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Family Tree (Björk album)

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Family Tree
Box set by
Released4 November 2002
Length141:09
LabelOne Little Indian
ProducerVarious
Björk chronology
Greatest Hits
(2002)
Family Tree
(2002)
Live Box
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Blender[2]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[3]
Pitchfork3.6/10[4]
Stylus MagazineA−[5]

Family Tree is a box set of musical material by Icelandic singer Björk. The set consists of a book of lyrics entitled Words, five 3-inch compact discs of rare and previously unreleased material, and a regular-sized compact disc of greatest hits selected by Björk herself. Family Tree was released in November 2002, concurrent with the release of Björk's Greatest Hits album, in which the tracks were selected by her fans.

Information

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The five 3-inch compact discs include: Roots CD 1, which features songs recorded before Björk's "second solo debut" (i.e. previous to her 1993 album Debut). This compact disc features songs by her previous bands: Kukl, the Elgar Sisters, and the Sugarcubes. Roots CD 2 features B-sides and alternate versions of album tracks; Beats, which focuses on both new and old songs with a heavier electronica influence; and finally Strings CDs 1 and 2, which feature live and studio recordings of Björk with the Brodsky Quartet through 1999 and 2000.

The artwork on the CD was designed by M/M Paris in collaboration with Icelandic contemporary artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir. The cover consists of a tree with letter on the upper part.

A music video for the song "Nature is Ancient", directed by Lynn Fox, was released in November 2002 to promote the compilation, even though the song was originally released in 1997.[6] Originally, it was a B-side to the "Bachelorette" single, but it was later included on Family Tree. The video was also released on the compilation Greatest Hits - Volumen 1993–2003.

Björk's notes for the project, as featured on the individual CD artworks, reveal that "Immature" and "My Spine" were initially considered to feature on the compilation, as well as track(s) recorded with British composer John Tavener.

Track listing

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Disc 1 — Roots
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Síðasta Ég" (performed by the Elgar Sisters)
  • Björk
  • Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson
  • Þór Eldon
Björk3:00
2."Glóra" (performed by the Elgar Sisters)BjörkBjörk1:42
3."Fuglar" (performed by Kukl)KuklKukl3:00
4."Ammæli" (performed by the Sugarcubes)Sugarcubes
  • Ray Schulman
  • Derek Birkett
3:55
5."Mamma" (performed by the Sugarcubes)Sugarcubes
  • Schulman
  • Birkett
2:57
Total length:14:05
Disc 2 — Roots
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Immature" (Björk's version)BjörkBjörk2:53
2."Cover Me" (Cave version)Björk3:07
3."Generous Palmstroke" (live at the Santa Cecilia di Academia, Rome, 10 November 2001)
4:42
4."Jóga" (Strings and Vocals)
Björk4:42
5."Mother Heroic" 2:44
Total length:17:28
Disc 3 — Beats
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."The Modern Things" (Demo version)
  • Björk
  • Massey
4:11
2."Karvel"
  • Björk
  • Massey
Massey4:30
3."I Go Humble"
  • Björk
  • Bell
 4:47
4."Nature Is Ancient"
  • Björk
  • Bell
  • Björk
  • Bell
3:40
Total length:16:28
Disc 4 — Strings
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Unravel" (with the Brodsky Quartet)
  • Björk
  • Sigsworth
3:38
2."Cover Me" (with the Brodsky Quartet)Björk2:50
3."Possibly Maybe" (with the Brodsky Quartet)Björk4:55
4."The Anchor Song" (with the Brodsky Quartet)Björk3:44
5."Hunter" (with the Brodsky Quartet)Björk4:31
Total length:18:18
Disc 5 — Strings
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."All Neon Like" (with the Brodsky Quartet)Björk5:07
2."I've Seen It All" (with the Brodsky Quartet)
5:59
3."Bachelorette" (with the Brodsky Quartet)
  • Björk
  • Sjón
5:09
4."Play Dead" (with the Brodsky Quartet)3:25
Total length:19:00
Disc 6 — Greatest Hits as Chosen by Björk
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Venus as a Boy"Björk4:41
2."Hyperballad"Björk5:23
3."You've Been Flirting Again"Björk2:29
4."Isobel"
5:23
5."Jóga"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
5:04
6."Unravel"
  • Björk
  • Sigsworth
3:18
7."Bachelorette"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
5:17
8."All Is Full of Love"Björk4:46
9."Scatterheart"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • von Trier
6:39
10."I've Seen It All"
  • Björk
  • Sjón
  • von Trier
5:29
11."Pagan Poetry"Björk5:14
12."It's Not Up to You"Björk5:08
Total length:59:25

Notes

  • "Mother Heroic" contains lyrics taken from the poem "Belgium" by E. E. Cummings.

Charts

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Chart (2003) Peak
position
Denmark[7] 39
France[8] 100
U.S. Top Electronic Albums (Billboard)[9] 6

References

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  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Blender review Archived October 24, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Feliciano, Kristina (18 November 2002). ""Family Tree"; "Greatest Hits" Review". Entertainment Weekly. p. 106. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  4. ^ Ott, Chris (12 January 2003). "Pitchfork: Björk: Family Tree". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  5. ^ Stylus Magazine review Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "Bjork.com GH&FT special : EXTRA". Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  7. ^ Danish Charts
  8. ^ Steffen Hung. "Björk - Family Tree". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  9. ^ "EDM Music & Dance Albums Chart". Billboard. 2 January 2013.
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