BJÖRK

Certainly Bjork fans will want to check this out if, for nothing else, to hear at this tender young age a musician far removed from an artist who has enthralled some while irking many others. There is next to nothing here in any regard to link this early recording to her more daring experiments in either in Kukl, the Sugarcubes, or her solo work. The vocals are clearly of Bjork's if only in hints and traces, but none of the vocal gymnastics that characterize her work beyond this point is on display here.

The majority of this material is unbearable. The Beatles "The Fool On the Hill" is covered as "Alfur Ut Ur Hol". Never a fan of the original composition this remake solidifies that opinion. "Arabadrengurinn" is pure 70's disco without any flourishes to lift it above being a merely serviceable example of that genre at its blandest. The instrumental "Musastiginn" is kid-show pop. Terrible.

"Baenin" is a sweet little number with only Bjork and an acoustic guitar, perhaps the least offensive offering here. Outside of that "Fusi Hreindyr" has a nice chorus melody, I admit to really liking this song (except the sax solo destroys the gentle vibe). These are perhaps the only two tracks I can ever imagine giving another spin to.

A Bjork fan should keep a copy of this recording, for completing a collection and something to spring on your friends as a "guess-who-this-is" game at parties. It is perhaps easy to see why Bjork title her first post-Sugarcubes album as "Debut", effectively erasing this ,her original debut, to the few who heard or remembered her earlier success outside of her native Iceland.

BJÖRK Guðmundsdóttir was destined for great things at an early age. She was already studying classical piano and flute at the tender age of six and caught the attention of her school teachers when she sang a Tim Charles' hit called "I Love To Love." Her teachers sent it to the only radio station in Iceland at the time and they loved it. So at the age of 12 years old all the way back in 1977 she was asked to record a full album of mostly covers but also contains three originals. This is one of those anomalies that was never released outside of her native Iceland but remains a curiosity in her discography since her next solo album ironically called "Debut" wouldn't be released until 1993.

Starting out with some sitars, the listening is left wondering if the wrong album is playing! Is this BJÖRK or Ravi Shankar? After the intro the album bursts into the expected radio friendly pop music with a disco beat. This is basically a bunch of catchy tunes with a tweenie BJÖRK singing her heart out in Icelandic. While some of the tracks could qualify as pop, some are more classical allowing her flute playing abilities to shine but the craziest track on board is a cover of The Beatles' "Fool On The Hill" or in Icelandic "Álfur Út Úr Hól"

Not as bad as i expected actually. BJÖRK already displays at a very young age incredible control of her vocals and the music itself is actually decently done, however somehow i suspect this won't be replacing "Homogenic" or "Vespertine" as her most respected albums any time soon. A rarity outside of her native land, but a catchy and cheery relic of her past that is of interest to the hard core fans. Ultimately BJÖRK was asked to record a second album but refused opting to write her own material that she would save for future releases including with her 80s punk band Spit And Snot.