Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - PJ Harvey

We drew Bjork's Post out of the basket this evening and L was particularly looking forward to dancing around our apartment singing It's Oh So Quiet. So dear reader, does it still constitute a classic album if it doesn't make the cut in the CDs we bought from Australia to Jordan?

In the honour of truly awesome female singers, we chose PJ Harvey instead. Most of PJ Harvey's albums made the cut in the move and since its release in 2001, Songs from the City, Stories from the Sea has been a regular album for L and is now much loved by B (his misogyny towards women in rock is, piece by piece, disintegrating). We pour an Irish martini - vodka, dry vermouth and Jamieson with a twist of lemon. The power goes out for 15 minutes part way through the album and we settle in for a dinner of raw vegies before it is fortunately restored.

An album about her love of NYC, Stories... is a rock album of the best kind - strong, soaring vocals, raging guitars and quiet moments that still kick you in the guts. You can't listen to This Mess We're In with Thom Yorke, a wail of a song, without joining in with tears of your own.

The two opening tracks are among the strongest - Big Exit and Good Fortune are big, rough openers with simple but evocative lyrics. Although PJ is singing of NY, wondering among the tall buildings, hungover in Chinatown with a boy, I mostly think of Melbourne.

The simplicity of the guitar allows PJ's vocals to dominate the songs. Not only are the guitar parts mostly basic chords, playing almost entirely an accompanying role, the guitars sound like they're coming through an $80 amp. It is raw and beautifully grunge.

The Whores Hustle and The Hustlers Whore is the greatest title for song. PJ Harvey's vocals are particularly affecting. Again she soares high. The lyrics capturing the full gamut of the people that inhabit NY.

Co-produced with Rob Ellis (ever wonder why Anna Calvi sounds like PJ?) as well Mick Harvey, it has the Bad Seeds written all over it. PJ won the Mercury Music Prize for this album, strangely awarded on 11 September 2001. While PJ reflected at the time that music didn't seem so important that day, I think days like that make an album dedicated to NY even more important.

Thriller - Michael Jackson

Is there a more successful pop album than Thriller? Not only does every person in the world own this album, they all agree it is brilliant. It was recorded the year L was born and is still crisp and exciting.

Wanna Be Starting Something is electric. Pure disco pop energy. Manic guitar riffs, epileptic bass, a gospel choir and MJ at the peak of his talents. The cruel tragedy of the song is that all these elements make it impossible to dance not matter how much it incites you.

The Girl is Mine. Urgh. L hates it – it’s not just cheesy but creepy. B thinks it’s wonderful. Ownership of women is ok as long as you sing about it in high harmonies. 

What made this album ground-breaking in MJ's career is that every song is an epic. He'd already recorded perfect pop numbers with the Jackson 5 and on his 1979 album Off the Wall, but Thriller took his music it to another level. The songs were constructed layer upon layer upon layer in the studio and each has a narrative arc. The title track epitomizes this both in song and video. Much has been written about the video – it changed the music industry and pushed the then 25 year old Jackson over the edge into super-stardom which has rarely been matched. Aside from the beat and the dramatic synth riff, the most memorable thing about the song is how scary it is. I remember being petrified by the laugh that closes the song. We can't think of any other pop song that is genuinely terrifying for children (except, perhaps, for Katy Perry's exploding breasts).

While the album feels like it reaches its pinnacle on Side A with Thriller, Side B still brings it with Beat It and Billie Jean. Beat It is bad-ass. The choregraphed fighting in the video is priceless, evoking an early eighties West Side Story. You get the sense Jackson is both desperate to fit in, but at the same time, determined to go his own way. 

And then there is that unmistakable rousing beat of Billie Jean which still sends people squealing to the dance floor. I try not to think too much about the lyrics - the woman scheming after MJ kind of confounds me. 

The longevity of these songs is breathtaking. Thriller still sounds as exciting as it did when you first heard it. And Wanna Be Starting Something still makes me lose my mind. You know you've got it stuffed away in a cupboard somewhere. Find it and dust it off.