Mention Iceland to most people these days and the first thought that springs to mind is surely the haunting, beautiful and original voice of singer, songwriter and artist Björk. She often talks about the powerful influence that Iceland has played on her uniquely personal and creative work, even though few artists today are probably more global and cross-cultural in their appeal. That’s just one of the enigmas about Björk — and it might just be something to do with being Icelandic too.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir was born into a musical family in Reykjavík in 1965. Swept onto stage by the wild energy of punk, she soon began to develop it into new and exciting directions. Together with her esoteric rock band Sugarcubes in the mid 1980s she first put Icelandic music on the world map, but it was not until her solo career, launched with Debut in 1993, that she really became a legend. Following up with Post, Homogenic and Vespertine, she established herself as one of the most original voices on the music scene today, and has won new creative territory as singer, songwriter and lead actress in the award-winning film Dancer In The Dark.

October 2002 saw the release of “Björk’s Greatest Hits”, an album compiled by a unique web vote enabling fans to choose which tracks were their favourites and/or best reflected Björk’s career. Interestingly, her biggest hits are not necessarily amongst the most chosen tracks and thus the final track listing truly demonstrates that this album is not simply a commercial entity, but a true representation of Björk’s evolution into the eclectic and pioneering artist we know today.

To compliment the release of the “Greatest Hits”, Björk also released a special box set entitled “Family Tree” comprising six CDs, five 3" and one 5" of her favourite songs which in Björk’s words represent “the story of how I got to where I am today and in my musical words to say how I developed as a musician”.

The two releases are yours to enjoy ...