since 1974. It is one of the five biggest annual rock music festivals in Europe... |
| 3 July 2011 | Arras Arras Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect... |
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
Main Square Festival Main Square Festival The Main Square Festival is a music festival located in Arras, France. The festival takes place in early July.Until 2010 the Festival was held on the Grande Place in Arras... |
| 21 July 2011 | Nyon Nyon Nyon is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometers north east of Geneva's city centre, and since the 1970s it has become part of the Geneva metropolitan area. It lies on the shores of Lake Geneva, and is the seat of the district of... |
Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
Paléo Festival Paléo Festival The Paléo Festival de Nyon, usually just called Paléo, started in a small way in 1976 as the Nyon Folk Festival. It was differently located, near the Lake Geneva and had only two stages. But today it is the second biggest open-air music festival in mainland Europe, after the Sziget Festival. Today... |
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Kosovo Kosovo Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia... |
DokuFest |
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Electric Picnic Festival |
| 4 September 2011 | Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands... |
Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... |
Royal Concert Hall Royal Concert Hall The Royal Concert Hall may refer to:*Glasgow Royal Concert Hall*Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, part of the Royal Centre in Nottingham*Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm, Sweden... |
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England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental... |
O2 Apollo Manchester |
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United Kingdom 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... |
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Reception
The album was released to widespread critical acclaim. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 86, based on 42 reviews, which indicates "Universal Acclaim". 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...
s Mike Williams stated, "Francis Ford Coppola can lay claim to the war movie. Ernest Hemingway the war novel. Polly Jean Harvey, a 41-year-old from Dorset, has claimed the war album", and gave the record a very rare 10/10 rating. Amanda Petrusich, in her 9/10 review for Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
, praised its "bloody and forceful" sound, Victoria Segal in Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
praised its "remarkable lyrics" and "ethereal music" and gave it top marks, while Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides is a British journalist and broadcaster.Between 2005 and 2010 he was employed as the chief rock critic of The Times and presented The Times weekly music podcast for Sounds Music supplement...
in Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
called it an "uncannily timely piece of work", with the artist at "her most powerful". Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...
in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, awarding the record a 5-star rating, called it "a richly inventive album that's unlike anything else in Harvey's back catalogue" with the artist "at her creative peak". Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
, giving it the "Album of the Month" accolade, said that it is "the sound of someone as maddened as they are enthralled, aglow with anger and passion." In The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, Neil McCormick awarded it five stars out of five, calling it an "extraordinary album" and "a profound and serious work from a singer-songwriter at the height of her powers, a meditation on mankind's apparently endless appetite for self-destruction". Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
Ludovic Hunter-Tilney also gave it five stars, calling it "a powerful, deeply layered album about warfare" which "depicts a country poisoned by an unfinished century of bloodshed", while Andy Gill in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
stated that the work "may be her best album", described it as "a portrait of her homeland as a country built on bloodshed and battle," and awarded it four stars out of five.
Chart performance
Let England Shake entered at #8 on the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
with first-week sales of 22,468. This was an improvement of over 8,000 sales on the debut of Harvey's previous solo album, 2007's White Chalk
White Chalk
White Chalk is the eighth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 in the UK, and on 2 October 2007 in the US.Work on the album started in 2006, with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire? albums...
, and made Let England Shake Harvey's second career UK Top 10 album – and first for 18 years, since Rid of Me
Rid of Me
Rid of Me is the second studio album by British musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry...
peaked at #3 in the spring of 1993. After Harvey won the 2011 Mercury Prize, the album re-entered the chart at number 24. It was certified Gold, becoming only her second album to achieve such success, the first being Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, released 23 October 2000 on Island Records. Recorded during March to April 2000, the album contains themes of love that are tied into Harvey's affection for New York City...
, which won the 2001 Mercury Prize.
The album also entered at #32 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
with sales of around 18,000, making it her second highest-charting album in the US after Uh Huh Her
Uh Huh Her
**Uh Huh Her is an album by British singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. The album was written, recorded and produced over a two-year period by the singer/songwriter herself. She also played every instrument in the album – a first from Harvey since 4-Track Demos in 1993 – with the exception of the final...
peaked at #29 in 2004.
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Album Chart | 6 |
| Austrian Album Chart | 15 |
| Belgium Album Chart | 4 |
| Canadian Album Chart | 23 |
| Danish Album Chart | 3 |
| German Album Chart | 7 |
| Finnish Album Chart | 7 |
| French Album Chart | 6 |
| Irish Album Chart | 7 |
| Italian Album Chart | 57 |
| Netherlands Album Chart | 14 |
| Norwegian Album Chart | 2 |
| Portuguese Album Chart | 8 |
| Swiss Album Chart | 4 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
8 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
32 |
Certifications
Track listing
All songs written by PJ Harvey.Personnel
- PJ HarveyPJ HarveyPolly 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...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
(1–12), autoharpAutoharpThe autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
(1,4,5,12), saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(1,2,4,5,8), guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(2,3,5,7,8,11,12), zitherZitherThe zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
(6), violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
(7) - John ParishJohn ParishJohn Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...
– drums (1,2,5,7–9,12), tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
(1,2,4,5,8), xylophoneXylophoneThe xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
(1), MellotronMellotronThe Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
(1,7,12), RhodesRhodes pianoThe Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
(1,8,11), guitar (2–4,6,9,10,12), vocals (2–6,8,9,11,12), percussion (3,4,6,11) - Mick HarveyMick HarveyMichael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(1,6,10), bass harmonica (1,4,5,8,9), drums (2,4,11), organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
(2,5,7,8), vocals (2–6,8–12), Rhodes (3,6), bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(4), percussion (4,6,11), guitar (8,9,11), xylophone (9) - Jean-Marc Butty – drums (3,6,8,10,12), vocals (3,5,6,8)
- Additional vocals on tracks 8 and 12 by Sammy Hurden, Greta Berlin and Lucy Roberts
Reference:
Release history
| Region | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 11 February 2011 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| France | ||
| Germany | ||
| Ireland | ||
| New Zealand | ||
| Spain | ||
| United Kingdom |