Galvanised into action by the Asian Tsunami, in January of this year BJORK sent out an open invitation to musicians to submit remixes and cover versions of her 1995 techno/metal hit single ARMY OF ME for a charity album with all proceeds going to UNICEF. With time a priority a one week deadline was set for submissions but despite the tight turnaround time over 600 artists offered their own interpretations of the song. Realising the enormity of the task ahead BJORK invited the song’s co-writer, Graham Massey (808 State) to help her sift through the material and whittle it all down to an album’s worth.
So here is that album featuring the lucky twenty who tickled the Icelander’s and the Mancunian’s fancy. It’s testament to BJORK’s broad appeal that there are a sufficient number of varied arrangements of Army Of Me to keep interest at a reasonably high level, although it’s the cover versions rather than the remixes that raise the eyebrow higher.
There are those who have fallen back on the original’s split generic format of metal and techno with RANDOM offering an obvious electroclash version while INTERZONE and HEMP just go for the metal jugular. Of the dance-oriented/remix versions BEATS BEYOND opt for a Goldfrapp style makeover while the back to back interpretations of ALFRED LIETOR, PATRICK WOLF and NEETOO increasingly disappear up their own arseholes with the latter’s version aptly titled ‘Undancing Remix’ managing to be utterly devoid of any music let alone beats.
The quality and imagination is mainly endowed within the cover versions. They include the ‘FourTet meets Lamb’ lullaby of ATOI, the Parisian café accordion of MARTIN WHITE, the gentle acoustic folk of GRISBI, the bluegrass country of THE MESSENGERS OF GOD and, most affectingly, the harp-led neo-classical ambience of LUNAMOTH’s version which successfully and effortlessly unravels the song’s inherent beauty.
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Elsewhere there’s the frankly bizarre including TOR BRUCE’s tinkley-bonk version that sounds like something recorded for an old ZX Spectrum game, DR SYNTAX v RIVETHEAD with a chorus-line that sounds like it was performed by The Wurzels and MIKHAIL KARIKIS’ mini-opera that mixes Brecht with Greek orthodox church/folk music. Most dire consequences are shared by the aforementioned NEETOO and the one American entry by R.LUVBEATS whose singer is so self-conscious and mannered in her whiny and brattish affectations that she sings off-key throughout the song.
Unsurprisingly then ARMY OF ME REMIXES is a mixed bag, its main cultural interest being the diversity on display and the fact that the range of music is based around the same song. That said on a purely musical level there is not really enough on the album to appeal beyond BJORK’s broad fanbase, the only other motive for purchasing the record being the understandable urge to give something to help those who have lost everything.
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