awesome, amazing album. can't see beyond o superman though
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:56 (nine years ago) link
ooh, very very hard to choose
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
Don't forget your mittens
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
bear in mind that i hold o superman to be amongst the greatest pieces of music ever made
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:58 (nine years ago) link
One of my favorite albums. I used to not like "Sweaters" but I can even get down with that one these days.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
"From the Air" is one of the greatest opening songs ever.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 October 2014 15:59 (nine years ago) link
If I had combined Let X=X and It Tango I probably would have had to vote for that.
― Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link
Voted "Let X=X" but then remembered
Hey, ProfessorCould you turn out the lights?Let's roll the film
― the man with the black wigs (Eazy), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:01 (nine years ago) link
From The Air IS one of the greatest openers ever too, yeah, and the last two are sensational as well
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:03 (nine years ago) link
The letter at the end of let x=x runs thru my head all the time
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
Like, I prefer "From the Air" to "O Superman."
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link
Every track on this rules
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link
well yeah
polling it is kinda harsh but any celebration rly
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:07 (nine years ago) link
was sind paranormaler tonbandstimmen?
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
"Superman" still probly the finest but it's all the finest, might've voted for the last 2 if conjoined, tbh mostly i listen to United States Live now tho maybe the versions on Big Science are better but there is much more of USL to revel in
― Chimp Arsons, Friday, 10 October 2014 16:40 (nine years ago) link
A while back someone posted a clip, now taken down I think, of some 80's public access music video show with these two teenagers who were SUPER EXCITED about playing "Let X=X," and it was one of the most adorable things I'd ever seen. So I'll vote for that.
― JoeStork, Friday, 10 October 2014 17:29 (nine years ago) link
i got this postcardand it readit saiddear amigodear partnerlisten uh i just wanna say thanksso thanks
― plax (ico), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:30 (nine years ago) link
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 10, 2014 8:59 AM (1 hour ago)
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:35 (nine years ago) link
Agreed! I voted the former anyway.
Is it just me or does anyone else get an elementary school teacher vibe from this album? Maybe it's just her voice or the storybook-like, matter-of-fact quality in many of the lyrics but I feel like it's a librarian singing to me or something.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
my teachers used to love the way I held my pens and pencils
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:54 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 16 October 2014 00:01 (nine years ago) link
God I really couldn't choose a track. This album is perfect.(cruel dad anecdote, I played my 8 and 12 year old daughters "From the Air" and made them listen to the lyrics. Wide eyed, mildly freaked out daughters.)
― MatthewK, Thursday, 16 October 2014 10:59 (nine years ago) link
I grew up listening to this, even attended a concert in utero (thanks mom!), I think "From the Air" was my favorite song from age 8-12
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 16 October 2014 13:55 (nine years ago) link
... That being said, I just celebrated a birthday, so it's gotta be "Born Never Asked"
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 16 October 2014 13:57 (nine years ago) link
your eyes--it's a day's workto look into them.your eyes--it's a day's workjustlooking into them.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:28 (nine years ago) link
i guess "from the air" is scary, i guess plane crashes are scary, but i've always gotten zero badvibes from it (this is true for me of laurie in general even tho she is so frequently talking about dystopia and catastrophe). was standing once alone on a rainy seattle streetcorner at 4 AM waiting for a bus to catch a train and thinking about jumping off a bridge and this part (quoted above, extended here) cheered me up so much let's call it saving my life:
captain says: put your hands on your headput your hands on your hips(heh.)this is your captain.we are going down.we are all going downtogether.and i said, uh-oh.this is gonna be some day...stand by.
think of the inflection of the last two words in basically every emergency now. anyway voted for title track.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:36 (nine years ago) link
That must've been a difficult listening hour.
― Eric H., Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
so sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair. button that top button. and get set for some difficult music.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
Difficult listening hour is a Laurie Anderson song!
Xp that one
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
should have ballot polled this album
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:18 (nine years ago) link
I would participate in a laurie anderson ballot poll
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:22 (nine years ago) link
only got this, bright red and tightrope :(
latter two are cool but they're not monumental like this
where would one head from BS
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:23 (nine years ago) link
uh, strange angels even. thought tightrope was the title track. or is it? idk
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link
What's the name of the one with "Sharkey's Day"... Mr. Heartbreak, that's the one. Groovy stuff.
― Vomits of a Missionary (bernard snowy), Thursday, 16 October 2014 19:53 (nine years ago) link
love sharkey's day/night and "blue lagoon" off mr. heartbreak. some great stories on the ugly one with the jewels, partic the title track and the live "same time tomorrow" closer, which reuses chunks from big red (when my father died they put him in the ground. when my father died it was like a whole library had burned down.) but ties them together into something more crushing imo. as a whole those albums are a lot harder to listen to than big science tho.
homeland is prob major. "only an expert" is way preach-laurie and iirc feat.s lou reed guitar squalls.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:24 (nine years ago) link
also united states live is a whole universe, big science is the prettier (better) sampler tray.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:28 (nine years ago) link
"only an expert" is great, I like how it starts off whimsical and gradually reveals its complete pissed-offness
my favourite track off homeland is "another day in america" which for some reason isn't on the spotify edition of the album
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link
homeland also has
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBUXTVVDDw
a tiny... clock.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:30 (nine years ago) link
xp!
xp was just about to say, imago you should absolutely listen to united states
haha ok we're on the same page
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:31 (nine years ago) link
and you know the reason i really love the stars?it's that we cannot hurt them.we can't burn them, or melt them,or make them oooooooooooooverflow.we can't flood themor burn them upor turn them out.but we are reaching for them.we are reaching for them.
― difficult listening hour, Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:37 (nine years ago) link
;_;
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:38 (nine years ago) link
Also, you certainly might enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osHBA6YAHAo
― the man with the black wigs (Eazy), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:38 (nine years ago) link
ok I'll give those three albums a spin over the next few days
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:40 (nine years ago) link
speedballs, accidents and hesitations...
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 20:41 (nine years ago) link
I chose the fucking hit.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:05 (nine years ago) link
I'll fucking hit you in a minute
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:06 (nine years ago) link
not really
― 龜✊ (wins), Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:07 (nine years ago) link
Meanie.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:07 (nine years ago) link
This record meant the world to me at 14 and still does at 46.
To this day, when I meet a German-speaker, I'm "oh, I know a little German... Beispiele paranormale Tonbandstimmen."
Almost impossible to choose. Sod it, Sweaters.
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:09 (nine years ago) link
US LiveMr. HeartbreakHomelandUgly OneBright Red
in that order imo
― sleeve, Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:11 (nine years ago) link
I'm a big fan of "Langue D'Amour" off Mr. Heartbreak.
And this is not a story my people tell.It is something I know myself.And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.
As I think dlh was saying upthread, there's something tremendously comforting about listening to her, even when the subject matter is dark/unnerving/tragic. I don't think it's just the teacher-voice, it's something like: this person has put a lot of consideration into what she is doing, she is telling me these stories for a reason, and she has absolute faith that I will get something worthwhile out of them. There's this consistent feeling of having a really reliable and experienced person in your corner. I don't know, maybe this just means she's the platonic ideal of a teacher.
― JoeStork, Thursday, 16 October 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 17 October 2014 00:01 (nine years ago) link
when I am feeling low I put on "It Was Up in the Mountains" from United States Live Part 3
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Friday, 17 October 2014 00:51 (nine years ago) link
I couldn't choose in this one. Same thing happened on the Remain in Light poll.
― warning, #4 can't be unseen (WilliamC), Friday, 17 October 2014 00:58 (nine years ago) link
God I love how she takes you out of yourself, but so gently you don't realise how far out you go.
― MatthewK, Friday, 17 October 2014 12:26 (nine years ago) link
I'm already down for ballot polls on Bjork and Badu, otherwise I'd volunteer for a Laurie Anderson one.
― Eric H., Friday, 17 October 2014 13:21 (nine years ago) link
No votes for "Walking And Falling"? Ah well, the US Live version is far superior anyway.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 18 October 2014 02:31 (nine years ago) link
This is one of those albums that I keep meaning to eventually get around to listening to. 'O Superman' is brilliant, of course.
― Welcome To (Turrican), Saturday, 18 October 2014 03:29 (nine years ago) link
got the time?
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:05 (nine years ago) link
it goes that's the way it goesit goes that way
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:08 (nine years ago) link
i was living out in west hollywoodwhen the hollywood strangler was strangling women.every nightthere was a panel discussion on tv about the strangler:speculations about his habits,his motives,his methods.one thing was clear about him:he only strangled women when they were alone.(or with other women.)and the panel members would always end the show by saying:now for all you women.listen.don't go outside without a man.don't walk out to your car.don't even take the garbage out by yourself.always go with a man.then, one of the eyewitnessesidentified a policeman as one of the suspects.the next night, the chief of police was on the panel.and he said:now for all you women.whatever happens,do not stop for a police officer.stay in your car.if a police officer tries to stop you, do not stop.keep driving.and under no circumstancesshould you get out of your car.for a few weekshalf the traffic in l.a.was doing twicethe speed limit.
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:40 (nine years ago) link
comic timing = perfecto
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:43 (nine years ago) link
modey kind of a guy
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:44 (nine years ago) link
the canadians took this very seriously
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:45 (nine years ago) link
banging those little... gavels they've all got
how would they be received?
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:46 (nine years ago) link
first he tells you what will happen and thenit actually happens
― D-4(y)0 (wins), Saturday, 25 July 2015 22:48 (nine years ago) link
you know,to be really safe,you should always carry a bombwhen you get on an airplane.because the chances of there being a bomb on a planeare pretty low.but the chances of there being two bombsare almost miniscule.
― playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 4 August 2015 09:57 (nine years ago) link
so good
― JoeStork, Friday, 21 August 2015 23:55 (nine years ago) link
so this 1980 radio performance of united states that came out the other month
http://www.clear-spot.nl/item/420550/anderson_laurie_walk_the_dog_live.html
it's awesome
― hasid matzos temple (wins), Monday, 19 October 2015 23:20 (eight years ago) link
Track list: 1 . INTRO 2 . SAY HELLO 3 . WALK THE DOG 4 . VIOLIN SOLO 5 . CLOSED CIRCUITS 6 . FOR A LARGE & CHANGING ROOM 7 . THE LANGUAGE OF THE FUTURE 8. CARTOON SONG 9 . WE ARE TAPPING YOUR LINE 10 . SWEATERS 11 . IT WAS UP IN THE MOUNTAINS 12 . FRAMES FOR THE PICTURES 13 . BEGINNING ITALIAN 14 . UNTITLED INSTRUMENTAL 15 . DOG SHOW / LOOKING FOR YOU 16 . NINA SIMONE (?) 17 . DEMOCRATIC WAY 18 . THREE SONGS FOR PAPER, FILM & VIDEO 19 . I CAN DRAW YOU SO THAT YOU HAVE NO EARS 20. WALKING AND FALLING / ENGLISH 21 . I DREAMED I HAD TO TAKE A TEST 22. SAX SOLO 23. FOR A LARGE & CHANGING ROOM (REPRISE) 24. OUTRO
― Hideous Lump, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 05:30 (eight years ago) link
that was floating around as a torrent for a while, afaik it is the only other recording of the US Live show
― sleeve, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
i assume that's a "grey area" bootleg of some kind? looks goooood though.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 14:26 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I saw that pop up on Amazon the other day, it's def not sanctioned
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 17:58 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/movies/laurie-anderson-is-telling-stories-hers-and-ours.html?_r=0
Mr. Reed hovers in the background of the two works Ms. Anderson has brought to New York City this month: the film “Heart of a Dog,” opening Wednesday, Oct. 21, and an installation work, “Habeas Corpus,” at the Park Avenue Armory on Oct. 2-4. In “Heart of a Dog,” Ms. Anderson quotes David Foster Wallace: “Every love story is a ghost story.”
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 22:50 (eight years ago) link
Along with her own work, she has a legacy to tend: 800 hours of Mr. Reed’s old recordings, which she wants to make available online, as well as unpublished plays and photographs.
― one way street, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 23:02 (eight years ago) link
(...also posted a few minutes ago in the Lou Reed thread, I see now.)
― one way street, Tuesday, 20 October 2015 23:03 (eight years ago) link
― lool at the herrlich (wins), Friday, 10 October 2014 17:10 (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― forgive me fader for I have sinned (wins), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
Paranormal tape voices?
― it's the distortion, stupid! (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
thx
― forgive me fader for I have sinned (wins), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:29 (seven years ago) link
Julia Heyward was better
― Iago Galdston, Friday, 16 December 2016 22:31 (seven years ago) link
One of the few polls I've seen on here where #1 and #2 seem pretty OTM.
― Everything Moves Towards The Sun (Ross), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:34 (seven years ago) link
ranking in general probably mirrors my own although I might have the title track higher
― forgive me fader for I have sinned (wins), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link
If I had to keep one Anderson track it might be "the dream before" from strange angels, the Benjamin paraphrase with the male vocal coming in is just... every time
― forgive me fader for I have sinned (wins), Friday, 16 December 2016 22:39 (seven years ago) link