The only record we’re looking forward to more than PJ Harvey’s The Peel Sessions 1991-2002 is the one packed with new material that she begins recording next month. In the meantime, we can all tide ourselves over with this exceptional collection of tracks recorded with the late, great BBC DJ John Peel on his show, um, The John Peel Show. No complaints this time about how we’re teasing you with advance listening reports of albums you can’t hear for months, you guys. The Peel Sessions 1991-2002 comes out on November 7th. That’s just twelve short days from now. Okay?

So, what do you have to look forward to? An absurdly powerful group of tracks that span Harvey’s career, from the early, brooding hellcat stuff like “Oh My Lover,” and “Sheela-Na-Gig” (both recorded in 1991 for Peel’s show), to mid-career temperamental seethers like 1996’s “Snake,” to the more subdued, melancholy romance of Harvey’s recent work on tracks like “Beautiful Feeling” (2000) and “You Come Through” (recorded at the John Peel tribute concert in 2004). Overall this record functions the way Greatest Hits collections should: Listening triggers personal associations with each song, but all together these tracks reveal the larger, potent brilliance of this artist. It’s a perspective you can’t get one record at a time, and it’s a view you don’t want to live without.