Sigur Ros Agaetis Byrjun (A Good Beginning) 2LP (Vinyl)

20th Anniversary Double LP Edition!

In 1999 Sigur Ros released Agaetis Byrjun (‘A Good Start’). Q magazine deemed
Agaetis Byrjun ‘the last great record of the 20th century’. By the end of the year, it had won the inaugural US Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music. This year celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Agaetis Byrjun.

The band expand their breakthrough album with demo and archive versions of all songs on the album, plus never-before-heard newly unearthed material from the time, rare b-sides and the full 95 minute concert played in Reykjavík on the day the record was released in 1999.

Agaetis Byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Ros's breakthrough album, both critically and commercially. Agaetis Byrjun represented a substantial departure from the band's previous album Von, with that album's Cocteau Twins-esque dream pop and extended ambient soundscapes replaced by Jonsi Birgisson's now signature cello-bowed guitar work and lush orchestration (using a double string octet amongst other orchestral elements).

The album's title came from a friend hearing the first song they had written for the album, which would become the title track. After hearing the song, he said it was "a good beginning;" the name stuck. The name has also been translated as "An alright start."

Sigur Ros won an Iceland Music Award and the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize for this album. Agaetis Byrjun was placed by Pitchfork Media at number 2 on their annual Best Albums list for 2000, and was placed at 8 on their top 200 albums of the 2000s list. In December 2009, Rolling Stone ranked Agaetis Byrjun the 29th best album of the 2000s.

Features:
• 20th Anniversary Edition
• Double LP
• Includes limited time download insert of rarities & live album
• Plastic shrink wrap is 100% recyclable

Selections:
Side A:
1. Intro
2. Svefn-g-englar
3. Starálfur
Side B:
4. Flugufrelsarinn
5. Ný batterí
Side C:
6. Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)
7. Viðrar vel til loftárása
Side D:
8. Olsen Olsen
9. Ágaetis Byrjun
10. Avalon

Limited Time Digital Download - Demos & Rarities:
1. Svefn-g-englar (Live at Popp í Reykjavík, 1998)
2. Starálfur (Original speed version)
3. Flugufrelsarinn (1998 Demo)
4. Ný Batteri (Instrumental)
5. Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm) (1995 Demo)
6. Viðrar vel til loftárása (Alternative ending)
7. Olsen Olsen (1998 Demo)
8. Ágaetis byrjun (1998 Demo)
9. Hugmynd 1 (Demo)
10. Hugmynd 2 (Demo)
11. Hugmynd 3 (Demo)
12. Debata mandire (Live at Laugardashöll, 1999)
13. Rafmagnið búið (From Ný batterí EP, 2000)

Limited Time Digital Download - Live at Íslenska Óperan, 1999:
1. Intro
2. Von
3. Syndir guðs
4. Flugufrelsarinn
5. Olsen Olsen
6. Ágaetis byrjun
7. Viðrar vel til loftárása
8. Svefn-g-englar
9. Ný batterí
10. Nýja lagið
11. Hafsól