Big Science

Bandersnatch on Netflix sent me here

I bought this in 1982 when there was no internet & you had to go to the record store (Import Section) to get this album . I was 23 when this came out, it was really weird for that era. But I loved this album. EVERYONE should purchase this album!!! Walking & Falling is great ! A must for anyone who thinks we were not hip, the bomb!!

Great to see that this release includes 'Walk the Dog' -- the original B-side to 'O Superman'

I had the SOng Superman as my answer machine greeter , really the VOICE DISTORDER

Twenty-five years after I first listened to Laurie Anderson, through the works on this album, Big Science still entertains and stimulates the mind. These works all interesting (something I don't find consistently true of her other albums) for their own sake--from the sarcasm of "From the Air" to the misleading minimalism of "O Superman." They also take me back to those years when digital synthesizers sounded new, portable CD players were $400 and weighed five pounds with the battery, T-fare was twenty-five cents, and college friends and lovers made this part of the soundtrack of our lives.

To call Big Science "quirky" is a little like calling an A-Bomb "loud and hot." While technically correct, the description utterly fails to describe the phenomenon. Laurie Anderson has been flying around just under mainstream media's radar (intentionally) for over three decades, occasionally popping up in eclectic settings like Saturday Night Live, Nickelodeon's "Rugrats," the Lifetime Network, and as NASA's first ever artist in residence (and last ever, thanks to a 2005 amendment by former Indiana Representative Chris Chocola). To contemporary listeners, the vocodered vocals and synthesized ambient settings of Big Science may seem almost quaint, yet the influence of Anderson's innovations on later popular music are undeniable. Electronic performers like Imogen Heap, T-Pain, Dido, and Moby owe a considerable debt to Anderson's undaunted experimentation, as exemplified by "Let X=X" and the classic "O Superman." Even at its weirdest, in the nails-on-the chalkboard nasal refrains of "Sweaters," the seamless blending of vocals and harsh violins presages Anderson's later (and more musical) collaborations with Bobby McFerrin, as well as McFerrin's solo vocal work. Fans of Allen Ginsburg and William S. Burroughs will appreciate the spoken-word experiments of "From the Air" and "Born, Never Asked," which showcase the deadpan wit that charms Anderson's fans and galvanizes her detractors. Tracks added in the 2007 re-release are "Walk the Dog," the highly avant-garde B-side of the "O Superman" single, and "Big Science 2," a new piece that transposes the original track into a decidedly 21st century context. For fans of Philip Glass, John Zorn, The Velvet Underground, and Brian Eno, this album is required listening. For those with more mainstream tastes, though, this album won't necessarily be easy listening. Laurie Anderson is an artist's artist, the kind of person Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, and Andy Kaufman might look to for inspiration during a dry spell. Big Science is avant-garde, unfettered and experimental. Much of it was created for live performance, and something IS lost in translation to audio-only. For a more aurally palatable introduction to Laurie Anderson, give a listen to her 1989 album, Strange Angels, and come back to Big Science when you like what you hear.

Incredibly pretentious flapdoodle lacking in both form and content. No singing here; just Anderson's lifeless voice-overs which are about as exciting as an airline attendant explaining how to close a seat belt, which they sound quite similar to. "From the Air" is for all intents and purposes, a skipping record that goes on for some four and a half minutes. THe themes expressed lyrically in "Big Science" were more poetically and effectively dealt with earlier by Peter Gabriel, and "Sweaters" sounds like something a spurned teenage girl might come up with her first day at band camp while still figuring out how how to play her instrument.

A review of this album must first point out that when released in 1982 the last two songs – “Walk the Dog” and “Big Science 2” – were not included, These have been added subsequently. I know because I have the original vinyl album. And, I must say, in my opinion they really add nothing to the original artistic endeavor. Having said this I can now substantively deal with the merits of this work, which are very considerable. Being a scientist by basic disposition and training, I have often balked at the common observation that artists interpret what surrounds us in new and insightful and meaningful ways that the rest of us, especially scientists, ignore or fail to see. Having a lengthy career focusing on science, research and its integration with what might be considered a more artistic orientation in the realm of design, I can now say I was wrong in having been so skeptical of the artistic disposition. Genuine artists do offer acutely insightful, and sometimes frightening, observations about the rest of us. In my opinion, this album is one such example that probably has no equal when it comes to elucidating the essence of Science – its goal of continual progress, its emphasis on controlling the environment, and its basically consensual and social nature (Big Science). And, of course, its most fundamental premise – fact versus illusion (Let X=X, or what is equivalent, X≠Y). It is most astute that what is the core of this album called Big Science is entitled “Let X=X.” But what is equally important is that in the original album on vinyl the last song is entitled “Let X=X/It Tango.” The two imperceptibly blend into one another, as they do on this release. Why I find this most important is that as soon as she is finished with her illumination of what science is all about (Let X=X) she moves right into a contrast between Art and Science with the dialogue of the “It Tango” and the traditional gender stereotypes for art and science in this culture. This is a marvelous work of art, and by now, it should be considered an historical document, aside from the fact it is wonderful music.

Listening to "O Superman" after 9/11 and realizing that it was written in 81 or 82 will send shivers down your spine. The record was WAY strange and beautiful at the same time. Give it a listen.

Even decades after its original release, this album works. If you are new to Laurie Anderson, this is the place to start, with her international hit "O Superman." If not, you already know that this is a group of tunes you can't live without.