Gling-Gló


Gling-Gló is the only studio album by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, consisting of Björk Guðmundsdóttir on vocals, Guðmundur Ingólfsson on piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson on drums, and Þórður Högnason on bass. "Gling-gló" is an Icelandic onomatopoeia whose English equivalent is "ding dong", or the sound that a bell makes.
Most of the songs were recorded on 1 September and 3 September 1990 at Stúdio Sýrland, except for two tracks, which were recorded on 23 August 1990. It was produced by Tómas Magnús Tómasson, the bassist of Stuðmenn. The album was released in October 1990 by Smekkleysa. It received mixed reviews by critics.

Background and recording

Most of the songs were recorded on 1 September and 3 September 1990 at Stúdio Sýrland. "Ruby Baby" and "I Can't Help Loving that Man" were recorded on 23 August 1990 on Ríkisútvarpið for Djasskaffi, a radio programme hosted by Ólafur Þórðarsson. It was produced by Tómas Magnús Tómasson, the bassist of Stuðmenn.

Composition

Most of the songs are sung in Icelandic. Several of these songs are covers of jazz standards translated and sung in Icelandic. Three are sung with a noticeably different musical arrangement: "Bílavísur", "Ég veit ei hvað skal segia" and "Pabbi minn".
"Þad sést ekki sætari mey" is misattributed in the liner notes as a "Rogers/Hammerstein" composition, but is instead an interpolation of Irving Berlin's "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" from the musical Annie Get Your Gun.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Gling-Gló.