Search - Bjork - Live at Shepherds Bush Empire on DVD

Look into mind of visionary.

D. R. | o.c., cali | 01/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to give this performance video a 5, because it simply deserves it. My copy is wearing down from constant play and I will soon have to obtain a new one. This is the best concert video I have ever seen. She is so good at giving each of her songs an individual story and look which distinguishes them from each other. My favorite performances are those of: Headphones, One Day, Human Behavior, and the wild closing rendition of Violently Happy. Some scenes are very perplexing. Like at the end of Enjoy when it appears her mixer, Leila Arab, has either screwed up or gotten mad as someone who has destroyed the mix, and she yells at the audience telling them to make some noise. By the way, the song playing over the end credits is, "Glora", a flute duet Bjork wrote in her earlier years. Its available on the Big Time Sensuality Maxi-Single. Its also a good idea to get her Volumen video collection at the same time as this and watch them consecutively. It gives a greater weight to many of the songs."

Bjork's Live at Shepherd's Bush is ultimately intimate.

pdholmes@webtv.net | Scranton, Pennsylvania | 12/28/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having been fortunate enough to have seen Bjork at the start of her '95 tour, I was pleased to discover its evolution in "Live At Shepherd's Bush Empire," a 1997 film of that tour. What one can expect to see in the live performance: an intimate, nonstop experience in experimental pop. The staging is postmodern and playful. The music engaging from the start, beginning with "Headphones," a sweet, inviting song about how music can soothe the soul. She then blasts the viewer with "Army of Me," one of her best songs, displaying her ability to combine electronic with organic elements. The show contains duets of a sort wih her purcussionist on a remixed version of"One Day,"(once was danceable jazz is now beat heavy.) Other duets with her band include "You've Been Flirting Again" & "Anchor Song" with her accordionist, another remixed version of an old song, "Big Time Sensuality" with her music programers/mixers, and a cacophonous duet with her other mixer (who may appear familiar to viewers of Bjork's other live video,"Vessel") on "Enjoy." "I Go Humble", a non-album track, is a sure-fire treat for any Bjork fan. The standard Bjork songs are also there, "Venus As a Boy," "Human Behavior," "Isobel," etc. By the time "Violently Happy" rolls around your bound to find yourself raving in your living room. The reason I give only four stars to this fanastic show is that the encore performances are missing from the final product. If you are a fan of experimental, electronic-pop, then this is for you. Nay-sayers of electronic music should also check this out and winess a soul music of a sorts, brought to you by the performer known as Bjork."

All the Favourites from "Debut" and "Post"!

Mr G Bowden | London United Kingdom | 03/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Watching Bjork's famous Shepherd's Bush Empire 1997 concert for the first time, I spent most of the first half-hour kicking myself for not being there myself, living in London at the time and all. The first disc in her 'Live DVD Series', the concert also exists on VHS, though the DVD quality promises that this will last longer than the less-than-durable video tape. And with DVD's awesome sound capability, you can always host your own Bjork concert in the comfort of your own home. Anyhoo, if you're going to buy a 'Live DVD', buy her "Cambridge" 1998 concert; but if you have that, you might as well have the whole set (her 2001 performance at London's Royal Opera House on her "Vespertine" tour is due for release soon).The concert itself is a testament to Bjork's talent; and unlike most of today's 'Pop Product Placement' groups, she revels in a world of improvisation and experimentation, and, above all things, seems to be having the time of her life. Working on her "Homogenic" album during the tour (an album B-side, "I Go Humble", appears on the playlist), Bjork performs most of her songs on "Post" and a few from "Debut" with unique spins, incorporating live instrumentation and onstage mixing in a bigger, more varied display than her later "Cambridge" concert.Standouts in the crew supporting Bjork include Yasuhiro 'Coba' Kobayahsi on the titular accordian (see "The Anchor Song") and, especially, Trevor Morais on drums and percussion (see "I Miss You"). But the best musical ad-libber of the bunch is Bjork herself, riffing on most of her songs wonderfully. And it gets her and live mixer Leila Arab out of a pickle when the programming for "Enjoy" is bungled; the formerly aggressive, dark song (co-produced by Tricky) turns into a colder, more menacing piece, thanks to the stripped bear ambience of the sounds emmitting from Arab's mixing desk and Bjork's illuminatory vocals.Though there are no DVD special features whatsoever, bar the ability to skip or repeat songs at the press of a button, what remains is a shiny career highlight of the Icelandic chanteuse at her dancy, clubby best, before she got all orchestral and swoony on us. Brilliant."

This girl never ceases to amaze me.

Mr G Bowden | 05/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ah yes, one more "björk product" which not only don't I regret buying but left me asking for more. Although I must confess that the concert wasn't exactly what I expected, but it turned out to be better. What I expected was Björk singing and a lot of mixers backstage playing the exact track of each song as it appears on the album. But instead, she decided to take a much more instrumental approach by joining with Yasuhiro "Coba" Kobayahsi on the Accordion, Trevor Morais in the drums and the well known Guy Sigsworth on the keyboards. But she also calls on stage her programmers and mixers who really deserve as much attention as the rest of the musicians.But of course, the center of attention is Björk. As I expected her voice is as superb as always. She doesn't run out of air for once and she doesn't miss a note (I'm starting to suspect that she's not human at all ;) ). Her verbal communication with the public is limited to a "thank you" after every song (with that peculiar icelandic accent) but the again, all she needs to communicate with them is her music. But what's interesting as well is the way she communicates the songs with her body. The way she dances, walks, the gestures she makes....But perhaps what's so great about this album is that it's very spontaneous. Since it was only one take there's no chance to "edit" the mistakes. In fact, the video has it's "dramatic" moment when the mixer, Leila Arab, seems to be having some problems with the mixing machine while Björk's singing "enjoy". In the end it seems as if the machine just dies and kills all the audio on stage. But the spontaneous aspect of the video doesn't end there. If your planning on singing along while Björk sings you'll be surprised because she changes the order of the lyrics of the songs as she pleases. In fact, she adds up a new paragraph to "possibly maybe". Musically the songs are quite different as well as she takes a much more instrumental approach to each song, in particular with the addition of the accordion.The video also includes a song that doesn't appear on any album composed by Mark Bell and Björk. The song is called "I go humble".As for the other aspects of the video I must mention that the direction is superb. Hats off to David Barnard because this is probably the best directed concert video that I've ever seen, although he doesn't focus much on the public. The scenery was also very nice. Very simple but very nice indeed. Especially when she sings "isobel".So 5 stars for this video. If you're a fan of björk then you should probably buy it. But if what you're looking for is to listen to the songs just as the sound on the album blended with a live performance then you should probably think about it before buying."