Telegram
Reviews :
Exclusive Review from Rolling Stone
With "Telegram," edgy icelandic woman-child Björk
continues to push the post-rock envelope. Her new album consists
mostly of remixed versions of songs from her second solo LP,
"Post". But unlike many remix albums,
"Telegram" is no
slapdash effort: Björk recorded new vocals for many of the songs
and collaborated with a well-chosen array of artists from
the avant-garde and electronic worlds.
The best idea here was to rerecord the beautifully naked love
song "Hyper-ballad" with neochamber-music outfit the
Brodsky
Quartet - the new vocals and strings make the song even more
stirring than the original. Similarly, "Post's" hushed,
moody
"Possibly Maybe" is interestingly transformed into a
trance-y, bass-heavy track laden with distorted vocals. And on
"Telegram's"
sole original composition, the atmospheric "My Spine,"
Björk sings with raw emotion, accompanied only by a classical
percussionist playing exhaust pipes as if they were chimes.
Not all of the old songs survive Björk's drastic rethinking:
"The Post" version of "I Miss You" is an
amalgam of styles, with electronic
drums melding into African bongos mixed with jazzy horn playing;
the remix on Telegram renders the song as lounge-flavored yuppie
cocktail music. The remix of "Headphones" - a sexy song
that Björk and ex-boyfriend Tricky wrote about falling asleep to
each
other's music - is all bass with none of the original lyrics, a
minimalist track that sounds avant-garde just for the sake of it.
And
"Army of Me," the most radical of the remixes, is
cruelly stripped of its vocals, melodies and heart.
But for every track where Björk seems to be maiming her own
work, there is a song such as "Cover Me," a quiet,
harpsichord-driven
tune from "Post" that is convincingly re-conceived as a
drum-and-bass effort by producer Dillinja. If such creative
destruction is
sometimes hard to understand, it may be exactly what makes Björk
such an innovator. (RS 752)
Rolling Stone Network.
Quick Quotes :
3 Stars (out of 5) - "...TELEGRAM is no slapdash effort;
Björk recorded new vocals for many of the songs and collaborated
with a well-chosen array of artists from the avant-garde and
electronic worlds..."
Rolling Stone 1/23/97, pp.63-67
7 (out of 10) - "...Ultimately, TELEGRAM isn't so much an
admission that POST wasn't commercially viable as an attempt
to make the album more of what it already is, letting the songs
breathe in a slightly different way for those of us back here in
the
20th century."
Spin 3/97, pp.101-102
"...a clever idea that engenders some vitally
creative--or at least vitally re-creative--music....she makes the
original material sound
warmer and more organic..."
Musician 3/97, p.87
"...It's a post-POST disc of inventive
rethinking...Ambient and gutsy, Björk's old-new product defines
creative elasticity." - Rating: B+
Entertainment Weekly 1/17/97, p.64
"...As with the best remix albums, this one easily stands
on its own, each track deconstructed then put back together in
sometimes
radical ways..."
Option 5-6/97, pp.94-95
Notes :
TELEGRAM is a remix album, with altered versions of nine songs from POST and one new song.
Personnel includes: Björk (vocals, organ); Eumir Deodato
(conductor); Rodney P (rap vocals); Nestor Garcia (acoustic
guitar);
Rob Montoro, Graham Massey (guitar); Luciano Iorio, Rob Smissen
(viola); Robin Firman, Tony Pleeth (cello); Gary Barnacle
(soprano saxophone); Stuart Brooks (trumpet); John Crawford
(keyboards); Nico Gomez (bass); David Giovannini (drums); Peter
Locket (conga); Evelyn Glennie (exhaust pipes); Luis Jardim,
Talvin Singh (percussion); Markus Dravs (sound effects); Howie
Bernstein (programming); Brodsky Quartet.
Producers include: Björk, Nellee Hooper, Tricky, Evelyn Glennie, Howie B, Eumir Deodato, Graham Massey.
TELEGRAM finds Björk and her comrades polishing the rusty
surfaces of pop music, creating new musical formations that
glimmer
and shine. These songs have been redecorated with the gracious
elan that we have come to expect from this charismatic chanteuse.
New installations of drum-and-bass textures, orchestral
arrangements, trip-hop beats and hip-hop samples are overlaid on
the
songs from POST, building upon their subtle post-modern beauty.
The Brodksy Quartet offers a modern-classical intepretation of
"Hyperballad." "You're Flirting Again" gains
a lush orchestration.
"Headphones," by contrast, now features a sparse,
tundra-like soundscape. The one new song, "My Spine,"
features Björk crooning
over a primitive backdrop of mystical chimes and bells, creating
an organic incantation that sounds miles away from any territory
that
pop music has traversed thus far.