Bjork "Vespertine" import 2xLP (2001) heavy vinyl + sexy promo trading card
$
80
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Description
Baron Elmo proudly presents a beautiful vinyl treasure from Icelandic pixie and pop genius BJÖRK: Vespertine, a double LP UK import released in 2001 by the One Little Indian label. This is a first edition copy, not the 2008 One Little Indian reissue.) Björk's first non-soundtrack album since Homogenic is positively pastoral compared with that release's experimental electronic textures. Swathed in strings and laced with beautiful choral arrangements, Vespertine has more in common with the Dancer in the Dark album Selmasongs, echoing that record's melody lines while smoothing out and adding an ethereal sheen to the more aggressive approach of the singer's previous work. Here, with crucial assistance provided by electronic mischief-makers Matmos, the idiosyncratic Icelander lets loose with her full range of vocal stylings, though even her most innocent, little-girl-lost persona can't hide the steely intelligence gleaming behind these songs. The opening track "Hidden Place" starts with foreboding electronic rhythms to prepare the listener for this tale of unfulfilled desires. The song is simultaneously exotic-sounding and dripping with melancholy, a mood that lingers until the gently cathartic "Undo," with its mantra-like line "It's not meant to be a strife / It's not meant to be a struggle uphill." Though Vespertine's textures might ostensibly seem smooth and seamless, beneath the surface Björk's ideas and emotions run raw and exposed, as evidenced by the final naked outburst of "I love him" in the coda to "Pagan Poetry." Vespertine is Björk's most mature, fully realized integration of her pastoral Icelandic roots and contemporary electronica to date. She's never been better, before or since. Both records are pressed on heavy vinyl and housed in a gorgeous glossy gatefold jacket. This copy was played only once to dub onto disc and is in impeccable shape. After purchase, we put the records into extra inner sleeves to protect the vinyl, and the album has always been stored in a plastic slipcover, so the jacket still shows a lustrous sheen. Not only that, there's a nifty little bonus: a promotional Vespertine trading card, with an enticing color photo of Bjork in the swan dress she wears on the album cover, striking a deliciously sexy pose. Very yum.
A $3.00 charge will be added to the winning total for shipment within the USA, $9.00 to Mexico and Canada, $18.00 to anywhere else in the world. We will combine multiple purchases, so the more you buy, the more you save on shipping. Thanks for the visit – please check out our eBay store to see the other fine items we carry!
Track listing
Hidden Place
Cocoon
It's Not Up to You
Undo
Pagan Poetry
Frosti
Aurora
An Echo, a Stain
Sun in My Mouth
Heirloom
Harm of Will
Unison
Editorial reviews
The atmospherics, glitch techno, harps, glockenspiels, and shades of Hilmar Om Hilmarsson float free sometimes, and when she gets all soprano on your ass you could accuse her of spirituality. But with somebody this freaky you could get used to that. English lyrics provided, most of them dirty if you want. GRADE: A minus.
~ Robert Christgau
4 stars out of 5 - ...The best solo record of her career; a particle beam as weightless as light but concentrated with direction....awash with strings and choirs...When she opens her mouth you go in, swept up to a box seat inside her head... Ranked #4 in Rolling Stone's Top 10 2001.
~ Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 5 - ...Extraordinarily intimate and tender....She uses her voice as well as she ever has, giving the moods light and shade...
~ Uncut
8 out of 10 - ...Enchanting splendor is the overriding rule....way, way off the beaten track... Ranked #32 in NME's 50 Albums Of the Year 2001.
~ NME
A beautiful thing... Ranked #1 in Wire's 50 Records of the Year 2001.
~ The Wire
...A gorgeous reverie that lives up to its devotional title... Ranked #7 in Mojo's Best Albums of 2001.
~ Mojo
8 out of 10 - ...A smoldering heart of emotion and a true pop sensibility reveal themselves... Ranked #3 in AP's 25 Best Albums of 2001.
~ Alternative Press
4 stars out of 5 - ...an album which sounds like nothing else while also powerfully evoking the complex and emotional spirit of its creator....Not far from ideal.
~ Q
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