Leave it to Björk to make a concert release that can be treated as part of her regular body of work rather than a side note. While Björk fans have occasionally complained about the amount of repackaging of her albums, Voltaic reaffirms just how important the live aspect is to her music, and provides a couple of different perspectives on it as well. Volta sparked a particularly inspired and lavish tour that, arguably, ended up being bigger than the actual album was, but tapped into the most dramatic, primal, and elegant aspects of Björk's art overall. It's fitting, then, that the chronicles of the Volta tour are just as thoughtfully crafted as the shows were (and since Voltaic comes in several different releases ranging from a single live disc to a CD, DVD, and vinyl extravaganza, fans can pick the size that suits them best). The basic version of Voltaic offers a live CD recorded in one take at London's Olympic Studio, just hours before Björk and her band -- which included Volta collaborators Mark Bell and Chris Corsano as well as the ten-piece all-female Icelandic brass section/choir she put together for the album -- played 2007's Glastonbury Festival. Given that the live CD was recorded in better conditions than many studio albums are, it's no surprise that the sound quality is excellent -- almost too excellent. This is not a warts-and-all concert recording with the occasional muddy audio and lots of crowd interaction; instead, it feels like the listener is hiding in a studio booth as Björk and her band perform a flawless rehearsal. While this approach is a little removed, the results are impressive: the Volta tracks ("Earth Intruders," "Wanderlust," "Vertebrae by Vertebrae," and "Declare Independence") actually have more impact here than they did on the original album, while the classic songs ("Pagan Poetry," "All Is Full of Love," "Hunter," "I Miss You") adapt to the percussion-heavy Volta approach well. While the versions of Voltaic that include a DVD capture even more of the concert experience, this release still offers fans a taste of the power and precision of the Volta live shows.
Quite frankly, I am not a massive fan of music DVDs. There are quite a few concert DVDs out there that seem like they have been rushed to be put together and shipped out as fast as possible, or the quick-paced cinematography that infiltrates the recordings gives you as good a view as if you [...]
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Bjork has always been an odd duck (or swan if you will). Iceland's biggest export (besides junk government bonds) is about to drop a 4-disc collection on us. Voltaic, out June 30th, contains two concert DVDs (recorded on her 2007 Volta tour in Paris and Reykjavik), a CD, and a remix CD.Today we're looking at the CD. The proper audio component of Voltaic is a disc of songs recorded live in
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Bjork has always been an odd duck (or swan if you will). Iceland's biggest export (besides junk government bonds) is about to drop a 4-disc collection on us. Voltaic, out June 30th, contains two concert DVDs (recorded on her 2007 Volta tour in Paris and Reykjavik), a CD, and a remix CD.Today we're looking at the CD. The proper audio component of Voltaic is a disc of songs recorded live in
More >
Quite frankly, I am not a massive fan of music DVDs. There are quite a few concert DVDs out there that seem like they have been rushed to be put together and shipped out as fast as possible, or the quick-paced cinematography that infiltrates the recordings gives you as good a view as if you [...]
More >
MUSIC NEW- NPR Music is streaming a new album of live recordings from Bjork, one week ahead of its official release. Her new release, Voltaic, is available for free, on-demand listening now through June 30 at NPR.org, as part of their "Exclusive First Look" series.Bjork,the 13-time Grammy nominee from Iceland, released her sixth album, Volta, in 2007. Before embarking on what would become ...
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The newest Bjork album, Voltaic, is a collection of songs recorded live at Olympic Studios in London. The songs are direct-to-tape versions of various songs off of Medulla, Homegenic, and Post. Listening to the first song now, “Wanderlust”, it sounds like some pretty good material. I think the idea here is that Bjork creates music [...]
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Wanderlust |
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| 2 Hunter |
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| 3 The Pleasure Is All Mine |
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| 4 Innocence |
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| 5 Army of Me |
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| 6 I Miss You |
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| 7 Earth Intruders |
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| 8 All Is Full of Love |
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| 9 Pagan Poetry |
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| 10 Vertebrae by Vertebrae |
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| 11 Declare Independence |
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 "Voltaic")
