Customer Reviews

Bjork - Live At Cambridge

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I love this DVD!
It opens with the Icelandic Octet tuning their instruments, and they play a small classical tune. Then you can see Bjork enter at the right, the audience erupts but she stands off to the side listening to them play---
She's barefoot, and wearing a cute little angel dress and has her forehead painted white :-) She dances around throughout the whole concert---and off to the side it looks like she has two glasses of what appears to be red wine and white wine?

Her first tune is Hunter, it's a wonderful rendition--she sings "I'm the hunter...you just didn't know me!...you just didn't know me.." lyrics that are on the booklet with the Homegenic album, but aren't sung on the cd..

Her next song "Come To Me" gets a poignantly beautiful introduction by the octet--I wish it was on the Debut cd..or some cd..

-All Neon Like--I wish THIS version was on the original album--it's gorgeous--she sings "..don't be angry with yourself..sweet heart" :-)

She sings You've Been Flirting in Icelandic:-) ---
Isobel is next with Immature---where at the end she sings- "How could I be so Immature, to think he could replace, the missing elements in me??--silly girl.. silly girl.." :-)

Next is Play Dead--I was happy it was included!! --and it's sung beautifully

Then Alarm Call, but she doesn't do the "beeps" for the clock :-I---she sings " It doesn't scare me at all..no! " and the audience laughs and applauds

Human Behavior she obviously has fun singing-- she cries out-- "They're TERRIBLY TERRIBLY moody!! " but then smiles coyly "but oh to get involved in the exchange---is ever so, ever so satisfying"--afterwards she mimics smashing a guitar against the stage! :-)

After that Bachlorette and Hyper Ballad---Pluto is really exciting they get the lights flashing behind Bjork ---and with the final notes, she does this little head-banging dance!-

After Pluto she appears to leave the stage together with the Icelandic Octet and Mark Bell--but the audience won't stop! So she comes back out and sings The Anchor Song first in Icelandic then in English---And to finish she sings Joga
She closes--
Introducing the "Extraordinary Icelandic string Octet" & "The FANTABULOUS Mark Bell" and bows

I was a little bit disappointed Unravel, 5 years or All Is Full Of Love--wasn't listed in the line-up--but I was very happy :-) after viewing

Bjork is UNPARALLELED and absolutely charming...

Taken from the UK leg of her "Homogenic" tour, bringing along with her album collaborators Mark Bell and the Icelandic String Octet, this 1998 recording is the best live concert Bjork commits to her newfound 'Live DVD Series'. Comprising mostly of tracks from "Homogenic", Bjork performs with such clairvoyant authority and adorable playfulness you cannot take your eyes or ears away from her. Her angelic get-up as well is a truly iconic image that stays with you afterwards, though she allows the Octet and Bell moments to shine also.

The best is saved until the end, when Bjork and the Octet return to the stage for an encore after Bell's fit-inducing work on 'Pluto'. Bjork's rendition of "Debut's" 'The Anchor Song', half in Icelandic and half in English, is unbelievable, and should be released on a live CD; the notes she hits at the end are gut-wrenchingly spine-tingling. The piece finishes up with 'Joga', and here Bjork is at her best with the Octet, all beaming with pride as the song plays on; Bjork's exhalted joy at the end reveals that she is enjoying this as much as, if not more than, the viewer watching it. Once she's given her thanks, you just want to hit the repeat button and watch it all over again. Worthwhile addition to any self-respecting Bjork fan's collection.

This is a surprisingly intelligently filmed concert video. Usually, concert videos are excuses for the editors to show off their skills, almost always in an annoying and jarring fashion.

Not so in "Bjork Live At Cambridge". The camerawork and lighting work together to create a beautiful and deep atmosphere in which you view the concert. (The only similar film I can think of, is "Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii".)

And the performance that you get to view is both subtle and vibrant. Bjork's innovative, impressionistic compositions are miles beyond most music of today, and she presents them here in a series of heartfelt renditions.

This is a disk that no Bjork fan should be without, and also makes a fine introduction to Bjork for those fortunate enough to be discovering her music for the first time.

To begin, no Bjork fan should be without this DVD, honestly LAC and Vessel and Royal Opera House are the best documented performances of Bjork. So if you're indecisive well there you have it. But this DVD is beautiful, from beginning to end, from Bjork to Mark Bell to the Icelandic Octet, everyone is excellent including the camera men! just watch the intro, it will blow your mind, and Bjork is seriously modest in this dvd. well i'm keeping this short, Pluto is the #1 reason to buy this. A must have for any Bjork fan.

i have to say this dvd is something you must have, it is such a work of art that will change your senses as every work of bjork. i think the dvd at royal opera house has more songs and the list of songs is great and i really love that dvd too. but i have to say as a visual product live at cambridge it is the best, so well edited it looks like a beautiful movie with great angles and moods.. alarm call is magnificent with bjork flirting and dancing with us...

How magnificient is Bjork on stage.How powerfull she can write, compose and touch the public.How smart she is to always find the best way to make her performances full of surprises. This DVD, it's like a one woman show who builds an entire world on stage by mixing Classical Orchestra and Electronic Mix.You can't imagine how beatiful it is as long as you don't see it with your eyes and hear with your own ears.She is a great composer, a great musician, a great singer and for sure a fantastic performer.

Phenomenally beautiful and creative lighting for a concert. This concert has the look of movie quality film, editing, directing, and production. It's visually fascinating from start to finish as each song has a different lighting scheme, perfectly appropriate for the song's mood.

The string octet is superb. Most songs however are played along with a pre-recorded tape. The sounds on the tape provide drums, guitar and keyboards, and there is a guy on stage operating the tape, but I was kinda dissapointed in the audio quality of the pre-recorded music. The pre-recorded audio is not very stereophonically wide for some reason. Not even when listening on headphones. It might even be mono.

However, the audio of the string octet is superb. Very wide stereo and very fine detail can be heard from the octet. And they play in almost every song. The moments when it's just the string octet and Bjork and no tape are particularly beautiful and interesting.

I have no problem having the tape operator guy on the stage. He's on camera a lot. However, close ups show him sliding volume controls on the mixer on just about every song, yet when he does so, nothing seems to change in the audio. I think it's just an act simply to make it visually more interesting.

Bjork is great as usual. And it's really great to see such incredibly creative and effective lighting. Maybe the best use of lighting I've ever seen in a concert video. At the begining of the concert the light is muted for a few minutes. Then, from a wide shot we suddenly see the whole stage and brilliant blue beams are in a fan shape shooting up and Bjork is wearing an all white dress in brilliant white light.

As she dances and walks around the stage sometimes she walks through a star-like beam effect, other times her face is in darkness, but not her dress. Then she'll move just a little and her face can be seen. It's truly fascinating and something almost never seen in other concert videos where a spotlight always stays on the performer that always keeps the performer in the same light. Not here. This is far more creative and it even seems that Bjork is deciding herself when she's in and out of the light, because she can move around the stage. The stage itself is not evenly lighted, so she can move in and out of light as she feels.

The camera work is superb too and captures moments when several musicians are seen simultaneously, including nice moments when Bjork is seen up close and a string player is seen behind her. These are more fascinating moments to enjoy because both performers are concentrating but each in a personally different way. This is the kind of camera work you won't see in a standard TV production. This Bjork concert has movie quality look and feel. It would look great in a movie theater.

A wonderful performance taped during her "Homogenic" world tour; highlights include "Come to Me," "Jóga," & "Play Dead." She is accompanied by beats and a quartet.

WOW another great concert by my favrite pixie, i just cant get enough of this absolutely magical woman. this is a must own for any Bjork fan, and also her 1995 concert vessel is a must own for Anyone period!! its called culture, bjork is frickin addictive !! just amazing magic and strong.

As a recent Bjork fan, I have come to realize that all of her work is that of a master craftsman. I hold her work as some of the most creative, original and deeply expressive that I have ever heard. As a pop star she more than lives up to that refrence, she is a true pop artist. I throughly enjoyed this DVD and I would recommend it to anyone who can appreciate the diversity of her work. Sincerely William O. Thompson, music critic, jazz drummer....