Track Listing

1. Overture
2. Cvalda - Björk, Catherine Deneuve
3. I've Seen It All - Björk, Thom Yorke
4. Scatterheart
5. In the Musicals
6. 107 Steps - Björk, Siobhan Fallon
7. New World

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11857 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Soundtrack
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .18 pounds

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
Inspired by the film Dancer in the Dark's Broadwayesque emotional sweep, Björk stretches herself with orchestral mood swings and a darker, more experimental palette. The result is the most difficult record she's made since her Sugarcubes days, but a few listens reveal the thrilling heart of a truly multifaceted and immensely brave composer. --Matthew Cooke

Amazon.com
In Dancer in the Dark, Björk plays Selma, a Czech mother who labors furiously in order to save her son from an inherited disease that will cause blindness. In the midst of all her hardship, the one thing that keeps her spirits up is musicals. Here lies the premise of the Selmasongs EP. The seven tracks sound like something straight out of a Gene Kelly movie but with one major addendum: Björk's wildly imaginative, postmodern songwriting. The movie's theme of fantasy coexisting with urban industrial bleakness is represented in two recurring elements: mechanical friction (expressed rhythmically in the sounds of train tracks, car engines, chains, and even chalk) and dreamy escapism (manifested in enormous orchestral swells of strings, harp, and other fanciful instrumentation). "Cvalda" is typical of the EP's duality. Industrial noise bleeds into Björk's scatting "Clatter! Crash! Clack! Rattle!" then dives head first into a wonderful tap-dancing-on-a tin-roof, big-band cacophony. The EP's showstopper, the rousing "In the Musicals 1 & 2," sounds like it was conducted with a magic wand. Beginning with Aphex Twin-inspired beats bouncing like a ball bearing dribbled hard on pavement, the intricate rhythmic choreography tromps, flits, and changes direction with seamless angularity. These aren't just songs to dance to, these are songs that dance. --Beth Massa

Customer Reviews

Almost as good as the movie
First off, if you haven't seen the movie yet don't get this cd. The soundtrack has to be listened and understood within the context of "Dancer in the Dark". It's possible for the cd to stand on its own, but it gains in emotional power if you know what happens in the movie.

With that being said I was highly disappointed that it wasn't fully faithful to the movie version of the songs. While I enjoyed hearing Catherine Denueve on 'Cvalde' I would rather have had Peter Stormare's vocals for 'I've Seen It All' and the original version of 'Scatterheart' You'll find some lyric switching between Yorke and Bjork in 'I've Seen It All' and the lyrics for 'Scatterheart' barely resemble that which was sung in the movie.

The greatest tragedy of all with this cd is the omission of 'The Next to Last Song'. A powerful moment in the movie is completely lost on this cd, rendering '107 Steps' and 'A New World' not as powerful as they were in the theater. Don't get me wrong though, you'll still find yourself moved by these tracks, but the moment is not complete without 'The Next to Last Song'.

I can only hope that somewhere down the line a more complete soundtrack will be released or the DVD will offer a music only track. While this is a terrific soundtrack and one that any movie music lover should own, it's not complete.

Woman on the Edge
Bjork is poised to become a multi-media superstar. Her latest album, "Selmasongs" doubles as a collection of songs from her first movie, Dancer in the Dark. She has won critical acclaim for her work in the film as a mother who works in a factory and labors to save her son from a disease that will cause him to go blind. The premise of the seven songs on this EP deals with her character's ability to keep her spirits up by fantasizing about musicals. The songs sound like something out of a postmodern Rodgers and Hammerstein with Bjork's careening vocals lending weight to compositions that fuse industrial clatter and dream-like, sweeping string arrangements. Whats more significant is that these songs feel as if they come from a created persona that Bjork fully embodies in both the film and throughout the soundtrack. She never breaks from character and the songs soar because of the emotion she has invested in each track. Bjork's co-star Catherine Deneuve makes a vocal cameo for the track "Cvalda". Thom Yorke's duet with Bjork, the moody "I've Seen it All" is a warm moment where he the question is posed, "What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall?" Yorke responds, "All walls are great if the roof doesnt fall." This statement unknowingly parallels the plight of Bjork's charachter, Selma who seems cute and carefree in the film's outset only later to be seen as dilusional and the victim of the wall she has constructed against her own crushing reality. Her imagination/wall cannot save her from the life she must face. As the album continues, it reaches its emotional zenith with the glorious, "In the Musicals 1&2". Then, the album finds closure with the companion piece to the album's opening, "Overture", the cascading "New World" finds Bjork cooing a few verses over spiralling strings and raindrop beats echoing the opening melody. The album's songs feel like the soundtrack to some feverish mid-afternoon nap with Bjork's voice playing the part of the woman you encounter in your dreams repeatedly and whose name you never seem to learn. Selmasongs tracks cut and flow effortlessly like oil on the bearings of a well made machine. It is only fitting that Bjork finds herself the beating heart at the middle of the glorious clickety-clacking.

Which Bjork album should you buy???
This review is for people who loved Bjork in Dancer in the Dark, know very little about her musical talent, and want to know if this is the album they should buy. If you liked the music in the movie; beware that these SelmaSongs are not taken directly from the movie. Bjork sings almost all the parts (no Joel Grey, for example) and several lyrics are altered (to not give away plot points in the movie, I guess), and some songs are extended. Anyway, it's a *great* CD for people who already love Bjork's music (even though it is a short set of songs), but only a *good* CD for people who are just intrigued by Bjork and liked the music/her singing in the movie. SO, my recommendation to those of you who are not yet hardcore Bjork fans (and you want to get your money's worth while introducing your ears to Bjork's personal style) is to buy any one of these three Bjork albums: "Debut", "Post", or "Homogenic". Debut was her first solo album, and while it is still great after all these years, it is slightly dated. Pick this one if you prefer the melodies on top of flat-beats type of dance music. My general recommendation however, is "Post". It showcases Bjork's wide range of styles, contains what many people consider to be her most beautiful song ("Hyperballad") and has more driving beats that keep you tapping your fingers after the song is over. For the more adventurous, you might choose the light-industrial/electronica-packed "Homogenic". Bjork's emotions on this album are the closest to what you might expect if you have only seen Dancer in the Dark. This is her 'edgiest' album though, with a spot or two that is difficult to take... a bit of screaming that goes on too long even though it compliments the poetry of the song, and (I must warn you moms out there) the F-word is used once - but this is the only time I know of her cussing in an album. All three albums are great, and you should eventually get them all. Avoid the remix album "Telegram" until you have sampled the aforementioned 3 albums... then you might find it a nice treat IF you like remixes. Bjork almost always re-sings her lyrics on her remixes so that can be a real treat! Then I would recommend you buy this Dancer in the Dark "soundtrack" to complete your Bjork collection of major releases. Don't believe me? Ok, then buy this one AND "Post" and tell me what YOU think :)