Producers: Head, PJ Harvey, Robert Ellis, Steve Albini.

Engineers include: Head, PJ Harvey, Robert Ellis.

Composers: PJ Harvey; Bob Dylan.

Personnel: PJ Harvey (vocals, guitar, violin, cello, organ); Rob Ellis (vocals, drums, percussion).

Recording information: 12/1992.

Unknown Contributor Role: PJ Harvey.

Arranger: Rob Ellis.

Dry was shockingly frank in its subject and sound, as PJ Harvey delivered post-feminist manifestos with a punkish force. PJ Harvey's second album, Rid of Me, finds the trio, and Harvey in particular, pushing themselves to extremes. This is partially due to producer Steve Albini, who gives the album a bloodless, abrasive edge with his exacting production; each dynamic is pushed to the limit, leaving absolutely no subtleties in the music. Harvey's songs, in decided contrast to Albini's approach, are filled with gray areas and uncertainties, and are considerably more personal than those on Dry. Furthermore, they are lyrically and melodically superior to the songs on the debut, but their merits are obscured by Albini's black-and-white production, which is polarizing. It may be the aural embodiment of the tortured lyrics, and therefore a supremely effective piece of performance art, but it also makes Rid of Me a difficult record to meet halfway. But anyone willing to accept its sonic extremities will find Rid of Me to be a record of unusual power and purpose, one with few peers in its unsettling emotional honesty. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Slicker in production and tighter as a band, RID OF ME finds PJ Harvey's dynamic blend of siren sing-song and leering guitar groomed and ready for show.

As a band, their evolution into an empathetic unit rather than mere accompaniment is obvious in their tight yet subtle arrangements. Recorded by Steve Albini, this forceful sophomore effort veers from hoarsely quiet to ferociously looming in one beat. Drummer Robert Ellis and bassist Robert Vaughn's precise rhythm pocket and Ellis' background vocals spill over with a confidence that was lacking on DRY, and the band's grasp of the material is envious.

RID OF ME'S songs further examine Harvey's love for farce (in particular, "Me-Jane" and "50 Ft. Queenie"), and rework the accusatory mysticism of DRY ("Snake" and "Man-Size Sextet"). "Man-Size" offers the lyrical stab, "I'll calculate my birth right," while "Me-Jane" hurls insults at an unresponsive Tarzan. With a quick nod to Bob Dylan on "Highway 61 Revisited," Harvey sheds a glimpse on her lyrical influences and strong taste for innuendo. RID OF ME proves PJ Harvey and her band to be a consistent and driving force in the face of 1990s rock.