Bjork singles

which isn't to say that i would want it any other way. all subsequent albums have been properly AMAZING, but yeah, Debut holds a special place in my heart

One could dance to Earth Intruders, in a slighty jerky fashion.

inteersting, the 3 singles from Debut with 5 votes -- mine would have read Big Time Sensuality, Violently Happy and maybe Human Behavior.

how beautiful is Like Someone in Love?...

haha yes or Declare Independence could be danced to, in a slightly manic, fitful manner.

Declare Independence is for headbanging.

there's always the Vitalic mix of 'Who Is It'

My problem with Debut is so not the notion that she was sullying herself by doing the dance music that was supposedly beneath her. My problem is that it's as much a simulacrum of dance music as I guess her persona is one of human behavior, et al. "Human Behavior" and "Big Time Sensuality" sound to me as academic and fussy as I'm sure Medulla sounds to just about everyone.

Dated is also not an issue with me. If we're talking early '90s diva dance, give me Zhané, Jade, Masters at Work, and so on and so forth.

That said, I don't hate Debut and I find its singles very listenable. I just can't see why it's all "Nellee Hooper era and nothing else, plz" with some people.

I suppose I take your point re Big Time Sensuality (not a favourite of mine), but Human Behaviour doesn't really have an early 90s dance sound at all! It's kind of earthy and tribal, the closest contempory(ish) tune to it in terms of production would probably be Massive Attack's Karmacoma.

(x-post ... point taken, I was actually thinking of the Underworld remix of "Human Behavior," which is the only one I've listened to much)

Oh, and I'll also admit she was never cuter than here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38UrRpYsPjw

I woulda voted coccoon.

i can kind of see what u mean about human behavior and BTS sounding schooled, but i just don't really feel that way. big time sensuality was always like a perfect thing for me. just perfect.

but i'm definitely not "nellee hooper or bust" about it. medulla could very well become my favorite soon enuf.

there's always the Vitalic mix of 'Who Is It'

Tuomas: yes.

there's always the Vitalic mix of 'Who Is It'

-- blueski, Friday, February 1, 2008 9:52 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Link

^ YSI?

I finally fell in love with another song from Debut: "One Day."

(Up to now, I'd only really liked "Violently Happy" and "Venus as a Boy.")

Have you heard the live version of "One Day" from her last tour? Totally rearranged, just her and Manu Delago playing the shit out ouf his hang. It's sublime.

Yep, that amazing Biophilia tour version is what pushed me to go back and check out the original. Amazing song.

it will always perplex me that "hyperballad" is the consensus best björk single

bizarrely didn't vote in this but my order would be

jóga
bachelorette
hidden place
pagan poetry
hunter
play dead
isobel
human behaviour
big time sensuality
army of me
violently happy
all is full of love
i miss you
venus as a boy
oceania
hyperballad
who is it?
alarm call
earth intruders
declare independence
cocoon
triumph of a heart
it's in our hands
possibly maybe
the dull flame of desire
wanderlust
innocence
it's oh so quiet

i added the last two singles off volta; i would have added the singles off biophilia but i can't remember a thing about three of them, you can p much slot them in at the bottom

oh that's the version of "oceania" with kelis obv

"Hyper-Ballad" has the best lyric of any Björk song (or any song, really) by a long shot. That's why it'd be my #1. I also love: "Who Is It?" all versions of it, esp. the Bogdan Raczinski remix with the Colargol video, "Human Behaviour", "Venus As A Boy", "Cocoon" and "Hunter". The rest bubble under. Bum lyrics sink so many of B's songs out of sight for me, Jóga with its "state of emergency" chorus and Bachelorette with its "like a killer whale / trapped in a bay". One of the reasons "Biophilia" has become my favourite Bjork album is that she totally knocked it out of the park, those are real songs

Bjork's ear for weird English phrases are a big part of what initially attracted me to The Sugarcubes and I love that some element of that weirdness has persisted through her solo career.

Yeah, Bjork's off kilter lyrics are the one thing that keeps me checked in even when -- as in Biophilia (especially in Biophilia) -- the music loses me entirely.

I started liking "5 Years" less when I realized she wasn't singing "You can't hurry love/It's up the ass"

How Scandinavian of her.

(Up to now, I'd only really liked "Violently Happy" and "Venus as a Boy.")

― a guy named Christian White who represents the typical white Christian (Eric H.

I don't know if you were at the time, but I loved Debut as the apotheosis of that Nellee Hooper early nineties shuffle beat, weirded by Bjork. It sounds confident and sure of itself, and no trace of the Sugarcubes. If it sounds thin now, blame its successors.

*if you were there at the time

I didn't really hop aboard on Hooper until the R+J soundtrack, I think.

"Wanderlust" was her most recent single that got the blood pumping for her like it did back in my college days.

Eh, I was there at the time and I thought that most of Debut was a valiant failed effort; only "Human Behaviour", "Big Time Sensuality" and "There's More To Life Than This" worked for me and I had basically written her off as "better in rock bands and with 808 State" until I heard "Army of Me". (Then I heard the rest of Post and "Army of Me" became less impressive, lol.)

loved those three, "Venus as a Boy," "One Day," "Come to Me" (which has one of my favorite keyboard hooks and uses of icy electronics in a ballad) -- all of it really except "The Anchor Song."

I wasn't there at the time.

I loooooove "Crying" and "Venus" and "There's More To Life Than This" and "Anchor Song" and "Aeroplane" and all those weirdzo tracks. Debut is a fabulous album. I even like the jazz song. To my ears, "Violently Happy" is the only bummer jam but again, not my favourite lyric and the melody is lame slash non-existent. My first MIDI keyboard I got when I was 14 I transcribed "Venus" into its sequencer, lol.

Regarding Biophilia-- I had a unique problem with Bjork's production when she hooked up with The Greenhouse around Vespertine and started recording her vocals into an SM58 and mixing them hot and sibilant. My ears shrink from it. When she changed to work instead with Damien, he softened her voice and made it sound great again (Volta, Biophilia). For my personal history of Bjork it's like she disappeared after Selmasongs and reappeared 10 years later making terrific arty prog-rock. I guess if you're hanging around waiting for New Hot Bjork Singles then Volta might be a disappointment (I hated "Earth Intruders" and "Independence" but thought the rest was A+), but I dunno, Biophilia rules, it's an entirely original and amazing record and if it were some lost Tzadik thing made by an anonymous we'd all be bragging about who found it first

Bjork's vocals being hot on Vespertine don't bug me half as much as the choir swells being hot. The only disappointment I associate with "It's Not Up To You" and "Undo" is that their climaxes sound cramped and overbearing than expansive. (Production only; the arrangement is great.)

The Vespertine Live album is really great cause you get to hear those arrangements executed in a 'real' space

biophilia was the first time björk's lyrics started to jar with me; i have no problem with the supposed "bad lyrics" mentioned so far from homogenic or post, but biophilia felt very...conscious, and laboured, on many levels

Those are both positive adjectives in my book :)

My first reaction to Homogenic as a teen was so negative. "I'm going hunting / I'm the hunter" "I'm no fucking Buddhist / but this is enlightenment" wtffffffff. I liked the fake-mythic stuff like "Unravel", or the fake-conversational tone of "Pluto". I try not to be critical of ESL lyricists when they're playing-at-poetry but it does get in the way of true love sometimes

I wish I could go back in time and play teen-you "Birthday" first just so I could film your reaction

I first heard the Icelandic language version tbh and I stuck with it

conscious, and laboured, on many levels
― lex pretend

Those are both positive adjectives in my book :)
― flambient 4: on goon (fgti)

Hah, this is like how I can think of no worse adjective to apply to dance music than "academic."

"I'm no fucking Buddhist / but this is enlightenment"

haha i LOVED that lyric as a teenager

Being exposed to Homogenic as a teenager is the only reason I think I was able to digest and absorb sentiments like "maybe not from the sources you have poured yours, maybe not from the directions you are staring at."

Can't believe "Pagan Poetry", "Play Dead", "Violently Happy" and "I Miss You" all got zero votes in this poll.

"Play Dead" was my number one soundtrack to ~really deep thoughts~ at age 13.

"i miss you" is one of the weirdest tracks in björk's discography, especially in retrospect

I had no idea there were five singles off Volta, I don't have much affection for any of those songs at all ('Innoncence' isn't bad but it's basically 'Alarm Call Pt. 2'). Can't remember which Biophilia singles are which either but I do like that album as a whole. I agree with Lex's first 10 more or less although I'd put 'Hyperballad' and 'Venus...' in there and bump 'Army of Me' and 'Violently Happy'.

The trumpet solo at the end of "I Miss You" (and similarly on "Enjoy") >>>>>>

Bjork was the first ESL lyricist I ever went deep with-- ESL is typed with zero judgement, obv, just a statement of fact. It was so amazing to hear her ways around English. I absolutely fucking loved all the unconventional wordings of her stuff on Debut and Post: "you better be ready to get confused", "your rescue squad / is too exhausted"-- even the way she pauses here on "rescue squad" like she's teasing out what the right word is, it sounds like she's mid-argument--, the weird weighting of "suggests exciting sex", "like dinosaurs and people", "my best souvenir", "I suck my tongue in remembrance of you". Or the way she liked to dwell on details that were so unconventional "we'd then have to rush back / to the town's best baker / to get the fresh bread of the morning".

But my favourite moments of all were of course the ones where she didn't seem cute or exotic but seemed to be looking right through me, like on "Hyper-Ballad" especially

poxiii björk deep cuts:

come to me
charlene
sod off
my snare
pluto
one day
enjoy
unravel
aurora
where is the line?
the modern things
my spine

Man I love "Sod Off."

Recruiting: POLL Neon Like -- ILM artist poll #88 -- BJÖRK (voting open until April 27, 2018)