I’ve absolutely loved Laurie Anderson since about 1987… but unfortunately almost everyone I meet has never heard of her.
I’ve seen her live once… and it was amazing…
Anyone else out there a fan?
Favorite song? Favorite album?
I have three CDs of hers:
- Big Science
- Mister Heartbreak
- Hi, Opal!
(Note: one of the above is not really a Laurie Anderson CD)
So, count me in as a minor fan. She is a very talented writer and performer, and I’d love to see her live. I’ve caught her on TV a couple of times over the years. There’s a huge amount of her work that I haven’t heard, however.
My favorite track from what I do know (actually two tracks, but they have a seamless transition) is "Let X=X / It Tango from Big Science. Actually, the track that I like the least on that CD is O Superman, which is probably her best-known piece.
I’m sure some other serious fans will come in to keep you company soon, OpalCat.
I’d recommend Strange Angels as your next buy 
I have AFAIK every CD she’s released, including United States Live and You’re The One I Want To Share My Money With which she recorded with William S Burroughs and John Giorno. I saw her in concert in Milwaukee a few years ago when she was touring with the Moby Dick material that is featured on Life On A String. Somewhere I have a bootleg of that concert which I naturally have no idea how it came into my possession.
So yeah, I’m a fan.
The only thing she’s done that I didn’t like was the movie for “Home of the Brave” and that’s just because I don’t like concert films. Oh, and I don’t like that she’s involved with Lou Reed because I think he’s kind of gross.
I like Laurie. A friend of mine got listening in '89. It’s been awhile though – her stuff is hard to find around here, and what I had disappeared a few years ago.
“…and at his funeral, all of his friends stood around, looking sad…but they were really thinking of the ham and cheese sandwiches…in the next room…”
plnnr: You’re freaking me out. I WAS GOING TO QUOTE THAT EXACT LYRIC but changed my mind.
Yeah, if you don’t have Strange Angels, rush out and get it – she sings!.
(I also love “Let X = X / It Tango” – I was disappointed it wasn’t on the two-disc greatest hits, which I asked for for my birthday a few years ago because I have all the early stuff on vinyl.)
We Virginians tend to think alike I guess.
I’ve seen her in concert twice. One was a fairly minimal, stripped-down song and story-telling show, the other was Moby-Dick, which was a multimedia presentation with a cast of singers and dancers that was kind of like seeing a Broadway musical based on the novel and attending a university lecture about it at the same time. Despite that rather unappetizing description, I really enjoyed it and was disappointed that there was no DVD release or even a “cast album”. (Life on a String contains only a few selections from the show.)
The CD I go back to most often is “Mister Heartbreak” (Peter Gabriel may have something to do with that). My favorite track is “Gravity’s Rainbow” (cited by plnnr above).
Another Virginian here.
A wonderful and unfortunately very limited edition CD earlier this year had 9 contemporary experimental music artists each doing a cover of “O Superman”. The results are absolutely amazing and the Laurie Anderson fans I’ve played it for have been 100% in awe of the homage. The label is “Staalplaat” and I believe, if I read the minute liner notes correctly, the CD was made in The Netherlands. “O Superman Remixes” is the title.
Worth the search if you can find a copy.
.
I like Peter Gabriel’s addition on “Mister Heartbreak,” but William Burroughs is an even better addition. “Mr. Sharkey, white courtesy telephone please.”
Saw her at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore in the 1980s, the “Talk Normal” tour. Impressive.
I have Big Science and I used to have a videotape of Home of the Brave floating around somewhere. So I guess that makes me a casual fan. I’d love to see her live!
There was a photo in the New York Times Magazine a few months back of Laurie and Lou. I googled for it to no avail. Laurie’s got a big smile on her face and looks like a normal person being photographed with their SO. Lou’s holding a dog–a basset hound who appears to be trying to escape and get to Laurie–and his expression is just priceless–“I’m holding the girlfriend’s dog and I’m pretty fucking grumpy about it, but I can’t say anything because, well, it’s the girlfriend’s dog.” It was funny and very endearing and humanizing to both of them. Here are two legends in their field–hell, Laurie practically invented a new field–and they’re just like everybody else. I wish I could find it again.
So why did it take me half an hour to remember the song is called “Gravity’s Angel”? I dunno.
The show I saw was in the late '90s and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was called. It was just her onstage though…
…she did a bit about an email exchange with some kid about liking sand… and collecting several “perfect” grains of sand… only to learn the kid’s age and realize he meant playing in sand… anyone know?
Hey, pal! Who tore up all my wallpaper samples? 
I got to see her Strange Angels show (the only time she’s played Nashville, dammit!:mad: ) and it was great! (Or maybe it was the acid that I was on at the time. 
)
If you can find a videotape of Two Moon July, it’s got her doing O, Superman on it, plus one other number. (The rest of the tape is worth watching just to see how bizarre some folks are.)
Whenever I record the greeting on my answering machine, I invariably say:
“Hi. I’m not home right now. But if you’d like to leave a message … just start talking … at the sound of the tone.”
… ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah …
Casual fan - about the time I started to become interested in her I just stopped buying CDs for some reason so I just haven’t heard much of her stuff except for the one CD I have (Big Science)
Not knowing anything at all about her, I went to a concert in Denver in the 80’s. I think it was the Mr. Heartbreak tour. She had a full band. It blew me away.
I saw her in Boston a couple of years later and was disappointed. It was just her, a keyboardist, and some backup singers who either didn’t know the material that well or weren’t that much into it.
Since then I’ve only really seriously listened to Mr. Heartbreak and my favorite song off of that is Blue Lagoon. The way it goes into this bit from Shakespeare’s The Tempest:
**Full fathom five, thy father lies;
of his bones are coral made;
those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade
but doth suffer a sea change
into something rich and strange… **
and then drifts off into this angelic musical reverie is magical. Langue d’Amour, Kokoku and Gravity’s Angel are other favorites from that album.