Big Science (album)

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Big Science
Studio album by Laurie Anderson
Released	1982
Recorded	The Lobby, The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre	Avant-garde/Experimental/Pop
Length	38:19
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Laurie Anderson, Roma Baran
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Robert Christgau (A-) link Music Box link Pitchfork Media (8.7/10) link Rolling Stone link
Laurie Anderson chronology
You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With (1981) Big Science (1982) Mister Heartbreak (1984)

Big Science is the 1982 debut album by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson. It is best known for the 8-minute epic "O Superman", which reached #2 in the UK. The album is minimalist and monochrome in sound, and like a great deal of Anderson's work is based largely on spoken word. It is a selection of highlights from her eight-hour production, United States Live, which was itself released as a 4-LP box set and book in 1984. United States Live was originally a performance piece, in which music was only one element. After Big Science music played a larger role in Anderson's work.^[1]

Although considered her debut album, Anderson had previously recorded one side of a 2-LP set entitled You're the Guy I Want To Share My Money With, a collaboration for Giorno Poetry Systems with William S. Burroughs and John Giorno. She had also contributed two pieces to a 1977 compilation of electronic music.

A newly remastered version of the album was released on 18 June 2007 by Nonesuch Records with new liner notes, a bonus track, "Walk the Dog" (which was the B-Side of the original "O Superman" single), as well as the "O Superman" video.

The album has been sampled in a number of hip-hop songs:

• "From the Air" was sampled by Mr. Lif in the song "Home of the Brave" on his Emergency Rations EP. The song deals with political repercussions of September 11, 2001 playing off the original songs description of a plane crash descending into New York City.
• "Raspberry Fields" by Cannibal Ox contains a sample from "Sweaters."
• "This about the City" by cLOUDDEAD contains a sample from the song "Big Science."

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Personnel 2.1 Additional personnel 3 Sample 4 Charts 5 References

[edit] Track listing

All tracks by Laurie Anderson.

1. "From the Air" – 4:29
2. "Big Science" – 6:14
3. "Sweaters" – 2:18
4. "Walking & Falling" – 2:10
5. "Born, Never Asked" – 4:56
6. "O Superman (For Massenet)" – 8:21
7. "Example #22" – 2:59
8. "Let X=X/It Tango" – 6:51 ("Let X=X" – 3:51; "It Tango" – 3:01)

[edit] Personnel

• Laurie Anderson – vocals, vocoder, farfisa organ, percussion, Oberheim OB-Xa, sticks, violins, electronics, keyboards, handclaps, whistling, marimba
• Roma Baran – farfisa bass, glass harmonica, sticks, handclaps, casiotone, accordion, whistling
• Perry Hoberman – bottles and sticks, handclaps, flute, sax, piccolo, backing vocals
• Bill Obrecht – alto sax
• Peter Gordon – clarinet, tenor sax
• David Van Tieghem – drums, rototoms, tympani, marimba, percussion

[edit] Additional personnel

• Rufus Harley – bagpipes on 3
• Chuck Fisher – alto sax on 7, tenor sax on 7
• Richard Cohen – b-flat clarinet on 7, e-flat clarinet on 7, bass clarinet on 7, bassoon on 7, bari sax on 7
• Leanne Ungar – backing vocals on 7
• George Lewis – trombones

[edit] Sample

[edit] Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1982	Pop Albums	124
1982	UK Albums	29

[edit] References

1. ^ Susan McClary. "Laurie Anderson", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed September 1, 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).