Big Science (Laurie Anderson album)

Big Science
Studio album by Laurie Anderson
Released	April 19, 1982 June 18, 2007 (reissue)
Recorded	The Lobby, The Hit Factory, New York City
Genre	Avant-garde, electronic, pop
Length	38:19
Label	Warner Bros. 23674 Nonesuch/Elektra Records (reissue) 79988
Producer	Laurie Anderson Roma Baran
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 and the first of a 7-album deal she signed with Warner Bros. Records. 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 5-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 titled You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With, a collaboration released on 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/Elektra Records with new liner notes, and, in the data portion of the CD, the bonus track "Walk the Dog" (B-Side of the original "O Superman" single) and 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 song's description of a plane crash.
• "Raspberry Fields" by Cannibal Ox contains a sample from "Sweaters".
• "This about the City" by cLOUDDEAD contains a sample from the song "Big Science".
• Brief snippets of "O Superman" were used by Cut Chemist in the introduction to his song "Spat".

Slant Magazine listed the album at #44 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".^[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
Robert Christgau	A− [4]
Music Box	[5]
Pitchfork	(8.7/10) [6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Track listing

All tracks by Laurie Anderson.

1. "From the Air" – 4:29
2. "Big Science" – 6:25
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)

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, timpani, marimba, percussion

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

Sample

	Big Science (reduced quality) from Big Science by Laurie Anderson, Warner Bros. 1982, Nonesuch Records 2007. Sample from Warner Bros. Label 1984 via iTunes
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Charts

Album

References

External links

• Big Science at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)