Product Details

• Actors: Bjork
• Format: Color, DVD, Live, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Rhino
• DVD Release Date: February 19, 2002
• Run Time: 65 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005Y71S
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,599 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Series > MTV Unplugged

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and Unique Performances, February 19, 2003

By	Jack Baur (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews

I absolutely love this DVD. It presents two very different Bjorks, in different settings and at different parts of her career, though both succeed admirably in conveying the spirit and magic of live Bjork intimately and lovingly.

The MTV Unplugged performance is astounding, demonstraiting the younger Bjork with beautiful and unique arrangements, courtesy of an incredible number of musicians (including Talvin Singh, tabla player extrordinaire). Almost all of the songs from Debut are represented, but seeing them performed with all live musicians rather than electronics casts a dramatic new light on them, and the arrangements are all top-notch (the harpsichord Human Behavior being a personal favorite). And the sight of Bjork in a bright yellow and incredibly short dress playing in front of a room of stuffy, black-clad, 1994 hipster types is laugh out loud funny, and displays wonderfully her irreverance and sense of humor. She flits around the stage barefoot, bouncing from one end to the other and singing like a pixie while the audience sits mostly somberly, evidently not sure quite to make of the sprite on stage. This was very early on, surely before Bjork's reputation as a beautiful weirdo was well-established, so it is amusing to watch their bemused reactions to our favorite Icelandic Queen.

The Live and Loud segment is also quite astounding, with a string octet and Mark Bell on beats in the back. The instrumentations are much more like what one hears on the albums, though the passion comes through in spades. Bjork is beautiful, looking more properly dressed for the occasion than the previous performance, though nothing short of furious in her singing. Pluto is a notable example as Bjork pushes it to a simply explosive climax. As for the much-derided effects and goldfish... I have to admit, I thought they were kinda neat, putting a surreal spin on the otherwise very professional-looking proceedings.

All in all, I'd say this is a stunning portrait of an incredible performer, full of all the heart, fury, and occasional cheesy special effect that makes us love music in the first place. Order (or, better yet, purchase from your local independent record store!) with confidence.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good dvd But Not Bjork at her Best, June 8, 2003

By	cor3y "cor3y" (houston, TX) - See all my reviews

Okay, the only reason I bought this dvd was to complete my Bjork collection. The first half of the DVD is quite entertaining, watching Bjork skip around stage in that outrageously bright yellow short dress she wears. Now I had thought my main focus would be on the busy Miss B. but this DVD shares the light with other musicians backing up our favorite eccentrically-beautiful Icelandic singer. And yes the tabla player was amazing in this performance, Talvin Seing or whatever his name is, is remmarkably outstanding on this DVD and on the Debut album. As for Miss B. well okay she always brings a smile on our faces whenever she performs but her performance seemed kinda comprimising...or maybe she was still in development of an on stage act. Whatever, anyway well for the second half of the DVD which in my opinion was mediocre, in fact hell they could've left this portion out. to sum it up in all of my collection of her performances, I rate this as the worst set to buy. Don't buy this unless you're a big Bjork fan.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way better than expected, April 30, 2002

By	C. H Soto "sharky_321" (South America) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

To be perfectly honest I was having second thoughts about this DVD while it was being shipped. I mean, I do love Björk but I've never been very fond of Unpluggeds as many are just some excuse to release and album and keep on selling but with very little innovation to the music to make it worthwhile. And specifically with Björk......I mean.......her music pretty much uses every electronic sound you can imagine and once you "unplug" it.....what's left besides her voice?

Well, I'm happy to say that what's left is probably one of the most innovative Unpluggeds ever made (if not the most). While most artist when deprived of an electronic instrument just go to it's acoustic counterpart Björk more or less does away with all the instrumental background of her songs and find quite creative ways to overcome the constrains of an unplugged. No music boxes, no synthetisers, no programmers and no mixers indeed. Instead a quite peculiar orchestra. Guy Sigsworth playng the harpischord, trumpets, saxophones, marimbas, something that seemed as a chinese percussion instrument (I just had never seen it nor can I describe it) and this guy making sounds out of glasses filled with water with his fingers (I just don't know how that's called), a hindu guy playing these kind of drums (typical instrument from India) are just some of the "innovations" in the unplugged. And if you think that the only songs that could be played were the not-so-electronic songs think again as Violently Happy and Big time sensuality are both there and they both sound amazing. Of course Björk's performance is amazing as always so I don't think that there's any need to talk about it.

As for the "MTV live" part we have the Icelandic string octet and Mark Bell at the console which will seem very familiar for those who have seen "Live at cambridge". Sonically there's really no difference between the "MTV live" and "Live at cambridge". I would even say that, in that aspect, I would stay with the "Live at cambridge" as I think that there might have been a slight problem with the final sound editing as Björk's voice can hardly be heard at times. However what's really great about this part is the visual aspect. Those who like image distortion, added effects, lights and such (techniques used at times by directors such as Daren Aronofsky) will love this part as it gives a very good visual impact to the music. However, those who like their images to be plain and clear will probably just stick to the Unplugged part of this DVD.

So, bottom line. Fantastic. Quite a unique performance. I will say this though. The DVD doesn't have any special features but the performance is so good that you really don't care much about it in the end.