Deep In The Heart Of Darkest America

Who knew People Magazine would print an article I'd actually want to see: I had no idea that Laurie Anderson finally wed Lou Reed last spring after all these years. Although I've been a big fan of both throughout most of my young life, it was purely coincidence that I managed to snag a used copy of the remastered version of Anderson's 1982 debut album Big Science just yesterday, which I have had on vinyl for eons and played an integral part in my college soundtrack. Quiet Sunday mornings on campus when my roommate was out of town was spent reading the paper and listening to Big Science and, if I was in a particularly wacky mood, her rare B-side "Walk The Dog", which backed her 1981 UK hit single "O Superman (For Massenet)". Laurie, an American avant-garde artist, sculptor, comic book artist (Baloney Moccasins in the 1970's) and audio engineer, was less interested in making commercial pop music than art until Big Science producer Roma Baran convinced Anderson that "Art objects were elitist and expensive. Records were cheap! Everyone could get the same work of art for almost nothing." and so the birth of Laurie's career as a musician/artist began.

Anderson's themes concerning technology, ambition, shifting authority, and loss of identity in 20th century America are prevalent in nearly all of her works, after spending many years traveling and exploring (hitchhiking to the North Pole, working on tobacco farms in rural Kentucky, living in a yurt in Chiapas, sleeping in public buildings to document her dreams, experimenting with pranks with her old friend Andy Kaufman) to come to terms with the country of her origin and the people who live in it. "O Superman (For Massenet)" was her masterpiece, but the flipside "Walk The Dog", now a hidden bonus track on the remastered Big Science, was the song that first truly charmed me to pieces towards Anderson's work. And it used to annoy the holy hell out of my roommate, especially when she was trying to type up a term paper while it was playing.

So enjoy "Walk The Dog", now finally remastered and available for commercial pop music consumption! It should be noted for first-time listeners that Laurie often uses vocoders and pillow speakers in her mouth to alter her voice, sounding at times like a small child, a male counterpart, or an entire choir if need be. Positively schizophrenic it is. Am I the only one that laughs every time I hear this?

"Walk The Dog" by Laurie Anderson (MP3 file)
File available for 7 days.