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Bjork - MTV Unplugged & MTV Live

Bjork - MTV Unplugged & MTV Live

List Price: $24.99
Your Price: $22.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Bjork at her best
Review: The M-tv live portion is really good.I think that
homogenic is a good record,and it works live.
But the real treat is the unplugged performance.
The live versions of the debut songs are arranged
amazingly.It would be a risk for anyone to alter
sounds as radically as she did with these musicians.
a true testament to how in tune the woman is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bjork was young and skinny...
Review: The Unplugged part is definately worth the money... Bjork was young, skinny and pretty, wearing a short Cyan dress. The performance was spectacular, they played almost all of her songs in the Debut album... I like the plain lighting on the stage. You can see what everyone's doing very well. A group of very talented musicians played for her, they used many interesting music instruments. I kind of wish she could perform "Play dead". Although "Play dead" is in the "1998 Live in Cambridge" DVD, the way she did it in Cambridge is much less powerful than the original. In fact, she sounds kind of odd there.
The 1998 MTV Live is edited like a Music Video. They tried to play some sort of funky effect on the stage (you can see some gold fish floating on their blurry face), but it makes me so dizzy, I can't even stand watching it.
Anyhow, just the Unplugged part only is worth your money. You don't see Bjork performing anything like the way she did back then anymore.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: 1 STAR CAUSE BJORK IS IT!!!
Review: THIS DVD IS UTTERLY DISAPPOINTING!! I BOUGHT IT CAUSE I LOVE BJORK AND I'VE NEVER SEEN HER LIVE. BUT THIS DVD IS SUCH A LET DOWN!! THE MTV UNPLUGGED PART WAS OK. IT ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE SHE WASN'T INTO THE AUDIENCE. (DIDN'T FEEL LIKE A "LIVE" PERFORMANCE)! THE 2ND HALF, WAS EVEN WORSE BECAUSE SHE GETS INTO HER MUSIC AND HER AUDIENCE, BUT THE PICTURE QUALITY IS VERRRRRRRRYYYYYY BAD! YOU SEE BJORK SINGING BEHIND A "POOL OF BLUE WATER WITH FISH IN IT" I AM TOTALLY SERIOUS! ...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Blah
Review: This was not good at all. im a huge fan of bjork and she so so held back.. she could not go wild and run around and be all funky.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Blah
Review: This was not good at all. im a huge fan of bjork and she so so held back.. she could not go wild and run around and be all funky.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way better than expected
Review: To be perfectly honest I was having second thoughts about this DVD while it was being shipped. I mean, I do love Bj?rk but I've never been very fond of Unpluggeds as many are just some excuse to release and album and keep on selling but with very little innovation to the music to make it worthwhile. And specifically with Bj?rk......I mean.......her music pretty much uses every electronic sound you can imagine and once you "unplug" it.....what's left besides her voice?

Well, I'm happy to say that what's left is probably one of the most innovative Unpluggeds ever made (if not the most). While most artist when deprived of an electronic instrument just go to it's acoustic counterpart Bj?rk more or less does away with all the instrumental background of her songs and find quite creative ways to overcome the constrains of an unplugged. No music boxes, no synthetisers, no programmers and no mixers indeed. Instead a quite peculiar orchestra. Guy Sigsworth playng the harpischord, trumpets, saxophones, marimbas, something that seemed as a chinese percussion instrument (I just had never seen it nor can I describe it) and this guy making sounds out of glasses filled with water with his fingers (I just don't know how that's called), a hindu guy playing these kind of drums (typical instrument from India) are just some of the "innovations" in the unplugged. And if you think that the only songs that could be played were the not-so-electronic songs think again as Violently Happy and Big time sensuality are both there and they both sound amazing. Of course Bj?rk's performance is amazing as always so I don't think that there's any need to talk about it.

As for the "MTV live" part we have the Icelandic string octet and Mark Bell at the console which will seem very familiar for those who have seen "Live at cambridge". Sonically there's really no difference between the "MTV live" and "Live at cambridge". I would even say that, in that aspect, I would stay with the "Live at cambridge" as I think that there might have been a slight problem with the final sound editing as Bj?rk's voice can hardly be heard at times. However what's really great about this part is the visual aspect. Those who like image distortion, added effects, lights and such (techniques used at times by directors such as Daren Aronofsky) will love this part as it gives a very good visual impact to the music. However, those who like their images to be plain and clear will probably just stick to the Unplugged part of this DVD.

So, bottom line. Fantastic. Quite a unique performance. I will say this though. The DVD doesn't have any special features but the performance is so good that you really don't care much about it in the end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way better than expected
Review: To be perfectly honest I was having second thoughts about this DVD while it was being shipped. I mean, I do love Björk but I've never been very fond of Unpluggeds as many are just some excuse to release and album and keep on selling but with very little innovation to the music to make it worthwhile. And specifically with Björk......I mean.......her music pretty much uses every electronic sound you can imagine and once you "unplug" it.....what's left besides her voice?

Well, I'm happy to say that what's left is probably one of the most innovative Unpluggeds ever made (if not the most). While most artist when deprived of an electronic instrument just go to it's acoustic counterpart Björk more or less does away with all the instrumental background of her songs and find quite creative ways to overcome the constrains of an unplugged. No music boxes, no synthetisers, no programmers and no mixers indeed. Instead a quite peculiar orchestra. Guy Sigsworth playng the harpischord, trumpets, saxophones, marimbas, something that seemed as a chinese percussion instrument (I just had never seen it nor can I describe it) and this guy making sounds out of glasses filled with water with his fingers (I just don't know how that's called), a hindu guy playing these kind of drums (typical instrument from India) are just some of the "innovations" in the unplugged. And if you think that the only songs that could be played were the not-so-electronic songs think again as Violently Happy and Big time sensuality are both there and they both sound amazing. Of course Björk's performance is amazing as always so I don't think that there's any need to talk about it.

As for the "MTV live" part we have the Icelandic string octet and Mark Bell at the console which will seem very familiar for those who have seen "Live at cambridge". Sonically there's really no difference between the "MTV live" and "Live at cambridge". I would even say that, in that aspect, I would stay with the "Live at cambridge" as I think that there might have been a slight problem with the final sound editing as Björk's voice can hardly be heard at times. However what's really great about this part is the visual aspect. Those who like image distortion, added effects, lights and such (techniques used at times by directors such as Daren Aronofsky) will love this part as it gives a very good visual impact to the music. However, those who like their images to be plain and clear will probably just stick to the Unplugged part of this DVD.

So, bottom line. Fantastic. Quite a unique performance. I will say this though. The DVD doesn't have any special features but the performance is so good that you really don't care much about it in the end.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Something
Review: Well... im 15 and a huge fan of Bjork.. i think shes like the best.. But when i bought this mtv unpluged of Bjork i was very disappointed. You can tell she was held back from going deep in to her songs...Like her live at camberige was so awesome..she owned the stage and she could do whatever she wanted unlike in mtv unpluged.. but hey.. its best to always have bjorks stuff.. just to say ya got it..

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Something
Review: Well... im 15 and a huge fan of Bjork.. i think shes like the best.. But when i bought this mtv unpluged of Bjork i was very disappointed. You can tell she was held back from going deep in to her songs...Like her live at camberige was so awesome..she owned the stage and she could do whatever she wanted unlike in mtv unpluged.. but hey.. its best to always have bjorks stuff.. just to say ya got it..

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing
Review: Wonderful performances by Bjork throughout. The unplugged concert is worth the price of the DVD by itself, as Bjork's arrangements surprise and delight. While many artists approach the unplugged showcase by simply playing acoustic guitars and basses and then plowing through their repertoire, Bjork's arrangements are varied and inventive: one song uses an Indonesia gamelan orchestra, a North Indian tabla player, and a tuba! Another uses harpsichord, tuned water glasses, and an acoustic bass....you get the picture. The arrangments are fun and playful yet pretty deep and profound as well, and the camerawork allows great access tothe performance. The MTV live portion is very reflective of the Homogenic CD, with Bjork's vocals digitally processed live and layered beneath beats and samples. Some of the video effects here were dense and compelling, but I also found a lot of them annoying, particularly Bjork being repeatedly out of focus for a moment and some herky-jerky editing. There also isn't much in the way of auxilary information on the DVD, you just basically have to read the rolling credits. I take away a star for some of the video style of the MTV live segment and the DVD's lack of extras, but musically this release is a great showcase for Bjork's considerable creative talents and the DVD overall is a winner.


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