Big Science (Laurie Anderson re-release)

"here come the planes . . . "

Are you familiar with avant garde electronic / spoken word artist turned surprise 1980s avant pop star (well, sorta) Laurie Anderson? If not, Nonesuch Records is hoping some music blogs direct your attention to her seminal work in advance of the re-release of 1982's Big Science. And I'm happy to oblige, being a fan of Anderson's early work, which included collaborations with folks who inhabited the early '80s downtown NYC avant jazz-funk scene like Bill Laswell, Arto Lindsay, Anton Fier (Golden Palominos, which included Zorn and turntablist D.St (aka Grandmixer DXT) in its first incarnation) and Peter Gordon (Love of Life Orchestra).

In the late '70s and early '80s, Anderson was an avant electronic composer and conceptual artist plugged into the downtown NYC music, visual, and performance art scene. She created a number of inventive electronic instruments, including the talking stick and tape bow violin. The latter, developed in 1977, uses a bow made up of different threads of audio tape containing prerecorded samples played over magnetic tape heads mounted to a violin bridge. How cool (and ahead of its time) is that?

Anderson created a 7 hour music and performance art piece titled "United States." One of the compositions from that epic piece, "O Superman," was released as a vinyl single in 1981.

And then a funny thing happened. Legendary UK DJ John Peel (rip) got a hold of a copy of the obscure track and hyped the hell out of it, pushing it to Number 2 on the UK charts. This lead to a deal with Warner Bros Records and the release of Big Science in 1982.

Big Science was made up of select tracks from United States (a four disc box set of that piece performed over two nights at the Brooklyn Academy of Music was released in 1984). Big Science includes tape loops, found sounds, analog synths, vocoder vocals, beats, handclaps, and quirky electronic rhythm tracks. As the re-release press kit notes, the album "anticipated the tech-savvy beats, anything-goes instrumentation and sample-based nature of much of the contemporary electronic and dance music that followed over the past 25 years" (not mere hyperbole).

A lot has been written about the social, cultural, and political themes in United States and Big Science. Anderson's work focused on political and social unrest in Reagan-era U.S. society and the broader themes of the relationship between alienating technology and human emotion, and the longing for security. The track "From the Air" includes images of planes falling from the sky, and "O Superman" featured an Art of Noise / Trevor Horn-like breathy, pulsating beat and the unsettling vocoder spoken word lyrics:

'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice
And when justice is gone, there's always force
And when force is gone, there's always Mom (Hi Mom!)

So hold me, Mom, in your long arms
In your automatic arms, your electronic arms
Your petrochemical arms, your military arms
In your electronic arms

On tour in 2001, Anderson happened to be in NYC a week after the 9/11 attacks. That performance was recorded and released as Live at Town Hall. Because of 9/11, Anderson, apparently with encouragement from her long-time companion Lou Reed, included "O Superman" in the performance. In addition to the above quoted lyrics, the original track also contained the suddenly chilling verse:

This is the hand, the hand that takes.
Here come the planes. They're American planes. Made in America.
Smoking or non-smoking? And the voice said:
Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night shall stay these couriers
from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

To pique your interest, Nonesuch sent out the track "Let X=X" for posting and free download. It's a great piece, complete with a handclap / electronic / marimba rhythm track, layered analog synths, and great vocoder vocals ("I met this guy who looked like he might have been a hat check clerk at an ice rink, which, in fact, he turned out to be. And I said 'Oh boy! Right again'").

Let X=X -- Laurie Anderson: Big Science (1982)

Anderson was included on the John Giorno / William Burroughs compilation You're The Guy I Want To Share My Money With. The last string of brief tracks from Anderson's portion the long out-of-print You're the Guy includes the avant "For Electronic Dogs," dense rhythm of "Drums," and the hilarious "Structuralist Filmmaker" -- all of which have been made available for free download through WFMU's UBU web. I have this on vinyl, and these tracks made their way onto one of my favorite mix tapes from way back when -- around the time I saw Anderson in college when she was touring in support of 1984's Mr. Heartbreak. That tape also included long out-of-print tracks from Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra, which would make for great post fodder if I ever get around to doing a vinyl conversion. Enjoy:

For Electronic Dogs / Structuralist Filmmaking / Drums: Laurie Anderson: You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With (1981)

Preorder Big Science from Amazon. The reissue includes the "O Superman" video and the original "O Superman" vinyl B-side track "Walk the Dog." Release date: July 17.


BONUS: Here's the M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade dance remix of "O Superman," included on the 5th Anniversary compilation album celebrating Berlin's Get Physical label. Check it out on emusic.

O Superman remix -- M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade (feat. Laurie Anderson)

p.s. "And suddenly I realized that this was just her way of suggesting to me that I should become a structuralist filmmaker, which I had, you know, planned to do anyway."
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