Read: Interpreting Bjork

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 3, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hush Records
• ASIN: B00018D5ZI
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #484,190 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting interpretations, March 5, 2004

By 

afbg02 "afbg02" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read: Interpreting Bjork (Audio CD)

This is a great little album of interpretations of Bjork tunes. The various artists have created some beautiful music, inspired by as much as based on Bjork's originals.

The music is varied, including indie, alt-folk, and electronica infusions. It is, however, consistently downtempo. One favorite is a nice slow electronic bit by Pete Miser. In contrast, "Human Behavior" is brought to us in a slightly more acoustic fashion, Bjork's graceful voice replaced by one no less emotive, albeit less in tune. Despite the variety of the sounds you'll hear from song to song, it does indeed work as an album. It hops from one track to another, connected by that swan fangled beauty who inspired it all. At first, much of the album is almost unrecognizable, but Bjork's signature finds its way through on each track.

I was pleasantly surprised by the disc, finding that these musicians have really added something new to the originals. Furthermore, it fosters's respect for Bjork's writing, having shown that it remains powerful in the hands of others.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!, June 18, 2004

By 

"rumbasamba" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Read: Interpreting Bjork (Audio CD)

When I first heard about this CD, I was genuinely excited and went immediately to my local indie music shop to order it. A week later, I had the CD in my hand and I eagerly placed it in my CD player at home.

With the opening track, "It's Oh So Quiet", it started out quite lovely, with more of an 80's pop feel to it then jazz. The only difference, really, is the chorus line. Where Bjork would escalate her voice into a beefy roar, here it's a quiet downtempo lull, and I don't like it.

My favorite track on the album has to be "Hyperballad" by Blanket Noise. I didn't know what to expect, since I had never heard of Blanket Noise, but I loved what I heard. Blanket Noise took the ambient electronic orchestra of Bjork's Hyperballad, and replaced it with kitchy-60's jazz, ala Stan Getz. It's absolutely amazing, and translates very well from the original.

The other tracks are great, but "Joga" by Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie fame) and "Human Behaviour) by The Decemberists are absolutely forgettable. "In the Musicals" is a great instrumental track, as well as "Possibly Maybe", where Bjork's vocals are replaced by an electric guitar. "Hunter" is a feisty song, with vocals that almost rival Bjork's version of the song. "Unravel" is a very poppy song, and very uplifting considering the depressing mood of the original.

I usually don't like it when bands cover other band's songs, but the tracks on this CD are absolutely great. I just wish we could get more CDs like this.