John Parish, PJ Harvey - Dance Hall at Louse Point

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Music reviews of Dance Hall at Louse Point

Music Review: A nonessential recording by an essential artist
Rating: 4 Stars

The album was intended as accompaniment for a dance piece to be choreographed by Mark Bruce and performed at the South Bank Performing Arts Centre. But given the diversity and undanceability of its tracks, it's hard to imagine what kind of dance performance could be accompanied by it. Even though the individual songs are good, that diversity makes it something less than PJ's other work. Every 'straight up' PJ Harvey album has an artistic focus: each song builds on and relates to every other one, making a narrative, even if an abstract one, leading to a real emotional climax. Dance Hall is just a collection of songs, many of them good or great, but none presented in its best light.

Aside from a couple of pretty but negligible instrumental pieces, 'Girl' and the title track, and one near-instrumental track, 'Lost Fun Zone', Dance Hall relies on Polly's lyrics and singing. 'That Was My Veil' is an immediate standout, a beautifully understated and melodic song. 'Is that all there is?', the old Peggy Lee standard, shows off Polly's acting-through-singing as a bitter yet wistful young woman.

Ironically, though, Dance Hall's best tracks really emerged only during PJ's Is this Desire tour. Perhaps burned out after near endless touring in support of To Bring You My Love, Polly didn't tour for Dance Hall, which may have contributed to Dance Hall's lackluster sales, at least in comparison to the wildly popular To Bring You My Love. But maybe that time off helped bring bring alive some of these songs -- 'Rope Bridge Crossing' and 'Civil War Correspondent' really filled out in concert. And 'Taut', maybe the best song to emerge from Dance Hall, exploded on the stage with Polly digging deep into its two roles. 'Taut' was particularly blistering on the performance she taped for Sessions at West 54th Street in 1998 -- the power and charisma she radiated was mesmerizing. That night she played this one twice-- she accidentally unplugged the mic halfway the first performance but played through. The second 'Taut' was even more powerful than the first, and the back-to-back performance was the highlight of the set.

In short, while a must-have for any serious PJ Harvey fan, this album doesn't compare with PJ Harvey's own albums, any of which would make a better point of embarkation for people who are just starting to get pulled into her music.

Description of Dance Hall at Louse Point

Alternative Rock CDs

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