Up to this point, the bounty of extracurricular Björk releases-- the live DVDs, remix albums, live LPs, odds'n'sods box sets, surround sound packages-- have all orbited around an astounding centerpiece, whether it be Debut or Post or Homogenic or Vespertine. Such bonus materials were meant to augment the primary artifact and, more often than not, did just that-- even the hilariously excessive Surrounded Dolby 5.1 set came in an irresistible cotton candy-colored square. But Voltaïc's task is tougher. Björk's latest foray into the deluxe edition world not only has to bolster 2007's Volta, it has to save it. Because even the dude with the Homogenic tattoo on his leg has to admit-- Volta is Björk's worst solo album.
In his review of the album, Pitchfork's Mark Pytlik keenly observed that it sounded "almost unfinished," and the heftiness of the Voltaïc package almost seems to acknowledge this fact. Of the five available versions of the set, the most maxed-out boasts a live DVD chronicling two Volta-era gigs, a DVD stuffed with Volta music videos, a CD of Volta remixes from the likes of Simian Mobile Disco and Ratatat, a Volta-heavy CD recorded at London's Olympic Studio with Björk's Volta tour ensemble, and three LPs that reiterate the tunes on the aforementioned CDs. Voltaïc isn't a victory lap as much as an attempted rescue mission.
The Volta Tour live DVD is the set's centerpiece and offers the best evidence for re-evaluation. Ironically, though, the disc's two shows-- a full-stage extravaganza taped at the Olympia in Paris and a solemn, largely acoustic performance at an Icelandic church-- didn't make me want to give the original Volta another go. Even with frills including Björk's Rainbow Brite-inspired getup, a 10-piece female brass ensemble dressed up like Skittles, and plenty of green lasers, songs like "Earth Intruders", "Vertebrae by Vertebrae", and "Wanderlust" simply can't hope to compete with greatest hits like "Army of Me" and "Bachelorette". But the DVD does make a great case for what may be Björk's most mysterious and eccentric album, 2004's underappreciated Medúlla.
Since the singer didn't tour behind that all-vocal curio upon its release, the Volta tour marked the live coming out of several Medúlla tracks. Re-arranged for her full band, a mini Medúlla suite from the the Paris show proves to be its most unpredictably stunning stretch. "Where Is the Line" digs even deeper into its death metal-meets-Gregorian chanting roots, churning with enough gothic evil to satisfy Sunn O))). Then, "Who Is It" fulfills the sprightly, weirdo-pop pleasures that Volta promised but didn't deliver. Finally, "Desired Constellation"-- a static-y electro-ballad that finds Björk ecstatically questioning her own place in the world-- glides like a worthy successor to Homogenic classic "All Is Full of Love".
Meanwhile, of the five tracks performed at the hushed Reykjavik locale, Medúlla's three entries roundly trump the two Volta selections. Modern hymns "Vökuró" and "Sonnets / Unrealities XI" take advantage of a full choir to translate a dark knowing seemingly born of another epoch entirely. Volta's understandably forgotten mother-to-son finale, "My Juvenile", gets an appropriately warm voice-and-harpsichord treatment and goes lengths to show this 43-year-old pop irregularity looks and sounds noticeably more comfortable in a church than an arena.
The rest of Voltaïc is marred by redundancies. While the remix disc collects an impressive list of producers-- XXXchange, Matthew Herbert, Modeselektor-- almost the whole collection is based on not-completely-radical reworks of the same three songs: "Earth Intruders", "Declare Independence", and "Innocence". Even considering upgrades like XXXchange's admirably funked take on "Earth Intruders", the disc becomes wearisome. Kudos to Ratatat, who take on the less obvious-- and not-exactly-danceable-- track "Wanderlust" and flip it into something more pop-friendly and fun than anything on Volta proper. Most inconsequentially repetitious, though, is the Live at Olympic Studios disc, recorded by the Volta tour band near the beginning of the trek's 18-month, on-and-off itinerary. Stuck in a purgatory between live album and studio creation, it offers risk-less takes on five Volta tunes, which once again sound staggeringly unmemorable next to stuff like "Pagan Poetry" and "Hunter".
Which brings us to the music videos DVD. To say the videos from Volta were disappointing is an extreme understatement; the album's five clips are not just "bad for Björk," i.e., sub par material from possibly the most original and ambitious video artist this side of Michael Jackson and Madonna. Most of these videos are just inept, full stop. It's almost shocking. But there is a common thread, which may speak to Volta's overall lack of luster.
In all of the clips here, Björk's face is obscured or completely computer generated-- from the embarrassingly amateur CGI head of the "Earth Intruders" video to her constellation-ized face in "Dull Flame of Desire" to the Michel Gondry collaboration "Declare Independence"-- their least successful vid by miles-- where her head is mostly seen behind a megaphone. This may not matter if Björk didn't have one of the most expressive visages in all of pop; previous eye crushers like "Big Time Sensuality", "Hunter", and "Hidden Place" all rely almost exclusively on the unique contours and twitches of her cheeks, mouth, nose, etc. She even made a straight-up robot appear more than human with the help of video auteur Chris Cunningham in the "All Is Full of Love" clip. This second-hand facelessness runs throughout Volta, which still reads oddly rote and cold with this addendum. Even with its hulking abundance, Voltaïc is flesh without bone.
