Live Box

Untitled

Live Box is a set of 4 live CDs, a live DVD and a 36-page booklet by Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk, released in August 2003. Each live CD roughly corresponds to one album in her (at the time of release) four album solo discography.

Background

The release of the box-set was initially rumoured by the announcement in 2003 of a distribution-deal with US record company Navarre that would include "both CDs and DVDs". Björk's official website later confirmed the release of a box-set containing live recordings from the past ten years of Björk's solo career. When Björk was pregnant with her daughter Ísadóra in 2002, she listened to all the live recordings from her tours with the head of Smekkleysa, Ásmundur jónsson. From this, they decided on the best performances from each of the tours to include on the live albums. Björk only started to have soundboard recordings of her live shows from the Homogenic tour onwards, so the first two discs (Debut Live and Post Live) are made up primarily of the the audio from the corresponding live DVDs.

The box-set also includes a 36-page booklet featuring an in-depth conversation with Björk on her career, her recordings and her live tours. The box-set was originally released as a limited release of 30,000 copies, although it is still widely available for purchase. The individual live discs were later released separately.

Artwork

The artwork was designed by M/M Paris, whom Björk had worked with previously since 1999. At the time of release many online stores displayed an incorrect earlier version of the artwork for the box set, which features alternate artwork for the Post Live and Homogenic Live albums. Many fan-taken photos are featured in the booklet that comes with the box set.

Live Book

To accompany the release of the Live Box, a separate book was released titled "Live Book". This features the interview with Ásmundur Jónsson that is included in the 36-page booklet that comes with the box set, as well as new interviews with Lynn Fox, Zeena Parkins, Matmos and Leila.

Track listing

CD one - Debut Live

1. "Human Behaviour"
2. "One Day"
3. "Venus as a Boy"
4. "Come To Me"
5. "Big Time Sensuality"
6. "Aeroplane"
7. "Like Someone in Love"
8. "Crying"
9. "Anchor Song"
10. "Violently Happy"

Notes

1. The original versions of all of the tracks can be found on Debut. Two songs from Debut are missing: "There's More To Life Than This" and "Play Dead", although "Play Dead" is strictly speaking not on Debut, but is included as a bonus track on the re-release. Indeed, neither of the two songs were performed on the MTV Unplugged performance from which this disc takes most of its material, but the latter was performed on the Debut Tour after its single release.
2. All songs except "Venus as a Boy" are from MTV Unplugged in 1994. The original broadcast (and subsequent bootlegs) of the MTV concert featured "Venus as a Boy", so it is unclear why that version could not be included here.

CD two - Post Live

1. "Headphones"
2. "Army of Me"
3. "One Day"
4. "The Modern Things"
5. "Isobel"
6. "Possibly Maybe"
7. "Hyperballad"
8. "I Go Humble"
9. "Big Time Sensuality"
10. "Enjoy"
11. "I Miss You"
12. "It's Oh So Quiet"
13. "Anchor Song"

Notes

1. Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 & 12: Original versions on Post. "Cover Me" and "You've Been Flirting Again" are missing, although "You've Been Flirting Again" appears on 'Homogenic Live' and "Cover Me" only received its first performances during the 2007-2008 Volta Tour.
   Tracks 3, 9 & 13: Original versions on Debut
   Track 8: Only found the Japan edition of Post and on Isobel single.

CD three - Homogenic Live

1. "Vísur Vatnsenda Rósu"
2. "Hunter"
3. "You've Been Flirting Again"
4. "Isobel"
5. "All Neon Like"
6. "Possibly Maybe"
7. "5 Years"
8. "Come To Me"
9. "Immature"
10. "I Go Humble" (featuring lines from "Wanna Be Startin' Something")
11. "Bachelorette"
12. "Human Behaviour"
13. "Pluto"
14. "Jóga"
15. "So Broken"
16. "Anchor Song"

Notes

1. Tracks 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 & 14: Original versions on Homogenic. "Unravel", "Alarm Call" and "All Is Full of Love" are missing, although "Unravel" and "All Is Full of Love" appear on 'Vespertine Live'.
   Tracks 3, 4 & 6: Original versions on Post
   Track 10: Bonus track from the Japanese edition of Post
   Tracks 8, 12 & 16: Original versions on Debut.
   Track 1: Original version on Possibly Maybe single (traditional Icelandic song).
   Track 15: Original version on Jóga single.

CD four - Vespertine Live

1. "Frosti"
2. "Overture"
3. "All is Full of Love"
4. "Cocoon"
5. "Aurora"
6. "Undo"
7. "Unravel"
8. "I've Seen It All"
9. "An Echo, a Stain"
10. "Generous Palmstroke"
11. "Hidden Place"
12. "Pagan Poetry"
13. "Harm of Will"
14. "It's Not Up to You"
15. "Unison"
16. "It's in Our Hands"

Notes

1. Tracks 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15: Original versions on Vespertine. The tracks "Sun in My Mouth" and "Heirloom" are missing, of which "Sun in my Mouth" has never been performed live and "Heirloom" received its first performance on the subsequent 2003 Greatest Hits Tour, for which there has yet been no official release.
   Tracks 3 & 7: Original versions on Homogenic
   Tracks 2 & 8: Original versions on Selmasongs
   Track 16: Original version on the It's in Our Hands single.
   Track 10: Original version found on the Hidden Place single.

DVD bonus

1. "One Day"
2. "It's Oh So Quiet"
3. "Jóga"
4. "Aurora"
5. "It's Not Up To You"

Notes

1. The performance of "It's Oh So Quiet" is previously unreleased.

Charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Electronic Albums	12
France	99

External links

• Live Box mini-site