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Life on a String
 
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Life on a String

Laurie Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews) | More about this product
Price: $18.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. One White Whale 2:02$0.99 Buy Track
listen  2. The Island Where I Come from 4:07$0.99 Buy Track
listen  3. Pieces and Parts 3:34$0.99 Buy Track
listen  4. Here With You 2:22$0.99 Buy Track
listen  5. Slip Away 5:50$0.99 Buy Track
listen  6. My Compensation 2:28$0.99 Buy Track
listen  7. Dark Angel 3:23$0.99 Buy Track
listen  8. Broken 3:19$0.99 Buy Track
listen  9. Washington Street 4:40$0.99 Buy Track
listen10. Statue of Liberty 4:24$0.99 Buy Track
listen11. One Beautiful Evening 5:05$0.99 Buy Track
listen12. Life on a String 2:57$0.99 Buy Track

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Frequently Bought Together

Life on a String + The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories + Big Science
Price For All Three: $52.95

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  • This item: Life on a String ~ Laurie Anderson

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    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Ugly One with the Jewels and Other Stories ~ Laurie Anderson

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    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Big Science ~ Laurie Anderson

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
  • Original Release Date: August 21, 2001
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Nonesuch
  • ASIN: B000050K9A
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #96,628 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A new Laurie Anderson album is usually a thing to welcome. Often less a performance artist than point person for global-village storytelling--as on 1995's The Ugly One with the Jewels--she's also demonstrated a high level of musical savvy. Life on a String's meld of Biblical references, New York wanderings, world rhythms, and chamber music doesn't cohere like it should, though. Caught between bemusement and empathy, Anderson's knack for nailing oddball details can lift her work beyond mere wit, but not here. On "Dark Angel," she damns consumerism with lines that would've been laughable even at the outset of her career in the '70s: "Look at all the things I bought / I'm feeling kind of lost." Her quoting "I'm a Little Teapot" on "One Beautiful Evening" sounds like self-parody, or the result of a lost dare with another artsy type. And is the observation that it's a small world but she wouldn't want to paint it supposed to sound fresh? For true Anderson wigginess and smarts, try Ugly One, or for that matter, her classic debut, Big Science. --Rickey Wright


Product Description

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track

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Customer Reviews

38 Reviews
5 star:
 (18)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (5)
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (38 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, August 21, 2001
By A Customer
I couldn't disagree with the Amazon reviewer more. This is a beautiful sonically textured and highly intimate work that reveals a more personal side of Laurie Anderson. While there is still humor and social commentary to be found, the music and lyrics don't hide behind glib irony, as some of her other work has. However you'd like to categorize it, this is pure and emotional music. And her violin playing is gorgeous. This is an album that will continue to reveal its colors as time passes, and won't date itself from trendy production.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Brims with musical ideas but is too inconsistent, August 22, 2001
By William Merrill "eclecticist" (San Antonio, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
Listening to Laurie Anderson's new disc, it's easy to remember her roots as an avant garde performance artist. Unfortunately "avant garde" often means challenging, intriguing music that you listen to only once. "Life on a String" has really cool packaging, marvelous sound quality, a top drawer collection of backing musicians, and a lot of interesting ideas. What it does NOT have is an album's worth of "Excellent Birds" kind of melodies you'll want to hear again in the future. The 21st Century Laurie Anderson seems to be interested in trying an even wider palette of song concepts and arrangements than usual, including a decreased emphasis on synthesizers and more on strings, vocals, and other sources. I thought I was missing the synths, but when they showed up on track six, "My Compensation," I wished they had stayed away. Besides the random electronic blips and blurps, the only character the song has is in Laurie's bland cadence of a vocal. One of the many impressive collaborators is Van Dyke Parks, but he and Laurie brought out the worst in eachother -- Parks contributing one of his generic "zipidee-doo-dah" orchestral arrangements to go with Anderson's wandering narrative on "Dark Angel." Terminally un-memorable. Then, FINALLY, things come to life on the last 4 or 5 cuts. For example, "Statue of Liberty" is a powerful meditation on a citizen's responsibility to speak out, made strong by a haunting melody, Ms. A.'s sorrowful violin, and subtle yet effective swashes of keyboard effects. If only the whole disc were made up of songs like those in the last third of the CD, this might have been a keeper.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Narrative Prose, September 9, 2001
By Jason Stein (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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Laurie Anderson's first proper cd since 1994's "Bright Red" continues the same half-spoken, half-sung stories she's been making since 1982's "Big Science". This time out the stories aren't as interesting, and the music doesn't grab you like her other efforts do. My bias in Anderson's catalogue is towards "Strange Angels" and "Bright Red". "Life On A String" seems somewhere between those other discs. This is not to say that this cd doesn't have its share of interesting tracks like "Slip Away", "Pieces And Parts", "The Island Where I Come From" and "One White Whale". Overall, it just felt like Laurie is sitting on the sidelines instead of being the innovator she usually is. However, any Laurie Anderson cd, including this one, is far more interesting than what's on the radio!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Quirky but Warmhearted
Just as I started to really appreciate this recording, fate intervened: the disk was swallowed by the CD player in our van. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Karl W. Nehring

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!
Laurie Anderson is a genius, but her music does not make you happy. It makes you think! It has a lot of sense of humor (O Superman, Experiment #22) and a little bit of beauty... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Daniel

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!!!
She shows you beauty and ugliness in its own true nest --- of hands, not eyes.
And then shows you how to take care of your own hands. Literally.
Published on October 29, 2005

4.0 out of 5 stars Artists evolve
I bought this C.D. with a little trepidation, because I was not sure what to expect. On my first listen, "Pieces and Parts,""One Beautiful Evening" and "Life on a string" became... Read more
Published on October 5, 2005 by Darren La Salle

3.0 out of 5 stars For Anderson Fans
This is a good album, but not great! I f you like Laurie Anderson, you'll like this album...but not love it. Read more
Published on August 11, 2005 by Neil B. Kalmanson

5.0 out of 5 stars who is ahab..? and who is the whale . .?
The only difference between God and Laurie Anderson is that a few people do actually listen to Laurie Anderson. And what a world of sound and meaning they listen to! Read more
Published on November 29, 2004 by Avant-Captain_Nemo

5.0 out of 5 stars She inspires and transcends.
laurie has long been one of my favorite artists. she has helped me conquer my bewilderment over the massiveness of space, time, and existence. Read more
Published on July 3, 2004 by Damien Bjorn Ruud

3.0 out of 5 stars Not artist's best
Laura Anderson's best attributes are delicious minimalism, unique story telling and her humor. This album is weaker than her previous work in all three.
Published on November 27, 2003 by Max Lloyd

4.0 out of 5 stars Take the time to listen
I bought this with eager anticipation when it first came out and was sorely disappointed. That was then, fast forward to some CD spring cleaning nearly two years later and giving... Read more
Published on June 13, 2003 by Enrique Torres

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing but redeemed
I'm a big fan from way back when (saw United States I-IV at BAM) and Laurie Anderson has been such a presence in my life it's a little sad to see her work decline. Read more
Published on February 4, 2003

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Life on a String
45% buy the item featured on this page:
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