release date: Jun. 15, 1995
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]
producer: Björk and Nellee Hooper
label: Mother Records - nationality: Iceland
Track highlights: 1. "Army of Me" - 2. "Hyper-Ballad" - 4. "It's Oh So Quiet" - 5. "Enjoy" - 7. "Isobel" - 8. "Possibly Maybe" - 9. "I Miss You"
2nd studio album by Björk. All tracks are produced by Björk, 7 tracks with Nellee Hooper, two with Graham Massey, two with Tricky and one with Howie B.
Stylistically, it's the natural follow-up to Debut with a slightly stronger trip hop element; however, it's still a huge blend of styles centered around electronic styles.
The album feature two of her best-fairing singles ever: "Army of Me" became her first top-10 single in the UK, but was later overtaken by "Hyper-Ballad" reaching #8 and "It's Oh so Quiet" - her highest ranked single ever at #4 on the UK single charts. The album is her best-selling album to date, and it reached #2 on the UK, the Australian and The Swedish albums chart lists.
Shortly after the release I found it slightly bettering her 93 album, and in terms of representing over-the-top production methods and embedded styles, it really is a glorious release. In retrospect, I find it - not as much a faded album, but perhaps compared to her strong debut, it does recycle many of its ideas, and is in that way the result of a strong matrix. Having said that, this is still one of her best albums and as such highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine, The Guardian, Spin 4 / 5 stars ]
