release date: Oct. 23, 2006
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
A compilation album containing tracks from five John Peel sessions at BBC, released through Island Records and produced by Mike Robinson, Alison Howe, Simon Askew, and Andy Rogers. Well, some Peel sessions are truly original versions of well-known artists' work, but the majority of these recordings are really not all that different from Harvey's own album versions, so in that way this it "just another compilation" of fine tracks, and is more of a collector's item. And being rather familiar with 8 of the album's 12 tracks, I really prefer the studio album versions. The production sound here is really not that great. Sometimes you need the scraped down versions of things making it more authentic, I guess, but here that strategy don't work that well. Some Harvey's best early songs all have a certain balance of fierce energy and bedroom rehearsal recording sound that just fits so well, but in these recordings that balance is lost. Everything comes out as mere demo-recordings she did much better on her own, eg. on her 4 Track Demos album.
[ allmusic.com, Uncut 4 / 5, Mojo 2 / 5 stars ]
