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List Price: $34.98 | | Label: Rhino Records
Salesrank: 386316
Released: October 23, 2007 |
| Our Price: $22.00 |
| Used Price: $25.00 |
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| Media: Vinyl |
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VOLTA Track Listing:
1. Earth Intruders
2. Wanderlust
3. Dull Flame of Desire
4. Innocence
5. I See Who You Are
6. Vertebrae by Vertebrae
7. Pneumonia
8. Hope
9. Declare Independence
10. My Juvenile
Editorial Review:
Bjork returns to her iconic, innovative and rhythmic roots with Volta. Featuring her own infamous beats and collaborations with Timbaland, Antony Hegarty, Brian Chippendale and an all-female Icelandic brass section, the end result is an explosion of beats and an amalgamtion of sound and visuals that give Volta a life of its own, like the world hasn't seen from Bjork in years.
Description of VOLTA:
Björk's main asset as a musician is her fearlessness. Since the end of The Sugarcubes and the pop-dance of Debut, she has released progressively more experimental records. But after well over a decade of going further and further out, Volta steps back. Make no mistake; this is Björk, and so it's still fabulously weird. Like 2004's mesmerizing Medúlla and the 2005 soundtrack for Drawing Restraint 9, the songs are blissfully peculiar, with narratives about love, offspring, aliens...you name it. Yet melodically and philosophically, Volta recycles more than it innovates; the driving pulse of "Declare Independence," for instance, reminds us of Homogenic's "Pluto," and the lead single "Earth Intruders" sounds like Post's "Army of Me" on steroids. And just as Medúlla oriented itself around a certain instrument--the human voice--this one concentrates on horns.
Still, the transition between her early work and the avant-garde bender she's been on since Vespertine is pretty harrowing, and it's satisfying to hear Björk revisit her more accessible self. Uber-producer Timbaland pitches in here and there, most successfully on "Innocence," which uses a fat, disjointed pulse to drive the euphoric vocals forward. Elsewhere, the hyperactive sitar sample on "I See Who You Are" provides texture for the song's theme of enjoying each other while there's still "flesh on our bones." And "Pneumonia" makes fantastic use of the horn section with a soft arrangement that compliments the song's lyrical melody.
So while it's a bit of a stall, Volta is a lovely pause. It reminds us how much we appreciate the laboratory of Björk’s imagination, but also how much we missed her back when she was just goofing around. –Matthew Cooke
VOLTA Reviews:
I want to love this CD 
2009-11-18 - I am a long term Bjork fan - and for the record, I still am. I love her more commercial stuff and I also love her more experimental stuff (DR9 is - mostly - an exception to this). Bjork has time and again proved herself to make thoughtful and inspiring music that is both beautiful and arty. Her albums seemed to get better with each release: I love Debut, but Post took it to another level. Homogenic was an instant favourite. It is one of the only albums I would give a full 10 out of 10 to (every track perfect, no filler). It took me a while, but I now adore Vespertine - it is a masterpiece beyond description that continues to get better (10 out of 10? Almost!). Medulla is still growing on me. With every listen, it shows potential for being a classic.
But Volta? I am still waiting to like it. It is obviously commercial and experimental, but I feel like I must have missed a memo that went out to all her fans. It is my car CD (again) this week. I am trying to like it - I really want to - but I just don't get it. I am confused. Is it too all over the place? Too meandering? Too boring in places? Is it the horns? Is it Antony? Is it the length of the songs? (Dull Flame is obviously both of these last two. It has an awesome ending though, just takes too long to get there). I can cope with Timbaland. That stuff is ok. And... Declare Independence blows my mind.
But that's it. Will I eventually like it? I hope so. Until then it remains the one (non-soundtrack) album in my Bjork collection that didn't meet expectations. I will keep trying. I haven't lost hope. Not yet.
Only a few duds... 
2009-10-02 - The thing with this cd is that there are a few stupid songs mixed in with a bunch of real nice tracks. It's not as bad as some reviewed it but there are a few duds here instead of a solid, all the way through, album. Buy it used. It is worth it for the Bjork fan.
Listenable. 
2009-06-22 - I've never been into Bjork whatsoever, I always thought of her as Psychotic & "outthere" like a baglady that talks to herself (That's added to my curiosity about her over the years although I've never liked her music), but after hearing her song "Earth Intruders" on MusicChoice back in 2007 I couldn't help but snatch this CD up. This is my very first Bjork CD, I'm lost when it comes to career. I know nothing about it, I have many friends that's played her music over the years and it just never appealed to me, But. Something was different this time around. I knew her voice when the song came on and the song was something i'd actually listen to. I couldn't believe it, From everything else i've heard by Bjork this album is a bit more Pop/Dance-ish than anything else I can recall hearing. I have a weakness for HOT dance tracks, And this is neat. Overall this is a CD that's in a class of it's own, it really took me by surprise. I hear alot of Hip-Hop influences (Not the Noisy annoying type) it's just small samples of the genre within a few songs. Bjork's "VOLTA" is one of my latest experiments I guess you could say. It says alot about Bjork when someone who's never cared for your music rates your latest album 4 stars. I know her true fans must hate this CD if I like it. I'll be interested in hearing the follow-up to this.
Bjork goes Glitch?
2009-04-28 - Never thought I'd see the day. This is a surprisingly aggressive set, reminiscent more of NIN than of her usual style.
Pomme
A More Grounded Bjork
2009-03-11 - While I'm not as fond of this album as I am of Bjork's other albums, I have to give her credit where credit is due. The music on this album, while overall not as energetic and invigorating as that of her other albums, is still exciting. It just has a more earth-mother / mature kind of sound. In some ways, the music on this album first comes off as a little boring, but after more listenings, it's really beautiful in that unique, Bjork kind of way...even if it's not the younger Bjork that we were accustomed to.
