Björk's Real Debut (MP3s)

[ 10 Icelandic hippie disco MP3s at the end of this post ]

In 1993, Icelandic singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir, better known just as Björk, recorded her album Debut, which kicked of her solo career after the breakup of The Sugarcubes. What few people know (OK, maybe not quite so few, as it is mentioned in the Wikipedia article and it even got a bad review on AMG) is that Björk's real debut came out 16 years earlier, a self-titled album released only in Iceland, at a time when she was 12 years old. Björk sings and plays flute, and the backing band is led by her stepfather Saevar Arnason on guitar. The album allegedly went platinum in Iceland (which means it sold more than 5000 copies), and though it never saw an official re-release, there are lots of bootleg CDs and even bootleg LPs in circulation. The wonderful cover (above right) was designed by Björk's mother Hildur Hauksdóttir.

Considering that this is a 70's hippie disco album with an 11-year old singer and flutist, I find it surprisingly good. My favorites are Björk's own instrumental composition Jóhannes Kjarval (MP3), a tribute to the painter Jóhannes Kjarval, and an Icelandic cover version of the Beatles' Fool on the Hill, Álfur út úr hól (MP3). Here is the whole album in MP3 format:

Arabadrengurinn | Búkolla | Alta Mira | Jóhannes Kjarval | Fúsi Hreindýr | Himnaför | Óliver | Álfur út úr hól | Músastiginn | Bænin

Comments

[Art(uro)]

I unashamedly love this album and it made me realize, upon first hearing it, how much I semi-ashamedly love Bjork. It's one of those guilty pleasures that I don't normally reveal--how I used to blast my Sugarcubes album in my art school dorm room and just imagine what Bjork must look like (since I'd never seen any videos or even photos of the band for that matter). Well, I'm all grown up now and I still like that Sugarcubes album, I think--I haven't heard it in almost 20 years. Maybe I'd actually hate it now. Who knows. Who cares. This album rocks. Bjork at 11 rocked.

[Nic Dafis]

Thanks very much, been looking for this for ages.

[Dave]

I went over to Iceland for their reunion show last November, and it was quite a trip. Bjorks a true innovator in my opinion, the album Medulla is outstanding.

This will round out my collection.

[Cherie Birkin]

What I'd really love to know is, who wrote the songs? Thanks for posting this, I think it's great.

[podcastmark]

Björk has definitely gone her own way since breaking free from the Sugarcubes.

Björk was obviously the center point of that band, and you really have to wonder whether they let that gobshite guy yell over her most of the time. What was his name again? He was even at the reunion concert, screaming away... Sheesh.

When the actual 'Debut' album came out, it was the only thing I listened to for months. I've seen her live only once, at the 1998 Ruisrock festival in Finland. I was holding my 7 year old son up on my shoulders, trying to dance a little, let him see over the crowd. After a few songs I looked up at him hopefully and asked if he was enjoying it.

"Not really," he said.

After that, he got to stand like the rest of us.

[Gummi]

I think two of them are originals by Björk, "Johannes Kjarval" and the first, "Arabadrengurinn" (the arab boy). That one was actually quite popular on icelandic radio in it's time. The lyrics basically tells a a tale of innocent love between the protagonist and an arab boy in Cairo, and the chorus is inspired:

Við fórum niðr'að Níl,
við þurftum engan bíl
aðeins úlfalda

(We went down to the Nile,
we didn't need a car,
just a camel)

Obviously it's cooler in icelandic...

[scoot]

Another really fun thing to do with this album is to play it in a computer audio program which allows you to shift the pitch downwards while keeping the tempo the same--voila, the latest, admittedly retro, all-grown-up Bjork album! (Best results achieved with "Himnafor," which sounds just like her later work with Glinglo.)

[Jordi]

In case anyone hasn't noticed that, 'Bukolla' is a cover of 'Your Love Is Sweet', a song that Stevie Wonder wrote for his then-wife Syreeta.

[tiger]

His name is Einar Örn Benediktsson, mark. You should just stick to Björk's solo work. You don't understand the Sugarcubes.

[Mogambo]

no way - Mark is right, the Sugarcubes should've fired him! i love people who just talk on albums if they don't suck (Shatner!) but yelling over a voice like Bjork's is a sin! the cubes rocked sometimes, but like bjork's solo stuff they had their fair share of duff trax - the more einar, the closer to duff.

[danielle]

i love bjork's first album in 1977. even ata young age, bjork was off the hook.