Post is the second studio album by Icelandic singer-songwriter/musician Björk. It was released in June of 1995. The album was produced in conjunction with Nellee Hooper, Tricky, Graham Massey of 808 State, and electronic music producer Howie B.
Building on the success of her previous album Debut, Björk continued to pursue different sounds, taking particular interest in dance and techno. Production by Tricky and Howie B also provided trip hop-like sounds on tracks like "Possibly Maybe". It was these producers' influence that gave Björk impetus to create material like the storming "Army of Me" and "Enjoy".
However, Björk had not lost her old fascination with Hollywood-style numbers. Her cover of the Betty Hutton track "Blow a Fuse", retitled "It's Oh So Quiet", became one of Björk's most well-known moments. After "Army of Me" reached the UK top 10, and the subsequent release of "Isobel" (which did less well), One Little Indian scheduled "It's Oh So Quiet" as a novelty Christmas hit. To their surprise, it reached number four in December 1995; it was even later spoofed by The Smurfs. Despite Björk later disowning the song[citation needed], the commercial attention led to her subsequent single releases "Hyperballad" and "Possibly Maybe" charting higher than expected.
Much material was produced during the album's genesis in 1994, including "I Go Humble", which would later be released as a B-side. Many of the vocals were recorded in Nassau, Bahamas by Compass Point Studios with Björk standing well out into the ocean at sunset. The vocal for "Cover Me" was originally recorded in a nearby bat-infested cave, but was replaced in favour of the studio version. The original version of this song is found on Family Tree, a box set of rare, previously unreleased material.
Post eventually went to number two on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Björk's second biggest seller there after Debut. A remix album, Telegram, soon followed and Björk was now officially Iceland's biggest musical export.
Post has been certified platinum in the U.S.
It was ranked #26 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". Post and Homogenic were placed back to back on Pitchfork's "Best of the 90's" list. In 2003, the album was ranked number 373 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The album was re-released in 2006 as a DualDisc including new DTS 96/24 5.1-channel surround sound mixes. The DualDisc also formed part of the (____surrounded):box set.
In March 2008, the website Stereogum released the original album Enjoyed: A Tribute To Bjork's Post. The collection, available free at stereogum.com/bjork, features cover songs by Liars, Dirty Projectors, Xiu Xiu, Final Fantasy & Ed Droste, Atlas Sound, No Age, and others.
The original cover featured Björk surrounded by silver balls with her tongue extended towards a falling silver ball. It was shot by Jean Baptiste Mondino, who did the sleeve for Debut. The cover was later scrapped, and re-shot by Stéphane Sednaoui. From that re-shot, one picture was used as an alternate cover for the single from "Post", "It's Oh So Quiet"
Tracklisting:
- "Army of Me" (Björk/Graham Massey) – 3:54
- "Hyper-Ballad" (Björk/Nellee Hooper/Marius De Vries) – 5:21
- "The Modern Things" (Björk/Graham Massey) – 4:10
- "It's Oh So Quiet" (Hans Lang/Bert Reisfeld) – 3:38
- "Enjoy" (Björk/Tricky) – 3:56
- "You've Been Flirting Again" (Björk) – 2:29
- "Isobel" (Björk/Nellee Hooper/Marius de Vries/Sjón) – 5:47
- "Possibly Maybe" (Björk/Nellee Hooper/Marius de Vries) – 5:06
- "I Miss You" (Björk/Howie B) – 4:03
- "Cover Me" (Björk) – 2:06
- "Headphones" (Björk/Tricky) – 5:40
| Country | Peak position | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 2 | Platinum | 70,000 |
| Canada | - | Platinum | 100,000+ |
| UK | 2 | Platinum | 300,000+ |
| USA | 32 | Platinum | 1,000,000+ |
| Norway | 4 | Platinum | 40,000 |
| Europe | - | Platinum | 1,000,000+ |
- John Altman – orchestra arrangements, conductor
- Gary Barnacle – soprano sax
- Howie Bernstein – producer, programming, engineer, mixing
- Björk – producer, keyboards, organ, string arrangements, brass arrangements
- Stuart Brooks – trumpet
- Jim Couza – hammer dulcimer
- Einar Orn – trumpet
- Eumir Deodato – string arrangements, conductor
- Marcus Dravs – programming, engineer, mixing
- Al Fisch – engineer
- Lenny Franchi – programming, engineer
- Isobel Griffiths – orchestral contractor
- Nellee Hooper – producer
- Graham Massey – producer, keyboards, programming
- Maurice Murphy – trumpet
- Tony Pleeth – cello
- Steve Price – engineer
- Guy Sigsworth – harpsichord
- Talvin Singh – percussion
- Rob Smissen – viola
- Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
- Al Stone – engineer
- Tricky– producer, keyboards, programming
- Marius de Vries – keyboards, programming
- Gavin Wright – orchestra leader
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