Top 13 Music Albums of 1997 by 
DriftingOrpheus 
- Chart updated: 04/04/2024 15:15
- (Created: 06/12/2020 14:12).
- Chart size: 13 albums.
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Where is the appropriate point of origin? How does one begin eloquently without bellowing out praise like a music-snobbed elitist hell-bent on hard-headedness of musical appreciation. OK Computer's coronation may send shivers down the spines of readers who watch it litter charts all across the platform, a sentiment felt by frontman Thom Yorke, who tries to downplay the record's place in music history in an effort of self-conscious humility. Never one to be put in a creative box, Yorke refuses to be defined by one album and he's surely not. This list is not one of objective knighting, but rather a reflection of the records that reside the deepest in my heart, regardless if many minds consider this to be the greatest album ever constructed. To this point, this listener wouldn't argue, but still, in the context of this chart, such clearly-defined praise would only cheapen the work. In most instances, I derive satisfaction from dissecting each of my favorite albums down to the bone marrow and the negative space between each line of prose. However, OK Computer escapes classification and remains without a need for any sort of justification. The record declares more than any aficionado could hope to. In many ways, OK Computer warns against the monotony of modern times and times to come, but still the album comes home every night, reliable as ever.
Plastered upon its face, an illustration of intersecting pavement in Hartford, Connecticut, far from the homes of the boys who formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. For many, OK Computer is a road map, a canal en route to lovely musical landmarks that both influenced and took inspiration from the seminal album. For me, it's not OK Computer's futuristic motifs, slick guitar lines or harmonic prowess that take the cake. It's the intangible wonder of an album so meticulously crafted to the note and the product of a quintet so acutely dialed in to the very limit of human feasibility. The emotional response that wells up from within during each and every listening experience is paramount and the philosophical resonances never cease to astonish. In an age where resistance to a popular opinion is so prevalent, I'd have every reason in the world to dismiss OK Computer, to liken its listeners to a brand of entry-level beginners to the world of critically acclaimed music, and yet, the album dazzles each and every time. It's adorned in a luster than cannot be eroded by the years or a position on a slapdash, 'Buzzfeed' hot-take list. Despite its warnings that ring truer by the day, the album no longer "stands" for anything and concurrently "represents" nothing. Some like to erroneously place it within a gift-wrapped package labeled "1990's time capsule". They fail to realize that the album belongs to no period of history as its resonance would be seismic during any era. It isn't the champion of any aristocratic sub-culture, as masses of people from all walks of life can be heard singing Karma Police's chorus in physical and spiritual unison. OK Computer is native only to the air it occupies and to the millions it continually enchants. It sounds just as alien today as it did in 1997 while simultaneously swelling, softening and transmitting from some distant, undiscovered galaxy.
"This is my final fit, my final bellyache. With no alarms and no surprises..."
- No Surprises
Standout Tracks:
1. No Surprises
2. Let Down
3. Paranoid Android
102.7 [First added to this chart: 06/12/2020]
Plastered upon its face, an illustration of intersecting pavement in Hartford, Connecticut, far from the homes of the boys who formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. For many, OK Computer is a road map, a canal en route to lovely musical landmarks that both influenced and took inspiration from the seminal album. For me, it's not OK Computer's futuristic motifs, slick guitar lines or harmonic prowess that take the cake. It's the intangible wonder of an album so meticulously crafted to the note and the product of a quintet so acutely dialed in to the very limit of human feasibility. The emotional response that wells up from within during each and every listening experience is paramount and the philosophical resonances never cease to astonish. In an age where resistance to a popular opinion is so prevalent, I'd have every reason in the world to dismiss OK Computer, to liken its listeners to a brand of entry-level beginners to the world of critically acclaimed music, and yet, the album dazzles each and every time. It's adorned in a luster than cannot be eroded by the years or a position on a slapdash, 'Buzzfeed' hot-take list. Despite its warnings that ring truer by the day, the album no longer "stands" for anything and concurrently "represents" nothing. Some like to erroneously place it within a gift-wrapped package labeled "1990's time capsule". They fail to realize that the album belongs to no period of history as its resonance would be seismic during any era. It isn't the champion of any aristocratic sub-culture, as masses of people from all walks of life can be heard singing Karma Police's chorus in physical and spiritual unison. OK Computer is native only to the air it occupies and to the millions it continually enchants. It sounds just as alien today as it did in 1997 while simultaneously swelling, softening and transmitting from some distant, undiscovered galaxy.
"This is my final fit, my final bellyache. With no alarms and no surprises..."
- No Surprises
Standout Tracks:
1. No Surprises
2. Let Down
3. Paranoid Android
102.7 [First added to this chart: 06/12/2020]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
76,857
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
841
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One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. However, the passion project can only be accessed on 'The Fish Tank' (Fishmans' Discord), issuu.com and archive.org. This narrowness of access is an emblematic reminder of the legacy the band has left in its wake. It's a portrait of veracious artisans whose existence and collected works are shrouded in just as much mystery as truth. This attaches value to excavating deep within cavernous labyrinths to find gold among endless, pedestrian sediment. Some things are meant to be uncovered by happenstance and, due to this, many don't find Fishmans. Fishmans find you. Furthermore, it seems fitting that the closing studio effort was 1997's 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', an eight-chapter odyssey that saw the band fully harness and deploy the optimal strength of their dream pop powers. See, just as Fishmans was destined to be difficult to discover, they also curated a candle which burned ineffably bright for a finite amount of time. At the risk of inducing melodrama, Fishmans' catalog extends beyond the plane of human achievement and dexterity. To put it plainly, it was the music of the angels.
Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group.
'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry.
The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art.
When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment.
"I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little"
-Pokka Pokka
1. Daydream
2. Walking in the Rhythm
3. In the Flight
94.8 [First added to this chart: 03/14/2021]
Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group.
'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry.
The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art.
When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment.
"I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little"
-Pokka Pokka
1. Daydream
2. Walking in the Rhythm
3. In the Flight
94.8 [First added to this chart: 03/14/2021]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,135
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
Iceland was settled in 874 AD and to this day, only one percent of its geography is cultivated. It's a domain consisting of kaleidoscopic variance when regarding its terrain, with its dramatic contrasts consisting of majestic national parks and prepossessing waterfalls living shoulder-to-shoulder with domineering glaciers and arid, lava deserts rife with volcanic ash. It's only fitting that the country's preeminent musical export synthesizes her homeland's eccentricities into a sonic approach that becomes more and more idiosyncratic as the years elapse. When diving into Björk's music fresh-faced and fully minted, there is often the distinct absence of a harbinger which fuels an ever-evolving discography that can only be described as chameleonic. The euphonious auteur is comfortably more than "that strange songstress from Iceland". More accurately, she's the physical and spiritual embodiment of the beguiling island: ancient, serpentine and seemingly omniscient. These descriptors have never been more apropos than on 1997's 'Homogenic'
It's all there, unclad and unshrouded on the album's cover, as the singer appears adorned with stoic wisdom and unconventional elegance, born of unknown origin. The music to complement the artwork adopts the chillier sentiments of the portrait as opening track, 'Hunter', eschews the predominantly warm overtones contained on the preceding album, 1995's 'Post'. The track fizzes in as pulsating bass arrives to provide the track with infrastructure. Soon after, Björk's detached, aversive vocals greet the listener to elucidate a steadfast direction and an unswerving desire to take herself into a new era, both personally and creatively. There's a hint of the singer looking to her past and a self-reflective look at her musical image up until this point, which was staunchly pacifist and rife with angelic innocence. She recognizes, "I thought I could organize freedom, How Scandinavian of me!" A visage is forming of an artist who no longer pulls her punches and is ready to blaze her own path and new sonic identity with a track that is equal parts human and android. With all compromises forgone, Björk slips into the realm of soul exposé for subsequent track, 'Jóga'. From its genesis, the track is laid softly on a bed of strings which, along with the singer's fluttering voice, soars away from the confines of a darkened cavern and into the shimmering sun. She declares, "Emotional landscapes, They puzzle me, Confuse; Can the riddle get solved?; And you push me up to this state of emergency; How beautiful to be." The track is a dedication to her friend, Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir, as its trip-hop production and string orchestration gives the song ample punch as well as dynamic contrast. It's the most potent composition on 'Homogenic' and, according to Björk herself, "the fiercest love song she has ever written". Swiftly, the bombastic heights of 'Jóga' recede into the soft cradle provided by third track, 'Unravel'. If 'Jóga' was a fearless declaration of admiration, 'Unravel' is a vulnerable, dithering examination of how admiration is lost across distances and how making love repairs the wounds. Björk coos, "While you are away, My heart comes undone, Slowly unravels in a ball of yarn." There's a dove-like idealism at work here, but the ever-present specter of inevitable failure betwixt the ominous tones of the organ and fairy tale sonic landscape is never absent. It's a realization which blisters into full-blown acrimony on the swaggering, peacocking fourth track, 'Bachelorette'. The track unfurls like a wartime processional, carving out a path on which Björk espouses her essence and decries the indifference of her lover, which reverberates with far more vigor than that of a veiled threat. She professes, "I'm a tree that grows hearts, one for each that you take; You're the intruder's hand, I'm the branch that you break". Flanked with a full orchestra at the ready, which plots footsteps in periodicity with hammer-struck chords, 'Bachelorette' is the songstress at her most agitated, dauntless and dangerous.
As the raging waters of 'Bachelorette' wane, fifth track 'All Neon Like' peers out from under its shelter at the remnants of its predecessors scorn. The piece uncoils with fragility as the sun escapes the blockage of the clouds and begins to softly warm the frozen landscape as the track's confidence builds as the ice sweats. It's another love song, but not one of frustration, as Björk offers comfort to her susceptible inamorato. Practically uniform in tempo, 'All Neon Like' remains patient as waterlogged percussion compliments incorporeal keys and the track effectively remedies, just as the singer promises. The second side of the LP invokes the trip-hop escalation of '5 Years', a more subdued echo of the sentiments of 'Bachelorette'. Once again, a refusal of commitment takes center stage as robotic, looping keys form the skeleton of the track as the skittering drum motif dances alongside of the singer's postulations. "I'm so bored with cowards that say they want; Then they can't handle," she affirms as the sublime, understated strings steer the track to its boundary. Seventh entry, 'Immature', is an introspective manifestation of Björk's exasperations. Despite being one of the record's least-interesting inroads from a sonic standpoint, its thematic importance is never in question within an LP which not only seeks to compartmentalize the world around her, but also rectify Björk's own instabilities. After a septuplet of chapters residing firmly on the sullen side of the emotional spectrum, the bouncy, utopian paradise that is 'Alarm Call' comes as a breath of fresh air. Partly a love letter to music and an unfettered celebration of life, the track portrays the youthful exuberance of an artist reborn, fortified by pain and more acutely aware of the subtle joys when juxtaposed with her hardships. 'Alarm Call' arrives with a tone that recalls distant wind chimes and is ferried out by a guttural scream of defiance. This emphasis on rejuvenation accelerates with vitality on 'Pluto', the LP's most outlandish statement. The properties of the track are remarkably propulsive, as heavy electronic influence galvanizes as Björk's poetry is content to remain forthright and unambiguous. "Excuse me but I just have to explode; Explode this body off me", she exclaims. Despite being arid in terms of accessibility, 'Pluto' remains one of the record's unspoken delights. Antithesis plays its final hand on the LP's final hour, 'All is Full of Love'. As the track carefully paddles through a thick fog into view, Björk's tender delivery embodies the sage wisdom of an ancient being ripe with divinity. The eponymous calls and responses are cocooned by a wall of sound reminiscent of a swarm of insects, but not any native to a place on earth as the harpsichord signals the existence of a cherub realm all its own. It's a dizzying, satisfying coda to a record wrought with pugnacity. The payoff is the personal baptism of its author as she shovels proverbial coal into a creative furnace which has fully and irrevocably liberated.
The Highlands of Iceland, home to the aforementioned volcanic desert, can only be traversed in the Summer, or put differently, when the weather permits. The stingy accommodations made by Mother Nature make it impossible for plant life to survive in the region , except for areas along the shoreline of glacial rivers. They're formed by the gradual melting of centuries-old chunks of ice, which finally manifest themselves as flowing, kinetic bodies of water which aid in the production of a scarce amount of flora. These glaciers have been Icelandic mainstays for thousands of years and their mass dwindles with each passing year as a result of the dramatic effects of global warming brought on by human industrialism. Björk's relationship with members of the human race has had its own share of traumatization. However, in her case, she didn't melt or wither in the barren, molten wasteland. Instead, she found the water.
Standout Tracks:
1. Jóga
2. Bachelorette
3. Unravel
92.7 [First added to this chart: 06/12/2020]
It's all there, unclad and unshrouded on the album's cover, as the singer appears adorned with stoic wisdom and unconventional elegance, born of unknown origin. The music to complement the artwork adopts the chillier sentiments of the portrait as opening track, 'Hunter', eschews the predominantly warm overtones contained on the preceding album, 1995's 'Post'. The track fizzes in as pulsating bass arrives to provide the track with infrastructure. Soon after, Björk's detached, aversive vocals greet the listener to elucidate a steadfast direction and an unswerving desire to take herself into a new era, both personally and creatively. There's a hint of the singer looking to her past and a self-reflective look at her musical image up until this point, which was staunchly pacifist and rife with angelic innocence. She recognizes, "I thought I could organize freedom, How Scandinavian of me!" A visage is forming of an artist who no longer pulls her punches and is ready to blaze her own path and new sonic identity with a track that is equal parts human and android. With all compromises forgone, Björk slips into the realm of soul exposé for subsequent track, 'Jóga'. From its genesis, the track is laid softly on a bed of strings which, along with the singer's fluttering voice, soars away from the confines of a darkened cavern and into the shimmering sun. She declares, "Emotional landscapes, They puzzle me, Confuse; Can the riddle get solved?; And you push me up to this state of emergency; How beautiful to be." The track is a dedication to her friend, Jóhanna Jóhannsdóttir, as its trip-hop production and string orchestration gives the song ample punch as well as dynamic contrast. It's the most potent composition on 'Homogenic' and, according to Björk herself, "the fiercest love song she has ever written". Swiftly, the bombastic heights of 'Jóga' recede into the soft cradle provided by third track, 'Unravel'. If 'Jóga' was a fearless declaration of admiration, 'Unravel' is a vulnerable, dithering examination of how admiration is lost across distances and how making love repairs the wounds. Björk coos, "While you are away, My heart comes undone, Slowly unravels in a ball of yarn." There's a dove-like idealism at work here, but the ever-present specter of inevitable failure betwixt the ominous tones of the organ and fairy tale sonic landscape is never absent. It's a realization which blisters into full-blown acrimony on the swaggering, peacocking fourth track, 'Bachelorette'. The track unfurls like a wartime processional, carving out a path on which Björk espouses her essence and decries the indifference of her lover, which reverberates with far more vigor than that of a veiled threat. She professes, "I'm a tree that grows hearts, one for each that you take; You're the intruder's hand, I'm the branch that you break". Flanked with a full orchestra at the ready, which plots footsteps in periodicity with hammer-struck chords, 'Bachelorette' is the songstress at her most agitated, dauntless and dangerous.
As the raging waters of 'Bachelorette' wane, fifth track 'All Neon Like' peers out from under its shelter at the remnants of its predecessors scorn. The piece uncoils with fragility as the sun escapes the blockage of the clouds and begins to softly warm the frozen landscape as the track's confidence builds as the ice sweats. It's another love song, but not one of frustration, as Björk offers comfort to her susceptible inamorato. Practically uniform in tempo, 'All Neon Like' remains patient as waterlogged percussion compliments incorporeal keys and the track effectively remedies, just as the singer promises. The second side of the LP invokes the trip-hop escalation of '5 Years', a more subdued echo of the sentiments of 'Bachelorette'. Once again, a refusal of commitment takes center stage as robotic, looping keys form the skeleton of the track as the skittering drum motif dances alongside of the singer's postulations. "I'm so bored with cowards that say they want; Then they can't handle," she affirms as the sublime, understated strings steer the track to its boundary. Seventh entry, 'Immature', is an introspective manifestation of Björk's exasperations. Despite being one of the record's least-interesting inroads from a sonic standpoint, its thematic importance is never in question within an LP which not only seeks to compartmentalize the world around her, but also rectify Björk's own instabilities. After a septuplet of chapters residing firmly on the sullen side of the emotional spectrum, the bouncy, utopian paradise that is 'Alarm Call' comes as a breath of fresh air. Partly a love letter to music and an unfettered celebration of life, the track portrays the youthful exuberance of an artist reborn, fortified by pain and more acutely aware of the subtle joys when juxtaposed with her hardships. 'Alarm Call' arrives with a tone that recalls distant wind chimes and is ferried out by a guttural scream of defiance. This emphasis on rejuvenation accelerates with vitality on 'Pluto', the LP's most outlandish statement. The properties of the track are remarkably propulsive, as heavy electronic influence galvanizes as Björk's poetry is content to remain forthright and unambiguous. "Excuse me but I just have to explode; Explode this body off me", she exclaims. Despite being arid in terms of accessibility, 'Pluto' remains one of the record's unspoken delights. Antithesis plays its final hand on the LP's final hour, 'All is Full of Love'. As the track carefully paddles through a thick fog into view, Björk's tender delivery embodies the sage wisdom of an ancient being ripe with divinity. The eponymous calls and responses are cocooned by a wall of sound reminiscent of a swarm of insects, but not any native to a place on earth as the harpsichord signals the existence of a cherub realm all its own. It's a dizzying, satisfying coda to a record wrought with pugnacity. The payoff is the personal baptism of its author as she shovels proverbial coal into a creative furnace which has fully and irrevocably liberated.
The Highlands of Iceland, home to the aforementioned volcanic desert, can only be traversed in the Summer, or put differently, when the weather permits. The stingy accommodations made by Mother Nature make it impossible for plant life to survive in the region , except for areas along the shoreline of glacial rivers. They're formed by the gradual melting of centuries-old chunks of ice, which finally manifest themselves as flowing, kinetic bodies of water which aid in the production of a scarce amount of flora. These glaciers have been Icelandic mainstays for thousands of years and their mass dwindles with each passing year as a result of the dramatic effects of global warming brought on by human industrialism. Björk's relationship with members of the human race has had its own share of traumatization. However, in her case, she didn't melt or wither in the barren, molten wasteland. Instead, she found the water.
Standout Tracks:
1. Jóga
2. Bachelorette
3. Unravel
92.7 [First added to this chart: 06/12/2020]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,800
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
90.3
[First added to this chart: 04/11/2022]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
687
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
85.7
[First added to this chart: 06/13/2020]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
733
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
85.7
[First added to this chart: 03/13/2022]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
4,586
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
85.3
[First added to this chart: 01/11/2022]
Buy album
- #Sponsored
84.2
[First added to this chart: 06/12/2020]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,094
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
83
[First added to this chart: 04/05/2022]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
9,190
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
- #Sponsored
80.2
[First added to this chart: 03/04/2024]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,977
Rank in 1997:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 13. Page 1 of 2
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Top 13 Music Albums of 1997 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Misfits | 2 | 15% | |
| Amon Tobin | 1 | 8% | |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 1 | 8% | |
| Autechre | 1 | 8% | |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 1 | 8% | |
| Modest Mouse | 1 | 8% | |
| Stereolab | 1 | 8% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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4 | 31% | |
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2 | 15% | |
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1 | 8% | |
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1 | 8% | |
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1 | 8% | |
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1 | 8% | |
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1 | 8% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 13 Music Albums of 1997 chart changes
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DriftingOrpheus (2024)Top 13 Music Albums of 1997 ratings
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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 11/10/2020 01:09 | DJENNY | | 100/100 |
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