Björk
It's Oh So Quiet (One Little Indian 182TP7CDL)

I've spoken with several people recently for whom Björk is just the cat's pajamas, and while I don't disagree that she's ineffably cooler than God, I personally don't get much of an emotional connection to anything she's done. Perhaps because she's a major loon, the songs are always going to be arty.

I definitely contend that at whatever point she really does go crazy (if in fact this has not yet come to pass), no one will ever know. She'll be singing about having to go to the eye doctor or whatever, or buying some bananas or something, but it will be in that detached, fractured melodic style that obscures whatever it is she feels in any song.

That's not a terrible thing, I mean art is good, and furthermore if Björk suddenly turned heart-on-sleeve confessional, who knows what manner of madness she would unleash? But then again, look at Elisabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins, she only got better once she started writing more directly.

OK, another ersatz debate initiated and defused, with no points made. I suppose I'm trying to justify my feeling that Björk is truly best appreciated in small, concise doses, much like flan or jail. The It's Oh So Quiet EP is pretty ideal: 4 great songs, one low price. Actually I'm not sure about the price, I just said that for effect.

Anyway, here we have the ultra-zany Betty Hutton cover "It's Oh So Quiet," which finds our Icelandic princess yelping in dozens of innovative ways, quite hysterical in the same way "The OKeh Laughing Record" is. Two versions of "Hyperballad" follow, quite different and complementary: the excellent Brodsky Quartet version (with seagull strings and a fantastic vocal – truly brings out the strength of the song), then the darker, more interior "Girls Blouse Mix."

The disc ends with "My Spine," a collaboration between an either giddy or drunk (or passibly both) Björk and deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie. That and the Brodsky song are both included on Telegram, and "It's Oh So Quiet" is on Post, so the drawback to this EP is that it duplicates stuff you can find elsewhere. But it's a smashing EP as an EP, for sure – and of course, Björk completists will need it. She can be as addictive as cocaine, or flan, that Björk.

Great as she is, though, I would love to see her do something a bit less ambitious, experimental, groundbreaking, or whatever else rock critics credit her with being 100% of the time. Like, just for once, how about just Björk playing acoustic guitar and not singing like she's being strangled? Then again, take a listen to that album she made when she was like 11 – most likely she was a loon from the get-go.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Jpeg Jones