Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Elektra / Wea
• VHS Release Date: December 15, 1998
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305223378
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,378 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look into mind of visionary., January 18, 2000

By 

D. R. (o.c., cali) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bjork - Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have to give this performance video a 5, because it simply deserves it. My copy is wearing down from constant play and I will soon have to obtain a new one. This is the best concert video I have ever seen. She is so good at giving each of her songs an individual story and look which distinguishes them from each other. My favorite performances are those of: Headphones, One Day, Human Behavior, and the wild closing rendition of Violently Happy. Some scenes are very perplexing. Like at the end of Enjoy when it appears her mixer, Leila Arab, has either screwed up or gotten mad as someone who has destroyed the mix, and she yells at the audience telling them to make some noise. By the way, the song playing over the end credits is, "Glora", a flute duet Bjork wrote in her earlier years. Its available on the Big Time Sensuality Maxi-Single. Its also a good idea to get her Volumen video collection at the same time as this and watch them consecutively. It gives a greater weight to many of the songs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bjork's Live at Shepherd's Bush is ultimately intimate., December 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Scranton, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bjork - Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Having been fortunate enough to have seen Bjork at the start of her '95 tour, I was pleased to discover its evolution in "Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire," a 1997 film of that tour. What one can expect to see in the live performance: an intimate, nonstop experience in experimental pop. The staging is postmodern and playful. The music engaging from the start, beginning with "Headphones," a sweet, inviting song about how music can soothe the soul. She then blasts the viewer with "Army of Me," one of her best songs, displaying her ability to combine electronic with organic elements. The show contains duets of a sort wih her purcussionist on a remixed version of"One Day,"(once was danceable jazz is now beat heavy.) Other duets with her band include "You've Been Flirting Again" & "Anchor Song" with her accordionist, another remixed version of an old song, "Big Time Sensuality" with her music programers/mixers, and a cacophonous duet with her other mixer (who may appear familiar to viewers of Bjork's other live video,"Vessel") on "Enjoy." "I Go Humble", a non-album track, is a sure-fire treat for any Bjork fan. The standard Bjork songs are also there, "Venus As a Boy," "Human Behavior," "Isobel," etc. By the time "Violently Happy" rolls around your bound to find yourself raving in your living room. The reason I give only four stars to this fanastic show is that the encore performances are missing from the final product. If you are a fan of experimental, electronic-pop, then this is for you. Nay-sayers of electronic music should also check this out and winess a soul music of a sorts, brought to you by the performer known as Bjork.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All the Favourites from "Debut" and "Post"!, March 8, 2002

By 

Mr G Bowden (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bjork - Live at Shepherds Bush Empire (DVD)

Watching Bjork's famous Shepherd's Bush Empire 1997 concert for the first time, I spent most of the first half-hour kicking myself for not being there myself, living in London at the time and all. The first disc in her 'Live DVD Series', the concert also exists on VHS, though the DVD quality promises that this will last longer than the less-than-durable video tape. And with DVD's awesome sound capability, you can always host your own Bjork concert in the comfort of your own home. Anyhoo, if you're going to buy a 'Live DVD', buy her "Cambridge" 1998 concert; but if you have that, you might as well have the whole set (her 2001 performance at London's Royal Opera House on her "Vespertine" tour is due for release soon).

The concert itself is a testament to Bjork's talent; and unlike most of today's 'Pop Product Placement' groups, she revels in a world of improvisation and experimentation, and, above all things, seems to be having the time of her life. Working on her "Homogenic" album during the tour (an album B-side, "I Go Humble", appears on the playlist), Bjork performs most of her songs on "Post" and a few from "Debut" with unique spins, incorporating live instrumentation and onstage mixing in a bigger, more varied display than her later "Cambridge" concert.

Standouts in the crew supporting Bjork include Yasuhiro 'Coba' Kobayahsi on the titular accordian (see "The Anchor Song") and, especially, Trevor Morais on drums and percussion (see "I Miss You"). But the best musical ad-libber of the bunch is Bjork herself, riffing on most of her songs wonderfully. And it gets her and live mixer Leila Arab out of a pickle when the programming for "Enjoy" is bungled; the formerly aggressive, dark song (co-produced by Tricky) turns into a colder, more menacing piece, thanks to the stripped bear ambience of the sounds emmitting from Arab's mixing desk and Bjork's illuminatory vocals.

Though there are no DVD special features whatsoever, bar the ability to skip or repeat songs at the press of a button, what remains is a shiny career highlight of the Icelandic chanteuse at her dancy, clubby best, before she got all orchestral and swoony on us. Brilliant.