Dry (1992)

Dry is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, released on 30 March 1992 by Too Pure. The album was recorded at The Icehouse, a local studio in Yeovil, England, and the tracks were performed by Harvey's eponymous trio. The first 5000 LPs and first 1000 CDs included demo versions of the album's tracks and Dry was subsequently released in the United States on Indigo Records. Both versions were released in 1992. Dry was reissued on vinyl and CD in July 2020: an 11-track companion album collecting all of the demos titled Dry – Demos was also released on vinyl as a stand-alone record.

Background

Speaking to Filter magazine in 2004, Harvey said of her debut album: "Dry is the first chance I ever had to make a record and I thought it would be my last. So, I put everything I had into it. It was a very extreme record. It was a great joy for me to be able to make it. I never thought I'd have that opportunity, so I felt like I had to get everything on it as well as I possibly could, because it was probably my only chance. It felt very extreme for that reason."

Reception

Critical response

Upon its release Dry received critical acclaim. In a nine-out-of-ten review for NME, critic Andrew Collins called the album a collection of "clever, repetitive, low-slung guitar poems" and said "Polly dredges these sounds from the pit of her dissected soul and drags them out of her mouth with clenched fists." Chicago Tribune reviewer Greg Kot referred to Dry as "jagged, lacerating and sexy in a disorienting sort of way" and likened the album to Broken English (1979) by Marianne Faithfull and Horses (1975) by Patti Smith; Kot awarded the album three-and-a-half-out-of-four stars, further stating "the best band out of the U.K. at the moment isn't another My Bloody Valentine guitar clone". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Bill Wyman described Dry as a "scorching portrait of the dark side of the female psyche" and an "uncompromising work of exhilarating, cauterizing beauty", awarding it an A+ rating. Los Angeles Times reviewer Robert Hilburn gave Dry a three-and-a-half-out-of-four-star rating, writing that it "falls somewhere in between … an instant classic [and] a seductive calling card that signals the arrival of an extraordinary new artist." Critic Robert Christgau in his Village Voice column described Dry as a "cloudy but essential feminist distinction between egoist bullroar and honest irrational outpouring", rating the album an A−.

Retrospective reviews of Dry have also been largely positive. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine summarised the album as "a forceful collection of brutally emotional songs, highlighted by Harvey's deft lyricism and startling voice, as well as her trio's muscular sound" in a four-and-a-half-out-of-five-star review. Writing for Pitchfork, Laura Snapes said Dry "is a volcano and the scorched earth surrounding it, ripped with landsliding guitars, cowpunk mania, twisted blues, profound extremes, and power chords that hit like boulders dropped from on high." The fourth edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, published in 2004, awarded the album a three-and-a-half-out-of-five-star rating, with Christian Hoard writing that its songs equalled "anything the hair-flailing grunge boys could deliver."

Commercial performance

Dry peaked on the UK Albums Chart at number 11, remaining on the chart for a total of five weeks. A month prior to the album's release, its second single, "Sheela-Na-Gig", had peaked at number 69 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite Dry's critical success in the United States the album did not chart on any mainstream or independent Billboard chart, however, "Sheela-Na-Gig" peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in September 1992.

Dry was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in March 2005 after shipments of 60,000 copies. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 176,000 copies in the US as of December 2005.

Personnel

All personnel credits adapted from Dry's album notes.

• PJ Harvey Trio
• PJ Harvey – vocals, guitar, violin
• Steve Vaughan – bass
• Rob Ellis – drums, vocals, harmonium
• Additional musicians

Ian Olliver – bass (3, 5)

Ben Groenevelt – double bass (3)

Mike Paine – guitar (9)

Chas Dickie – cello (9)

• Technical personnel
• Head – production, engineering
• PJ Harvey – production

Rob Ellis – production, mixing (5)

Mark Vernon – production (3, 5)

• Design personnel
• Foothold – layout
• Maria Mochnacz – photography