Oliver: PJ Harvey - Sheela-Na-Gig (25 January 1992)

You can already find the Peel Session version of this track on the blog.  I include the record version which Peel played on 25/1/92 as her new single, here for reasons of completeness.  How many versions of an artist singing a song should you have?  Do bootleggers ever find themselves tormented over this, especially if they're just collecting them for their own benefit?  I had initially thought one version, whether recorded or live would be fine, but found my opinion changing thanks to The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  I recorded three-quarters of their 2002 Peel Session, and declared my favourite track to be Y Control, feeling it pretty much unimproveable in its live form.  However, the version recorded for  Fever to Tell sounded equally stunning, so like ebony and ivory, you can expect where necessary to see studio and live living side by side in perfect harmony.

Video courtesy of TheSampler2010.