The MTV Unplugged performance is astounding, demonstraiting the younger Bjork with beautiful and unique arrangements, courtesy of an incredible number of musicians (including Talvin Singh, tabla player extrordinaire). Almost all of the songs from Debut are represented, but seeing them performed with all live musicians rather than electronics casts a dramatic new light on them, and the arrangements are all top-notch (the harpsichord Human Behavior being a personal favorite). And the sight of Bjork in a bright yellow and incredibly short dress playing in front of a room of stuffy, black-clad, 1994 hipster types is laugh out loud funny, and displays wonderfully her irreverance and sense of humor. She flits around the stage barefoot, bouncing from one end to the other and singing like a pixie while the audience sits mostly somberly, evidently not sure quite to make of the sprite on stage. This was very early on, surely before Bjork's reputation as a beautiful weirdo was well-established, so it is amusing to watch their bemused reactions to our favorite Icelandic Queen.

The Live and Loud segment is also quite astounding, with a string octet and Mark Bell on beats in the back. The instrumentations are much more like what one hears on the albums, though the passion comes through in spades. Bjork is beautiful, looking more properly dressed for the occasion than the previous performance, though nothing short of furious in her singing. Pluto is a notable example as Bjork pushes it to a simply explosive climax. As for the much-derided effects and goldfish... I have to admit, I thought they were kinda neat, putting a surreal spin on the otherwise very professional-looking proceedings.

All in all, I'd say this is a stunning portrait of an incredible performer, full of all the heart, fury, and occasional cheesy special effect that makes us love music in the first place. Order (or, better yet, purchase from your local independent record store!) with confidence.


Bjork: MTV Unplugged/MTV Live   January 25, 2005
Ererin (Cafe Disaffecto)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Bjork is one of the most amazing artists ever to grace my ears and her MTV Unplugged DVD is a ride of wonderful emotions.

Review I: MTV Unplugged

The MTV Unplugged performance is nine song concert of Bjork's 1993 album "Debut". If you are a fan of Bjork's other performances, this is not even close to her later shows. At this time, Bjork's solo era was in it's infancy so you won't see her running around the stage twitching and screaming.

1): HUMAN BEHAVIOUR: She comes out wearing a yellow dress and says "Thank you". The song begins to play, and it barely sound like it. Then she starts to sing and her angelic voice brings the song to life.

2): ONE DAY: One Day is another favorite from "Debut". This song sounds amazing unplugged with all of the percussion instruments. It sounds like a percussion ensemble performance interlude, with a vocalist.

3): COME TO ME: This song sounds amazing here, the record, and the "VESSEL" release. It sounds almost like the album, only a little less intense. She makes it subtle. Like a lullaby.

4): BIG TIME SENSUALITY: This song starts out very rough with the organ type sound. Then it greatly intensifies when she starts sings.

5): AEROPLANE: This song is nothing short of perfect. Her voice soars and the MUSIC IS INCREDIBLE!

6): LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE: Again, it's amazing and she not even thinking about singing because it just flowing out like water

7): CRYING: The song sounds a bit like a .midi file but it gets better because it becomes something so different than the Debut's Crying.

8): ANCHOR SONG: She sings the song and she sounds great but the music soars better than the record.

9): VIOLENTLY HAPPY: Violently Happy is nothing like the record. This song sounds the most unplugged, but Bjork still dances like its a club remix. It's a little long, and it ends a bit abrupt. This isn't the VESSEL version though. She ends it perfectly.

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Review II: MTV LIVE

MTV LIVE: BJORK is a collection of songs taken from her "Homogenic" Tour. The sound is DISGUSTING, especially from MTV. Homogenic was released in 1997, and was filmed in 1998. But why does 1994's Debut: Unplugged performance have better sound and image quality.

1): YOU'VE BEEN FLIRTING AGAIN: First off, this is the ICELANDIC version and sounds just as amazing. This song is beautiful and starts out the Homogenic experience. The sound gets a 7/10.

2): ISOBEL: Isobel sounds so perfect here. Bjork's voice is better, the music is better, the visual is better! Sound gets a 2/10.

3): HUMAN BEHAVIOUR: Human Behaviour sounds like it does on Vessel. It's a little traditional for Bjork. Sound gets 6/10

4): BACHELORETTE: This song sounds so beautiful but it's a shame WE CAN'T HEAR IT!!! Sound gets a 0.

5): JOGA: Joga is one of the best songs from Homogenic. The live version is just as good. Sound gets a 6/10

6): PLUTO: Now with Pluto, the bad sound quality actually helps because the song is so deep and dark and she's being held down. The sound gets a 6/10 but because it works awesomely: 8/10.

MTV Unplugged Recommendations: HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, AEROPLANE, COME TO ME

MTV Live Recommendations: ISOBEL, YOU'VE BEEN FLIRTING AGAIN, PLUTO

Unplugged gets a 95/100 and Live gets a 45/100

Other Recommendations: VESSEL DVD/VHS


Way better than expected   May 1, 2002
C. H Soto (South America)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

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.


Essential Bjork Paraphenalia   March 25, 2002
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I more-or-less agree with these other reviewers. Bjork, by simple fact of her personality and skill at live performance, is phenomenal. The DVD is somewhat less so. The MTV Live segment was distracting. The producers were so excited to be putting special effects into the production that they ignored the music itself and seemed to be competing with it for viewer attention.

The Unplugged portion of the DVD was great. I enjoyed all the arrangements immensely and loved to watch Bjork bop about the stage in bare feet.

Of course I would have loved extra DVD features like interviews or a 'Behind The Scenes' featurette, etc., but knowing how _Volumen_ is I wasn't expecting anything.

I'm giving this DVD only 3 stars because, in the end, this is 2002 and we all expect a little more than the bare minimum when it comes to DVDs we pay [money] for.


Bjork at her best   February 20, 2002
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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.