Dry announced Harvey in all her stark, hard-rocking glory. She and her two bandmates (collectively known as PJ Harvey) ripped through songs as intense as anything the hair-flailing grunge boys delivered, with Harvey wailing. 

 Harvey's original sketches for most of the Rid of Me material are presented on 4-Track Demos, augmented by several unreleased songs (including the excellent "Reeling," where she urges Robert De Niro to sit on her face). 

 Rid of Me burns with the same raw, DIY intensity, but by then, PJ Harvey, abetted nicely by producer Steve Albini, was pushing herself to extremes. On "50 Ft. Queenie," Harvey declares herself "the king of the world." 

 With U2 producer Flood (along with Harvey and percussionist John Parish) behind the boards, To Bring You My Love was inspired by the blues only figuratively, in its slow ache. No longer so sex-obsessed, Harvey toned down her guitar attack. 

 Harvey resolved not to fuck with her formula too much on Is This Desire? Like its predecessor, Desire is atmospheric, haunting, and vaguely sinister, but it's also more cerebral and beholden to Eurogloom textures. 

 After a two-year hiatus, Harvey returned with her finest album, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, pulling a truly shocking about-face: She sounds downright happy, or at least well-sexed. 

 Uh Huh Her once again found Harvey in entrancing blues-poet mode, conjuring disturbed, historically significant females such as Clytemnestra and Emily Dickinson–and Polly Jean Harvey. 

 The Peel Sessions collection features a stripped-down, no-frills Harvey and her gnarly band visiting the legendary BBC radio host between 1991 and 2004, with mostly feral attitudes in tow. 

 The piano-heavy White Chalk puts Harvey's distortion pedals back into storage, embarking on a brief freak-folk mini-suite of demure, but no less gloomy, chamber pop. Harvey taught herself to play piano for the record.