Track Listing

1. Army Of Me
2. Hyperballad
3. Modern Things
4. It's Oh So Quiet
5. Enjoy
6. You've Been Flirting Again
7. Isobel
8. Possibly Maybe
9. I Miss You
10. Cover Me
11. Headphones

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2391 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
This Icelandic marvel is such an original that, even after four Sugarcubes albums and a brilliant solo Debut, she remains an acquired taste. "Army of Me" is a turbulent, darkling tune that's almost conventional next to the gloriously eclectic material that follows. Working with Tricky, Soul II Soul/U2 producer Nellee Hooper, and string arranger/one-hit wonder Deodato, Björk looses her helium-fuelled voice and surreal wordplay on Gershwinesque pop (the adorable "It's Oh So Quiet"), ambient dub ("Possibly Maybe") and all kinds of fresh dance/pop hybrids ("Enjoy", "Hyper-Ballad", "I Miss You"). Too raw and adventurous for mass success, perhaps, but a more unique, engaging, and oddly accessible artist just doesn't exist. --Jeff Bateman

CD Description
POST, Bjork's second release as a solo artist, mines the fertile soil of the eclectic musical terrain of post-modern pop. The album throbs in and out of ambient cadences with techno beats, slips into showtune theatrics, then reels back to the dance floor.
With a full plate of sounds already on the table, Bjork adds her own unique flare to the presentation, proving she is not easily pigeonholed. The lyrically-insistent opener, "Army Of Me", is a relentless electronic grindthat is typical of Bjork's vibe, but POST also digs into Western music's more organic resources. "It's Oh So Quiet" maybe a remake of an old Hollywood showtune, but Bjork's version transcends the song's silver screen aloofness on the strength of her delightful screams ("Zing, BOOM!!/You fall in love"). It is directly followed by "Enjoy", a lurching hypnotic nod with musical help from British trip-hop MC, Tricky; and the smooth, Bee Gees-like orchestration of "Isobel", a swooning accompaniment to strobe light bongo drums which announces that the listener is no longer at a rave, but at a disco.
POST shows off Bjork's grasp of technology, history andbasic pop aesthetics. Few modern rock albums have sampled so many different facets of the atypical buffet and have comeup with such tasty results.

Customer Reviews

Worldier, Sexier and that Little bit Crazier ...
When "Debut" took the world by storm, no one was stumped more than its progenitor. Björk was suddenly Iceland’s biggest export since, well, anything, and the demand for the titular chanteuse solicited awards, appearances and tour dates from all over the globe. The record that was supposed to barely sell 100,000 copies had sold nearly four million worldwide and a follow-up was hotly anticipated by the music press. And, in many respects, "Post" follows the sophomore rulebook accordingly, among them the fact that Björk now had more friends involved in her musical arsenal, had more money thrown into the production and would produce an album that incorporated many different styles, genres and tunes. The one rule she failed to follow quite fabulously was that her second album would be nowhere near as good as the first … it seems the whole “build ‘em up – tear ‘em down” sentiments of the British music press were to be silenced with an album just as fascinating a listen, if not more so, as her first.

The first noticeable difference with "Post" is easily described by its fluorescent packaging. Björk has transformed from the shy alien on the Debut sleeve into a prodigious force to be reckoned with, a facet easily reflected by the music within the CD sleeve (can anyone imagine “Army Of Me” being on "Debut" at all!?) Though her amusedly observant persona is still present, she seems willing to take more chances now, as exemplified by the choice of collaborators. Nellee Hooper is on-hand to overlook proceedings, but old hands (Marius De Vries and Guy Sigsworth among them) and new faces (Tricky, Howie B and Graham Massey, the latter having actually introduced Björk to the joys of dance years earlier) had more of a hold on the musicmaking, serving up some truly inspiring stuff. One has the impression after listening to "Post" that this is more akin to the kind of music Björk herself would listen to. Incorporated into the mix are crushing bass lines, gorgeous string sections and offbeat instrumentation, amongst other things, all enmeshed into a wonderful concoction with the aid of Björk’s luminous voice.

A change of emotional meter should be spoken of also, as fans of "Debut’s" effusive dance-pop will be challenged by the darker hues present on this album. Whilst “Army Of Me” and “Possibly Maybe” rather obviously stand out as harsher material for the singer, even the album’s bright spots are tainted with a melancholy understanding. “Hyperballad” sees Björk doing terrible things to keep a beautiful love alive amidst a slow burn beat and crushingly romantic strings and “I Miss You’s” playful lyric is transformed into a state of questionable hysteria by Björk’s vocal and Howie B’s complimentary production. And the collaborations with Tricky, the confrontational “Enjoy” and minimalist “Headphones”, are as offbeat and menacing as anything the singer himself has come up with (though “Headphones”, upon later listens, heralds the album’s most uplifting moments). Meanwhile, the album’s lyrics, whilst still addressing the follies of human condition in a knowingly quixotic fashion, display a confidence unheard of in "Debut" (compare “Human Behaviour” to its more fearless cousin “Cover Me”) and the words found in “Possibly Maybe” and “Isobel” in particular suggest that this woman is definitely learning a lot about her adopted home, as well as its inhabitants, fast.

That said, Björk can handle the diva dramatics as well as she can the joy pop, evidenced already by “Play Dead”, and she wrestles each of these disparate songs into her own pantheon with a wrenching uniqueness. When most artists try their hands with different genres on the same album, it sounds like a so-called “artist” cashing in on the latest trend, yet Björk sidesteps this pitfall quite easily thanks to her voice and her own investment in the music. It is here that her production skills start to evolve and the music begins to flow accordingly, with some of the results nothing short of staggering. Tainted by a bleaker world view it may be, but "Post" signals what true potential lies within Björk’s own compositional skills. From the Latino brass and spectacle of “I Miss You” to the John Barry-style epic “Isobel”, from the moving histrionics of “Possibly Maybe” to the just-plain wonderful “Hyperballad”, you have everything here that Björk can give as a singer and, testament to her delivery and musical smarts, she even gets away with the big band boisterousness of “It’s Oh So Quiet”. Other singers would have been swallowed whole by this raucous animal of a song but, as proven by the single’s success over the globe, in this woman’s hands, it was the other way around.

Oh So Björk
Back in the early '90s, when ex-Sugarcube Björk released her debut solo album "Human Behaviour", she was still the relatively mainstream pixie pin-up of the indie scene. It wasn't until Post, her second outing, that the glorious goofiness she is now known for really started to show.

As a girl in Iceland, she used to skip across the tree-less moors and make up nonsensical rhymes and music - what she is doing here is basically the same thing, but in a studio and with the help of Tricky (one of the engineers behind Massive Attack's darkly urban sound). The result is music that sounds like a cross between a Manga cartoon and an Icelandic saga. If you are scared off by her flaky persona - don't be. These tracks are more accessible than you would expect from a girl who went to the Oscar's with a stuffed swan draped around her neck. They're different, true, but not indulgently so.

On the opening track, Army of Me, Björk launches an attack against clingy lovers: "And if you complain once more, you'll meet an army of me," she promises, and goes on to plead "self-sufficiency, please!" It's a welcome contrast to all those love-struck Katie Melua-types out there. "Modern Things", with its quirky lyrics about machines taking over the world, sees Björk in full Manga mood, and standout track "Oh So Quiet" is big-band jazz gone bonkers.

The thing that intrigues me about Björk is how someone who seems so human can be so into machine-made music. Maybe it's inevitable that this oddball would want to look to the future instead of the past: if you want retro, you won't find it here. Still, Post sticks out like a sore thumb in the normally quite ethereal and outer-spacey world of dub/rhythm and bass/ dance. Where acts like Portishead are cool like polished silver, Björk sounds like an exuberant firework display of emotions. In the end, this album is all about her voice: big, riotous, squealing, groaning, whispering, giggling and weirdly sexy.

PS. Björk is Icelandic for those Scandinavian trees that look like vegetarian versions of a Dalmatian. Or at least I THINK it is.

Bjork - Post
If you have never purchased a Bjork album, and are not too sure if you will like her or not, "Post" will be an excellent indication as if you do or not. The structure of the songs, are usually quite common, although the uniqueness and originality relies on the album's VERY strange and out-there lyrics (perhaps the craziest of Bjork's career), the way the electronic media is used, and of course Bjork's vocal.

"Army Of Me" opens the album very powerfully. It is one of the most accessible songs of Bjork's career, but this does not mean that it is one of the lesser tracks. It is very industrial and electronic. "Hyper-ballad" follows. I absolutely hated this song at first, but it is now in my top-5-favourite-Bjork-songs list (not that I have one), and continues to grow on me. The intro starts of with a bass synth sound, before acoustic drums are heard, and the wonderful lyric: "We live on a mountain, right at the top, there's a beautiful view" and so on. Classic. Bjork talks about throwing car parts and cutlery of a mountain, and imagining what the sound would be of her falling of a cliff. Genius. Her lyrically creative and best song, which became her second top 10 hit, and was the fourth single (after "It's Oh So Quiet") "The Modern Things" follows and it is another track that I adore. Bjork sings about how all the modern things such as cars and such have always have existed - they just have been hiding inside mountains (and this point you may be beginning to wonder what it is with her and mountains) amongst other bizarre lyrics, and she implies that mechanical things will soon take over the world, if you take the lyrics literally.

The 'classic' "It's Oh So Quiet" follows, and most fans see this song as one of the worst, if not the worst, song Bjork has ever created. It peaked at #4 in the UK, and sold nearly half a million copies there - the single. It was the last song where Bjork used jazz instruments such as saxophones. The song was so popular because it was VERY VERY different without being inaccessible or not radio friendly, the contrast between the verses and the chorus, the great video (her best until Alarm Call), and also the contrasting lyrics. "Enjoy" is another very loud and industrial song about sex to put it quite simply. It is strange and the best non-single. It is dark and reminds me of 'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors', by Radiohead, although not as repetitive and distorted. "You've Been Flirting Again" is such a good song, and my second favourite non-single. It is absolutely beautiful and I love how Bjork performs it live at most of her concerts. I enjoy its simplicity and unique structure (one of the only songs with a not-so-normal structure.

"Isobel" follows, and was the second single from this album (the first was Army Of Me, which became her first UK top 10 hit. This song peaked at #23 in the UK. This song is definitely not radio-friendly enough to be a successful (i.e. top 10 or so) single. It is a fantastic song although I have to be in the right mood for it. "Possibly Maybe" is a dark, sexy, tranquil song, and probably the most sexy, and one of the most girly songs I have ever heard. It is gorgeous. It was the fifth single in the UK, reaching #13, which is very good for such a strange song. It is minimalistic, and is a cross between say Army Of Me and Hidden Place. "I Miss You" is one of the more accessible songs, and my least favourite from the album. It peaked at #36 in the UK. "Cover Me" it is a short, low-tempo song, not lasting more than a minute, which is followed by the amazing "Headphones", which return to the quality of the first six tracks. It is another song that is quite minimalstic, and it is one of the three longest Bjork songs. To enjoy (pun intended) this song you have to be PATIENT. Many reviews have stated that this song doesn't go anywhere until X etc etc. But it is a great song, and closes this masterpiece wonderfully. The second best Bjork album, afer Vespertine.

9 / 10