All right, I'll start by coming clean. I have never listened to Björk before. All I know about her is she appeared on SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy once and seems to like wearing poultry. So go away, Björk fans. This review is not for you. After all, it's discussing a greatest hits collection, so you probably know all these songs anyway.
As for the rest of you, what better way to introduce yourself to an artist than through a prepackaged collection of her self-proclaimed masterpieces? Chances are, if you're not intrigued after hearing these songs, you probably never will be. I'd recommend you start with "Jóga," a midtempo, violin-laden track that repeatedly builds to a gorgeous rendering of the word "emotional" amid an alphabet soup of sorts in which most of the other lyrics are hard to discern. "Pagan Poetry" also has potential, and "Play Dead" is well worth it just for the chance to hear her bare her teeth a little.
Typical reviews probably would include numerous comparisons and strategically placed adjectives that desperately strain to seem creative and clever. That won't work too well for this one. "Electronic" is the only adjective that seems remotely suitable, and even that is far too vague to accomplish anything here. For the most part, Björk is unlike anything I have heard before. Let's just leave it at that.
She is one of a number of artists whose vocal approach manages to seem more instrumental than linguistic despite the lyrical medium used, and therein lies a good portion of her appeal. Even within this group, however, Björk manages to stand out. As far as I can tell, that's because her voice sounds freer than that of other such vocalists. Although the wackier moments of an Our Lady Peace or Dave Matthews song also start to turn words into whines or growls or whatever else, it always seems pretty scripted. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but Björk has managed to carve a niche for herself because of her apparent spontaneity. Her vocals are very revealing -- at times, you have to wonder if you're seeing inside her, even if you have no clue what the heck you're looking at.
Those of you who caught the aforementioned SNL parody will have a place to start. She really does sound like that. Not all the time, mind you, but the fragmented lines that sound like the work of a drunken songbird really do show up in these songs. During the choruses, however, she is generally more forceful, and it is for this reason she still manages to sound vaguely poppy rather than completely alienating her listeners via the avant-garde nutcase route.
Didn't I tell you to go away, Björk fans? Well, if you've stuck with it this far, I guess you deserve to learn about "It's In Our Hands," the one new song on the album. The sticker on the CD wrapper introduces it as "the new single," but it doesn't seem particularly marketable given the current leanings of MTV and most radio stations. It sounds a lot like a late-model Radiohead song, striking a remarkable balance between "Idioteque" and "Kid A." I found it amusing once I noticed those parallels, but other than that, it seems pretty bland. Her most dedicated followers naturally will be pleased, but most people probably will find that there are much better songs on this album.
So in the end, have I been converted into one of the very fans whom I shooed away at the beginning of the article? No. I honestly can't say that I liked all, or even most, of the songs here. The catch, however: I was left wondering if this was my fault. It always seemed as if, in the cases where nothing appealed to me, it might have been because I didn't understand what to look for. For example, even though I probably listened to the album about 20 times in preparation for the writing of this review, the brilliance of "Hyperballad" didn't strike me until the very last minute. "Björk's Greatest Hits" isn't going to become part of my regular rotation, but she is an artist to whom I will return periodically in the hopes that I may become slightly less clueless and might be able to understand her music just a little bit more.
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