Big Science

Laurie Anderson

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1982
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KNM
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,545 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Big Science prompted trendy early-'80s art students to plug in their synthesizers and start their own postpunk performance-art-cum-rock-&-roll projects. The album actually produced a hit single in the form of "O Superman." That track and "Let X=X" are the two best-known things from this album, which is a condensation of United States, Anderson's four-and-a-half-hour performance-art piece. The entire show is available as United States Live, a four-disc box set. Big Science, however, presents the cream of the crop. Although a lot of Anderson's shrill non sequiturs seemed annoying at the time of her breakthrough, she predicted techno music years before it happened. Still, as rock critic J.D. Considine pointed out, her creations are often closer to theater than to music. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic!, April 25, 2001

By	Brian A. Wolters (Cabot, Arkansas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having been a fan of different and "alternative" music, I was intrigued when I first saw the videos for "Sharkey's Day" and "O Superman" on MTV. I was just blown away. So, I went out and picked up my first Laurie Anderson album, Big Science. I was simply amazed at the quality and consistency of this album. I wanted to hear O SUPERMAN first, but when I started with FROM THE AIR, I didn't stop until the album was over. Mesmerizing is the best word I can think of in describing this album. While the lyrics may seem loony, they are actually very intelligent and thought provoking. One of the most haunting songs is BORN, NEVER ASKED. There is a line in that song that says, "What is behind that curtain?" This just underscores the simple yet fascinating aspects of Laurie's lyrics. I just never knew that I was "always falling when I was walking." If you didn't know that, then you must own this album. In fact, everyone should. This is simply a magical piece of art.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtakingly beautiful, like a white neon sculpture., April 23, 2000

By	Mark Renner (Laredo, TX) - See all my reviews

The strangeness of this album's lyrics, instrumentation and structure is eclipsed and made totally irrelevant by the absolute beauty and vision of the work. As others have said, Big Science is a highly "technological" album, using a lot of collage elements, which she often uses as the basis for her tracks. I'd say the most unusual example of this (with the exception of Example #22, which could've been a bonus track on Bjork's "Telegram" if it didn't pre-date it by more than a decade) is "O Superman" where she uses a tiny vocal sample less than a second long as a metronome over which she layers enigmatic lyrics and a beautiful, fluttering flute melody.

Another one of the most amazing songs on the album is "Sweaters" not for the lyrics, or for the melody, but because it manages to use the bagpipes in a serious way without trying to be cute or gimmicky, and without it sounding like Laurie is trying to get a (now-fashionable) "Celtic" sound. It's just used in a totally un-selfconscious way and it comes off beautifully.

The songs, while diverse in sound and structure, are all marked by a simplicity of design and a clean-lined beauty that is really a joy to listen to, again and again. (And believe it or not, this is coming from an 18-year-old who's only had this album for about 4 months. I was in diapers when this was released, which should give you some idea of this record's timelessness.)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sublime, June 28, 2001

By	ckdexterhaven (toronto canada) - See all my reviews

An essential album. Despite the enormous popularity that "O Superman" received as a single, everyone seems to have forgotten this astonishing album. It is not a curiosity, not simply weird or quirky; it's a masterpiece: a complex, lovely, and intelligent combination of poetry, humor, sound, and atmosphere. It avoids the most common mistake of spoken word + music attempts: rather than simply using the music as a background for the words, this album integrates the music with the words and with the rhythms of the sentences, enhancing every syllable with its presence. The style of the music is indescribable. While the tools are thoroughly 80's: low tech synth, strange electronic noises, etc, the music does not sound dated. Far from it, it seems ahead of our time as well as its own. The overall atmosphere is foreboding and surreal (as exemplified in the hit single "superman"): a plane without a captain in "from the air", a soulless city of cars and malls in "big science", and the kafkaesque themes of disorientation and mystery in "walking and falling" and "born, never asked". But it's quite diverse, and it's best moments go beyond mere atmosphere and into the sublime--as in the stunningly chaotic, infectious, and joyful "example #22" and in the deeply moving final tracks "let x=x" and "it tango". After listening to these last two tracks, you might discover that your feet are no longer touching the ground. There's a quality of anti-gravity in the music. It's easy to appreciate Anderson soley for her intriguing writing (marvellous lines like: "It's a sky-blue sky. Satellites are out tonight. Let x=x."), while forgetting to notice the role played by the music. This album is a brilliant musical creation, as well as a brilliant linguistic one. It deserves our attention.