Ultimately that is what makes Big Science such a great collection of work – the fact that Laurie Anderson understands the human condition and is able to comment on it so effectively. Any art that has the ability to strike a chord of recognition with its audience will achieve some level of distinction. The real test of art is the test of how well it stands up to the passage of years.
Some of you might make noises about how primitive the technology is on Big Science but that is irrelevant. Listening to it for the first time in more then twenty years I was struck again by how intelligent and insightful her lyrics are, and how all the pieces on the disc fit together. Big Science is not the work of a pop musician or rock star, it is a work of art as much as any painting hanging in a museum or poem in a book. It just comes in a different package than most still aren't accustomed to.
Get used to it, because Laurie Anderson is back with a brand new collection being released in 2008 on Nonesuch Records called Homeland and will be touring across North America in support. I hope she comes to my town.
The edition of Big Science that is being released on July 17th is what's known as an enhanced CD. So if you pop into an optical drive on your computer, or a DVD player that can handle that type of disc, you'll get a couple of special extras. The original video for "Oh Superman", which is brilliant and still blows anything else ever made since for a song out of the water, and the original "B" side track to "Superman," "Walk The Dog." You have to hear that one to believe it, I'm not even going to attempt to describe it.
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