Laurie Anderson - Mister Heartbreak

A record I'd be happy to stock till the end of times, Laurie Anderson's brilliant, weird and radiant second album. Zero hit, just 7 perfect genre-defying songs. Stone-cold classic from an absolute GOAT.

One of the most heartwarming pop culture trivia I can think of is the fact that in november 1981, in the early days of Thatcher's dreadful reign, a debut single by a NYC downtown artist reached number 2 in the UK singles chart. That song was a 8:21 minimal meditation on the US empire, loosely based on an aria from Jules Massenet's Le Cid - needless to say the weirdest piece of music to ever reach the top of the charts. 

Laurie Anderson became a widely known figure, that people would loosely associate with the likes of Bowie and Eno. Mister Heartbreak is a follow-up to her breakthrough Big Science LP, and without surprise, it came with no surprise hit. Instead, all the sonic experimentations in pop minimalism from Big Science, were furthered and amplified on this second album, reaching a probably-never-attained-before height of spoken word maximalism. But the most prodigious achievement of Laurie Anderson and a ridiculous dream-team of collaborators (from Peter Gabriel and William S. Burroughs to Sang Wong Park and Nile Rogers) is the permanent radiance and utter joy the LP bathes in.

Behind the cathode-ray tubes, lies a subliminal tropical paradise, Laurie tells us. Thrilling and appealing, it's nonetheless a dangerous place as one can easily be lured by its sirens. But what's best, poisoned ecstasies or the grim reality of Reagan's grinning America? (NM/VG+)

Tracklist

1. Sharkey' Day
2. Langue D'Amour
3. Gravity's Angel
4. Kokoku
5. Excellent Birds
6. Blue Lagoon
7. Sharkey's Night