Greatest hits records almost never please everyone. But with an artist (read: artist) like Björk, it’s almost completely impossible. Your average Björk fan most likely owns every import single and full-length album the singer has ever released. So it made sense that Björk and her camp asked her loyal fans to decide the album’s tracklisting via an online poll. But there are some glaring omissions which render this Greatest Hits package appealing only to diehard fans and not to the more casual listener, to whom Greatest Hits records are often geared. So, what to make of the Icelandic High Priestess of Electronica’s Greatest Hits? The bad: some of her biggest “hits” (of which she only has a handful to begin with), like the urgent “Violently Happy,” “It’s Oh So Quiet” and the Oscar-nominated “I’ve Seen It All” are tragically missing. The so-so: two songs (“All Is Full of Love” and “Big Time Sensuality”) are smartly presented in their more famous video incarnations. The good: two songs (“Play Dead” from the film The Young Americans and “It’s in Our Hands” from the Vespertine sessions) are available on a Björk album for the first time. But while the album may be a tidy introduction for those unfamiliar with Björk’s earth-splitting sonic creations, non-fans are probably better off starting with Debut and working their way up.
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