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Old 21-01-2006, 23:21
Carmen Queasy
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Anyone else like her?

I never realised how great she really is.

I got Medulla ages ago and it scared me

I recently (well, octoberish time) got the rest of her stuff after getting her Greatest Hits, and I am impressed.

My favourite album is Homogentic, closely followed by Post, but all her stuff is good (with the exception of Medulla, which is to out ther for me)

I don't get it, though - was she really popular? I never see or hear much of her on TV/radio, perhaps with the exception of Oh So Quiet, which is quite a red herring, in my opinion.
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Old 21-01-2006, 23:47
delboy85
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I love BJORK to bits (but have to admit that I'm not too familiar with her most recent stuff). Yeah, she was pretty "big" commercially in the latter half of the 90's. Her first three solo albums were pretty big sellers. All three are excellent and peppered with cracking singles. "HOMOGENIC" is my fave too. I love the song "PLUTO" - it's just so damn nuts!!
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Old 22-01-2006, 00:21
cleocat
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debut is excellent i brought it when it first came out and still listening to it today with the added play dead! i also loved the sugarcubes before she went solo.
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Old 22-01-2006, 00:27
Carmen Queasy
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Pluto!! It's great. What is it? It breaks all the laws (as do most of her songs) and it's totally WRONG, yet I love it.

Debut is great, too. Play Dead is great, but overplayed due to car adverts!!

My favourite song is probably Joga, or Army of Me.
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Old 22-01-2006, 00:54
delboy85
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"JOGA" is one of my all-time fave songs!!! It's apparently an ode to her best friend. Imagine if someone wrote a song like that about ya, I'd be well-chuffed!! Stunning song.
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Old 22-01-2006, 01:16
Carmen Queasy
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Yeah, it's a class song. I never liked her voice when I was younget, but my music taste has changed dramatically over the past 5 years...
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Old 22-01-2006, 05:38
girliedrinker
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Bjork is wonderful but I fear that she's almost too bizarre for me on the last couple of albums (if you thought Medulla was bad, check out the more recent Drawing Restraint 9). It's a shame for me, since she was an artist who I thought started out fantastically and just got better and better, while her commercial appeal seemed to decrease evermore. Who thought that after Homogenic she would bring out something even more experimental, emotional and beautiful in the form of Selma Songs? I didn't. So my socks were truly knocked off when Vespertine came out. That is possibly the most gorgeous record I've ever listened too, it's brought tears to my eyes on many occasions. Even the live recordings of its material have the same effect, the songs and arrangements are that good.
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Old 22-01-2006, 05:51
Carmen Queasy
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Drawing Restraint 9 is even worse than Medulla. I listened to it and I just did not like it.

Vespentine is great, though.

I agree, her ealier stuff is amazing, but it seems that she turned TOO experimental on the last couple of albums.
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Old 22-01-2006, 18:49
Andyscouser
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I've loved Bjork ever since I first saw the premiere of the video for Human Behaviour on MTV years ago. Got pretty much everything she's done with the exception of Medulla and Drawing Restraint. It's almost like she's purposely trying to alienate her fans into not liking her anymore.
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Old 22-01-2006, 21:49
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LOL I'm still catching up on Bjork's back catalogue. The last two posts have given me an incentive to get a move on! "TOO experimental", "deliberately trying to alienate her fans"... mmm, sounds good to me.
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Old 22-01-2006, 21:54
bohoboy
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i'm sorry but you can't count drawing restraint 9 as a bjork album, its a soundtrack to her partner's latest artwork and as such she was bound by certain themes and notions and these informed her work, yes she created it but it's not a solo album per se.
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Old 23-01-2006, 04:53
girliedrinker
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I realise that but Drawing Restraint does still continue themes from Medulla and stylistically they have much in common. Thing is, I do still respect her as an artist and clearly has no desire to remain commercial (even her singles collection omitted "It's Oh So Quiet").

And don't get me wrong, Medulla still has it's moments, "Triumph Of A Heart" is brilliant, and has a great video too.
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Old 23-01-2006, 05:22
Carmen Queasy
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Well, her greatest hits was made by fans' votes, so Oh So Quiet doesn't appear on there since it never got as many votes as the rest - unless you mean her box set of singles?

Almost all of her videos are great, too.

Is Medulla ALL Accapella?!

Last edited by Carmen Queasy : 23-01-2006 at 06:07.
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Old 23-01-2006, 07:43
MaxCherry
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Originally Posted by Carmen Queasy

Is Medulla ALL Accapella?!
Its not acapella but there are no instruments used on the album (all the sounds are created by the human voice) Rahzel helped her a lot.

Ive loved Bjork for years. You should get the DVD's with all the vids on

Fave tracks include All Is Full Of Love, Possibly Maybe and Pagan Poetry.
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Old 23-01-2006, 07:48
Carmen Queasy
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Originally Posted by MaxCherry
Its not acapella but there are no instruments used on the album (all the sounds are created by the human voice) Rahzel helped her a lot.

Ive loved Bjork for years. You should get the DVD's with all the vids on

Fave tracks include All Is Full Of Love, Possibly Maybe and Pagan Poetry.
I think my uni library has Volumen II

Isn't that what acapella is? Singing with no instruments? It doesn't just mean the vocal track with the lyrics, does it?

Every track (apart from the occasional piano) is made up from human voices - mad!
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Old 23-01-2006, 08:00
MaxCherry
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Originally Posted by Carmen Queasy
I think my uni library has Volumen II

Isn't that what acapella is? Singing with no instruments? It doesn't just mean the vocal track with the lyrics, does it?

Every track (apart from the occasional piano) is made up from human voices - mad!

acapella is singing without a backing track.
Volumen II is the one I have (I think its like V1 but with a couple more vids) and also "Live at the royal opera house" which is a concert DVD.

I LOVE watching her live. Its hard to explain what I love about her I just think she is the dogs bollocks.

When im sick to death of watching every video with some tart dancing in a gucci bikini in a nightclub with bottles of cristal being poured everywhere I put on my Bjork dvd and watch some videos with some actual sustanance.

All Is Full Of Love is maybe my fave video of all time (the one where she is an android and lezzes off with herself)
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Old 23-01-2006, 08:16
Carmen Queasy
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It's very true. Her videos are more arty than most, but not in the OTT "just because it's art, we make it weird" kind of way. They're just good.

A lot of her videos are quite surreal, which gives me an idea for an essay I have to write
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Old 23-01-2006, 09:13
MaxCherry
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I find the vid to Batchelorette the most disturbing. When the publisher see's himself on the stage. And then when the people start turning into bushes

"I'm a fountain of blood, in the shape of a girl
You're the bird in the brim, hypnotised by the whirl"


OMG I could talk about Bjork all day. If you goto www.bjork.com it has tons of info in the video's....it may help you out
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Old 23-01-2006, 09:18
Carmen Queasy
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Yeah, I've been browsing her website recently, and watched the videos I've never seen before. They're great. She uses a lot of CGI in them, though, which I'm not usually a big fan of, but because it fits her style so well, I like it.

I wonder if she's ever forgotten anyof her lyrics? Her songs are very word-heavy!

I think I read somewhere that she has a new album coming out soon?!
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Old 23-01-2006, 09:24
MaxCherry
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The heaviest CGI vid is "Hunter" where she turns into a polar bear. And "Cocoon" where she has red "scooby style " wires coming out of her nipples.

I cant believe she went through the pain of "corseting" for the Pagan Poetry video. She gets her back pierced it looks SOOO sore.
She is also getting totally shagged at the start of the video but it's hidden with camera effects.
(beware this is the video where she has hairy arms)
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Old 23-01-2006, 09:35
Carmen Queasy
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Hunter is cool, yeah, but very CGI.

I watched the videos from Vespertine, and she appears naked in all of them! Crazy woman. Cocoon is crazy, with the red things flying from her nipples

I like the video to Oceania. I haven't seen any other videos from Medulla, though, and they're not on her site.
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Old 23-01-2006, 09:45
MaxCherry
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You can see Who Is It? on www.launch.com The husky wolves in the video are sooo cute.

Alarm Call is another vid I like. It was directed by Alexander McQueen. She turns into a pihrana at the end!

But my all time fave song/vid by Bjork is Possibly Maybe. It was a b-side on the Its Oh So Quiet single. The video is so simple yet so amazing.
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Old 23-01-2006, 10:00
Carmen Queasy
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I always thought Possibly Maybe was a single release. I never new it was a B-Side.

I've had her greatests a while now, and I recently got the rest of her albums (excluding Medulla, which is too different for me ).

I like the Hyperballad video, and most videos directed by Michel Gondry, in fact.

I have an essay about Surrealism, and how it is influenced by dreams etc... and I might include Bjorks rather surreal videos in it (This essay is weird, since I am doing a cource in TV and Radio!)
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Old 23-01-2006, 10:29
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Hyperballad and Joga are my favourite Bjork songs, although I still think 'Debut' is her best album. I can't believe I was still at university when that came out! I think she's going through a bit of a 'Kid A' phase at the moment, I can't wait until she gets back to singing stuff that's more recognisable as songs.

She also does a nice line in dating talented British musicians (Goldie, Tricky, Finley QUaye, 3D out of Massive Attack, the ones that I know about) so you never know she might have inspired some of their stuff as well.
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Old 23-01-2006, 11:32
MaxCherry
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I dont like the way the Hyperballad video version is different to the album version
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