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Gling-Glo | 
 enlarge | Artist: Bjoerk
Label: One Little Indian Us
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $5.99
You Save: $7.99 (57%)
New (28) Used (14) from $3.84
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 30788
Format: Original Recording Reissued
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 61
UPC: 827954006120
EAN: 0827954006120
ASIN: B0000AYL44
Release Date: September 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Gling Glo - Bjoerk, Clausen, Alfre | | • | Luktar-Gwendur - Bjoerk, Simon, Nat | | • | Kata Rokkar - Bjoerk, Einarsson, Theodor | | • | Pabbi Minn - Bjoerk, Burkhard, P. | | • | Brestir Og Brak - Bjoerk, Arnason, Jonas | | • | Astartoefrar - Bjoerk, Au unsson, Valdimar | | • | Bella Simamaer - Bjoerk, Fontenoy, Mark | | • | Litli Tonlistarma urinn - Bjoerk, 12. September | | • | Ad Sest Ekki Saetari Mey - Bjoerk, Rogers | | • | Bilavisur - Bjoerk, Holmes | | • | Tondeleyo - Bjoerk, Halldorsson, Sigfus | | • | Eg Veit Ei Hva Skal Segja - Bjoerk, Coleman | | • | I Dansi Me Er - Bjoerk, Ruiz, Pablo Beltran | | • | Boernin Vi Tjoernina - Bjoerk, Jonsson, Jenni | | • | Ruby Baby - Bjoerk, Stoller, Mike | | • | I Can't Help Loving That Man - Bjoerk, Hammerstein, Oscar |
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| Customer Reviews:
Hola Iceland! : Land of Eskimos, Sea Lions, and now... JAZZ! January 30, 2008
Kabir Davis
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Gling Glo" remains Bjorks' only big-band Icelandic album. Its also the only Icelandic jazz album I own. However, the genre intrigued me so much, that Amazon searches for variations on the same theme led me to some interesting artists - I'm especially glad I found Irelands' Altan, and Finlands' Varrtina based on the recommendations this album threw up.
As you perhaps know already, "Gling Glo" is unusual even in Bjorks' own catalog because of the strange marriage between jazz and Icelandic. The combination does not always work very well, I'm afraid. Indeed, from track 4 onward, every song seemed to melt into the other as they sounded virtually indistinguishable. Granted, I don't speak the language, but how many people visiting this page do? Bjork herself would later say that this entire album was a fun, one-off experiment, and in that context it might work for people who can sit through the entire thing.
For its part, its cute. The title track is the best one. Reading the English translation of the lyrics, its evident that its about a young woman who's waiting for her man. The `Gling Glo' refers to the ticking of a clock as she waits for him. Its an especially happy song, because the young man ends up proposing, and she says Yes. Its this sort of happy sentiment that permeates the entire recording - this is a happy, exuberant album that has its' heart in the right place, and very little can be said against it.
There are two English language songs here (preceded by 14 Icelandic tracks). Bjorks' covers of "Ruby Baby" and "I Can't Help loving that Man" are curious little pieces, but definitely a welcome addition. I guess they added these on to make the album more `internationally appealing', but I'm not complaining. To me, Bjork's greatest album is her debut album from the 1970s (no official release yet), but Gling Glo was a nice little side project that hasn't aged at all - the melodies, the production - they all seem fresh and novel even after all this time.
Four Stars. An exciting, adventurous album.
 Love Gling Glo! July 19, 2007
toona (Connecticut)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm not sure I understand the assessments made by negative viewers that this album is lacking soul and that only Bjork fans can understand/appreciate it. I'd have to highly disagree on that end. This is such a great and rich album and I've known many people to enjoy it. Maybe I'm "jazz blind" but I don't care if it means I get to thoroughly enjoy this fun, simply wonderful Bjork gem with no pretentions attached.
 It is what it is... September 18, 2006
Mucosa (San Diego, CA USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In response to the review by Laura Laureate, check the date this album was recorded...1990! You can hardly say success had gone to Bjork's head...she was still in the Sugarcubes and relatively unknown back then. She tried something different and then moved on. That being said, it is only essential for true Bjork fans.
My favorite Bjork album July 3, 2006
Steven Woodard (Beaumont, TX, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I especially love Luktar-Gvendur, Kata Rokkar and I Dansi. I think Kata Rokkar may be the best song Bjork has ever recorded (that's in my humble opinion of course).
It's jazz... Upbeat at times, slow and smooth at others. Except it has Bjork's voice on it. She's not the jazziest of vocalists, but she still adds 150% to the beauty of the music. It's soo much different from the rest of her other work, which may mean that even if you don't like her solo-electronica stuff you may like this. However, if you're reading this you probably already like Bjork, thus I'm wasting all of this useful space. I'll stop now.
decent album - worth it for bjork fans interested in understanding her musical influences January 7, 2006
LCB
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
i wish people would take the time to check their information before writing reviews. but of course that's the trade-off we get with web reviews right - as opposed to reading a newspaper or magazine writer's take on something, which has to be fact-checked.
two things from previous reviews need to be addressed. laura laureate writes of bjork, "has success gone to her head? does she think she can 'do it all'? so far she has made fairly smart choices... but she is hitting a wall with gling-glo". if you looked at the title of the album you'd see that this is a reissue. gling-glo was released in the states in 2003, but originally recorded and released in iceland in 1989-1990. this is a full five years before post, when she was still playing with the sugarcubes and was barely known-of here in the states. so this was actually done way before the "smart choices" laura speaks of. besides which, musicians don't play music just for the benefit of the purchasing public. bjork and the very famous icelandic jazz trio she's playing with on this album had played together several times, and had really enjoyed themselves. so they recorded an album together. sometimes musicians play music of a type or genre that they're interested in, or to play with musicians they like, and the result ends up influencing their later work. in that sense i find it pointless to ask whether she can "do it all"; the fact that she tried it is what's interesting for us music fans.
steve parker writes of the trio that "somehow they manage to completely miss the essence of jazz... It's like learning a foreign language from a book, without ever hearing it spoken... somewhere between New York and Iceland something crucial got lost in translation.". perhaps that's because this is an icelandic jazz trio, popular in iceland, recording mostly icelandic folk songs, for an icelandic audience. musical traditions always morph and change when translated across cultures. it may not jive with our definition of the genre but that doesn't make it any less valid or successful as music.
on this album, bjork is playing with the gudmundar ingolfssonar trio. the trio is one of the most popular jazz groups in iceland. given the context, i think it's a fairly successful album. the jazz is "light" to american tastes, but enjoyable nonetheless. reminds me of the stuff played in the soundtrack to harry met sally, all the stuff that's iconically associated with warm christmassy winters in new york city. perhaps that's what happens when jazz is translated into a snowy, cold clime. not groundbreaking, but pleasant.
bjork, on the other hand, shows her incredible vocal range on this album. her jazz singing is compelling and successful. one of the reasons i initially fell in love with her solo music is because of her very jazz-like take on pop singing. (disclosure: i'm a jazz musician and fan, but i'm also a pop fan, and like most styles of music, i think the two genres are incredibly hard to "mix" and get right.) what i really like about this album is that it's an opportunity to hear bjork's vocals in a more "traditional" setting. for me, it proves her real abilities as a singer. plus it seems to have had a positive influence on her later work.
overall, if you're a bjork fan, a fan of light jazz, and/or a musician interested in hearing the various influences upon bjork's music, this album is definitely worth it. i just wish i knew icelandic so that i could sing along!
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