Customer Reviews

Bjork - MTV Unplugged & MTV Live

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

Bjork is one of the most amazing artists ever to grace my ears and her MTV Unplugged DVD is a ride of wonderful emotions.

Review I: MTV Unplugged

The MTV Unplugged performance is nine song concert of Bjork's 1993 album "Debut". If you are a fan of Bjork's other performances, this is not even close to her later shows. At this time, Bjork's solo era was in it's infancy so you won't see her running around the stage twitching and screaming.

1): HUMAN BEHAVIOUR: She comes out wearing a yellow dress and says "Thank you". The song begins to play, and it barely sound like it. Then she starts to sing and her angelic voice brings the song to life.

2): ONE DAY: One Day is another favorite from "Debut". This song sounds amazing unplugged with all of the percussion instruments. It sounds like a percussion ensemble performance interlude, with a vocalist.

3): COME TO ME: This song sounds amazing here, the record, and the "VESSEL" release. It sounds almost like the album, only a little less intense. She makes it subtle. Like a lullaby.

4): BIG TIME SENSUALITY: This song starts out very rough with the organ type sound. Then it greatly intensifies when she starts sings.

5): AEROPLANE: This song is nothing short of perfect. Her voice soars and the MUSIC IS INCREDIBLE!

6): LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE: Again, it's amazing and she not even thinking about singing because it just flowing out like water

7): CRYING: The song sounds a bit like a .midi file but it gets better because it becomes something so different than the Debut's Crying.

8): ANCHOR SONG: She sings the song and she sounds great but the music soars better than the record.

9): VIOLENTLY HAPPY: Violently Happy is nothing like the record. This song sounds the most unplugged, but Bjork still dances like its a club remix. It's a little long, and it ends a bit abrupt. This isn't the VESSEL version though. She ends it perfectly.

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Review II: MTV LIVE

MTV LIVE: BJORK is a collection of songs taken from her "Homogenic" Tour. The sound is DISGUSTING, especially from MTV. Homogenic was released in 1997, and was filmed in 1998. But why does 1994's Debut: Unplugged performance have better sound and image quality.

1): YOU'VE BEEN FLIRTING AGAIN: First off, this is the ICELANDIC version and sounds just as amazing. This song is beautiful and starts out the Homogenic experience. The sound gets a 7/10.

2): ISOBEL: Isobel sounds so perfect here. Bjork's voice is better, the music is better, the visual is better! Sound gets a 2/10.

3): HUMAN BEHAVIOUR: Human Behaviour sounds like it does on Vessel. It's a little traditional for Bjork. Sound gets 6/10

4): BACHELORETTE: This song sounds so beautiful but it's a shame WE CAN'T HEAR IT!!! Sound gets a 0.

5): JOGA: Joga is one of the best songs from Homogenic. The live version is just as good. Sound gets a 6/10

6): PLUTO: Now with Pluto, the bad sound quality actually helps because the song is so deep and dark and she's being held down. The sound gets a 6/10 but because it works awesomely: 8/10.

MTV Unplugged Recommendations: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, AEROPLANE, COME TO ME

MTV Live Recommendations: ISOBEL, YOU'VE BEEN FLIRTING AGAIN, PLUTO

Unplugged gets a 95/100 and Live gets a 45/100

Other Recommendations: VESSEL DVD/VHS

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.

I more-or-less agree with these other reviewers. Bjork, by simple fact of her personality and skill at live performance, is phenomenal. The DVD is somewhat less so. The MTV Live segment was distracting. The producers were so excited to be putting special effects into the production that they ignored the music itself and seemed to be competing with it for viewer attention.

The Unplugged portion of the DVD was great. I enjoyed all the arrangements immensely and loved to watch Bjork bop about the stage in bare feet.

Of course I would have loved extra DVD features like interviews or a 'Behind The Scenes' featurette, etc., but knowing how _Volumen_ is I wasn't expecting anything.

I'm giving this DVD only 3 stars because, in the end, this is 2002 and we all expect a little more than the bare minimum when it comes to DVDs we pay [money] for.

The M-tv live portion is really good.I think that
homogenic is a good record,and it works live.
But the real treat is the unplugged performance.
The live versions of the debut songs are arranged
amazingly.It would be a risk for anyone to alter
sounds as radically as she did with these musicians.
a true testament to how in tune the woman is.

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.

Wonderful performances by Bjork throughout. The unplugged concert is worth the price of the DVD by itself, as Bjork's arrangements surprise and delight. While many artists approach the unplugged showcase by simply playing acoustic guitars and basses and then plowing through their repertoire, Bjork's arrangements are varied and inventive: one song uses an Indonesia gamelan orchestra, a North Indian tabla player, and a tuba! Another uses harpsichord, tuned water glasses, and an acoustic bass....you get the picture. The arrangments are fun and playful yet pretty deep and profound as well, and the camerawork allows great access tothe performance. The MTV live portion is very reflective of the Homogenic CD, with Bjork's vocals digitally processed live and layered beneath beats and samples. Some of the video effects here were dense and compelling, but I also found a lot of them annoying, particularly Bjork being repeatedly out of focus for a moment and some herky-jerky editing. There also isn't much in the way of auxilary information on the DVD, you just basically have to read the rolling credits. I take away a star for some of the video style of the MTV live segment and the DVD's lack of extras, but musically this release is a great showcase for Bjork's considerable creative talents and the DVD overall is a winner.

Woo-hoo! I have to say, I was very excited to watch this CD. I remember watching/listening to "Big Time Sensuality" and thinking to myself "Wow! I wanna be a performer, too!" It also annoyed my family as I was dancing around and singing the tune all day.
Anyhow, the Unplugged section is very, very cool. It features a very young Bjork in an ugly green dress, performing her DEBUT songs with very original instrumentation (including Guy Sigsworth on harpsichord for Human Behaviour!). For sheerly original arrangements, this is the most exciting of the Live DVD series. I would buy it if I were you.
Sadly, not all that glitters is gold. The second section of the DVD, MTV Live&Loud, is just stupid. The sound quality is pretty bad as Bjork's voice can barely be heard, and the screen constantly bombards you with stupid image distortions and images of fish tanks. It's...horrible.
Still, hurray! The Unplugged section is so great, that the DVD still gets 5 stars from me. I recommend this as the second best Bjork DVD choice; second only to Volumen.

I absolutely LOVE this DVD. Bjork has never failed me and this is an early example as to why. Every single song is an adventure that allows us to divulge a Debut +1 like never before. And BTW...i was really hoping for an upskirt shot (she looks HOT in this DVD).

My bias: I find Bjork to be an incredibly creative composer of music, and a talented and unique performer with an unmatchable sound.

This is a live performance of the songs from Bjork's "Debut" recording, however with only acoustic instruments. But is not your normal everyday MTV Unplugged with acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and hand drums --- the instrumentation is unusual for the American rock music fan. An open mind is required when listening. It is not typical MTV crap!

That being said, get ready for an unusually beautiful experience when listening and watching! Human Behavior with a harpsichord? Awesome! Other instruments used: water glasses, gamelan ensemble, tuba, saxophones, double bass, etc etc etc. The songs themselves - the lyrics, and Bjork's unique vocal sound and ability to change expressions on the turn of a dime - come through clearly!

For the best experience, try listening to the "Debut" version, followed
by watching this DVD so you can really appreciate the differences in the techno vs. acoustic performances. The accompaniment is almost made immaterial by Bjork's great performance, proving how great the songs are themselves. They stand up regardless of accompaniment!

This DVD is one of the best musical experiences I have ever had.