Strange Angels (Laurie Anderson album)

Last updated
Strange Angels
Laurie Anderson-Strange Angels.jpg
Studio album by
Laurie Anderson
ReleasedOctober 24, 1989
Genre Art pop
Length46:04
Label Warner Bros. (25900)
Producer
Laurie Anderson chronology
Home of the Brave
(1986)		Strange Angels
(1989)		 Bright Red
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide A [2]
Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Strange Angels is the fifth album overall and fourth studio album by performance artist and singer Laurie Anderson, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1989.

Contents

With this release, Anderson attempted to move away from her previous image as a performance artist into a more musical realm. At one point, she considered the idea of compiling film soundtracks around her house into an album. She reckoned that this process would take a few weeks to complete, but ultimately decided to move in a different direction that relied more on melodies. Anderson took singing lessons after realizing that one of songs required it. "I was working on a song and it was turning out kind of slick. It was something I never released. The back-up singers did their part and I stepped up to the mic and realized that the song should be sung. It was a little late to have the realization that I had no idea how to sing." [4]

The album includes contributions from vocal artist Bobby McFerrin. Its cover photo was shot by Robert Mapplethorpe, who died several months before the album's release. One of the songs on this album, "The Dream Before" (also known as "Hansel and Gretel Are Alive and Well") had been introduced several years earlier in her short film What You Mean We? while she had performed "Babydoll" and "The Day the Devil" years previously on Saturday Night Live .

"The Dream Before" contains the phrase "history is an angel being blown backwards into the future" and further references and quotes Walter Benjamin's musing on Paul Klee's painting Angelus Novus, the ninth of Benjamin's Theses on the Philosophy of History .

Release

Reaction to Anderson's new direction was mostly positive. Publications such as the Rolling Stone Album Guide noted Anderson's pivot to a more "musical approach" that relied more on singing than talking. [3] Robert Christgau of Village Voice gave Strange Angels an A rating and said that the album contained her most "mellifluous music she's ever recorded." [2] Her next album would not be released for five years.

Strange Angels received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. [5] [6]

Track listing

All lyrics and music composed by Laurie Anderson; except where indicated

  1. "Strange Angels" – 3:51
  2. "Monkey's Paw" – 4:33
  3. "Coolsville" – 4:34
  4. "Ramon" – 5:03
  5. "Babydoll" – 3:38
  6. "Beautiful Red Dress" – 4:43
  7. "The Day the Devil" (Anderson, Peter Laurence Gordon) – 4:00
  8. "The Dream Before" – 3:03
  9. "My Eyes" – 5:29
  10. "Hiawatha" – 6:53

Personnel

Technical

"Babydoll"

The lyrics to this song appeared on the liner for the vinyl recording, centered and formatted into the shape of a doll. [7]

Music videos

In lieu of filming a standard music video to promote the album, Anderson instead taped a series of 60-second "Personal Service Announcements" in which she humorously discussed the economy and American culture. She later produced a music video for "Beautiful Red Dress".

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References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1990). "A". Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s . Pantheon Books. ISBN   0-679-73015-X . Retrieved August 16, 2020– via robertchristgau.com.
  3. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Fireside Books. pp. 18–19. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  4. ↑ Prasad, Anil. "Laurie Anderson - The Big Picture". Innerviews: Music Without Borders. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Pareles, Jon (January 11, 1991). "Grammy Nominees Announced". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 30, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2010.
  6. ↑ "33rd Annual GRAMMY Awards". Grammy. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  7. ↑ Anderson (1989). Strange Angels (vinyl). Laurie Anderson. Warner Bros. 25900.
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