Good morning everyone, Sean here. Welcome to Retrospective.
Today we're going to wander through the work of not only a great musician, but also a great storyteller, and in my opinion one of the great American poets: Laurie Anderson.
It's Not the Bullet That Kills You, It's the Hole - 3:49
1976
http://www.ubu.com/sound/anderson.html
You just heard the first Laurie Anderson song I recall ever hearing myself - her 1976 recording "It's Not the Bullet That Kills You, It's the Hole". Originally pressed to 7 inch for an art installation involving a jukebox full of her compositions, this is one of the earliest and rarest of Anderson's recordings.
Laurie Anderson was born on June 5, 1947 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago. After relocating to New York City in the late 60s during college, she became a fixture of the performance art and avant garde music scenes there during the 70s, which of course were then and remain deeply intertwined.
Most of her recordings from this period went unreleased or were so rare as to be essentially out of print immediately. It wasn't until her 1982 release "Big Science" that her music became more widely available and more widely known. Up next is the song that that kicks off that record, entitled "From the Air".
From the Air - 4:33
1982
Big Science
Let X=X - 3:50
1982
Big Science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlZvkpcvMKM
If you're just tuning in, welcome to Retrospective. This time around we're exploring the music of Laurie Anderson. That last track was "Let X=X", from her 1982 release "Big Science".
Anderson followed "Big Science" with "Mister Heartbreak" in 1984. This time around and an impressive bunch of collaborators turned up to participate: Bill Laswell, Anton Fier, Adrian Belew, Peter Gabriel, Nile Rodgers, even William S Burroughs, to name a few. Here is the first song off "Mister Heartbreak", entitled "Sharkey's Day".
Sharkey's Day - 7:47
1984
Mister Heartbreak
Language Is a Virus - 4:16
1986
Home of the Brave
Ramon - 5:06
1989
Strange Angels
You just heard the song "Ramon" from Laurie Anderson's 1989 record "Strange Angels", and before that "Language Is a Virus" off of her 1986 album "Home of the Brave".
Next we'll hear a pair of tracks from Anderson's 1994 release "Bright Red". Not long before recording this record, Anderson and her eventual husband Lou Reed began dating. In fact, he contributes vocals to one of the later songs on the record - but this show isn't about Lou Reed, so forget about that for now. This is the title track, "Bright Red".
Bright Red - 3:13
1994
Bright Red
Puppet Motel - 3:09
1994
Bright Red
Following up the title track from "Bright Red", that was one of my personal favorite Laurie Anderson pieces - the delightfully sinister..."Puppet Motel".
Next we'll hear the title track from her 1995 live album "The Ugly One With the Jewels and Other Stories". Although this is the only truly live recording I'll play today, it's worth mentioning that almost all of her studio recordings were originally part of larger performance pieces - this record in particular is excerpted from a London performance of her piece "Stories from the Nerve Bible".
The Ugly One with the Jewels - 5:06
1995
The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories
As a longtime resident of New York City, it goes perhaps without saying that Laurie Anderson was deeply affected by the events of the 2000s. Her 2010 album "Homeland" arose out of her attempts to make sense of America in the form of yet another performance piece. Here are two tracks off that record: "The Lake" and "The Beginning of Memory".
The Lake - 5:39
2010
Homeland
The Beginning of Memory - 2:45
2010
Homeland
As you might already know, Laurie Anderson's husband, Lou Reed, died in October of 2013. In 2015 she directed the film "Heart of a Dog", an examination of mortality, memory, and the human condition in the guise of a eulogy to her beloved rat terrier Lolabelle. We'll leave you today with a track from that film's soundtrack, entitled "Facebook".
Thanks for listening. This has been Retrospective: the Music and Stories of Laurie Anderson.
Facebook - 1:36
2015
Heart of a Dog