Evelyn Glennie

MY SPINE
’My Spine’ is from a group of pieces Bjork and myself wrote and experimented with during our initial meeting.I say ’experiment’ because that is exactly what we did
in my recording studio. Bjork was seduced by huge collection of percussion instruments and what did we decide to use ? Homemade tuned car exhaust pipes ! The
effect when played with four hand glockenspiel mallets portrays a raw, busy, gamelan-like sound which is in huge contrast to the sustain of Bjork’s voice. The title was derived simply from us liking the sound and feel of the words ’My Spine’.

OXYGEN
It is very difficult to explain the feeling when you meet someone for the first time and somehow magic happens. ’Oxygen’ was the first experiment Bjork and I made back in 1995. Everything we did we recorded ; this piece, with all the pops and rattles and other unrefined noises, shows that this was a totally spontaneous effort - without ’makeup’ or doctoring of any kind. This is how I like to make music. This piece remained untitled until appearing on this album. Why ’Oxygen’ ? I haven’t the foggiest.

Engineer and Producer Greg Malcangi adds :

Just a few hours after meeting for the first time, Evelyn and Bjork wanted to quickly lay down an idea while it was still fresh in their minds. A session tape was made within twenty minutes. At a later date, Bjork returned to Heritage studio to record a release version, but the magic of that practice take could never quite be recreated. Despite a few creaks and rattles from the marimba and the occasional ’pop’ from Bjork’s mic, both Evelyn and Bjork were in full agreement that the session tape should be used as the release version. It remains a completely unedited single take that is deeply moving.

Greatest Hits album booklet, 1995