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.
― ogmor, Sunday, 16 July 2017 20:19 (six years ago) link
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 Not sure if I'd call it relaxing, but enchanted, withdrawn, nourishing: absolutely.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.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Sunday, 16 July 2017 20:28 (six years ago) link
Yeah, it's a great record and there's so much shit being talked at the beginning of this thread.
(xpost)
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Sunday, 16 July 2017 20:32 (six years ago) link
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.
― ogmor, Sunday, 16 July 2017 20:40 (six years ago) link
has Melissa changer her mind?
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, 16 July 2017 20:53 (six years ago) link
"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.
― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Sunday, 16 July 2017 21:03 (six years ago) link
Vespertine and Homogenic are her two masterpieces. Two of my favourite albums of all time.
― kitchen person, Sunday, 16 July 2017 21:29 (six years ago) link
Homogenic will always be my favourite album of hers, but Vespertine is very close.
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Sunday, 16 July 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
has Melissa changer her mind?― dance cum rituals (Moka), Sunday, July 16, 2017 3:53 PM (forty minutes ago)
― 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.
― Melissa W, Sunday, 16 July 2017 21:39 (six years ago) link
Homogenic is my fav too. 5 Years and Unravel rule
― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Sunday, 16 July 2017 21:46 (six years ago) link
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"
― Vinnie, Monday, 17 July 2017 01:38 (six years ago) link
Also, hey there Melissa, miss seeing your posts on this site
― Vinnie, Monday, 17 July 2017 01:51 (six years ago) link
I love himI love himI love him
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:44 (six years ago) link
I love him
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:40 (six years ago) link
I love himI love himI love himI love him
I
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:41 (six years ago) link
she loves himshe loves himshe loves himshe loves him
― nice cage (m bison), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:47 (six years ago) link
best bjork thing ever period, dont @ me
― nice cage (m bison), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
as an amateur bedroom electronic music person, this is one of the most influential records for me
upon further, still total victory
― Karl Malone, Monday, 17 July 2017 03:54 (six years ago) link
cosign the love, probably my favorite overall record of hers. Although the insane peaks of Homogenic top any individual moment here, the record flows so well and is so integrated. Plus, Zeena Parkins.
― sleeve, Monday, 17 July 2017 03:55 (six years ago) link
Really, that Björk has basically the top 2 greatest albums ever recorded, is there any real need to decide which of the two is greater?
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 04:05 (six years ago) link
this is the only Bjork album I've ever really listened to, it sounded wonderful on a snowy day.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Monday, 17 July 2017 04:08 (six years ago) link
it's also interesting to hear this record at the peaks of valleys of love in your life. the mood is completely changed depending on how you're feeling. it's natural to hear things through the filter of your own emotional state, and some albums can take on a more powerful meaning if the listener is in a certain life state (like yo la tengo's atntiio and depression+divorce).
i don't know wtf i'm talking about but eventually i was trying to argue that vespertine has at least several different distinct emotional/life/sound ties like that, at least for me, and it seems otherworldly and always refreshingly current and relevant for that reason
― Karl Malone, Monday, 17 July 2017 04:09 (six years ago) link
great post Karl
I hate to say this is the last I really was invested in Bjork. The Royal Opera performance of Vespertine is essential as well.
Vulnicura revived my love in her though
― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Monday, 17 July 2017 05:16 (six years ago) link
This is probably her best album.
― chap, Monday, 17 July 2017 11:09 (six years ago) link
― Karl Malone, Monday, July 17, 2017 4:09 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Goddamn right and expressed so eloquently. The album can hit you in a myriad of ways, soundtracking both the peaks and the valleys of love. Thinking about this further I have a hard time coming up with an album, or even a single song, that does this. Take 'Pagan Poetry'. The whole gut-wrenching 'I love him, I love him' sequence is equally applicable to both the euphoria of love as the utter destruction of it all falling to bits. Embracing love with such force and swallowing it whole, opposite the lamenting and hysteria of love that died/is dying. That song alone has accompanied me in both sides of the spectrum.
(fp'd you for saying 'I don't know wtf I'm talking about' bcz, clearly, you do)
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 17 July 2017 16:35 (six years ago) link
Went to re-listen to this. Receipt for my first pack of condoms sitting under the CD tray. Oof.
― maffew12, Monday, 17 July 2017 17:08 (six years ago) link
I think she would be happy about that.
― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 17:44 (six years ago) link
final track on this record is my favorite bjork song of all time. i can remember thinking i didn't like this as much as homogenic at the time but now i v much feel the contemporary consensus. imo homogenic feels like it's always trying to explode where vespertine seems like it's always trying to be quiet. her best record along with medulla (which i like more than most)
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 17 July 2017 18:27 (six years ago) link
Medulla's when her quailty control started slipping - all her records since have been patchy.
― chap, Monday, 17 July 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
I like this album a lot but I never listen to it, whereas I go back to Post and Homogenic (and selected songs from Medulla and Volta) a lot.
― this iphone speaks many languages (DJP), Monday, 17 July 2017 18:31 (six years ago) link
I think the original title for Vespertine gives us a nod to why it's so quiet - Domestica
― Paisley Window Pane (Ross), Monday, 17 July 2017 18:53 (six years ago) link
Anyone heard the Vespertine opera, any good? It's now released on CD:
https://www.galileomusic.de/cover/400/oc978.jpg
― Siegbran, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 07:46 (four years ago) link
Funny to see the intital lukewarm reaction to this now ILX certified classic.
― chap, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 12:47 (four years ago) link
that is weird. IMO it's clearly her best album and also the last album of hers I really loved.
― akm, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link
I'd agree, except maybe with the 'clearly'.
― chap, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 13:03 (four years ago) link