What are the duds on Homogenic???
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:40 (fifteen years ago) link
Can't remember. Somewhere near the middle, maybe? It gets a little choppy whereas Vespertine only tires near the end. I still really like it, though!
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Vespertine is perhaps two tracks too long. otherwise, perfect.
Medulla aside, she's basically spent her entire career trying to recreate those two albums; I think a solid case can be made for them being the cornerstones of her musical foundation.
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:41 (fifteen years ago) link
Maybe, but in that case Vespertine is the album Homogenic could have been. =)
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:42 (fifteen years ago) link
It's really good, you should listen to it again. I just did.
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:43 (fifteen years ago) link
-- HI DERE, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 9:41 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
what albums are in imitation of Homogenic/Post?
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:44 (fifteen years ago) link
maybe Vespertine/Volta? Just a guess. I'm not sure I agree though.
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:45 (fifteen years ago) link
It's all to do with the colouring of the artwork
i would say definitely no for both of those.
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
ok
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:46 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:48 (fifteen years ago) link
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!
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:49 (fifteen years ago) link
Keep in mind I like all of these albums!
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:50 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:51 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:52 (fifteen years ago) link
The amount of respect being shown here is heartwarming.
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:53 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:54 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:54 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― akm, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:58 (fifteen years ago) link
but actually i can now see some similarities between volta and post... hmm
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 21:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Medulla is hairy, but hairy like a woman
― admrl, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:00 (fifteen years ago) link
also the album artwork on vespertine is lovely. so is the artwork on medulla, i just never listen to it.
― akm, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:01 (fifteen years ago) link
i love the vespertine artwork
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:02 (fifteen years ago) link
and the artwork on Volta is horrible.
― akm, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:02 (fifteen years ago) link
The Volta videos are outstanding, though.
― HI DERE, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:04 (fifteen years ago) link
ok i LOVE the cover of volta! i think it's totally amazing
― Surmounter, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:33 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Creeztophair, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:48 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― akm, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 22:51 (fifteen years ago) link
The amount of respect being shown here is heartwarming.-- admrl, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 4:53 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link
-- 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.
― !Alicia!, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 03:22 (fifteen years ago) link
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!
― sleeve, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 03:28 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 03:29 (fifteen years ago) link
There is no way "Earth Intruders" could ever possibly be worse than "The Dull Flame Of Desire".
― HI DERE, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 05:13 (fifteen years ago) link
ha!
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 05:16 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 05:31 (fifteen years ago) link
"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!
― admrl, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 05:44 (fifteen years ago) link
respectfully.
yes true, that is in fact the only song on the album i remember, it is quite lovely
― akm, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 06:23 (fifteen years ago) link
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??????????"
― HI DERE, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 11:19 (fifteen years ago) link
it's a toughie. i just like how it goes into Innocence (it does right?)
that's awesome
― Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 12:36 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― need to impressive a girl? (Z S), Monday, 6 December 2010 21:20 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― tylerw, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
holy moly, it's been 9 years since Vespertine? I wonder if i'll like it more now. Will try today.
― brotherlovesdub, Monday, 6 December 2010 21:36 (thirteen years ago) link
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