This CD is Björkin' great

The weird teddy bear in "Human Behaviour." Dancing on a flatbed truck in "Big Time Sensuality." The whacked-out musical parody -- or was it a parody? -- of "It's Oh So Quiet." The swan dress at the 2001 Academy Awards.\nIcelandic thrush Björk Gumundsdottir is a musical artist more known for her video and visual images. Her Greatest Hits CD ought to change that.\nOf course, she can't go five minutes without doing something weird, so to her it makes sense that she compiled her hits through a fan vote. Perhaps nobody told her that best-ofs are not for fans but for newcomers who may be unfamiliar with the artist. Or those who always liked what they heard on radio or saw on TV but could never be motivated to go to the record store until they could be assured there would be no filler.\nThrough their selections, though, the fans have helped reveal a confident, original, versatile artist. She never dabbled much in dance music in her previous band, the Sugarcubes, but she is at home in that genre on all 15 tracks on this compilation. She never tries to pretend that she is some sort of dance diva in that she makes the beats more exotic while keeping the beats per minute down.\nAs a result, you can play this disc as background music at a dinner party, cooling-off music at a club or as ideal headphone music. Joyous melodies unfold languorously, and unlike many female singers nowadays -- Kelly Clarkson, you are the devil -- she doesn't try to crush them with her lung power. \nAlong with prime musical collaborator Nellee Hooper of Soul II Soul fame, Björk creates little snippets to hook in the listener. "Army of Me" has a catchy bass line. "Hyperballad" and "It's in Our Hands" have memorable string arrangements. Keyboard blips drive "Human Behaviour."\nYes, it's criminal that "It's Oh So Quiet" and "I've Seen It All" got left off. But what is on the CD will force one to listen to Björk and not so much stare.