POP/ROCK - Feb. 15, 1996

Critics’ Darling: PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love” was the overwhelming choice as the No. 1 album of 1995 in the Village Voice’s annual poll of nearly 300 U.S. pop critics. The fourth album by the English singer-songwriter received 1,492 points in the Voice’s scoring system while the runner-up, Tricky’s “Maxinquaye,” garnered 868. They were followed in the Top 10 by Moby’s “Everything Is Wrong,” Elastica’s “Elastica,” Neil Young’s “Mirror Ball,” the Foo Fighters’ “Foo Fighters,” Bjork’s “Post,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” Yo La Tengo’s “Electr-O-Pura” and Oasis’ “What’s the Story (Morning Glory)?” Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” was voted best single of 1995, followed by Edwyn Collins’ “A Girl Like You” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” which tied for second.

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McCartney Plot Alleged: Britain’s Sun tabloid created a stir this week with reports that a hit man was recently hired to kill former Beatle Paul McCartney for 100,000 pounds ($153,100). But the plot was foiled, the paper said, when the hit man tried to involve two robbers who then became police informers. The paper gave no information as to who might have been responsible for the alleged plot. A Scotland Yard spokesman, meanwhile, said British police were unaware of any threat to the 53-year-old McCartney’s life.