Laurie Anderson
United States Live
Label ©  Warner Bros / Wea
Release Year  1984
Length  4:24:09
Genre  Avant-Garde
Personal Star Rating [1-5]  
  Live Recording Info  
  Ref#  L-0056
Bitrate  192 Kbps
  Other   Live Recording·
  Info  
    Track Listing:
      CD1:
      1.  
      		 Say Hello  
       5:01  
      2.  
      		 Walk The Dog  
       6:46  
      3.  
      		 Violin Solo  
       2:13  
      4.  
      		 Closed Circuits (For Voice And Amplified Mic Stand)  
       6:03  
      5.  
      		 For A Large And Changing Room  
       2:51  
      6.  
      		 Pictures Of It (For Acoustic Tape Bow)  
       1:31  
      7.  
      		 The Language Of The Future  
       8:02  
      8.  
      		 Cartoon Song  
       1:12  
      9.  
      		 Small Voice (For Speaker-In-Mouth)  
       2:03  
      10.  
      		 Three Walking Songs (For Tape Bow Violin)  
       4:20  
      11.  
      		 The Healing Horn  
       3:01  
      12.  
      		 New Jersey Turnpike  
       11:20  
      13.  
      		 So Happy Birthday  
       6:23  
      14.  
      		 English  
       2:08  
      15.  
      		 Dance Of Electricity  
       3:02  
      16.  
      		 Three Songs For Paper, Film, And Video  
       6:02  
      CD2:
      1.  
      		 Sax Solo (For Tape Bow Violin)  
       0:55  
      2.  
      		 Sax Duet  
       0:38  
      3.  
      		 Born, Never Asked  
       5:17  
      4.  
      		 From The Air  
       2:46  
      5.  
      		 Beginning French  
       2:16  
      6.  
      		 O Superman  
       11:05  
      7.  
      		 Talkshow  
       6:57  
      8.  
      		 Frames For The Pictures  
       1:08  
      9.  
      		 Democratic Way  
       1:41  
      10.  
      		 Looking For You  
       1:19  
      11.  
      		 Walking And Falling  
       1:21  
      12.  
      		 Private Property  
       3:04  
      13.  
      		 Neon Duet (For Violin And Neon Bow)  
       3:52  
      14.  
      		 Let X=x  
       6:17  
      15.  
      		 The Mailman's Nightmare  
       0:46  
      16.  
      		 Difficult Listening Hour  
       3:10  
      17.  
      		 Language Is A Virus From Outer Space (William S. Burroughs)  
       7:55  
      18.  
      		 Reverb  
       0:26  
      19.  
      		 If You Can't Talk About It, Point To It (Ludwig Wittgenstein & Reverend Ike)  
       0:33  
      20.  
      		 Violin Walk  
       2:44  
      21.  
      		 City Song  
       3:34  
      22.  
      		 Finnish Farmers  
       5:13  
      CD3:
      1.  
      		 Red Map  
       1:57  
      2.  
      		 Hey Ah  
       3:50  
      3.  
      		 Bagpipe Solo  
       3:17  
      4.  
      		 Steven Weed  
       1:05  
      5.  
      		 Time And A Half  
       2:14  
      6.  
      		 Voices On Tape  
       1:28  
      7.  
      		 Example #22  
       2:33  
      8.  
      		 Strike  
       2:11  
      9.  
      		 False Documents  
       1:59  
      10.  
      		 New York Social Life  
       3:32  
      11.  
      		 A Curious Phenomenon  
       1:06  
      12.  
      		 Yankee See  
       7:59  
      13.  
      		 I Dreamed I Had To Take A Test...  
       1:19  
      14.  
      		 Running Dogs  
       0:38  
      15.  
      		 Four, Three, Two, One  
       1:15  
      16.  
      		 The Big Top  
       2:52  
      17.  
      		 It Was Up In The Mountains  
       2:14  
      18.  
      		 Odd Objects (For Light-In-Mouth)  
       4:03  
      19.  
      		 Dr. Miller  
       5:18  
      20.  
      		 Big Science  
       7:20  
      21.  
      		 Big Science Reprise  
       1:47  
      CD4:
      1.  
      		 Cello Solo  
       2:44  
      2.  
      		 It Tango  
       1:51  
      3.  
      		 Blue Lagoon  
       9:39  
      4.  
      		 Hothead (La Langue D'amour)  
       4:47  
      5.  
      		 Stiff Neck  
       1:33  
      6.  
      		 Telephone Song  
       1:34  
      7.  
      		 Sweaters  
       3:58  
      8.  
      		 We've Got Four Big Clocks (And They're All Ticking)  
       2:24  
      9.  
      		 Song For Two Jims  
       2:56  
      10.  
      		 Over The River  
       3:31  
      11.  
      		 Mach 20  
       2:47  
      12.  
      		 Rising Sun  
       3:25  
      13.  
      		 The Visitors  
       3:02  
      14.  
      		 The Stranger  
       1:57  
      15.  
      		 Classified  
       5:26  
      16.  
      		 Going Somewhere?  
       0:55  
      17.  
      		 Fireworks  
       2:47  
      18.  
      		 Dog Show  
       0:48  
      19.  
      		 Lighting Out For The Territories  
       3:13  
    Additional info: | top
      For most musicians and groups, the live box set marks the culmination of a lengthy recording and concert career. Not so for Laurie Anderson, whose United States Live appeared in 1984, following her tenure in academic and bohemian circles and a small handful of releases on Warner Bros. and smaller labels. The release was an unusual event, though perhaps less so for a musician who seeks to upend musical traditions, most notably the distinctions between pop and classical, spoken and sung, live and Memorex. The lengthy set is a recording of a live performance composed of dozens of carefully defined experiments in form and technique, most of them fitting into one or two of these three categories: show pieces for items from her technological music arsenal (like her emblematic electric violin), witty narrative snippets (back when "spoken word" was called "performance art," prior to the rise of the poetry slam), and full-band performances, featuring, among others, Peter Gordon and David Van Tieghem. "O Superman" and "Big Science" are the familiar titles that appear amid the nearly 80 tracks. "Just a slow accumulation of details," her computer-enhanced voice intones moments before the intro to "Blue Lagoon" (later heard in a studio version on Mister Heartbreak). That makes a nice epigram for the collection as a whole, which is essential to understanding art music of the '80s in general and the New York scene in particular. --Marc Weidenbaum

      Review by John Dougan

      Once her popularity seemed assured, Warner Bros. felt safe releasing this five-record set (since reissued on four CDs) comprising United States' entire four-and-a-half hours. It's not the first place I'd recommend going to hear Anderson's work, but for those so inclined it's well worth the effort. Although live performances of United States included film segments that ran during some of her monologues, United States is about communication and how we interpret and use language. It's a bit pretentious, a tad long-winded, and its size makes it unwieldy to listen to in one sitting, but this is an important work loaded with enough insight, wit, and humanity to make relistening and re-evaluating worthwhile.
    Links/Resources | top