BIG SCIENCE

Laurie Anderson's debut solo album consists of her intoning her spoken word prose poems over a musical backing which reminds me of some of Brian Eno's ambient pop works (such as Another Green World). Essentially an edited extract from United States - a truly epic spoken word, music and performance art piece eventually issued in a 5-LP/4CD set some years after this came out - it's an intriguing album with a chilly, emotionless, analytical atmosphere. It certainly isn't the sort of material I can see myself spinning on a regular basis, but I can respect the musical vision at work here - it's just not going to hook you unless your aesthetic tastes happen to sync both with the minimalistic approach Anderson goes for and the stark production values.