Re: In Praise of Taking Risks with Artistry (was conundrum, re: bjork's new CD)

[Travis Hartnett <tiktok@sprintmail.com>]

Nah--young artists need to see someone who is good who has chosen art 
with a capital 'A' over commerce with a capital 'C'.  Different and 
experimental by themselves don't have any value.  Much as I enjoy the 
concept of Bjork, I'm positive that she'd be a footnote without her 
striking videos.  Her recent output strikes me as tuneless exercises in 
amazing production, and I get the distinct impression that the backing 
tracks are welded onto the vocals via sheer willpower and overdubbery.

Bjork is also one of the worst offenders when it comes to putting out 
umpteen different versions of each single, album and video to wring 
money out of the devout fan.  I have friends who are Bjork completists, 
and it's hundreds of dollars a year.  She makes the Cure discography 
look barren in comparison.  Hardly the work of someone valuing pure Art 
over Commerce.

So, to summarize my position: always value "Good" over "Different".

TravisH

On Sep 6, 2004, at 5:10 AM, 
Loopers-Delight-d-request@loopers-delight.com wrote:

> For this reason, I will buy every Bjork CD.    She scores enough times 
> (that
> single is just beautiful I think) that I want to encourage her to
> keep being open to innovation.   Young artists need to see someone who 
> is
> successful who has chosen art with a capital 'A' over commerce with a
> capital 'C'