PJ HARVEY, THE ANCHORESS, CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, ERYKAH BADU, ROBYN & MAPEI, KATHLEEN EDWARDS, ORLA GARTLAND, MARY WILSON & A BIT ABOUT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

The blog is back after an unexpected "week off".  No one needs any more covid-chat in their lives but thanks so much to everyone who sent get well wishes.  I've just had my first negative test as at time of publishing, the relief!  And I'm trying desperately hard not to dwell on my sadness at not being able to go to see Tori Amos at the London Palladium this weekend. Anyway, enough of that...

This week sees the reissue of PJ Harvey's The Hope Six Demolition Project on vinyl.  Her most-recently released studio album, a UK number 1 in 2016, and the final instalment in the series of reissues that started in mid-2020 which has made available some of the most highly sought-after vinyl records by a woman.  

Like all of the reissues in the series, this is accompanied by a collection of demo recordings of every track on the album which are available on vinyl, CD and digitally, and once again give an excellent glimpse into the evolution of her songwriting and recording process.  This series has provided some considerable joy in what was otherwise a very challenging couple of years and I, for one, am sad to see it come to an end...

The Art Of Losing by The Anchoress was released last year to huge critical acclaim, including multiple 'Album Of The Year' accolades, and it was expanded and reissued at the start of the month.  "One of my favourite records of the year" was how Elton John described it, and I'd have to conclude the same.  So I was delighted when the one-year anniversary reissue made it 'eligible' for inclusion in this blog, and even more delighted to snaffle a signed copy complete with limited edition library card from Bandcamp (looks like there might be a few copies left as at time of writing).  It tackles some really hard-hitting and dark themes, but in a way that is brilliant and powerful and captivating.

Another artist championed by Elton John (he knows his stuff, in fairness) is Christine And The Queens whose debut album Chaleur Humaine was reissued on black vinyl last week (I bought mine from Slide Record Shop).  I was lucky enough to see Christine perform with Elton at the Roundhouse in September 2016 as part of the iTunes Festival (remember the iTunes Festival...?) and she was just breathtaking.  I honestly couldn't believe that this album was already eight years old.  But of course it is.  Fun fact: 'Tilted' from Chaleur Humaine was the most suggested song for last year's Reissues By Women International Women's Day Spotify Playlist.  A lot of love out there for Christine.  (And the playlist is here if you're looking for it).

Other vinyl reissues out in the last couple of weeks include Marianne Faithfull's Vagabond Ways and Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground.  The latter prompted me to wonder aloud why this one wasn't held back for a 20th anniversary moment in 2023 but my husband told me that anniversary stuff wasn't important and no-one actually cared what year anything was released in.  Hmmm.  The very foundations of my career unravelling...  

And not wholly featuring women, but the charity covers album Salvation (Inspired By The Cranberries For Pieta) has some beautiful recordings of Cranberries hits by numerous female artists and is out this week on vinyl following its digital release last November. 

Things I have been enjoying in digital form include the magnificent version of Neneh Cherry's 'Buffalo Stance' by Robyn and Mapei, the latest acoustic recording from Kathleen Edwards ('Options Open' from the forthcoming Dogs And Alcohol EP), Orla Gartland's cover of The Corr's 'Breathless' exclusively for Apple Music and Mary Wilson's The Motown Anthology (also available as a 2CD collection).

Last week's blog was due to be full of inspiring things for International Women's Day too.  By far the thing that delighted me the most on International Women's Day though was the Gender Pay Gap Bot on Twitter.  Every time a big company posted their once-a-year "women are great" message using the IWD hashtag, the bot quote-tweeted it including details of the company in question's gender pay gap.  Seems like only one of the UK major labels fell foul.  Can't help suspecting that the ones that avoided it may have changed their social media strategy on the day, reducing the hashtags that triggered the bot and retweeting individual label posts rather than posting as a label group...

Bot-aside, lots of labels shared reminders of the music by women in their catalogues, including Sony's (Spotlight) Best Empowerment Anthems, Warner's Women Of Music collection, and Universal's (UMe) I Am Woman compilation.  And the Universal UK catalogue label UMC unveiled the next in the Hear Her Voice campaign which is a women in music podcast series hosted by Laura Whitmore.  It's also got accompanying Spotify playlists, with some of the playlist curation done by yours truly.

And with the broader backdrop of Women's History Month, there have been a few things on social media about women-owned record shops, and it prompted me to think about redirecting some of my purchasing towards shops/online retailers who are owned or co-owned by women.  Women In Vinyl have a really helpful list on their website (and if any women who own record shops are reading this and not already on the list, do get in touch with Women In Vinyl who will be happy to add you!).  

And if you haven't had enough playlist recommendations, then the regular Reissues By Women 2022 Spotify Playlist has been updated with a selection of tracks from the last few weeks...