Laurie Anderson - Live In New York

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Music reviews of Live In New York

Music Review: Beautiful...
Rating: 5 Stars

At the beginning of the set, Lori dedicates the music to the
"opportunity we all have to truly understand the events of
the past few days" (i.e. Sept. 11), and the themes of not knowing "what comes next" surfaces and resurfaces time and
again throughout the length of the concert(s) from which
these cds hail. In the opening song "Statue of Liberty" (from "Life on a String") Lori states with a slight tremble
in her voice, "Freedom is a scary thing. So precious. So
easy to lose". In "Let X=X" the line "I feel like I am in
a burning building" takes on new meaning, while when Lori
sings "Big changes are coming, here they come" at the end
of "Strange Angels" it's hard not to see what this would have
meant both to her and to her audience on that particular evening. Personally, the most emotionally charged moment for me is on "Love Among the Sailors", especially the line, "And if this is the work of an angry God, I want to look into his angry
eyes" which is uttered with such intensity that I can't help
feeling a shutter every time I listen...

There's definitely something for everyone on these 2 cds,
from long-time Anderson fans to "initiates" who are looking
for a good introduction to her art and music (though
perhaps the best place to start is with the "Talk Normal"
anthology). For those that like Lori's spoken word pieces, there's "Wildebeests", "Animals" and "Beginning French", while
those that enjoy her work with Brian Eno will be happy to
see that there are no less than three pieces from "Bright
Red" (1994) covered here (both "Poison" and "Puppet Motel"
have been reworked) and, of course, the unlikely super-hit "O
Superman" is here too, with all of it's bitterly
ironic lines.

The only warnings/reservations I have about
this set are 1) the fact that the vocals do not sound as flawless here as
they do on her studio albums (though the emotional intensity with which
she sings more than makes up for it, IMO) and 2) her voice
is mixed way in front, which may put some people off.
Otherwise, highly recommended. It goes without saying that this one is absolutely essential to long time LA admirers.

Description of Live In New York

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Miscellaneous
• Pop
• Rock