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Laurie Anderson's album: Big Science

Description:

This and Home of the Brave are my two favorite Laurie Anderson albums. Big Science is a masterwork. Laurie did a huge concert called United States I-IV, and Big Science is a studio version of many of the songs. In my opinion, this is one of best albums I've ever heard, and it changed my whole idea of what music was about. The tracks are skeletal, sometimes minimalist, but utterly moving. You can get pretty jaded with electronic music, but Laurie Anderson is one person who keeps surprising you the creatitivity of her sounds. I remember when I got a ride home from college with some people. Music was playing the whole time, and we chatted. I put in Big Science, and everyone shut up and listened and didn't stop until it was over. Then we put in something else and we started talking again-- and these other people were not fans; they had never heard of Laurie. The story demonstrates how riviting this album can be. It cannot be ignored. It makes bad background music, because it demands your attention.

The music was made to go with the concert, which was a performance art piece with film, photographs, special effects, spoken text, lights, hand gestures, etc. Laurie once said that when she listens to Big Science she thinks "where are the pictures?" :-) I never felt the album was missing anything.

This album actually had her one hit: O Superman. It was on the charts for a while in England.

Back to HomePage of the Brave: Laurie Anderson by JimDavies (jim@jimdavies.org) Last modified: Fri Apr 30 08:51:42 EDT 1999