Björk - Homogenic POLL

Thinking 'Heirloom' off of Vespertine is the last time she wrote a song with an authentic hint of humor in it.

this should be really hard, considering it's my favourite björk album, but it's not - "jóga", easily, just one of the most beautiful songs i've ever heard. the STRINGS.

the answer's "Hunter" but fuck a month-long poll tbh

Alarm Call.

Alarm Call for me too

Alarm Call for me too!!

By and far my favorite Bjork album.

This is tough, all these songs are on the same level of amazing.

Voted "Unravel" cos the first time I saw her live (opera house in Boston in 2001) she played this and i lost it.

this is absurdly difficult... I could basically pick any song besides "alarm call" (worst song on the album for me, only one that I skip occasionally)... I'm gonna go with "all neon like" though.

ok now i wish I voted for "pluto"

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

― gucci mane leflaur leflah eshkoshka (The Reverend), Saturday, April 17, 2010 3:11 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

I voted for Joga. This is my favourite album of the 90's and one of the most perfect albums I can think of.

Voted "5 Years". Love this album.

I can narrow it down to "Unravel" or "All Neon Like" or "5 Years" or "All is Full of Love" but asking to pick one is impossible.

This must have felt like the future of music when people first heard it in 97.

I went with "All Neon Like".

"5 Years," just barely over "Pluto," "Bachelorette," and "Alarm Call." I haven't listened to this straight through in years - thanks to Moka for getting me to break it out again! Sort of burned out on it after it was one of like five cassettes I took with me on an overseas trip but with a fresh listen, lord, what a gorgeous-sounding album. Remarkably consistent, too - I don't think there are any straight-up duds here and it benefits tremendously from a straight-through listen. Good texture.

"Bachelorette," although "Joga" comes damn close.

I always wanted Bjork to do a "Happy Furry Monsters" thing and appear on Sesame Street, with Bert and Ernie trying to figure out how they can be sure to wake up on time for the picnic tomorrow. THIIIIIIS IS AN ALARM CLOCK!

She's no fucking Muppet

Oh wait, she is.

i'm not getting the "alarm call" love...don't dislike it, but tend to skip it (and in fact have just done so again). it's a bit of a mess, and is the most out of place track on the album.

god damn i shoulda voted "pluto," this shit blew my mind at age 20

The radio/music video mix of "Alarm Call" would've probably been even more out of place on the album, but it's undeniably a better single.

I'm probably alone in that the track I skip most often on the disk is "Bachelorette."

"bachelorette" is awe-inspiring - the heart of the album for me

I'd go with "Joga" for that one, of the two expected poll-winners.

another vote for "Bachelorette", one of the most staggering songs I've ever heard

'Bachelorette' had a terrific video too

I'm probably alone in that the track I skip most often on the disk is "Bachelorette."

― who's always getting head from the commissioner (Eric H.)

Ditto. Love the lyrics and think it's good and all but tend to skip it... comes off as too histrionic for my taste.

for me this is hunter vs. bachelorette vs. all neon like

Though I love this album through & through with the exception of "Alarm Call" and the original mix of "All Is Full of Love"

Also Bachelorette is the best James Bond song that never was.

A state of emergency is where I want to be, especially if it sounds like the last thirty seconds of "Pluto."

excuse me
but i just have to
explode

explode this body
off me

i'll wake-up tomorrow
brand new

a little bit tired
but brand new

impossible choice... love this album dearly, about as much for mark bell as bjork. the drums on this are so strong. dunno if she'll ever find a better match.

original mix of "All Is Full of Love"

Since you mention it, I think I'm also in the minority that loves the ambient album version of "Love" waaaaaaay more than any of the remixes.

xp

Actually, the match that I don't think she'll ever be able to top is her collaborations with Eumir Deodato, which imo almost always led to transcendent results. He arranged all those impossibly gorgeous & lush string arrangements everyone loves in Post & Homogenic.

i.e., I don't think it's mere coincidence that the albums he hasn't worked on have basically sucked, a few redeeming moments (e.g., "Oceania") aside.

Yeah Joga is pretty good too, the way she uses her voice all the way from 'emotional landscapes' through 'state of emergency' is very impressive...

This - plus, yeah, the strings.

might be joga

"emotional landscapes" is probably the most poignant-while-simplistic pop-bytes i've ever heard

trolling.. zzz

xp

Actually, the match that I don't think she'll ever be able to top is her collaborations with Eumir Deodato, which imo almost always led to transcendent results. He arranged all those impossibly gorgeous & lush string arrangements everyone loves in Post & Homogenic.

― Turangalila

If I'm right he didn't have anything to do with Post. He only collaborated producing and creating arrangements for Homogenic and closest thing he did collaborating for Post is the magnificent Isobel mix for Telegram... stands as the definite version of the song for me.

You're wrong, though. Check again. He wrote all the string arrangements for Post.

that's why the Isobel mix is called the Deodato mix, btw, because the only thing on it is his strings

also John Altman helped create orchestral arrangements of things Eumir wrote.

i'm not getting the "alarm call" love

I think people are giving it unfair love because of the amazing Rhythmic Phonetics mix (DD stand up.)

Anyway: Jóga. Those are Mark Bell beats, right? They are perfect for this song. Everything in this song is perfect for it.

Alarm Call is worthy of all the love. it's a terrific, far-reaching pop song, and it's mixed well.

It's also grating major key drivel and ruins the flow of an otherwise perfect album.

the album would b too heavy without it -- in my mind, "drivel" is just another word for "light," or "untethered."

It's not the only song in a major key, either.

Joga is in a major key too but it's gorgeous. :)

it's very listenable, and touching without being too much

5 Years was my first favorite on this album, but then it moved to Alarm Call and I'm never looking back.

I Love 'Unravel', it's simple and beautiful and great songwriting and a fantastic vocal again. It's a tune I'd really like to cover, were I a musician.

the lyrics are also perfect on that one

The vocals in this album are her most forceful and beautiful, imo. As someone else pointed out, her phrasing here is consistently strange and lovely.

Very hard to choose, but "Unravel" for me too, mostly for personal, sentimental reasons: the best song for a long-distance relationship ever?

The lyrics to "Unravel" seem, to me, a loose adaptation of Breaking the Waves.

The lyrics to "Pluto" seem, to me, an example of prophecy inveighing against the hypocrisy of our times.

lol

All complaints directed against "Alarm Call" are coming from crusty but benign managing editors at defunct alt zines.

and lady cops.

We're up to our ears in this thread.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Pulling the trigger and voting "All is Full of Love." Because it will likely need more love.

Immature got my vote.

I voted for Joga but this album is pretty close to perfect. I think I only had to remove one track when I recompiled for the portable digital music player™

One time on this board max said if Obama was going to declare a "state of emergency," he should sing it like the Bjork song, and ever since then "Joga" has been a very amusing song to me.

Alarm Call, duh.

I can't remember if I voted for Unravel or Pluto :P

lol Stevie D @ your nickname and how it totally sounds as if she's saying that

I think "Joga" is one of the most beautiful sounding pop songs I've ever heard, so that.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The right one of the two titans won, imo.

All Is Full Of Love 6

^ should have more imo.

I never heard "Unravel" until this evening. I'm somewhat lost right now.

Did anyone see this cover of Joga in episode five of Top of the Lake? First time I'd heard it and it floored me but perhaps it requires that context. To avoid spoilers I haven't linked to the scene, just the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnEGSr5hRk4

I've rediscovered Bjork lately and 'Hunter' I think is my favourite. Such a weird song and single choice. Something that's cool about Bjork: the way her melodies and timing seem to slip around the music. She rarely stays on-grid, it's always very expressive and interpretive of the music. I think that was a barrier to me when I was younger, now it's something I appreciate a lot. I think Thom Yorke does this a lot in post-Kid A Radiohead, especially on KoL.

Would have voted for 'Bachelorette'.

the way her melodies and timing seem to slip around the music.

Latter days Beth Gibbons is very good as this as well.

Is it that time of year again where I listen to this album non-stop? This is a great album for spring time, you can almost hear the cold fading away.

Jóga is the obvious winner but I kinda wish Unravel had placed 2nd and Bachelorette 3rd. It predates the sound she would be following on Vespertine.

This is an album without a weak link, but it bums me out a little that the songs I'd call my top three were in the bottom four here.

The album version (which is actually the howie b remix) of all is full of love is inferior to the original version I have no idea why they decided to choose that one.

I strongly disagree, but that's a battle I've been losing for 16.5 years now.

the Plaid version is the best one.

I do like the radio mix/video mix of "Alarm Call" way better than the one on the album.

"Alarm Call" definitely would've taken this for me. What a great tune that is.

Alarm Call is great but it sounds a tad out of place in here. It would've been more suited on her previous albums.

To test how consistent an album sounds I usually try to pair one song with another... mirroring sounds or themes. In the case of Alarm Call, Pluto or Immature are its closest companions and they feel forced. At any rate this album is amazingly consistent. For example for this album I'd say these make great combos:

Jóga / Bachelorette
Unravel / 5 Years
Hunter / Pluto
All Is Full Of Love / All Neon Like

Which leaves us with:
Immature / Alarm Call

God, this album is so damn perfect.

you can't handle love. it's obvious.

What the fuck is she singing after 'your doors are shut"? no lyrics sites have that listed and I can't understand it; maybe it's in icelandic

(on 'all if full of love')