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Rating: A rather modest and simple photograph: a woman dressed in a frayed sweater, hands gently resting on her face, almost as if to further conceal an already manifest and quite conspicuous aura of shyness and naivety. Back in 1993, the style of the highly eclectic Björk did not remotely foreshadow the ethereal/fairy-tale/magical/mysterious/enigmatic "extravagances" of her later works, primarily Medulla and Biophilia: in the focal center of the then Grunge trend, characterized by simplicity and sobriety (at least from a look perspective) totally opposed to the magnificent splendor of mainstream pop shows, the Icelandic sprite at her "debut" perfectly fit the mood of the time. Yet, beyond that dull cover, beyond the opening photo that seems to have been taken in post-war Soviet Russia, was an authentic little musical gem packaged, a blend of sounds, fantasy, sentiment, sophistication, sensuality, and mood.
Debut presents itself as a special intimate-artistic journey in sound experimentation, in which even noises, off-key notes, and the calls of nature are not set aside, refused, or disdained, but on the contrary, immersed and blended in a grand dance/trip-hop cauldron. The times of the extreme maturity of Medulla, in which nature and artifice compose a single, unique work of meaning and spirituality, are still far away, yet there is already the perception of holding in hand a work refractory to the commercial pop box, a sort of multi-faceted, multi-colored "Rubik's cube" to compose, recompose, and savor to the last piece.
And the tracklist starts with a dynamite-like explosion of sounds, noises, and bass: Human Behaviour, Celtic-folk march Sinead O'Connor style with evident ambient-trip hop inspirations, is the vital soul of the album, the sum of all its abstract and sensory perceptions, the culmination of the dialectic between light and darkness. A small leap then brings us to the frivolous eurodance/techno of Big Time Sensuality and Crying, to the fresh and sunny tribal-ambient litany of the oriental Venus As A Boy, and to the house pearl of Violently Happy, one of the best expressions of alternative dance of the '90s.
Experimentation, eclecticism, it was said: here then are the unplugged "off-key notes" of maddened brass instruments in The Anchor Song, the slamming doors, the noisy crowd of a party, and the pseudo-adolescent vocal tone inscribed in the danceable context of There's More To Life Than This, the ethereal, super relaxing and evanescent trip-hop/ambient infusion of One Day - almost anticipating the hyperuranic effluvia of Bachelorette and Medulla. Worthy of note, finally, are Like Someone in Love, a triumph of strings and old school serenade romance, Play Dead, melancholic, even heart-wrenching and desperate trip-hop expression, and the funkified cabaret dance (with a tribal ending) of Aeroplane.
Spontaneously sneaking into the nineties debate between pop commerciality and pure, genuine alternative eclecticism, the very first Björk's Debut managed perfectly to wear the traits of one and the other, bringing out a chameleon-like double game - still unripe and incomplete - that winked at appreciators of all music, of all sound art, of whatever melody could reach the ears, mind, and heart of the attentive listener. And the Björk tale was just beginning...
Björk, Debut
Human Behaviour - Crying - Venus As A Boy - There's More To Life Than This - Like Someone In Love - Big Time Sensuality - One Day - Aeroplane - Come To Me - Violently Happy - The Anchor Song - Play Dead
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Human Behaviour (04:10)
If you ever get close to a human
And human behaviour
Be ready, be ready to get confused
There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
To human behaviour
But yet so, yet so irresistible
And there's no map
and a compass
wouldn't help at all
They're terribly moody
And human behaviour
Then all of a sudden turn happy
But, oh, to get involved in the exchange
Of human emotions
Is ever so, ever so satisfying
Oh oh, and there's no map
Human behaviour, human
Human, human behaviour, human
Human, human behaviour, human
Human behaviour, human
And there's no map
And a compass
Wouldn't help at all
Human behaviour, human, human
Human behaviour, human,
Human behaviour, human,
Human behaviour
There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
Human, human
Human behaviour
Human
There's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
Human, human, human, human.
02 Crying (04:52)
I travel
All around the city
Go in and out of
Locomotives
All alone
There's no-one here
And people everywhere
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying I can feel you
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying 'cause I care.
It's a hot day
And i'm dressed lightly
I move carefully
Through the crowd
Here everyone
Is so vulnerable
And i'm as well
There's no-one here
And people everywhere
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying I can feel you
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying 'cause I care
Only if a ship would sail in
Or just someone came
And knocked at my door
Or just, or just something
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying I can feel you
Crying 'cause I need you
Crying 'cause I care
03 Venus as a Boy (04:42)
His wicked sense of humour
Suggests exciting sex
His fingers focus on her
Touches, he's Venus as a boy
He believes in beauty
He's Venus as a boy
He's exploring
The taste of her
Arousal
So accurate
He sets off
The beauty in her
He's Venus as a boy
He believes in beauty
He's Venus as a boy
04 There's More to Life Than This (recorded live at the Milk Bar toilets) (03:21)
Come on girl
Let's sneak out of this party
It's getting boring
There's more to life than this
It's still early morning
We could go down to the harbour
And jump between the boats
And see the sun come up
Sample : There's more to life than this
There's more to life than this
There's more to life than this
I could nick a boat
And sneak off to this island
I could bring my little ghettoblaster
There's more to life than this
But then we'd have to rush back
To the town's best baker
To get the first bread of the morning
There's more to life than this.
Sample : There's more to life than this
There's more to life than this X4
06 Big Time Sensuality (03:57)
i can sense it
something important
is about to happen
it's coming up
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality
we just met
and i know i'm a bit too intimate
but something huge is coming up
and we're both included
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality
i don't know my future after this weekend
and i don't want to
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore and the gentle
big time sensuality
07 One Day (05:24)
One day, it will happen
One day, one day
It will all come true.
One day, when you're ready
One day, one day
When you're up to it.
The atmosphere
Will get lighter
And two suns ready
To shine just for you
I can feel it, I can feel it.
One day, it will happen
One day, one day
It will all make sense.
One day, one day
You will blossom
One day, one day
When you're ready.
An aeroplane
Will curve gracefully
Around the volcano
With the eruption that never lets you down.
I can feel it, I can feel it
And the beautifullest
Fireworks are burning
In the sky just for you
I can feel it, I can feel it
One day, one day, one day, one day
One day, one day, one day, one day
08 Aeroplane (03:54)
I can not live
Peacefully without you
For even a moment
I miss you terribly
When you're away
He's away
This ain't right
I'm alone
I'm taking an aeroplane
Across the world
To follow my heart.
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
10 Violently Happy (04:59)
Since I met you
this small town hasn't got room
for my big feelings,
violently happy
'cause I love you,
violently happy
but you're not here
violently happy
come calm me down
before i get into trouble
I tip-toe down to the shore,
stand by the ocean-
make it roar at me
and I roar back,
violently happy
'cause I love you,
violently happy
but you're not here
violently happy
overemotional
violently happy
I'll get into trouble
real soon
if you don't get here
baby!
violently happy
'cause I love you
violently happy
I'm aiming too high
violently happy
it will get me into trouble
violently happy
i'm driving my car
too fast
with ecstatic music on
violently happy
I'm getting too drunk
violently happy
I'm daring people
to jump off roofs with me
only you
can clam me down
I'm aiming too high
Soothe me...
11 The Anchor Song (03:32)
I live by the ocean
and during the night
I dive into it
down to the bottom
underneath all currents
and drop my anchor
this is where I'm staying.
This is my home
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Other reviews
By bauer
I find myself completely captivated by her voice and the beauty of the songs.
More than just something to own, it’s to be hung in your room next to your Monet or Van Gogh.
By MarcoP
It definitely belongs among the 10 essential albums of the nineties not so much because it is a precursor of a certain genre but for the originality with which it handles Dance, Pop, and Electronic.
Aside from her creative genius, Björk enjoys a natural gift, her unmistakable voice, which besides being an added value, is also her strength.
