Laurie and Jane

[bloch%mandrill@ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)]

Caution: writer is in an abnormal state of ecstasy.  Spelling,
grammar, and rationality may suffer.

So I wakes up this morning and calls the campus record store (the one
I walked into a month ago and said "When are you gonna have the new
Kate Bush album?" and they said "Kate Bush has a new album?"), and
they say "Yes, the new Jane Siberry just came in a few minutes ago.
We're holding it for you.  Yes, the new Laurie Anderson just came in
too; if you want, we can hold the one copy for you."  So I said, mmm,
yes...
Anyway, to cut things short, I just listened to _Strange_Angels_ for
the first time.  I'd been warned, of course, that it wasn't what you
expect from Laurie Anderson.  And if I hadn't been, she warns you in
the first track, quoting a lot of her earlier stuff to make sure
you're on the same wavelength and then saying "Old stories -- they're
haunting me.  Big changes are coming...here they come...here they
come..."  And for the next forty minutes, I must confess, I kept
interrupting Laurie with "Wow!" and "Neat!" and a couple more "Wow!"s.
I don't think I've ever had such a reaction to an album on first
hearing.
This album is your typical Laurie Anderson work, with one addition:
MUSIC!  And I do mean addition; all the mind-games Laurie's famous for
are still there, the lyrics rhyme a bit more often than before, and
she sings most of them rather than speaking them.  I always liked her
monologue style, but would you believe it works at least as well to
music?
In case I'm not making myself clear, GET THIS ALBUM.  SELL CRACK,
SWINDLE YOUR GRANDMOTHER, BUT GET THIS ALBUM.

OK, Jane.  Frankly, I don't dare put it on tonight; if I'm not in
bliss all the way through, I'll be let down from Laurie, and if I am,
well, big deal, I would have been in residual bliss anyway.  I'll give
it a try tomorrow morning.

"Writers are a funny breed -- I should know." -- Jane Siberry

bloch%cs@ucsd.edu