I still hate every Laurie Anderson song!

[skinnytie]

[quote][i]Originally posted by ghosty[/i]
<br>Laurie Anderson always reminded me of Yoko Ono but with some actual talent. I saw her on SNL back in '85 (I think?) and I thought she was pretty amusing. Performance Art all the way, I'd never listen to her without seeing her perform. Would'nt make sense.
[/quote]

I saw this same performance, and I thought she was personable, good stage presence, and the songs were actually accessible. I was tempted to get the record those songs were on, but never did. I was never a fan of "O Superman" and never will be, but this performance put her in a whole new light for me. Maybe not for everyone, but certainly not to be dismissed, either.

[golfer]

I have seen hundreds,if not thousands of musicians, artists and bands perform live. For me, Laurie Anderson must rate in the top 10 for originality of performance. No, she doesn't have the obligitory light show or portayal of "energy" that many seem to think is a prerequisite for a worthwhile concert. Nor does Laurie have theage old three and a half minute pop song that one can sing along with and dance to. I was a witness to the the "Home Of The Brave" concert tour at the Sydney Opera House from the "follow spotlight" box and was blown away by her use of music and performance as an art form. The things that she did within the stage performance concept I had never seen anybody do before and/or since!! It is so hard to explain here but if one could see her perform then one would understand her contribution to music as an art form and not a product.
It is disappointing that Nero Lance can't find anything worthwhile in Laurie Anderson. If he/she could state that they channel thier hate towards someone like George W. Bush, then I would understand. To say she is pretentious, what is that? I think Nero Lance is just intimidated that he/she has to think and realize that there someone doing something very different, not unlike the The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Kraftwerk or even Throbbing Gristle. A bad singer? What is a good singer? Elvis? Robert Smith? Hugh Cornwell? Michael Stipe? Cant tell what her songs mean? Does a song have to mean anything? If you're looking for meaning try Dylan Or Joni Mitchell.
Nero Lance, look a little deeper into the artistic side of the art called music and you may get a greater appreciation of most performances.
Now I can live my life better now that I have got this of my chest!!!!

[siouxmoux]

Her style of music is too weird for my tastes.

[manekineko]

My roommate, Sue, had Mr. Heartbreak twenty years ago. I grew to like it, especially Sharkey's Day. Sue went to see Laurie Anderson in concert, and I always regretted that I couldn't go, because I felt that I would have more fully appreciated her work if I had experienced it with all my senses, not just by hearing it.

I have an album by David van Tieghem, who performed drums/percussion for Laurie. I haven't listened to it in close to twenty years, so I can't even remember if I liked it.

[randy]

Sorry--I happen to love the Big Science lp. From the Air and Big Science being my favorites. I was not too thrilled with Mr Heartbreak--too much Gabriel influence for me. Now HE is what I call pretentious.(His lp with Games Without Frontiers, Not One Of Us, Biko and I Dont Remember WAS great--after that he should have given up!!)

[Kash]

I GIVE UP..Gabriel pretentious?????!!!!!!!!!! the guy is pure genius!!!!!!!!

[schwenko]

[quote][i]Originally posted by randy[/i]
<br>Sorry--I happen to love the Big Science lp. From the Air and Big Science being my favorites. I was not too thrilled with Mr Heartbreak--too much Gabriel influence for me.
[/quote]

Randy, you took the words right out of my mouth! O Superman and Big Science are great. I think that also you need to take the context into consideration. This is from 1980/1982. For some people just hearing it today they just might not "get it".

[bruiser]

i'll keep it short and sweet:

you have short attention spans.
in the late seventies her approach was pioneering, not pretentious.
enjoy your flock of seagulls, yokels.

[;)]

[n/a5]

Look I just can't stand her. Don't question my ability at appreciating art. Do I have to love every art work/artist to be artistic? I like Vermeer much more than Rembrandt....in fact I hate Rembrandt's final years of work...does that now make me a George W. Bush lover? Cocteauu Twins, Bel Canto, Xymox, Massive attach and M83 (thanks again Nate!) are all about not doing a 3 minute lolliPOP song and I just adore them. As for the performance aspect of it I never saw her live....BUT NOTE: The title of this thread reads I hate [her] songs!

[n/a5]

[quote][i]Originally posted by golfer[/i]
<br>I have seen hundreds,if not thousands of musicians, artists and bands perform live. For me, Laurie Anderson must rate in the top 10 for originality of performance. No, she doesn't have the obligitory light show or portayal of "energy" that many seem to think is a prerequisite for a worthwhile concert. Nor does Laurie have theage old three and a half minute pop song that one can sing along with and dance to. I was a witness to the the "Home Of The Brave" concert tour at the Sydney Opera House from the "follow spotlight" box and was blown away by her use of music and performance as an art form. The things that she did within the stage performance concept I had never seen anybody do before and/or since!! It is so hard to explain here but if one could see her perform then one would understand her contribution to music as an art form and not a product.
It is disappointing that Nero Lance can't find anything worthwhile in Laurie Anderson. If he/she could state that they channel thier hate towards someone like George W. Bush, then I would understand. To say she is pretentious, what is that? I think Nero Lance is just intimidated that he/she has to think and realize that there someone doing something very different, not unlike the The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Kraftwerk or even Throbbing Gristle. A bad singer? What is a good singer? Elvis? Robert Smith? Hugh Cornwell? Michael Stipe? Cant tell what her songs mean? Does a song have to mean anything? If you're looking for meaning try Dylan Or Joni Mitchell.
Nero Lance, look a little deeper into the artistic side of the art called music and you may get a greater appreciation of most performances.
Now I can live my life better now that I have got this of my chest!!!!

[/quote]

Golfer...while I hate her songs I would be the first to defend her right to perform and your right to listen to her. Just because I don't like her music doesn't make me a right-wing fascist bent on burning books and censoring music. Art is meant to be loved and hated....I never produced anything artistc so I respect Laurie for peddling (what in my view is crap) her music and art because whether liked or loathed its her we are talking about and not Bio-Electric Feedback (my high school band back in the 80s).

I bet you Laurie lovers listened to her all weekend right? Perhaps I started a mini Laurie revival. If so: I want my 10% Laurie!

[n/a5]

http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/

Now here's a performance artist! Her mininumalist style and retiscent vocal stylings remind me of the sweet innocence of a vaudvillian play about the fun of being a hobo ridin' the rails. Her art is such that it can nary be understood except by those blessed with swelling intellects and absolutely gignormous heads.

[n/a5]

I don't want this migrate over to page two just yet. Some of the newbies may be Laurie fans and may never see this. So I am bumping it up with this reply. If it dies it dies....here I come page 2!

[lbworshiper]

Laurie Anderson is one of the most unique artist of our time. I always tought that I was alone until I got the internet...For over twenty years Anderson's work has been called "avant garde." How is it possible, one might ask, to remain "in advance of the front," even as the front itself is continuously advancing?

I had a chance to catch Anderson's hometown performance of The Speed of Darkness a couple of years ago, and I think I may have the beginning of the answer to that question.

Since 1975, when the song "O Superman" launched her recording career by rising to No. 2 on the British pop charts (and then appearing on the first of seven albums for Warner Bros.) Anderson has taken her unique blend of art, music and poetry to the far ends of the earth.

Yet the tiny woman with the unruly hair who stood before me on stage, flanked by banks of speakers and engulfed in electronics, had definitely come home that night. During her 90 minute performance, she appeared to move effortlessly in and out of many characters, changing from audio to visual to even sensory stimulation of her audience; the reverberations of the sound effects and music coming up through the floor of the performance hall literally tingled the heart.

She seemed tireless, playing a conglomeration of key-boards, electronic violin and digital processors as a single instrument, and weaving stories from her travels around the world, as well as around the World Wide Web, with songs, bits of poetry, and subtle humor.

Her choice of material too, seemed particularly suited to a hometown performance. There were familial references throughout, from the poignant, When my father died we put him in the ground/When my father died it was like a whole library burned down, to the comical -- how a website questionnaire to determine whether your grandparents are aliens put Anderson's own relatives into a whole new light, so to speak.

Generally, though, the theme of The Speed of Darkness was Anderson's questioning the future of technology in, and as, art. An artist whose work has for so many years been associated closely with technology, she might seem an unlikely candidate to initiate a discussion on its appropriateness in art.

But Anderson is an artist who embraces the paradoxical: she has said that her "unplugged" performance "has only about 50 plugs...," and that her work often seems surreal only because it is so unexpectedly like real life.

Anderson's message was, by the end of her incredible performance, not that technology itself is meaningless, but that its use by the hordes at the end of the late 20th century techo-culture, is too often banal and worthless. "Maybe," as she said in the performance, "artists should start thinking about using some new tools."

As one of the most innovative artists of our time, Laurie Anderson may just be the one to discover those tools, lead us to the next artistic frontier, and truly remain among the "avant garde."

I remember where I came from
There were burning buildings and a fiery red sea
I remember all my lovers
I remember how they held me
World without end remember me

- the opening lines of The Speed of Darkness from her 1994 recording, "Big Red."

[golfer]

Nero Lance.....ok, you hate lauries songs.Peter Gabriel, pretentious......you're an idiot!!![8D]

[n/a5]

[quote][i]Originally posted by golfer[/i]
<br>Nero Lance.....ok, you hate lauries songs.Peter Gabriel, pretentious......you're an idiot!!![8D]
[/quot



I like Peter Gabriel! And be nice....I never called any one an idiot for likin gher music.[;)]