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This is a live version of Aeroplane off of the first disc of Björk's Live Box, a four disc box set of live recordings. Disc one is taken almost entirely from an MTV Unplugged concert in 1994 in which Björk performed songs from her debut album Debut. I dig the song and the message of longing is beautifully (if simply) expressed in the lyrics...
How come
Out of all the people in the world
Only one
Can make me complete
One word, one word on the phone
Makes me happy
One touch, but one touch directly
Makes me ecstatic
He's away
This ain't right
I'm alone
I'm taking an aeroplane
Across the world
To follow my heart
But it is another example of "heard it a different way first." This version’s stripped down sound is not what I enjoy about Björk. I was introduced to Björk shortly after graduating from college and moving to Washington, DC in 1995. It was a time when my musical tastes made a fairly seismic shift in direction. I had spent college transitioning from the classic rock scene of high school to jam bands, grunge and alternative rock. Somewhere amongst the likes of the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and the Pixies, I found Radiohead. Their sophomore album The Bends set me off on a new course. I didn't fully appreciate that fork in the road until 1996-1997. A good friend named Joe and a collection of bars that served more that tap beer helped me make the leap from college music to a second British invasion (Oasis, Cornershop, Blur, The Verve, Pulp, The Charlatans) and electronic music.
Björk was a part of that scene. Her Sugar Candy Kisses bootleg was a live gem we found at one of these CD shows that were popular at the time. On most given Saturdays in the Baltimore/DC area there was a hotel ballroom full of guys selling boxes of CDs, vinyl, and VHS tapes. Most of the materials either were or bordered on illicit - unapproved bootlegs, rare singles, and imports for which dealers charged absurdly high prices. Joe, his buddy and I would go to these shows and purchase a few finds each. After the weekend, I would either use my minidisc recorder or stay late at work one night to burn CD copies for everyone. My office was the only access we had to a CD burner! How funny that working with a digital file format was still so complicated in the late 90s. And VHS? Any way, I usually appreciate unplugged, but in my opinion Björk should stick to the electronic side of things.
Ps. I just learned that our mononymous friend from Iceland does have a last name - Guðmundsdóttir. I can’t imagine why she just goes by Björk!
This is a live version of Aeroplane off of the first disc of Björk's Live Box, a four disc box set of live recordings. Disc one is taken almost entirely from an MTV Unplugged concert in 1994 in which Björk performed songs from her debut album Debut. I dig the song and the message of longing is beautifully (if simply) expressed in the lyrics...
How come
Out of all the people in the world
Only one
Can make me complete
One word, one word on the phone
Makes me happy
One touch, but one touch directly
Makes me ecstatic
He's away
This ain't right
I'm alone
I'm taking an aeroplane
Across the world
To follow my heart
But it is another example of "heard it a different way first." This version’s stripped down sound is not what I enjoy about Björk. I was introduced to Björk shortly after graduating from college and moving to Washington, DC in 1995. It was a time when my musical tastes made a fairly seismic shift in direction. I had spent college transitioning from the classic rock scene of high school to jam bands, grunge and alternative rock. Somewhere amongst the likes of the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and the Pixies, I found Radiohead. Their sophomore album The Bends set me off on a new course. I didn't fully appreciate that fork in the road until 1996-1997. A good friend named Joe and a collection of bars that served more that tap beer helped me make the leap from college music to a second British invasion (Oasis, Cornershop, Blur, The Verve, Pulp, The Charlatans) and electronic music.
Björk was a part of that scene. Her Sugar Candy Kisses bootleg was a live gem we found at one of these CD shows that were popular at the time. On most given Saturdays in the Baltimore/DC area there was a hotel ballroom full of guys selling boxes of CDs, vinyl, and VHS tapes. Most of the materials either were or bordered on illicit - unapproved bootlegs, rare singles, and imports for which dealers charged absurdly high prices. Joe, his buddy and I would go to these shows and purchase a few finds each. After the weekend, I would either use my minidisc recorder or stay late at work one night to burn CD copies for everyone. My office was the only access we had to a CD burner! How funny that working with a digital file format was still so complicated in the late 90s. And VHS? Any way, I usually appreciate unplugged, but in my opinion Björk should stick to the electronic side of things.
Ps. I just learned that our mononymous friend from Iceland does have a last name - Guðmundsdóttir. I can’t imagine why she just goes by Björk!
Bjork's screaching sound reminds me of finger nails down a chalk board.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine you and Joe back in the day, in your flannel shirts, searching for the ultimate track. Joe probably had hair back then, right?
Different Joe. But yes the one you're thinking of did.
ReplyDelete