Homogenic

With so many Bjork albums on the list, this seems a glaring omission. It's the best of the bunch. Whilst typically creative and interesting, it is also very enjoyable to just listen to without having to 'work' to get below the surface. Rating: 4.5/5 Playlist track: Jóga Date listened: 04/03/25

It is ridiculous to suggest Bjork deserves a fifth album on this list. Her output is not radically different from album to album. This suggestion gets 1 star - not as a reflection of the music but because of the damage such self-indulgent fandom does to the variety of the list.

Yeah I'm not sure why this wasn't on the list instead of some of the other bjork albums because this seems to be one of the most popular and, IMO, one of her best albums. Still has the trademark weirdness and everything but it's just catchy enough to have something to latch onto for me.

Joga 🫰🫰 Beautiful album

Bjork continues to impress with Homogenic. This album still sounds masterful on replay years later.

Still Bjork at her very peak. A longer peak than many managed, from Debut to Medulla?

Björk gets five stars. I like her earlier stuff even more, but this is still great. She is one the greatest and most underrated artists.

“Pluto” is one of those songs that sounds shit the first time and amazing the 2nd I very recently listened to this to get the Apple 100 list finished (February 23, yes I keep track of this shit). That's right- the 1001 could not sate me, and I'm chipping away at so many more curated lists now. Homogenic is on quite a few of those lists, actually, so its absence from the 1001 is curious. I mean the combined editions see 5 different Björk albums, with one axed (Medulla) and one added later (Vulnicura), so she doesn't lack representation. Now that I’ve listened to it a second and third time, Homogenic is either my second or third favourite Björk album (Vespertine and Post slap). I concede that this should have been in the list, but anyone who heard Debut and Vespertine (all of us), and was at least a little curious about what happened between those records (me), could have likely found Homogenic on their own. HL: “Hunter”, “Jóga”, “Unravel”, “All Neon Like”, “Alarm Call”, “All is Full of Love”, basically the whole thing May 16, 2025

Why was this not on the og list bruv 😭😭

This is the album I submitted, and a lot of what's down there is more an explanation of the rationale behind this submission than a proper review. Not that I feel that I have to justify what remains a personal, subjective choice. But some people understood my intent while others didn't get it at all. So I hope to make said intent clear now, no matter what your personal mileage on Björk is. As many other users already noticed, there were already four Björk albums in the original list, *Debut*, *Vespertine*, *Medùlla* and *Vulnicura*. For me, the last two entries don't make much sense -- I really like some parts of those records, but later albums released by the Icelandic diva are probably more aimed at longtime fans like me, not at general audiences. Interestingly, one reviewer in this section has just informed me that *Medùlla* was actually axed in subsequent editions of the book, only to be replaced by *Vulnicura* later. I interpret those fidgety moves and counter-moves as Dimery and his team slowly realizing they had made a huge blunder when they initially snubbed *Post* and *Homogenic* (albums 2 and 3 in her discography). I guess that if the authors of the *1001 Albums...* book were able to take out some LPs to leave room for others in later editions of the book, they couldn't really add old ones. So for me, it looks like they tried to course-correct their early mistake in other ways, and it shows. All of this suggests that Björk's first four LPs can't seriously be omitted if you want to have a meaningful discussion about which albums from her you would eventually select for a list like this. Let me just point out that if only *three* records had to be chosen, I would actually favor *Post* over *Vespertine* -- a terrific entry, but the first in Björk's discography where she didn't really break any new ground compared to her earlier output. Yet no matter how many of those albums you end up selecting, *Homogenic* HAS TO be in there. If you only take "professional critics" into account, it's one of the most praised albums of all time, but more crucially, it also showcases music that could be considered as the platonic ideal of her artistry -- her most cohesive statement, "homogenic" indeed, with everything that makes her such a striking and idiosyncratic artist represented in it: strong pop impulses, avant-garde intents, wonderful and memorable melodies, abrasive and uncompromising electronic beats, impressive string arrangements, dreamy or nightmarish soundscapes, stellar songwriting and vocal acrobatics (love them or hate them, you can't deny the power of this woman's pipes!). Not to mention a few quirks and bold left-turns here and there. All those elements are found in most of her early albums, but here they shine with a very specific light -- direct, focused and refracting every small detail into a unified whole. I don't want to take too much of your precious time now, so I'm gonna try to go through the tracklist as fast as I can. Mingling Ravel's Bolero and Aphex Twin at his trippiest and most oneiric, and laced with a few off-kilter touches of an accordion (!), "Hunter" is an epic opener, tormented and cinematic. It's also a song that's very "meta". "I'm going hunting," warns Ms. Gudmundsdóttir, and from that very early moment in the album, you know she'll bring back the (sonic) goods for sure. More straightforward, "Jóga" is one of the most beautiful ballads ever written about friendship, both sweet and sublime, with a wide-eyed chorus soaring to the skies. There is a well-known string of hackneyed clichés about Iceland to use so as to describe a song like this, yet there's no beating about the bush here, those clichés are on point. Because the clash between the lush strings and the rumbling of the electronic beats in that wonderful tune DOES feel like the clash of snow and lava. Right after, delicate and fragile "Unravel" is a three-minute lesson in desire and longing in the shape of a ball of yarn, with Björk playing the part of a modern Penelope on the shore waiting for her own personal Ulysses, doing and undoing her work twice in a row. As for "Bachelorette", it is simply put an incredible whirlwind -- a 5-minute odyssey taking place over a deluge of sinuous, circling strings and chattering breakbeat jolts driven by the pointed spikes of a grand piano mercilessly hit on its lower keys. It's one of the most recognizable and most intense compositions Björk has ever written during her now long career, and as such, it almost singlehandedly warrants a place for *Homogenic* on this list. The rest is made up of admittedly deeper cuts, yet the vast majority of them manage to reveal a new side of the Icelandic singer -- and taken all together, they brush an unforgettable picture of the artist as a whole. With its stubborn ternary rhythm and its cycling synths, "All Neon Like" is a mystery hidden within an enigma -- still intriguing and potent to this day. Suddenly returning to the more naive soundscapes of the singer's recent past, "5 Years" dares you to embrace love. "Immature" is more like an interlude than a full-blown song, admittedly, yet its free form is more accessible than later experiments of this kind in the artist's discography. And the bouncy pop number "Alarm Call" aptly reminds you that Björk's references do not only include Bartok and Stockhausen, but also frigging ABBA! To conclude this eerie journey, Björk goes down to hell, and then surges back to reach heaven, with one of the most daring hairpin curves ever put to tape in the field of electronic music. Hell is "Pluto", of course -- a wry, dry, obsessional, take-no-quarter techno scorcher of a track that will have you clench your teeth and lower your head so as to weather the sudden storm. And heaven is the liquid and fully ambient "All Is Full Of Love" -- a tune so simple and self-explanatory it becomes iconic without the use of any sophisticated arrangements to back it up (even if its more fleshed-out and full-bodied single version is also worth a detour, by the way). Elated, once again, but also so evocative, that closer is one of the most solid pieces of evidence that this album represents Björk's set of skills at their most artful and yet also at their most effective. A rare combination, even for her. So yeah, file that mind-boggling omission in the 1001 Albums book with the fistful of other LPs by a prominent act that were left aside for absolutely no good reason, even if another LP of theirs made the list, inexplicably. Dimery's book didn't have Weezer's Blue Album for instance -- 1st in this users' list! And also, it didn't have The Breeders' *Last Splash*, Grandaddy's *The Sophtware Slump* or Lana Del Rey's *Norman Fucking Rockwell*. To which I would probably add Nina Simone's *Little Girl Blue* and also another Fugazi album (which could either be *In On The Kill Taker*, *Red Medicine* or *The Argument*, depending on the day...). I would love to see users add those other LPs one day -- just as I was glad to see some of them recently add essential records by Big Thief, Fontaines D.C., Charli XCX, Madvillain/MF Doom, Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Mogwai for instance. Yet as I finish writing this review, I'm happy I have actually chosen *Homogenic*. Because putting words on the page to explain why I love this album so much didn't only feel right. It felt good. Just as it feels good to witness other users with interesting tastes trying to set the balance right through this generator. Those choices might not be homogeneous / "homogenic" when you put them side by side. But they sure point towards the way music can make you travel through so many "emotional landscapes" of the soul. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 18 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 28 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 61 ---- Émile ! J'ai répondu à ton message. Regarde environ 20 reviews au dessus ! Je compte juste vérifier toutes les deux semaines environ. On est pas aux pièces, comme on dit sur le vieux continent

Love me some Bjork. 4 stars.

One of the many beautiful albums of Bjork. Full of weird electronic pop songs. Highlights are Joga and Bachelorette.

I said this more than once when reviewing Bjork's other albums that made the list - she's never made a bad album. I might say that we didn't really need to hear another. But I would gladly trade Homogenic for one of others that made the list. It feels a bit more grounded and less challenging than some of her later works. But musically, it's still incredibly rich and creative. Happy to hear it today. Fave Songs: Jóga, Bachelorette, Hunter, Pluto, All Neon Like

The more I listen to her, the more I like her stuff. Not sure why I never listened to her before, but I dug this album more than I though.

I can't listen to a lot of Bjork in one sitting - maybe it's too intense or something - but this is an excellent album that should have displaced one of the other Bjork albums on the 1001 list.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Joga, 5 years, Pluto

I think this is her most consistent and creative album. Weird how they had Medúlla and Vulnicura on the original list over this one. That's like having Ummagumma instead of Dark Side of the Moon for Pink Floyd.

While the 1001 list may seem overwhelmed with Bjork already (4 albums plus one from Sugarcubes days!), there are still some frankly outstanding albums that are omitted. For some time I thought it was the consensus that Homogenic was Bjork's album, though it seems to me that public opinion has shifted in favor of Vespertine. Regardless, it's hard not to deny Bjork's artistic vision are truly unique, forward-thinking, and unyielding. While I think I prefer Vespertine from this era of her work, Homogenic is not something to be overlooked. Man, there's just no one else like Bjork. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Would require restructuring of the current Bjork entries, but I am partial to having it included.

I didn't enjoy this one as the other Bjork albums. I think she got good representation on this list already. It's just Bjork doing her Bjork thing. If you like it, you'll like it. If you find it annoying you'll won't. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No. Or replace one of the 4 other ones already here.

I don’t think we need another Bjork album, but this is her best one, so let’s remove All the other ones and just have this one please. I could live with that.

Björk isn’t really my taste but this album was very clearly influential as the sound on this reminded me of several modern artists styles. The instrumentals ranging from orchestra to electronic sounds while having the emotional lyricism is something you see more now than ever. Bjork was ahead of her time however I still find her singing style hard to enjoy. This album is good, and probably better than other ones on the original list but still not really for me. 5.6/10

I love this crazy bitch

Queen shit

See, the thing is: you can’t actually take a radio to the mountaintop. Yeah, I ain’t a fucking Buddhist, either, love.

I had hoped to hear this album in the project! So, I was glad to hear it here, but had to agree that the others chosen for the 1001 book were all a bit more interesting for one reason or another. However, it and Björk are still magnificent!

It was pretty good but I doubt I would listen to it again. I also don't think this list needed any more Bjork. It baffles me why some people think this lists needs more and more of the same artists. There are plenty of underappreciated artists and albums out there that are doing some innovative things.

This sounds so stylistically similar to other albums by the little cherub. Very good of course but after a bit it wears thin.

I think this was better than the Bjork Albums I had on the main list.

Despite having heard several of her albums, I still don’t feel overly familiar with her as an artist. That said, this is a really strong album and I respect that she was not conforming to the musical trends at the time.

Yeah, that is Björk doing her Björk thing. I respect the artist and the art but I've never been able to get that into her. The stridency of the vocals gets challenging to listen to at times. And I'm not sure I find all that much to differentiate it from the others of her albums that have made this list.

An appalling voice but great tunes

90s-era Björk was, in my opinion, the best Björk – this LP, much like 'Post' before it, is a great balance between the singer's more esoteric influences and grounding in more traditional instrumentation rather than 100% synth-scapes. This could be attributed to the proximity to her time with The Sugarcubes, but in any case it yields a fun, experimental album that pulses with the club influences of the era while remaining undeniably Björk.

A singularly unique artist with a singular style. Almost a staccatic like voice. She has a bit of range, but the music just doesn't give it much freedom. A few too many albums on this list.

Saw this labeled as having ‘connected art pop to electronic dance music’ which sure okay

Björk... No me ha gustado. Un 2.

Not her best work. A little too monotone

It always surprises me how bad Björks music is 2

You either appreciate BJORK or you don't, you either understand her or you don't understand her, and I'm not the first. I've listened to a lot of her music trying to find the taste for it without success. Her music is a lethargy for me, I think it's meant to be listened to in the background as relaxing music, however, her phrasing is repetitive and ends up tiring me. The good thing? The frequency of some songs. 1.5 stars

I don't think we needed more Bjork, Homogenic has its moments (Bachelorette is great) but to me nothing different to her other offerings, 2.

Why? I feel like Bjork is already pretty solidly represented on the list and this really doesn't seem to do anything innovative or exciting. It seems to be the same Bjork semi-approachable warbling that is more experimental than interesting or engaging. Props to those that really find something to appreciate here, but it misses me... and given that we already have her represented on the list, this certainly doesn't seem to be "missing".

Bjork is just not my cup of tea. I don’t think she’s a terrible artist just not something that I enjoy and that’s ok!

I just don’t vibe with Bjork I’m afraid. I appreciate her existence and support her fully, but please don’t make me listen to the music.

lol, Bjork was one of the most over-represented artists in the original list. She doesn't NEED any more exposure. Who would be so sad as to add ANOTHER of her albums? ffs. Post was great, but this is getting a 1/5 just out of spite. ni fu ni FUCKEN fa

Wouldn’t add a 3rd bjork album