Thank goddess for Peel Sessions! The late and sadly missed John Peel was a man of broad tastes with an insatiable appetite for new music. His tastes and mine frequently coincided and so I've long enjoyed his recommendations and his championing of so much of my favourite music. And then of course there are his eponymous Peel Sessions. Somehow, time and again, nearly every act who answered the call to record pseudolive sessions with his BBC engineers was inspired to produce something special. And some bands kept coming back for more.

Many bands have released anthologies from their Peel Sessions: those of Mogwai (Government Commissions) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (Voices on the Air) have been especially appealling. PJ Harvey's collection, The Peel Sessions 1991 - 2004, compiles songs from several such sessions over the years, chronologically arranged. The recordings are wonderful -- not as wonderful as Albini's brilliantly raw Rid of Me but damn fine: spacious stero drums, trebley bass that swarms all over you, and Polly Jean herself, with band and without: brash and brazen, pushing her voice and strumming around with a poise and surprising power belied by her waifish form. Occasional fans will enjoy this survey of her career to date: die-hard fans will hardly have stopped playing this since they got their hands on it.

The cover is kinda sad and beautiful, too.