Bjork's new program "Vespertine" Total Victory or Total Failure?

ok

Volta maybe borrowed from some of Post's more sparse tracks, but that's all i can see.

All of them since Post and Homogenic except for Medulla, as I said in my post. She is constantly reusing the same compositional ideas, in terms of melody, harmony and arrangement; Medulla broke out of that because she was playing around with a capella and, as a result, she made something very different-sounding from the rest of her catalogue.

It's not a case of "album x is the new Post/Homogenic", it's that everything she's done since then has recycled those two albums.

That's sort of a depressing way to look at Bjork's career. I really hope it isn't true!

Keep in mind I like all of these albums!

But also I can't really listen to either of those albums all the way through without wanting to skip a track here and there, while I just listened to Vespertine twice all the way through.

i respectfully disagree! the only 2 studio albums after Post/Homogenic, excluding Medulla, were Vespertine and Volta, right?. and i have to say, notwithstanding melody/harmony/compositional analysis, i think they sound very different, and stand alone.

The amount of respect being shown here is heartwarming.

I mean the upshot of all of this is that I just spent a nice afternoon listening to Vespertine and wanted to tell someone about it.

i mean, maybe in terms of song structure -- she has a very consistent voice in that sense -- but in terms of overall style and textures, i think each album is quite unique.

hehe :) respect rules!!

i think medulla is an interesting companion to vespertine. they seem like two intentionally diverse approaches to her music; vespertine is a fragile, glittering crystal music box, and medulla is a heavy, club-swinging, somewhat hairy sounding thing. it's almost a female/male split, or heaven forbid, the yin and yang of her creative process. I think Volta attempts to merge these two approaches and doesn't do it exceedingly well; I think Homogenic was the (duh) homogenous beast these two albums grew out of. I just like Vespertine more.

but actually i can now see some similarities between volta and post... hmm

Medulla is hairy, but hairy like a woman

also the album artwork on vespertine is lovely. so is the artwork on medulla, i just never listen to it.

i love the vespertine artwork

and the artwork on Volta is horrible.

The Volta videos are outstanding, though.

ok i LOVE the cover of volta! i think it's totally amazing

everyone should own the surrounded box. it's one of my favorite things ever. i just wish it came with seperate dvd's instead of the godawful dualdiscs.

wtf are you supposed to do with the sticker on the cover of volta? and those foldover flaps get everywhere. and the booklet falls out and vanishes behind the stereo. HATE.

The amount of respect being shown here is heartwarming.

-- admrl, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 4:53 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link

"Let's unite tonight/We shouldn't fight..."

Vespertine is my favorite Bjork album, too. It's just so God damn pretty.

yeah, it's my favorite too. and like Dan said, I like all of them!

haven't heard Volta except for 'Earth Intruders", which I liked and which sounded very different than anything on Vespertine. The vinyl is like $53 at my store!

earth intruders is the worst track off it. which doesn't mean the album is awesome or something. haha. cryptic... you should listen. it's interesting.

There is no way "Earth Intruders" could ever possibly be worse than "The Dull Flame Of Desire".

ha!

Both those songs are awesome (except the latter has Too Much Antony). Cut the mentalism! That being said, there is some dull-ass shit toward the end of that record.

Oh and btw, Verspertine rox, whoever said it sounds like a crystal music box otm.

"There is no way "Earth Intruders" could ever possibly be worse than "The Dull Flame Of Desire"."

We are not going to agree on the subject of the Bjork. This song is the only reason to listen to Volta!

respectfully.

yes true, that is in fact the only song on the album i remember, it is quite lovely

I think I've listened to the entirety of "The Dull Flame Of Desire" exactly once, mostly because I kept thinking "Is this ever actually going to end??????????"

it's a toughie. i just like how it goes into Innocence (it does right?)

that's awesome

TOTAL VICTORY

after obsessing high school and taking a nearly decade-long break starting with vespertine (i didn't dig it at the time at all), i've been on a big bjork kick lately. but while going back to debut and post and homogenic is like going back home in a sense after a long musical journey (boring story but i didn't listen to music for the first half of my life and bjork was one of the very first artists i ever got heavily into), vespertine is like this whole other house i didn't realize i had. "Unison" is so so awesome.

yeah, funny that a lot of longtime fans at the top of this thread seemed to really dislike it when it came out. it's probably my fave bjork album, really gorgeous from start to finish.

holy moly, it's been 9 years since Vespertine? I wonder if i'll like it more now. Will try today.

this is suddenly all I want to listen to. the tension between the intimate & the epic is in most bjork, the way she puts herself into songs/the world, there's a similarly paradoical magical domesticity about this record, something relaxed and enchanted, otherworldly and everyday. I'm increasingly appreciating music which is comforting, nourishing, centreing, and this is v clearly that, a sort of withdrawal.

No love lost if all of the very first batch of posters on this thread are DEAD. Vespertine is a stone cold classic, I seek it out a couple of times per year and it always gets to me. Not sure if I'd call it relaxing, but enchanted, withdrawn, nourishing: absolutely. Also magical.

Yeah, it's a great record and there's so much shit being talked at the beginning of this thread.

(xpost)

it's not relaxing but I think bjork seems perhaps at her most relaxed, less of that blank-eyed imperious wizard biz. like a lot of melissa's complaints, I more or less agree but think they are positive: delicate sweet bells and strings, less drama, shapeless. it's not up to you is my favourite, there's something overwhelmingly humane about it, forgiving and warm. despite all the frosty icelandic cliches I think it's a very warm album.

has Melissa changer her mind?

"Undo" is my favourite. I like that Bjork is healing through this record, it seems a long ways off from Homogenic which is insular, caustic and full of distress.

Vespertine and Homogenic are her two masterpieces. Two of my favourite albums of all time.

Homogenic will always be my favourite album of hers, but Vespertine is very close.

has Melissa changer her mind?

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, July 16, 2017 3:53 PM (forty minutes ago)

Not really! But I was just thinking that I probably haven't heard this album in full in over 15 years. I'm glad/embarrassed that all my initial thoughts on the album when I was 17 are preserved in amber on this thread. I don't really disagree with my past self, but I probably wouldn't phrase my thoughts as dramatically now.

Homogenic is my fav too. 5 Years and Unravel rule

Funny to see I posted to this thread in '01 with a positive opinion. As I recall, I initially thought Vespertine was disappointing compared to the amazing Homogenic, but I guess I liked it from the get go! Maybe I confused my actual opinion with the ILM hivemind opinion. In any case, I'd put this right up there with Homogenic nowadays. Best comment upthread: "this sounds like ice"

Also, hey there Melissa, miss seeing your posts on this site

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