I've thought this for years and even posted about it here, but Elvis Costello sums it up quite beautifully...
I remember seeing PJ on The Tonight Show. She stood there with just a guitar and did “Rid of Me.” It was like seeing Howlin’ Wolf on Shindig! So great. And then I got the record [Rid of Me], and it was nowhere near as good, but it didn’t matter. For me, the record sounds like shit. That guy [Steve Albini] doesn’t know anything about production. He might be the second-worst producer of a great record after Jimmy Iovine, who totally fucked up [Bruce Springsteen’s] Darkness on the Edge of Town. It sounds like Bruce is in a fucking shoe box full of tissue paper.
https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-...c-of-his-life/
When I want to listen to 'Rid of Me'-era PJH, I reach for '4-Track Demos' every single time.