Laurie Anderson - Big Science.

Gosh. I thought there for a minute that it might be enough just to have the cover of the CD in the post and just leave it at that. The cover alone should compel you to run to a store, just to hear what is inside.

Laurie Anderson is the Demigodess of electronic music in our age and is therefore a Beached Kitty by honor and integrity. Each of our beaches owes a part of their soul to her . . . whether they know it or not. I had to place this here. As a signifier. As a Momento mori.

Seriously, there is room for this recording in any person's collection. There is a poignancy to this full record that resonates beyond time. And the small catch phrase at the bottom of the picture states this with intent. . .

"This is the time. And this is the record of the time"

Most people consider Laurie Anderson to be an avant garde performance artist staging large multi-media shows. Which in fact she is, but it is in her recordings that one finds the poet, the realist with and ear and eye to the normal. Her songs refract the world at large and with "Big Science" with its brilliant lyrics and pacing, a beautiful picture of the longing for an America that never was...

Or was it?

Twenty-six years later the space of the record is still fresh and breathtakingly simple. How interesting that minimalism is the reigning dance form again now. Today, yesterday and forever.

I was introduced to Laurie (followers always refer to her as Laurie) through a brilliantly twisted individual named John Tucker in 1986, when I was attending the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. John smoked More 120's Superlong Cigarettes and grew up outside of Jacksonville, Florida. Every so often we used to jump in his car and drive south to dance at a club by the beach called Einstein a Go-Go.

They played Matt Bianco, Siouxie, Depeche Mode. One night we made the DJ play 'O Superman.'

"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."

The songs creates a reverie. A strong sensory displacement that captures and holds every moment. It can make me cry.

This wonderful re-master on Nonesuch Records is just in time to start YOUR fixation on someone that might be a missing piece of the puzzle. Timeless. Integral. Intelligent.

Also, one of the most humorous stand up performances available on CD.