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." Despite Drys 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.
Accolades
In 1992 Dry was featured in several publications' year-end best-of lists. It placed at number 12 in Selects list of the best albums of the year, number 18 in Spins "20 Best Albums of 1992" list, and was also featured in Qs "Recordings of the Year" feature.
Dry has since been featured on several best-of-all-time lists. It was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stones list of the "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" and number 151 on NMEs "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. Dry is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. bonus tracks
| total_length = 78:55
| title12 = Oh My Lover
| note12 = Demo version, 1991
| length12 = 2:30
| title13 = O Stella
| note13 = Demo version, 1991
| length13 = 3:16
| title14 = Dress
| note14 = Demo version, 1991
| length14 = 3:17
| title15 = Victory
| note15 = Demo version, 1991
| length15 = 4:19
| title16 = Happy and Bleeding
| note16 = Demo version, 1991
| length16 = 4:44
| title17 = Sheela-Na-Gig
| note17 = Demo version, 1991
| length17 = 3:15
| title18 = Hair
| note18 = Demo version, 1991
| length18 = 3:37
| title19 = Joe
| note19 = Demo version, 1991
| music19 = Harvey, Ellis
| length19 = 3:16
| title20 = Plants and Rags
| note20 = Demo version, 1991
| music20 = Harvey, Ellis
| length20 = 3:32
| title21 = Fountain
| note21 = Demo version, 1991
| length21 = 3:05
| title22 = Water
| note22 = Demo version, 1991
| length22 = 4:32
Personnel
All personnel credits adapted from Drys album notes.
PJ Harvey Trio
- PJ Harvey – vocals, guitar, violin
- Steve Vaughan – bass
- Rob Ellis – drums, vocals, harmonium
Additional musicians
- Ian Olliver – bass
- Ben Groenevelt – double bass
- Mike Paine – guitar
- Chas Dickie – cello
Technical personnel
- Head – production, engineering
- PJ Harvey – production
- Rob Ellis – production, mixing
- Mark Vernon – production
Design personnel
- Foothold – layout
- Maria Mochnacz – photography
Charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:left"
! scope="col"| Chart (1992)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:left"
! scope="col"| Chart (2001)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:left"
! scope="col"| Chart (2020)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Norwegian Vinyl Albums (VG-lista)
| style="text-align:center"| 3
|}