Laurie Anderson - O Superman

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

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Mugatu

Mugatu

Talented but flawed
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Having a quick trawl back through some stuff for the Eighties rates brought up this genuinely rather bizarre (in a good way, I think) effort. Had no idea that something like this could end up at #2 (in 1981), I've never heard anything else like it have so much success. It sounds a bit HAUNTING, actually, just her all alone with the vocoder.

 
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An amazing song, and yeah I can't believe it actually managed to get to #2 in the charts.

The end is so desolate and sad.
 
God I haven't heard that for YEARS

It's no less WEIRD than it was at the TIME
 
Yup, every bit as bizarre as it was when it was released. And she must be every bit as odd as her music given that she married Lou Reed...
 
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I have the album that this came from. This is actually the most commercial thing on it.

It's alright, but you very much need to be IN THE MOOD...
 
'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
 
Giving this a spin today, what an incredible piece of... is it music? What is music? But is it art, Eddie?

I need to get into Laurie, I've heard Big Science in full and thought it was great, but need to revisit. That's the best starting point isn't it?

As has been mentioned in this thread, how on earth did this reach #2? According to discogs there wasn't even a commercially released radio edit.

I love the loon theory that she predicted 9/11 with this song, by the way.

Here come the planes...
 
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Marilyn said:
I need to get into Laurie, I've heard Big Science in full and thought it was great, but need to revisit. That's the best starting point isn't it?
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Oh my God absolutely yes, you MUST. She is truly the goddess of all. Her greatest albums from my perspective are 'Big Science', 'Bright Red' and 'The Ugly One With The Jewels' (although the others contain many flashes of marvellousness) and I love the latter so feverishly that it would be the album I'd choose if I were only allowed to keep one, not least because of THIS



And suddenly I realised that she thought we were in OUTER SPACE
Looking DOWN AT THE STARS
And I said, "You know, I think those lights down there are the lights from LITTLE TOWNS"

Never has anyone been so FUCKING CAPITALISABLE :disco: :disco: :disco:
 
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Marilyn said:
I love the loon theory that she predicted 9/11 with this song, by the way.

Here come the planes...
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It's not really a loon theory

THEY'RE AMERICAN PLANES

9/11 was forseen by others too before it happened
 
Suomi said:
It's not really a loon theory

THEY'RE AMERICAN PLANES

9/11 was forseen by others too before it happened
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Well I said loon to make it sound like I thought it was rubbish but honestly if you catch me at the right time I'll admit I BELIEVE.

Smoking or non-smoking?

You mean like the SMOKE coming out of the WORLD TRADE CENTRE Laurie? HMM?
 
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Mugatu said:
:D!

Finally some more TRUTHERS around here. Has anyone ever heard of this secret group called the Illuminati?
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It's like everybody in this party shining like Illuminati

65473351.jpg


What's that HAND SYMBOL Laurie?
 
Susan-Claire Rayners Lane said:
And suddenly I realised that she thought we were in OUTER SPACE
Looking DOWN AT THE STARS
And I said, "You know, I think those lights down there are the lights from LITTLE TOWNS"
Click to expand...

Since posting in this thread I've been Laurie-ing it up with the Talk Normal anthology, which is mostly excellent if not a bit of a slog to get through all in one go. It's also a bit like watching random scenes from different movies - I imagine I'll get more out of the proper albums.

This little GEM is one of the highlights. Although I'm kind of annoyed Laurie tells the woman they're not in outer space :D
 
One of my dad's favourite songs, heard it as a child and thought it was the most bizarre and wonderful thing. So touching despite not having a CLUE what it's about (Apart from alerting the world to a terrorist atrocity twenty years later OBVS)
 
For the terribly morbid of you here's a performance of it she did in New York a week after 9/11.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tpSl7yJZ_HA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
So I was at a record fair on the weekend and I saw Su's aforementioned desert island disc, The Ugly One With The Jewels so I grabbed that shit and listened to it today at work. It was ASTOUNDINGLY good. I was actually sad when it ended and I'm usually willing albums to end around the 40 minute mark no matter how great they are. After it finished I listened to Enya for a bit and then I went straight back and listened to Laurie again, which is also something I never do. I can't remember the last time I listened to the same album twice in one day.

I hope Laurie talks the way she does on record in her everyday life. Just imagine the stories she tells to her avant garde artist friends over coffee

The other DAY, I was in my HOME in NEW YORK CITY

And I couldn't find my GLASSES

And I was searching

All around

For my GLASSES

I was looking ALL OVER my HOME

And then

SUDDENLY

I REALISED

The glasses I was looking for

Were on top

Of my HEAD

*creepy noise*
 
:disco: FABULOUS

Oh DO give us a top five, Maz. It really is her MEISTERWERK
 
A top five from just that album? After listening once a day every day since I bought it...

1. The Ouija Board
2. The Night Flight From Houston
3. The End Of The World
4. Word Of Mouth
5. The Ugly One With The Jewels

But it's hard to think of it as separate tracks, it's just wall to wall fabulosity

I've since delved into the United States box set and the post-9/11 show, and will be exploring more studio albums ASAP :disco:
 
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