Re: Love-Hounds Digest #7.313

[boris%planecrash.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Boris Chen)]

In article <9110150111.AA05047@lewhoosh.umd.edu> jeffy@lewhoosh.umd.EDU (Jeffrey C. Burka) writes:
>
>Laurie Anderson comes up every now and then, but there isn't an awful lot
>of discussion about her.  Maybe she's just too weird--people just kind of
>stare at their keyboard and wonder what they can say that will sound
>vaguely intelligent.

Nothing to say? Nothing to say? Maybe there's just so much to say
that one can't get started. It kinda just jamms.
>
>Her material can be very disconcerting; much of it exudes a weird sort of
>intelligence that defies explanation.  I think _Big Science_ is an
>absolutely brilliant album; it made it onto my DID list a few months
>ago when that was all the rage.  I can listen to it over and over again.
>But I still don't have the slightest idea of what most of the songs *mean*.
>Some are quite obvious, others are just completely bizarre.  It's very
>rare for me to discuss Anderson's material with other friends of mine who
>are fans (and I know quite a few).  We just kinda say "wow" and talk in
>those weird clipped sentences and agree that it's great stuff.  

See the beauty of her music is there isn't a type of meaning in the
explicit sense. What she is doing is communicating snipets of
life, not necessarily brand new paradigms or ideas. She loves
to incorporate cliched phrases "Home of the Brave," "Hello, this
is you mother, is anyone home?" "Smoking or non-smoking," etc. 
In things like Coolsville, she is expressing the "coolness" of
city life, a sort of faceless landscape of faces. (if you saw
her in concert, the screen in back of her showed this) Its not
a new statement, but she does that song in a neat way. 

Now, about something like Example #22, I am at a loss. But things like
Sweaters has a typical scene presented in a non-typical way, which
makes a statement about how silly people are.
>
>Right now, I own _Big Science_ and _Strange Angels_.  I've heard _Mister
>Heartbreak_ and _Home of the Brave_, and expect to own them eventually. 

Yes, you need Mister Heartbreak and HotB, you are missing the whole
"Sharky" thing. 

>
>I also know a fair number of people who were disappointed with _Strange
>Angels_, thinking she'd "changed."  Damn!  Laurie got too melodic!  Or
>something like that.  I think it's a fantastic album, combining her 
>incredibly lyrics with what turns out to be a beautiful voice when not
>obstructed by the various vocoders and other toys she likes to play with.

Well, for the first time she took voice lessons, and so on the SA album
she went all out to show off. As a fellow fan said, "No more wacky talking."

>To me, the title track is *beautiful*.  The Laurie Anderson people expect,
>though, is still there...just listen to a track like "The Dream Before,"
>with that wonderful Hansel and Gretel conversation.  "Gretel, you can really
>be a bitch."

This song is interesting. It is sort of like the Musical "Into the Woods,"
where the subject is a fairy tale, yet not all is well, modern
sensibilities and realities are inserted, created a disturbing scene
of one perfect childhood bliss.
>
>
>This is _United States Live, I-IV_.  You might have noticed that the subtitle
>of _Big Science_ is "Songs from United States I-IV."  The 4-record/tape/cd
>set is the full thing.  It came out years ago, but was recently (last spring) 
>released on CD.  I've been craving it ever since then, but haven't bought it 
>yet.  (In fact, I even had a dream about buying it one night!  Very weird; 
>I've never dreamed about buying anything by KaTe or anyone else for that 
>matter!)

But it. You'll never regret it. I gotta do that too. I have BS,MH,HotB, and
SA, but this box set has things telling about how she does some of
her more bizzare things. In her HotB movie, there is one part where
she plays her body. Meaning her entire body is turned into one big percusion 
instrument. The best part is in the end where she bangs on her head, and
then gnashes her teeth real hard. In the box set I read that her glasses
had mic on it, so her whole head served as a sounding chamber.

>
>a station, one last man managed to get in.  He stepped in, looked around,
>and said, "This must be the place" with the "proper" rhythm and stresses.
>I thought it was hysterical!

Maybe he was dreaming about Laurie.

--boris