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Reviews of Laurie Anderson's Life on a String
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Buy Life on a String online.
Guardian
For her first album of new material since 1994's Bright Red, Laurie
Anderson planned to make an album based on her Moby-Dick multimedia
show. She couldn't make it work, and instead, Life on a String
comprises a dozen pieces that you could almost call songs. Thanks to
the ingenuity of the arrangements and the compression in Anderson's
writing, each number creates provocative ripples out of all proportion
to its size. A violin player herself, she makes frequent use of
grainy, flavoursome string textures, as in the ghostly minor-key
minuet of Statue of Liberty. But she doesn't stop there, deploying the
mysterious "baritone banhu" in Slip Away and concocting a loose and
funky Afro-groove in The Island Where I Come From. Especially
impressive is the way the music dovetails with the enigmatic
folklorishness of the words, turning every piece into a mini-myth.
Adam Sweeting
Sunday Times (UK)
"I CAN'T put all these things into words," admits Laurie Anderson on
The Island Where I Come From. "Might as well put some beans in a
hollow gourd and shake it, shake it." And somebody does just that,
because behind this surprising confession from a woman who has
established herself as a wonderful storyteller grooves a lazy, Latin
shuffle. It's the most accessible piece Anderson has created since O
Superman, the hit that launched her onto a wider public 20 years ago;
and if it doesn't find itself on the Radio 2 playlist, somebody isn't
doing their job. Van Dyke Parks provides a splendidly over-the-top
string arrangement to Dark Angel, while Lou Reed contributes to One
Beautiful Evening, a song that begins in the Garden of Eden and takes
us on a journey through nursery rhymes to the thought: "Funny how
hatred can be a beautiful thing."
Mark Edwards
Don't let the deadpan voice, arch phrasing and avant-garde haircut
fool you. Despite her forbidding performance-art reputation, Laurie
Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignance - a minimalist
painter of melancholy moods who addresses universal themes in the
vernacular of the commonplace. She's at her best on Life on a String,
her first studio album in seven years. Horns dance like Mardi Gras
revelers through "The Island Where I Come From," and Van Dyke Parks'
daring string arrangement imbues "Dark Angel" with impish humor. But
the overall tone is sparse, haunted, intimate. Vertigo-inducing
violins and luminous bass tones speak Anderson's language - a poetry
of loneliness that peaks through "Pieces and Parts" and the brief
instrumental "Here With You"; towers majestically on the deathbed
meditation "Slip Away"; then walks away with the album on the
impossibly fragile, beautifully realized title track.
GREG KOT
(Rolling Stone 876 - August 30, 2001)
"Experimental pop icon at her most accessible"
Laurie Anderson's new release is probably her most conventional to
date. She's
working with song forms, singing as much as narrating, and her
instrumental
arrangements are clean and spare, with only a restrained use of studio
technology. Anderson uses some major players here - Dr. John, Bill
Frisell,
Van Dke Parks, Lou Reed - and the music is excellent throughout. Her
typical
reliance on commonplaces and nursery rhymes walks a fine line between
homespun
truth, irony, and banality.
Suprisingly, Anderson sounds best when she's getting
personal. "Broken" (about a failed relationship) and "Slip Away"
(about her father's death) are among the finest things she's ever
recorded. But many of the other story-songs on this CD are enriched by
Anderson's wry observations on contemporary life, and if the wordplay
occasionally misses the mark, the music (which includes calypso, funk,
'40s jazz and chamber pop) invariably carries the day. 7 out of 10
(Alternative Press)
Laurie Anderson's voice is so perfectly
calibrated and conversational that, whether she's singing or speaking,
she sounds like a familiar old friend, ringing you up for a late-night
phone chat, telling stories, and sharing anecdotes and insights. It's
been a long time since we've heard from her: Life on a String is
Anderson's first album of new musical pieces since 1994's Bright
Red. It's an eerie, ghostly work -- and a surprisingly personal one. A
few songs -- the bouncy, horn-driven "The Island Where I Come From,"
the dark, electronica-based "My Compensation" -- use tricky,
syncopated rhythms, but most of Life on a String relies on seductive,
wavelike music to support Anderson's provocative, profound narratives
(several of which come from her most recent theater piece, Songs and
Stories of Moby Dick). Co-producer Hal Willner helped to enlist a raft
of guests, including Dr. John, Bill Frisell, Mitchell Froom, Lou Reed,
and Van Dyke Parks (whose eccentric string arrangement for "Dark
Angel" is typically brilliant), for tasteful, restrained
accompaniment, and for the first time since Big Science Anderson plays
violin on an album. But Life on a String is mainly a vehicle for
Anderson's captivating voice. She's seductive and soothing, even when
telling disquieting stories. In "Slip Away," Anderson describes
standing bedside as her father dies, and the mix of love and loss make
it one of her most personal songs and one of her best. Twenty years
after her debut hit single "O Superman," Laurie Anderson still has
stories worth hearing. Steve Klinge
A new Laurie Anderson album is usually a thing to welcome. Often less
a performance artist than point person for global-village
storytelling--as on 1995's The Ugly One with the Jewels--she's also
demonstrated a high level of musical savvy. Life on a String's meld of
Biblical references, New York wanderings, world rhythms, and chamber
music doesn't cohere like it should, though. Caught between bemusement
and empathy, Anderson's knack for nailing oddball details can lift her
work beyond mere wit, but not here. On "Dark Angel," she damns
consumerism with lines that would've been laughable even at the outset
of her career in the '70s: "Look at all the things I bought / I'm
feeling kind of lost." Her quoting "I'm a Little Teapot" on "One
Beautiful Evening" sounds like self-parody, or the result of a lost
dare with another artsy type. And is the observation that it's a small
world but she wouldn't want to paint it supposed to sound fresh? For
true Anderson wigginess and smarts, try Ugly One, or for that matter,
her classic debut, Big Science. --Rickey Wright (Amazon.com 8/2001)
I have been listening to Life On A String for oh about a month now.
I posted my first thoughts about it the same day I had been listening
to it.
So how do I feel about it upon repeated and repeated :-) listening?
Not much has changed... It is - and I emphasise its my personal
opinion -
ordinary - not GREAT or BAD - and no it is NOT because the album is
such a
radical departure from her previous work that it sits uneasily in my
ears and
mind and heart... it is because it ISN'T a radical departure. It is
like the
old things... snake/devil walking in the garden... yadda yadda... but
things
which she has done better WAY better in the past.
The best *song* is Slip Away... it has real pathos... real feeling (It
would
be interesting to find out who it was that died - I suspect someone
very close
to Laurie) But other than that... well ho hum... the (modern)
egyptians used
ancient mummies for fuel on their trains... yeah well so what?
A previous poster said some songs don't end *right* - I agree... but I
guess
thats Laurie or her producer being *radical/creative*? It just sounds
sloppy.
I do however think LA LIVE is far superior to LA on CD... (Mind you,
Moby Dick
was a major pain to sit through) or video for that matter. (Her
collected
videos is pretty much an embarrasment to watch these days.)
I suppose after this post people will think I don't care for her... on
the
contrary! I have been at her feet so to speak :-) for the past odd 20
years...
(Which kinda dates ME I guess!) She has so much to say and
teach... but in my
view she has lost her momentum.
I suspect the concerts will have the final say...
I could be wrong... :-)
HTH :-)
Anton (Fan Review)
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 11:30:52 +0200
From: Marek Mendygral (markme@poczta.fm)
Erik writes in parentheses:
{I think we are being a bit harsh on the new album. It's no worse than
ambient noodling on Bright Red. }
I must say I absolutely disagree (I hope you won't take offence).
"Ambient noodling" on Bright Red was at least something different from
what Laurie had done before. To me it sounded fresh and original,
although it might not have been to everybody's liking. And the ambient
atmosphere was effectively broken by fairly aggresive tracks such as 'The
puppet motel', 'Poison' or 'In our sleep'. Lyrics on Brigh Red were
great, too - a mixture of irony, bitterness, sorrow... Nothing like this
on LOAS - just compare 'Poison' and 'Broken' - both songs seem to deal
with similar subject (a break-up), but the latter is nothing in
comparison with the former - both musically and lyrically (in my opinion,
that is).
So, "ambient noodling" (be it a good or bad thing) on LOAS is not
original, it's a repetition of what we were served before (that's what I
meant when I called this CD Bright red leftovers). It's just boring.
Boring.
{'The Island where I come from' sounds like an outake from Mister
Heartbreak/ Big Science (handclaps, sporadic saxophone) surely THAT track
has got to be one of her best for a while. }
You see, new Laurie material is NOT supposed to sound like an out-take
from her albums from early eighties.
Some happen to like this track (maybe it reminds them of her excellent
work from that period ?), good for them. But for me, the similarity of
this track to her early staff disqualifies it completely. I already have
her material from that time, and I would appreciate something new. Look
at this planet - all that paranoia, cruelty, greed and violence. One
might think that there is too much to say about it all. But apparently,
Laurie is lost for words. And for music...
Naturally, Laurie is under no obligation to deal with everything that's
happening, but her turning into a stout teapot instead... I mean,
really...
{I like Washington Street and Broken a lot too, although WS has some very
naff lyrics. We always try to look foe hidden meaning in her words, but
that one is literally about rain.
It is a shame that when artists age, they seem to become more 'mellow'
or feel a need to 'mature'.}
Now, I feel there's nothing wrong with becoming 'mellow' or 'mature'. But
there's everything wrong with getting boring.
Look, for instance, at the latest Eurythmics CD ("Peace") - definitely
their most 'mature and mellow' production ever, but there's nothing
boring about it (naturally, I understand that one can hardly
compare Eurythmics to Laurie, but that's not the point). Despite being
'mature and mellow' the "Peace" album sounds like nothing they've ever
done before - and that's the point.
In my opinion, a typical rock/pop star is expected just to release a good
album from time to time, they can even get away with releasing a mediocre
album - as long as it sells, it'll still be called a success. But this is
LAURIE ANDERSON that we are talking about. Who on earth, if not
LAURIE, ought to be expected to provide her fans with something thought
provoking and absorbing musically - something unique !
{That's why I loved Bowie's Earthling album so much, pretty agressive for
a 50 year old. Anyway, I digress. Just play those three tracks on a loop.
}
And ignore all the rest, so that you can get the false impression that
this album is actually good ? I hardly know what to say...
I really hope my comments do not sound too vicious (English isn't my
first language, I often find it difficult to get the right tone), but I
don't believe this album deserves mercy... sorry...
Cheers, Marek
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JimDavies
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Last modified: Tue Apr 27 18:25:45 EDT 1999