Laurie Anderson "Big Science"

madmax

Just picked this up on LP last night. Awesome sounding recording! Very weird but I could have listened to it all night. Check out the "Listen" at the bottom for a sample.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Science-Laurie-Anderson/dp/B000002KNM

madmax

bikezappa

Mad
I used to like Laurie and went to a few of her concerts. In the 80's I saw her in Boston and during one of her video/audio performances she had on a suit with funny microphones all all parts of her body. The microphones were all connected to a cord that went off stage. As she danced and touched her body the microphones would make a noise. I had never seen anything like that even today. Sounds of her movements were also shown on a giant projector. It was an interesting combination of movement and sound mixed together,

I later saw her in San Diego around 2000 and she got on stage and started to read a technical article that made NO sense. After about 5 minutes the crowd, me included, started to boo her. She kept on reading for almost 30 minutes, then stopped and left the stage. That was the end of the concert. Never saw her again. People were pissed.

She is not for everyone.

Disc Jockey

It's funny, I haven't listened to this in years but my buddy was over last week and asked to listen to some "weird music." Pulled this out and cranked it up, sure brought back some memories.

You're right, great sound recording. Not everybody's cup of tea for sure but we enjoyed the hell out of it.

DJ

madmax

bikezappa wrote: »

I later saw her in San Diego around 2000 and she got on stage and started to read a technical article that made NO sense. After about 5 minutes the crowd, me included, started to boo her. She kept on reading for almost 30 minutes, then stopped and left the stage. That was the end of the concert.

Thats pretty funny. I wonder what the intent was.

I noticed she has a lot of material out there. Are the others similar to "big science" or is everything different?

bikezappa

Mad

I have no idea what her intent was. As I said every one was pissed and I would never see her again even if it was free and I like her music.

Maybe it was her joke on all us fools for paying to see her????

mhardy6647

She is/was a "performance artist".
Like Yoko. :-)

bikezappa

mhardy6647 wrote: »

She is/was a "performance artist".
Like Yoko. :-)

That was the phrase I was trying to remember.

madmax

Believe it or not I actually thought of Yoko on one song. In general much more pleasant though..

NeilGabriel

My wife was a big fan of hers, and some of her music was quite good---owing to some excellent musicians. I read an interview where she wondered why she needed two moving trucks full of equipment to mock contemporary society....just a bit of hypocrisy she thought. At least her 30 minute lecture "sounds" better than the several minutes of silence from another "musician."

bikezappa

Neil

I think the 30 minutes may have been a stupid test. I see how long the fans would tolerate the speech. We had no good answers.

Maybe I dreamed it.

madmax

I found a few more of her LP's on ebay and ordered them. There are some copies of Big Science in NM condition listed if anyone is interested.
madmax

bikezappa

madmax wrote: »

I found a few more of her LP's on ebay and ordered them. There are some copies of Big Science in NM condition listed if anyone is interested.
madmax

I have a video of one of her live performaces. I think it's Home of the Brave. I'll check it out.

madmax

bikezappa wrote: »

I have a video of one of her live performaces. I think it's Home of the Brave. I'll check it out.

I just ordered that on laserdisc. Hopefully its good quality.
madmax

Music Joe

My favorite is "Strange Angels" next is "Life on a String"(HDCD) both are well produced and less experimental sounding than "Big Science".
Still full of sampling and electronics.
They both contain smatterings of spoken word and bursts of estrogen.
Try mixing Laurie Anderson / Peter Gabriel "Up" and "Hit" on shuffle play or a high bitrate MP3 compilation...it's a hoot and quite a great few hours evening listening session.

madmax

I received Laurie Andersons "Mister Heartbreak" LP and listened last night. More of the same compared to Big Science. Maybe not quite as good but still really good. This is some great stuff! Still a bunch of others still on order.
madmax

mhardy6647

Whenever I think of Laurie Anderson I realize I am (usually) actually thinking of Dory Previn :-P
I get those two confused

madmax

Got "Home of the Brave" and listened to it last night. Some of the same but some was a little different. Really enjoyed listening to it. So far I enjoyed "Big Science" the most but the others are not far behind. Big Science has been the best sound quality wise.

madmax

I thought this was interesting:

"Release of Anderson's first post-Home of the Brave album, 1989's Strange Angels, was delayed for more than a year in order for Anderson to take singing lessons. This was due to the album being more musically inclined (in terms of singing) than her previous works. Strange Angels was critically acclaimed, but fans were divided over whether they preferred the non-musical Anderson over the musical Anderson."

bikezappa

More singers should be taking singing lessions.

madmax

I listened to "Strange Angels" last night. This may be my new favorite.

I'm hooked on this stuff for sure...
madmax

madmax

I received "Home of the Brave (a concert movie)" on laserdisc yesterday. Crazy stuff but I really enjoyed it. It has nothing to do with 9-11 of course (since it was made around 1985) but it is pretty weird because they flash "911" on a back wall then show big airplanes flying by. Later on they show planes alongside a huge tower. I'm not sure what the original intent of this theme was but it is quite odd watching it today.

I enjoyed it a LOT! They were mostly doing electronic music live which is pretty strange to start with. Add some of the other weirdness with costumes and various ways to make weird noises and it becomes quite a strange performance. It was way more than I had hoped for.
madmax

Music Joe

madmax wrote: »

I listened to "Strange Angels" last night. This may be my new favorite.

I'm hooked on this stuff for sure...
madmax

Now get "Life on a String" (HDCD or SACD) an even better recording however, "Strange Angels" makes the heart soar more. Both are good.