LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLAND 1995-2011

My relationship with the music of this highly personal Icelandic artist has never been very close, or rather, it was mostly downhill from the promising start. I had liked the radio-played 1988 song 'Birthday' by The Sugarcubes, and admittedly it was especially the unique, childlike voice of the singer called Björk that made the impression. So, in the early/mid-90's, at the beginning of her coming out as a solo artist, I had a certain amount of interest, and I quite liked the accessible pop album Debut (1993) and its follow-up Post (1995). As time passed, in a way she was always there, being such a hyped artist. But instead of joining her admirers, I gradually began to feel colder and colder towards her style as it became more and more "artistic". If there was a live show in the TV, I usually only cared to watch it for a while. This DVD showcases the artistic development within the given timeline, and I wasn't surprised that I liked the earlier performances and disliked the later ones.

The 55-minute DVD compiles thirteen live tracks from the BBC music series "Later With Jools Holland". First, the lay-out is poor. The set list is printed only on the cover and I missed more precise, easy-to-find information on the years and the line-ups of the performances. I think the contents are taken from five different episodes. Jools is quickly seen either before or after the songs, otherwise it's all just the song performances, no interviews or DVD extras of any kind.

On the earliest clips such as 'Hyperballad' Björk is accompanied by percussion, keyboards and a string section. 'Venus As a Boy' is an intimate duet for vocals and harpsichord. Her next appearance on Jools's show concentrates on songs from Homogenic (1997). For example 'Joga' backed by a string octet sounds very nice. On 'So Broken' Björk is accompanied by two Spanish guitarists to give the song a beautiful fado-like treatment. Apart from white paint on her forehead Björk's visual appearance is still pretty normal.

From 'Earth Intruders' onwards I start to dislike both the music and the looks of Björk. She began to make herself look like a doll from a horror film, so to speak. And for the arrangements, all that electric noise is mainly a nuisance for me. The songs are less and less melodic and accessible, at times downward aggressive. Probably the dedicated fans, impressed by the increasing amount of the artistic uniqueness, get what they want. As for me, watching this DVD was a reminder of my chronologically decreasing interest for Björk.