02. Björk – Biophilia (One Little Indian)
It's the insane one!
And it’s time to bring in ‘mad as a hatter on mind-bending drugs’ Björk and her latest, crazy offering in the year’s best of. Incidentally, this is also Björk’s highest outing since I started the charts (her previous best was third in 2001).
I distinctly remember commenting on an update by that man, Steve Duffy, when he mentioned listening to this and I said I was struggling with it. I was still struggling a few weeks later and this album has climbed, albeit slowly, from way down in the low 70s (the bottom end of the top 30) up to number two. I’m not sure she ever had enough in her to take the top spot but this album is a prime example of the importance of properly listening to music. And yes, whilst getting on my own high horse I am also aware I am guilty of this too (Tom Waits would have never won in 2002 had I given Lambchop and Is a Woman, the listens it deserved, the latter being one of my top five albums of all time).
But hey, Björk is a character, equally adept at providing us with masterpieces as well as utter tosh and listening to this album just reminded me of my students’ adverse reaction to her at the summer camp I was teaching at, showing she doesn’t appeal to the youf of today.
She’s been influential, provocative, naive, mental, aggressive and downright complicated over these last 25 years or so (yes, her first release was in 1977) and I’ve been bemused, entranced, and downright nonplussed by her in that time.
Tell you what though, she’s never dull!
[editor's note - Maddoc thinks she's terrible and Audrey loves her]
December 31st, 2011 at 15:27
I still don’t know how you find the time to listen to so much music. *boggle* Wouldn’t miss the “year’s best” for the world, though!
January 1st, 2012 at 20:07
One of my resolutions is to listen to more this year, I think 2011 was a weaker year than most! Thanks for the comment though, as comments like this really make me want to carry on with this!