Tell me. I'm tempted to get this.
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 2 August 2007 11:01 (5 years ago) Permalink
I saw it at a record store a few months ago and put it down. Scary :(
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 2 August 2007 12:44 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've owned it for years and never actually put on the whole thing end-to-end, but I can't remember whether that's because it's not good or because I never had the time. Tell you what, I'm gonna give it a shot today and get back to you.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 2 August 2007 13:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
I, too, have owned it for years. I've listened to the whole thing a handful of times. I should rip it, I bet having quick and easy access will make me pull out random bits more often. Lots of cool spoken word bits, ALL of _Big Science_ and then some. Get it cheap.
― Mr. Odd, Thursday, 2 August 2007 13:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
Classic. Sometimes it's my favorite of hers. Also huge and long, which I think works in her favor.
― sleeve, Thursday, 2 August 2007 14:36 (5 years ago) Permalink
I was a youngster when my local radio station played the whole thing. I remember staying up til 4am flipping over tapes so I could get it all.
Tremendous piece of work, really imaginative. And catchy.
― Brakhage, Thursday, 2 August 2007 15:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
My verdict: Enjoyable, Not Essential. A lot of the best bits will already be familiar from Big Science, Mister Heartbreak, and Home of the Brave. The stuff in between is never bad and there are some fantastic little things that I don't think have been cherry-picked for other records. But it's quite a commitment as a listening experience so, I say, if you love Anderson, get it and enjoy it, I did. If you haven't already digested the studio albums from this period, I would say do them first.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 4 August 2007 02:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
i have the vinyl and as a result haven't listened to it in ages; but I certainly used to. there is a lot of stuff on there that never made other records, and a lot that did, but is here in a rawer and usually better form. classic, certainly
― akm, Saturday, 4 August 2007 03:01 (5 years ago) Permalink
I used to have the cassette boxset. there were a couple sides that had it going on, but it's been years since I've heard it.
buy it!
― Edward III, Saturday, 4 August 2007 03:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I think the vinyl effect is a big factor in my comments above - much as I love flipping records, ten sides is an awful lot of flipping!
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 4 August 2007 03:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
I have sentimental feelings about this thing, despite never owning it. It's one of the first things I remember hearing when I discovered college radio in 1985. More recently (within the last year) I started actually listening to bits of it for the first time since then. It's good fun. But I can understand if folks say listening to the whole thing would be a bit much. Also I didn't know that Big Science was just pieces of it. It was weird to hear "Sweaters" again. I had really forgotten that one entirely and it's fantastic.
― Bimble, Saturday, 4 August 2007 05:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
― Bimble, Saturday, 4 August 2007 05:30 (5 years ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, and she's hot on the cover.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 4 August 2007 05:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
otm
― President Evil, Saturday, 4 August 2007 08:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
I discovered college radio in 1985
Ok, that explains the similarities in taste. I did the same in the fall of 1984. And Laurie Anderson was also one of the first things I heard.
I'm definitely going to make the effort to listen to this set this week.
― Mr. Odd, Saturday, 4 August 2007 10:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
I did the same in the fall of 1984
Heheh, well not trying to play one-upmanship but actually it was fall of '84 for me as well, but for some reason I haven't been able to remember much from before Christmas of that year.
― Bimble, Saturday, 4 August 2007 16:24 (5 years ago) Permalink
I listened to US Live constantly during the fall of 1984. I had recorded it onto a series of 4 90-minute tapes (wich i still have) and I would put them in my Aiwa boombox on repeat during the night. There are a lot of really funny/spooky spoken parts that are unique to this record. The bit about being Jimmy Carter's lover, the Finnish farmers... Stumphenge...
Seriously, baaderonix, you should get it.
― sleeve, Saturday, 4 August 2007 16:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
how big was she on college radio at the time?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 4 August 2007 18:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
laurie anderson was fairly well known at that time - not huge, but people knew who she was - appearences on snl, etc. I remember seeing united states up front with the new releases in a sam goody's when it came out. I don't remember hearing her on college radio at the time, but it makes sense.
there are some lotsa good bits that aren't on the albums, "hey ah" and "difficult listening hour". iirc the version of "born never asked" is v v good.
in fact it's a perfect record for the digital age, it'd be easy to pull together your own united states mix cd. hmmmm....
― Edward III, Sunday, 5 August 2007 14:59 (5 years ago) Permalink
also, she was on warner bros, and 5 album releases were rare which got her some press. according to wikipedia, it reached 192 on the billboard 200. pretty good for a massive boxset. but it wasn't the kind of thing that was played on mainstream stations.
― Edward III, Sunday, 5 August 2007 15:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
Finally hearing this thx to magic of the internet and it's absolutely beautiful and brilliant.
― Me and Ruth Lorenzo, Rollin' in the Benzo (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 November 2008 14:59 (4 years ago) Permalink
i kinda wish she'd restage this
― akm, Monday, 24 November 2008 15:04 (4 years ago) Permalink
this thread made me pull this out last year and give it another listen. everybody should try to make it through this at least once. the ratio of good stuff to filler is surprising.
what I had forgotten is how effectively she shifts gears from the wacky ironic humor into straight up dread & longing. "song for two jims" is devastating.
and then there's "mach 20"...
Ladies and gentlemen, what you are observing here are magnified examples or facsimiles of human sperm. Generation after generation of these tiny creatures have sacrificed themselves in their persistent, often futile, attempt to transport the basic male genetic code. But where is this information coming from? They have no eyes. No ears. Yet some of them already know that they will be bald. Over half of them will end up as women. Four hundred million living creatures, all knowing precisely the same thing--carbon copies of each other in a Kamikaze race against the clock.
Some of you may be surprised to learn that if a sperm were the size of a salmon it would be swimming its seven-inch journey at 500 miles per hour. If a sperm were the size of a whale, however, it would be traveling at 15,000 miles per hour, or Mach 20. Now imagine, if you will, four hundred million blind and desperate sperm whales departing from the Pacific coast of North America swimming at 15,000 mph and arriving in Japanese coastal waters in just under 45 minutes.
― Edward III, Monday, 24 November 2008 18:26 (4 years ago) Permalink
When I was in high school our hipster creative writing teacher took us on a field trip to go to a Laurie Anderson concert. At the beginning of the show she informed the audience that flash photography wasn't allowed, then had the ushers pass out sketchpads and chalk for anyone who wanted to record images of the performance.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Monday, 24 November 2008 20:36 (4 years ago) Permalink
bought it on cd a long time ago. never listened to the whole thing. not sure if i will ever make it in one sitting.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 24 November 2008 22:02 (4 years ago) Permalink
Had to give a presentation in class today about postmodern theory and one of the assigned readings made reference to United States Live so I figured, what the hell, I'll break this thing out to get myself in the right frame of mind. Definitely my first listen since those 2007 posts above. Still sounds fucking great, and genuinely, strikingly weird in certain patches. Pretty low on bullshit. Moments of straight up brilliance. Note, I am only most of the way through disc two out of five so this may change. But I can strongly endorse it.
My roommate: "In the battle of which of us has the stranger music, I think you have prevailed."
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 02:56 (6 months ago) Permalink
haha oh man "Talk Show" is fuckin cool
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 02:57 (6 months ago) Permalink
I had this dream and in it my mother was just sitting thereCutting out pictures of hampsters from magazinesAnd some of the pictures of hamsters and pestsSome of the scenes were hamsters and some were in the backgroundShe's got a whole pile of these, these cedar chips, you know the kindThe kind from the bottoms of hamsters from hamster cagesShe's gluing them onto the frames for the picturesShe glues them together and frames the pictures and then hangs them over the fireplace That's more or less her methodThen suddenly I realise that this just her way of suggesting to meThat I should become a Structuralist FilmmakerWhich I had you know planned to do anyway
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 03:03 (6 months ago) Permalink
It's also cool because, I mean, I love Big Science but it's weird to take this sprawling body of material and boil it down to a collection of (largely) discrete tracks. The tracks here are also generally pretty discrete but things come in and out of focus; there are less demanding passages that waft along and then something more coherent comes into focus. I guess this happens in a smaller way on the studio albums but clearly the scale is just so different.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 03:05 (6 months ago) Permalink
Also, I've probably rambled about this before in reference to "O Superman" or maybe T-Pain, but the vocal effects here have this incredible quality of conveying the warmth and humor and fears and desperations of a human being pressing their face up against and through the machine. It has as much to do the full, rich sounds of the synths as it does with the vocal performance, I think. Digging it on "Let X=X" right now for example - - - there's nothing at all sterile or mechanical about that sound no matter what else is going on in the content.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 03:15 (6 months ago) Permalink
WhO TORe UP ALL MY wALLpaPER SAmPleS??!
god, this is great
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 03:23 (6 months ago) Permalink
whenever I am at a loss, "it was up in the mountains" never fails to reassure me and make me feel better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwZ9mpzaSQU
starts at the 4:00 mark
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Wednesday, 24 October 2012 04:01 (6 months ago) Permalink
who ate all... the grapes?!
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 04:35 (6 months ago) Permalink
transcript of "mach 20" upthread cuts out just before my favorite favorite favorite line in almost anything ever:
How would they be received?
current runs through bodies, and then... it doesn't.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 04:46 (6 months ago) Permalink
hooray i have a listening plan for this evening now
― rhino what boys like (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 24 October 2012 11:04 (6 months ago) Permalink
:( I feel like I will never see a live concert of hers
― flamboyant goon tie included, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 12:38 (6 months ago) Permalink
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 04:35 (9 hours ago)
almost typed this last night!
yeah I need to listen to this again
― sleeve, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 14:01 (6 months ago) Permalink
figured it was my responsibility
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 14:03 (6 months ago) Permalink
wallpaper through grapes has to be the highlight of this whole thing, I was in stitches. Just now starting side eight though.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 14:23 (6 months ago) Permalink
seeing her on friday :D
― these wilburys taste like wilburys (donna rouge), Wednesday, 24 October 2012 16:50 (6 months ago) Permalink
I saw her once in the 80's (for Strange Angels), once in the 90's around the time of The Ugly One With The Jewels (that show was amazing), and once around 2004 or so with a more stripped down solo show. I need to see her sometime this decade to keep my streak going.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 24 October 2012 18:53 (6 months ago) Permalink
have you ever really considered
how much
your buildings
actually
weigh?
― c21m50nm3x1c4n (wins), Monday, 1 April 2013 19:10 (1 month ago) Permalink
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 1 April 2013 19:45 (1 month ago) Permalink
Never listened to this -- but it's on Spotify.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 2 April 2013 10:51 (1 month ago) Permalink
then sit bolt upright in that straight-backed chair
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Tuesday, 2 April 2013 11:38 (1 month ago) Permalink
Hard to do packed like sardines on the Green Line to Boston. But I am trying.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 2 April 2013 12:19 (1 month ago) Permalink
Hahaha I am trying to listen to this straight through on spotify but having it interrupted by a dude yelling at me about "advanced auto parts!" every 3 songs is kind of ruining the flow.
― My Chemical Romance did 9/11 (jjjusten), Tuesday, 2 April 2013 18:03 (1 month ago) Permalink
That's part of the album iirc
― c21m50nm3x1c4n (wins), Tuesday, 2 April 2013 19:41 (1 month ago) Permalink
Yeah, does he found like he's yelling thru an Eventide H3000 harmonizer?
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 2 April 2013 21:58 (1 month ago) Permalink
The whole thing on Amazon for £9 on MP3. One click...
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 2 April 2013 22:21 (1 month ago) Permalink
I met this guy the other day. He looked like he might be a... part-ordering clerk at an automotive supercenter. Which...he turned out...to be. And I said... ''Oh boy... the right part, again.''
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 3 April 2013 14:23 (1 month ago) Permalink