Customer Reviews

Voltaic (CD/DVD)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I want to say, that this isn't the most professional review, like many others but this is a real opinion on one of the most unique and creative artist we can the priviledge of listening to today.

Bjork Voltaic is an excellent buy for any who want to hear a new feel for old songs that you love by Bjork and to get the experience of what her latest tour was like. I was at the concert and it was rocking. I had never heard her songs produced in that way before, but the energy was great. Her show felt more involved that the meditative Vespertine concerts. The colors bring out life in the songs and the music is great. "Wanderlust" becomes an even better favorite because of the the band. "Hunter" live becomes and instant classic. If you like Bjork and especially her Volta cd, you will not be disappointed.

In 2007 Bjork released the return-to-form "Volta" album, and then took to the road for a massive tour in support of the new album. Now comes this CD/DVD combo from the 2007 tour.

The CD "Songs From the Volta Tour" (11 tracks; 47 min.) is not necessarily the live CD that you might expect. This is in fact a recording of the in-studio rehearsal in London that Bjork and her band played shortly before headlining the 2007 Glaxtonbury music festival. So yes, it's live but there is no audience, and it really feels more like a studio album that happens to have been taped in one take. Not that this is a complaint. Ths quality of the songs is fabulous. The setlist is what one can expect: a heavy dose of "Volta" songs, with the occasional old nugget thrown in such as "Army of Me', which will for me always remain Bjork's signature song.

The DVD "The Volta Tour" (21 tracks; 92 min.) first brings the 16 song performance from L'Olympia in Paris, and it is a vusual and musical extravaganza that truly gives you the Bjork concert experience. To start the show, the 10 piece musical brass band comes stepping onto the stage, and then Bjork comes on and starts with a blazing "Earth Intrudres", and off we go. The camera work is excellent, as is the sound, in particular is you have the proper home-theater set up (which I happen to have). Other highlights include "Army of Me" (which brings the entire venue jumping up and down), but also "Hyperballad", "Wanderlust" and the closer "Declare Independence". Also on this DVD is a (too short) 5 song performance taped in some church in Reykjavik in front of a small audience (not more than a few hundred, at most), which brings a mix of Volta and Medulla songs. "Pneumonia" is just Bjorn and the 10 piece brass band, "My Juvenile" and "Vokuro" is Bjork accompanied by harpsicord (and background vocals), "Sonnets/Unrealities XI" is done totally a-cappella, just beautiful. Closer "Mouth's Cradle" is the only track that is supplemented by electronic beats from the Apple laptop. The Reykjavik experience couldn't be more different from the Paris one, but equally satisfying, if not more so.

In all, this "Voltaic" CD/DVD combo is all a Bjork fan could ask for. Beware that this is available in many different configurations, include just the live CD, but also a 2 CD/2 DVD package. I had the good fortune catching Bjork headling at the 2007 Coachella music festival, and basically saw the same show that is the Paris show on this DVD. What an unforgettable experience that was! Meanwhile "Voltaic" is highly recommended!

Björk has done it again with this release. Voltaic CD/DVD features two astonishing live performances in both Paris, France and Reykjavik, Iceland. Awesome setlist, full of raw energy and vitality, this is one of her top live DVDs. The studio CD is also great, though I wish it were longer.
Many songs on her album Volta really come alive when they are performed and take on the shape of a whole new animal, so if you were unsure of Volta, it is definitely worth revisiting live versions of the songs on Voltaic.

If you have the extra cash to spare, the 2 CD / 2 DVD version of Voltaic is the way to go, but this is a great middle ground. Definitely do not miss out on the DVD of the live performances, it's truly a visual feast.
Some reviewers complained about the packaging, but I happen to really like it and quite enjoy the photography it consists.

This is a must have for all Björk fans and especially those who are just getting into her discography. Voltaic would be a great place to start, highly recommended.

Sadly, Bjork just doesn't have the pipes she used to, at least not in the recordings on the DVD. "Desired Constellation" and "Hyperballad" were slightly painful to watch. I hope she hasn't lost her vocal dexterity for good! That said, the backing musicians were great.

And one of the other reviewers pointed this out, but apparently they cut "Triumph of a Heart" and "Pagan Poetry" from the performances in France. WTF mate?

This cd is amazing. Its not exactly "live" in front of a crowd, but live in a studio.

Bjorks' ability to confound, push new limits, and dazzle with her creativity are well known. However, on "Volta", which I reviewed here last year, much of that sparkle had been lost, drowned in her new-found insistence on experimenting with almost everything under the sun (including jungle drums and Timbaland). "Volta" was a cruel album, one that taunted and teased the listener with samples of tunes, but no real songs themselves. Everything seemed fragmented and pieced together, and the shoddy final album is now infamous for being devoid of soul or rhythm.

Which is why I thought it ironic that Bjork would want to revisit "Volta" again, and make a live album out of it. Though to say that this is a live album is an incorrect statement. This is an album recorded in a studio with a live band, but the record company and Bjork insist on calling it a live album. I'll leave that to you to decide. In the meantime, this consists of a collection of these 'live' songs accompanied by suitable visuals. The music is obviously what interests me the most, and sadly, much of it here is a total let-down. The main problem is that Bjork is working with already-weak material, and the big-band harmonies only ruin whats left of some of the songs.

Perhaps the most annoying, cloying addition to this set is the symphony set version of "Earth Intruders", already a hilarious song off "Volta". "Wanderlust", a passable ditty is placed as the opening track, which doesn't do the rest of the album much good. Its on songs where sparseness and acousticism is required, that Bjork sort of takes off - "Pagan Poetry" from "Vespertine" has always required a treatment such as this, and it sounds different and solid here. The same cannot be said of the almost tuneless "All is Full of Love" (if earlier versions of the song irritated you, be prepared for the most rancid version of it yet!) and "Army of Me" is predictably dressed up to sound industrial and orchestral at the same time, rendering it very noisy and unlistenable.

All in all, "Voltaic" is a very, very strange experiment, even for Bjork, only because nothing here actually works. While the odd "Pagan Poetry" stands out, that is not a reason to actually purchase this album. At best, this is a live-sounding collection of tracks that aren't really live - which renders the entire enterprise quite egregious, if you ask me. She has had worse such experiments in her catalog, such as "Drawing Restraint 9", but at least there she has some excuses. Here, things are shoddy and unabashedly third-rate, and it looks as if Bjork hasn't noticed the descent of her music from good to downright intolerable. If this continues, she may as well exit the scene leaving us with at least a few good past memories from the 1990s.

Two Stars