Reviewed: PJ Harvey's Spellbinding 'Let England Shake,' Lady Gaga's Instant-Classic Club Anthem 'Born This Way' and More

Lady Gaga performs 'Born This Way' at the 2011 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, February 13, 2011.

Kevin Winter/Getty

In this week's slate of Rolling Stone reviews, Rob Sheffield praises PJ Harvey's Let England Shake, noting that listeners need not be up on British history to enjoy her grim, spellbinding songs about England's history of war and imperialism. According to Will Hermes, Greg Dulli's new Twilight Singers album Dynamite Steps eclipses his work in soul-grunge band the Afghan Whigs, describing his persona on the record as "part barroom romantic, part serial killer." Jody Rosen says that Drive-By Truckers' Go-Go Boots is a "R&B murder" record full of great storytelling and catchy choruses.

On the singles front, Sheffield declares Lady Gaga's new single "Born This Way" to be an "instant-classic club anthem," and Hermes compares Fleet Foxes' song "Helplessness Blues" to Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash.

ALBUMS

PJ Harvey  - Let England Shake (stream full album)

Drive-By Truckers - Go-Go Boots (stream full album)

Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps (stream one song)

Yuck - Yuck (stream full album)

Bright Eyes - The People's Key (stream full album)

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (stream full album)

The Dears - Degeneration Street (stream full album)

SINGLES

Lady Gaga "Born This Way" (stream)

Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues" (stream)

MNDR "Cut Me Out" (stream)

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

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