Greatest Hits (Björk album)

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Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits cover
Compilation album by Björk
Released November 4, 2002
Recorded 1993-2001
Genre Electronica
Length 72:19
Label One Little Indian
Producer Björk, Nellee Hooper, Mark Bell, Graham Massey, David Arnold, Danny Cannon, Drew Daniel
Professional reviews
Björk chronology
Vespertine
(2001)
Greatest Hits
(2002)
Family Tree
(2002)

Greatest Hits is a compilation album released in November of 2002 featuring the songs of Icelandic singer Björk. Although not all of Björk's singles are included on this collection, all of the songs on Greatest Hits were released as singles. The tracks were selected by fans through a survey on Björk's website. Greatest Hits presents the songs in descending order of most-popular votes, with the exception of "It's In Our Hands" which was a new song.

There were in fact two online surveys preceding the release of Greatest Hits. The survey that gave the tracklist was one where fans voted for their favourite single-tracks. Another one was conducted simultaneously where fans could vote for their favourite of all her songs, albums tracks as well as b-sides. This sometimes is the cause for some confusion about the authenticity of the fan-selected tracklist concept because interestingly enough the results from the single-track survey doesn't always match with the overall survey. For example, "Hyperballad" was the song receiving most votes from Björk fans on the overall survey, but appears as the second track on Greatest Hits. The results of both surveys can be seen on Björk's website.[1]

Several of the songs are presented in their radio (or single) remixed forms, most notably "Big Time Sensuality" (the Fluke version featured in the promotional video, and not the shorter "Minimix" as featured on the single). "Possibly Maybe" includes the famous electronic sounds that were temporarily deleted off the Post version of the track, and "All Is Full of Love" is presented in its single version.

As with many greatest hits compilation albums, some of Björk's biggest singles were absent. The most obvious omission is "It's Oh So Quiet", her highest-charting UK hit. Also missing are "Alarm Call", "I Miss You", "Cocoon" and "Violently Happy" and any pre-Debut material.

The tracks "Human Behaviour", "Big Time Sensuality", and "Venus as a Boy" are taken from Björk's 1993 album Debut. "Play Dead" was originally released on the Young Americans movie soundtrack (1993) but was included on some editions of Debut.

"Hyperballad", "Army of Me", "Isobel", and "Possibly Maybe" are from the 1995 Post album.

"All Is Full of Love", "Jóga", "Bachelorette", and "Hunter" are from her 1997 Homogenic album.

Finally, "Pagan Poetry" and "Hidden Place" are found on her 2001 Vespertine album.

The artwork on the CD was produced in collaboration with Icelandic contemporary artist Gabríela Fridriksdóttir. It is the only one of Björk's album covers that includes both a logo and a title.

Greatest Hits was released on the same day as Björk's Family Tree box set, which contained a "greatest hits" disc on which the songs were chosen by Björk. Greatest Hits and the greatest hits "as chosen by Björk" have seven tracks in common.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

  1. "All Is Full of Love" (Björk) – 4:46
  2. "Hyperballad" (Björk) – 5:23
  3. "Human Behaviour" (Björk/Nellee Hooper) – 4:13
  4. "Jóga" (Björk/Sjón) – 5:04
  5. "Bachelorette" (Björk/Sjón) – 5:17
  6. "Army of Me" (Björk/Graham Massey) – 3:56
  7. "Pagan Poetry" (Björk) – 5:14
  8. "Big Time Sensuality" (Björk/Nellee Hooper) – 4:56
  9. "Venus as a Boy" (Björk) – 4:41
  10. "Hunter" (Björk) – 4:15
  11. "Hidden Place" (Björk/Guy Sigsworth/Mark Bell) – 5:28
  12. "Isobel" – (Björk/Nellee Hooper/Marius de Vries/Sjón) 5:48
  13. "Possibly Maybe" (Björk/Nellee Hooper/Marius de Vries) – 5:07
  14. "Play Dead" (Björk/David Arnold/Jah Wobble) – 3:57
  15. "It's in Our Hands" (Björk) – 4:14

[edit] Charts

Country Peak Position Certification (If Any) Sales/shipments
Australia[2] 84
Austria 64
Canada Gold 50,000+
Sweden 52
Switzerland 24
United States 115 163,000

[edit] External links

[edit] References