Laurie Anderson

[viewpnt!echelon!henrik@uunet.UU.NET (Larry DeLuca)]

I think her early music can be summed up in one word: "Communication".

She's more thematically consistent than any other artist I've encounterd -
almost every "song" from her first couple of albums (and certainly the
overriding theme of _United States_) is "Communication".  How people
communicate with and understand one another, and how they misunderstand
one another.

Things like "The New Jersey Turnpike" come to mind, with its descriptions
of the old couple driving cross-country and the bit about "The Red Zone"
and the bus drivers' strike.

She seems to hold experience up like a hand in front of a lightbulb, and
then ask the question:  "See that vein there?  Where's it going?  What's
on its mind?  Do you think it will be happy when it gets there?"

She's also one of the few artists who constantly recycles ideas within
view of the public eye - if you listen to _United States_ you can pick
pieces of songs out that made it not only to _Big Science_, but to
_Mister Heartbreak_, _Home of the Brave_, and even _Strange Angels_.

Her newest album (_Strange Angels_) was both a logical progression and
a radical departure.  Logical progression in that there were a couple of
musical snippets from previous ventures (the opening chords to
the one with "Some people walk on water / some people walk on broken glass"
- the title escapes me at the moment), her thematic focus has broadened
a bit, but essential still are those nuances of human interaction -
"I want Stereo FM / installed in my teeth / and take this mole off my back /
and put it on my cheek".

Radical departure in that it occasionally has a more overt political
sensibility ("The Day The Devil Comes...") comes to mind.  Radical
in that the production is so *lush*.  It's mind-bogglingly beautiful,
but much deeper musical water than we're used to from someone who's
spent most of her musical career sandblasting skeletons of sound to
streamline them further.  Radical in that she *sings* (and quite well,
I might add).  Radical in that it's probably much more readily accessible
than much of her previous work (like "Gravity's Rainbow", "From The Air",
"Example #22", "O Superman", etc., where you need a lot more background
to really absorb the import of what she's getting at).

I recommend her video collection - I got a copy of it, and it's a Jolly
Good Romp through her head - it includes things like Laurie and The Clone,
regular videos like "Beautiful Red Dress", bits of interview footage,
and a series of "Public Service Announcements".

					larry...