i've been carrying this new yorker around in my brief case since august. there was a decent article on pj that contained this: harvey broke free of convention. her songs are short stories, not confessions and her own identity has little to do with the different voices she chooses to embody. whereas janis joplin's blues were janis joplin's blues. harvey isn't interested in self revelation. she doesn't prettify the blues as bonnie raitt sometimes does; nor does she judge it an outdated form that needs jazzing up as Joni Mitchell did on "Mingus". thought it was an interesting statement. i bought the mag for the lead article on radiohead which was pretty good but had nothing new in it. radiohead was on the cover of rolling stone a few months ago and in that article, thom yorke said something like this: people want us to record something like "the bends" again...well, they don't ask artists to paint the same picture again. that sounds familiar. pat np. planet telex - everything is broken - why can't you feel good.
