It cannot be over-emphasized just how unlike anything else this album was on its release in 1993. Bjork herself was well known in the UK due to the hype surrounding the first Sugarcubes single, Birthday, and due to one of their last releases, Hit, being played on MTV constantly during 1992. She was not easy to forget: a unique look and a passionate way of singing quite unlike anybody before or since.
Then in June 1993, Human Behaviour was released as a single before this album's release. Whilst immediately apparent that Bjork had abandoned the Sugarcubes indie approach, it still wasn't clear exactly what she had adopted in its place. Could it be that she was doing something...new?! The song was played very frequently on MTV accompanied by an equally elusive video by Michel Gondry.
What this album does very well is combine dance-floor pop music with various other disparate musical elements that are fresh and genuinely surprising. From the sampled tympani and fake distorted guitars of Human Behaviour, the sampled sitar, real tabla and Indian-style score for strings of Venus as a Boy, the disappearence of Bjork into the Milk Bar toilets in the middle of There's More to Life Than This, a jazz ballad accompanied by classical harp and various sounds from everyday life, the rich sax harmonies and swing time of the interludes in Aeroplane, and finally the structure and unusual sax arrangement of The Anchor Song.
Listening to this album now, with the benefit of having listened to all of Bjork's other explorations since, it's the pop/dance tunes that come off worst, inevitably dated by the technology of the drum machines of the day. But they still function to keep the surprises coming and make the album flow perfectly. Crying and There's More to Life Than This may appear the most throwaway, but Bjork's vocal performances on the whole album are unrelentingly passionate, making those songs just as vital to the whole. Plus it has to be said that Big Time Sensuality and Violently Happy are simply great dance tracks, but they still fit within the overall theme of being in love that pervades the album.
So while Bjork may have released more mature or possibly more accomplished music than this in the years since, there is no denying the infectious nature of this album, as Bjork's palpable sense of freedom and enthusiasm drawing you in song after song.
Quality: FLAC
