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Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: Laurie Anderson
Title: Mister Heartbreak
Released: 1983
Label: Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Time: 40:08
Producer(s): Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel
Appears with:
Category: Pop/Rock
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  1999.01.12
Price in €: 10,83
Web address: www.laurieanderson.com

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Sharkey's Day (Anderson, Laurie) - 7:41
[2] Langue d'Amour (Anderson, Laurie) - 6:12
[3] Gravity's Angel (Anderson, Laurie) - 6:02
[4] Kokoku (Anderson, Laurie) - 7:03
[5] Excellent Birds (Anderson, Laurie/Gabriel, Peter) - 3:12
[6] Blue Lagoon (Anderson, Laurie) - 7:03
[7] Sharkey's Night (Anderson, Laurie) - 2:29

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


LAURIE ANDERSON - Synthesizer, Percussion, Violin, Vocals, Whistle, Electronic Sounds, Bells, Synclavier, Vocoder, Artwork

DANIEL PONCE - Bells, Shekere
ADRIAN BELEW - Guitar
PETER GABRIEL - Synthesizer, Drums, Vocals, Background Vocals, Synclavier
BILL LASWELL - Bass
NILE RODGERS - Guitar
PARK SANG-WON - Kayagum
ANTON FIER - Drums, Tom-Tom, Wood Block
DAVID VAN TIEGHEM - Drums, Steel Drums
SANG WON PARK - Kayagum

BILL BLABER - Sopranino
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS - Vocals
CONNIE HARVEY - Choir, Chorus
JANET WRIGHT - Choir, Chorus
ATSUKO YUMA - Background Vocals, Choir, Chorus
PHOEBE SNOW - Background Vocals
MICHELLE COBBS - Background Vocals
DOLLETTE MCDONALD - Background Vocals
BRENDA NELSON - Background Vocals

MICHAEL GETLIN - Assistant Engineer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


A more pop-oriented record (there are songs here and musicians like Adrian Belew and Peter Gabriel), Anderson displays a functional singing voice that graces such wonderful songs as "Sharkey's Day" and "Excellent Birds" (a duet with Gabriel). More accessible than Big Science, but in some ways a record indicating that while she may not be a musician herself, Anderson certainly knows how to pick them, work with them, and challenge them. A thoroughly wonderful record.

John Dougan, All-Music Guide



"'Mister Heartbreak' has the patina of pop, thanks to Bill Laswell's production on "Sharkey's Day" and "Sharkey's Night", and to "Excellent Birds", a witty collaboration with Peter Gabriel."

ROLLING STONE ALBUM GUIDE ***1/2
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com



Laurie Anderson's Ultimate Artistic Collective

Originally released in 1984, Laurie Anderson's "Mr. Heartbreak" serves as both a creative break from the minimalist efforts of her previous work "Big Science", and as a wonderful group collaborative with some truly remarkable avante garde musicians and artists. Though Anderson is the acknowledged frontwoman, she has assembled a support unit that at times threatens to overshadow her genuine prodigious talents. Multi-instrumentalist and guitar wizard Adrian Belew provides a smart and dazzling backdrop for Anderson's deadpan musings; Peter Gabriel (at the time, a cult artist) duets and harmonizes on three of the seven tunes, and Dolette McDonald, fresh from a stint in the extended Talking Heads lineup, adds her perfect pitch to the shimmering environment. Perhaps best of all, the late author/ cultural icon William S. Burroughs cameos on the last track, "Sharkey's Night", his dry droll a perfect compliment to Anderson's urbane lyrics, many of which betray a personable optimism that seemed lacking in "Big Science". With this mass of raw talent at her disposal, one would think that Anderson would have been able to record at least ten high-quality tracks, however there are only seven present and of these, two (the excruciating Adam and Eve fable "Langue d' Amour" and the overdrawn "Kokoku") are instantly forgettable. Even with these drawbacks, "Mister Heartbreak" retains an artistic resiliency that can yet enthrall the listener almost 20 years after its initial release. Personal Favorites: the upbeat, rollicking world beat of "Sharkey's Day" and its crackling Burroughs counterpart, "Sharkey's Night". Representative Lyrics: "Well, we were just laying there/ And this ghost of your other lover walked in/ And stood there. Made of thin air. Full of desire." ("Gravity's Angel"); "You know, I can see two tiny pictures of myself/ And there's one in each of your eyes. And they're doin' everything I do." ("Sharkey's Night")

southwesternreview from El Paso, TX, February 1, 2000



A fine 'in-between' work

This studio record appeared between Laurie Anderson's performance works "United States I-IV" and "Home of the Brave", and as such, contains pieces that're part of both works in very different and often expanded forms. The version of "Langue d'Amour" that's here, for example, is much lusher and richer, and more complex, than its predecessor in "United States". This album sees Laurie stretching out in the studio, getting comfy with the potentialities, and adding players and arrangements that compound the complexity of her simple yet insightful 'songs'. You can't really call them actual _songs_, though; part narrative, part verse, part stream-of-consciousness observation, part near-dreamstate...all of these ranges of thought seem to go into much of Laurie Anderson's 'lyrics', especially on this album. And as for the music...it still retains much of its freshness, its stripped-down beauty. Arrangements here can sometimes bounce along with a sense of playfulness ("Sharkey's Day") or be so gossamer-thin that they almost seem like they might blow away in a strong wind-gust ("Kokoku"). The amazing thing here is how Anderson can be so strongly evocative when using just the most basic of musical gestures; every atmosphere she wishes to put across never fails to be communicated, although sometimes this varies for each listener, so multifaceted are some of her works on this release. This is probably the best introduction to her music, with "Strange Angels" being a close second behind this.

DAC Crowell from Champaign, IL, USA, April 10, 2000



Laurie's Best

Mister Heartbreak is Laurie Anderson's best album.It combines all the meditative atmosphere of her earlier work with greater melodic texture and colour, making this album an altogether more pleasurable (and popularly accessible) experience.Big Science contains some interesting moments, but "O Superman" is the best of these and is still too minimalist for this reviewers' taste. Mister Heartbreak sports three unmissably wonderful tracks:the darkly humorous "Langue d'Amour" ,which climaxes with a great vocoder sequence, the hypnotic Japanese chant of "Kokoku",and "Blue Lagoon", which is without a doubt Laurie Anderson's finest hour: a superb set of textures which make one almost physically feel as though one is lying in the sun on some desert island, which then builds to a synthesizer climax of crushing intensity, which, like all great music, has an effect which is perhaps impossible to put into words. Combining Anderson's meditation and musicality to the greatest extent,if there is one Laurie Anderson album you should buy , this is it. The only real complaint I have is that there seem to be a few seconds missing from the beginning of the first track - Sharkey's Day -, compared to when I first heard this cd back in the mid-1980s.Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Brian Precious from Hackney, London United Kingdom, June 4, 2001



Is five stars enough?

Laurie Anderson sings, Laurie writes, Laurie plays, Laurie thinks and Laurie entertains. Laurie Anderson is a contemporary artist, who put others in the shade of intellectual mediocrity. Performing art has always been a curious form but this artist takes it to a different plain. The CD kicks off with Sharkeys Day, a brooding, hypnotic and invasive sequence that gets to the nitty-gritty of the imagination. Excellent Birds with Pater Gabriel is exotic, unbound and subtly understated. But I just love Kokoku! Another tremendous album from one of my all time favorite artists and people.

Martyn Richard Jones from DENIA, Alicante Spain, February 28, 2001
 

 L y r i c s


Sharkey's Day

Sun's coming up. Like a big bald head.
Poking up over the grocery store.
It's Sharkey's day. It's Sharkey's day today.
Sharkey wakes up and Sharkey says: There was this man...
And there was this road...And if only I could remember these dreams...
I know they're trying to tell me...something.
Ooooeee. Strange dreams.(Strange dreams). Oh yeah.

And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear. I turn around aagain
And it's love. Oh yeah. Strange dreams.
And the little girls sing:Oooee Sharkey.
And the manager says: Mr. Sharkey? He's not at his desk right now.
Could I take a message?
And the little girls sing:Oooeee Sharkey. He's Mister Heartbreak.
They sing: Oooeee Sharkey. Yeah. He's Mister Heartbreak.

And Sharkey says: All of nature talks to me. If I could just
figure out what it was trying to tell me. Listen!
Trees are swinging in the breeze. They're talking to me.
Insects are rubbing their legs together.
They're all talking. They're talking to me. And short animals-
They're bucking up on their hind legs. Talking. Talking to me.
Hey! Look out! Bugs are crawling up my legs!
You know? I'd rather see this on TV. Tones it down.
And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.
I turn around again, and it's love.
Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

And Sharkey says: All night long I think of those little planes up there.
Flying around. UYou can't even see them. They're specks!
And they're full of tiny people. Going places.
And Sharkey says: You know? I bet they could all land
on the head of a pin.
And the little girls sing: Ooooeee. Sharkey!
He's Mister Heartbreak. They sing: Oooeee. That Sharkey!
He's a slow dance on the edge of the lake. He's a whole landscape
gone to seed. He's gone wild! He's screeching tires
on an oil slick at midnight on the road to Boston a long time ago.
And Sharkey says: Lights! Camera! Action! TIMBER!
At the beginning of the movie, they know they have to find each other.
But they ride off in opposite directions.

Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.
I turn around again, and it's love.
Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

You know? They're growing mechanical trees.
They grow to their full height. And then they chop themselves down.
Sharkey says: All of life comes from some strange lagoon.
It rises up, it bucks up to it's full height from a boggy swamp
on a foggy night. It creeps into your house. It's life! It's life!
I turn around, it's fear. I turn around again, and it's love.
Nobody knows me. Nobody knows my name.

Deep in the heart of darkest America. Home of the brave.
Ha! Ha! Ha! You've already paid for this. Listen to my heart beat.

And the little girls sing: Oooeee Sharkey. He's a slow dance
on the edge of the lake. They sing:Ooooeeee. Sharkey.
HEe's Mister Heartbreak.
Paging Mr. Sharkey. White courtesy telephone please.
And Sharkey says: I turn around, it's fear.
I turn around again, and it's love.
And the little girls sing:Ooooeee Sharkey. Yeah.
On top of Old Smokey all covered with snow.
That's where I wanna, that's where I'm gonna
That's where I'm gonna go.


Langue D'Amour

Let's see. Uh, it was on an island. And there was this snake.
And the snake had legs. And he could walk all around the island.
Yes. That's true. A snake with legs.
And the man and the woman were on the island too.
And they were not very smart.
But they were happy as clams. Yes.
Let's see. Uh...then one evening the snake was walking about
in the garden and he was talking to himself and he saw the woman
and they started to talk. And they became friends.
Very good friends.
And the woman liked the snake very much. Because when he
talked, he make little  noises with his tongue, and his long tongue
was lightly licking about his lips.
Like there was a fire inside his mouth and the flame
would come dancing out of his mouth.
And this woman liked this very much.
And after that, she was bored with the man.
Because no matter what happened,
he was always as happy as a clam.
What did the snake say? Yes! What was he saying?
OK. I will tell you.
The snake told her things about the world. He told her about
the time there was a big typhoon on the island
and all the sharks came out of the water. Yes.
They came out of the water and they walked right into your house
with their big white teeth.
And the woman heard these things. And she was in love.
And the man came out and said: We have to go now!
And the woman did not want to go. Because she was a hothead.
Because she was a woman in love.
Anyway, we got into their boat and left the island.
But they never stayed anywhere very long.
Because the woman was restless. She was a hothead.
She was a woman in love.
And this is not a story people tell.
It is something I know myself.
And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.
Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.

Oooo la la la.
Yeah La La La.
Voici. Voila'.
Here. And there.
Ooo la la la.
Oh yes.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.
Oooo la la la.
Oooo. Oh yeah.
La la la.
La la.
Voici. Voila'. la la.
Here it is. There it is. La la.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.

Ah! Comme ci, comme ca.
Ah! Niether here nor there.
Voila. Voila.
There. There.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.
Attends! Attends! Attends!
Wait! Wait! Wait!
Attends! Attends! Attends!
Wait! Wait! Wait!
Ecoute. Ecoute. Ecoute.
Listen. Listen. Listen.
Ooooo la la la la.
Ooooo. Oh yeah.
Ooo la la la la.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.
Voici le langage dans mon coeur.
This is the language of my heart.
Oooo la la.
Oooo. Oh yeah.
Voici le langage de l'amour.
This is the language of love.
Voici le langage dans mon coeur.
This is the language of my heart.
Voici le langage dans mon coeur.
This is the language of my heart.

Gravity's Angel

You can dance. You can make me laugh. You've got x-ray eyes.
You know how to sing. You're a diplomat. You've got it all.
Everybody loves you.
You can charm the birds out of the sky. but I, I've got one thing.
You always know just what to say. And when to go.
 Shark
But I've got one thing. You can see in the dark.
But I've got one thing: I loved you better.

Last night I woke up. Saw this angel. He flew in my window.
And he said: Girl, pretty proud of yourself, huh?
And I looked around and said: Who me?
And he said: The higher you fly, the faster you fall. He said:
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's angel.
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This  ugly train.

Well he was an ugly guy. With an ugly face.
An also ran in the human race.
And even God got sad just looking at him. And at his funeral
all his friends stood around looking said. But they were really
thinking of all the ham and cheese sandwiches in the next room.
And everybody used to hang around him. And I know why.
They said: There but for the grace of the angels go I.
Why these mountains? Why this sky?
Send it up. Watch it rise. See it fall. Gravity's rainbow.
Send it up. Watch it rise. And fall. Gravity's angel.

Well, we were just laying there.
And this ghost of your other lover walked in.
And stood there. Made of thin air. Full of desire.
Look. Look. Look. You forgot to take your shirt.
And there's your book. And there's your pen, sitting on the table.
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This ong road? This empty room?
Why these mountains? Why this sky? This long road. This empty room.


Kokoku

I come very briefly to this place. I watch it move. I watch it shake.
Kumowaku yamano. Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo.
Ushano kokoku. Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu.
Mountain with clouds. A cry. My voice.
Home of the brave. I'm here now. And lost.

They say the dead will rise again. And here they come now.
Strange animals out of the Ice Age. And they stare at you.
Dumbfounded. Like big mistakes. And we say: Keep cool.
Maybe if we pretend this never happened, they'll all just go away.

Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu. Mewotoji. Mewotoji.
Kikunowa kotori. Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo.
I am here in this place. Losing. My eyes are closed. Closed.
Birds are there. Hearing something. Shouting. My voice.
(And yet, we could all be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.)

Kumowaku yamano. Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu.
Kumiwaku yamano. Kikunowa kotori. Watashino sakebi.
Mountains with clouds. I am there. Lost.
Mountains with clouds. Birds are there. Hearing something. A shout.

They say the world is smaller now. Small world.
They say that man is taller now. Tall man.
They say the stars are closer now. Thank you, lucky stars.
You come very briefly to this place.
Jikanwa tomaru. Ushano kokoku.
Time is stopped. Home of the brave.

And on a very distant star, slimy creatures scan the skies.
They've got plates for hands. And telescopes for eyes. And they say: Look! Down
They say: Watch it move. Watch it shake. Watch it turn. And shake.
Watashiwa sokoni. Watashiwa asobu. Kumowaku yamano.
Watashino sakebi. Watashino koewo. Mewotoji. Mewotoji.
I am there. Lost. Mountains with clouds.
A cry. A shout. My eyes are shut. Shut.
And we say: Watch us move. Watch us shake. We're so pretty.
We're so pretty. We say: Watch us move now. Watch us shake.
We're so pretty. Shake our hands. Shake our heads. We shake our feet.
We're so fine. The way we move. The way we shake.
We're so nice.


Excellent Birds

Flying Birds. Excellent Birds. Watch them fly. There they go.
Falling snow. Excellent snow. Here it comes. Watch it fall.
Long words. Excellent words. UI can hear them now.
This is the picture.
I'm sitting by the window. Watching the snow fall. I'm looking out.
And I'm moving. Turning in time. Jump up!
And I can land on my feet. Look out! This is the picture.
This is the picture. This is the picture. This is the picture.

Looking out. I'm watching now. But when I see the future,
I close my eyes. I can see it now.
I see pictures of people rising up. I see pictures of people falling down.
I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads. They're ready!
I see pictures of people rising up. I see pictures of people falling down.
I see pictures of people, they're standing on their heads. They're ready!

They're looking out. Look out! They're watching out. Watch out!
They're looking out. Look out!
They're watching out. Watching watching out.

I see pictures of people. I see pictures of people.
They're watching. They're watching out. Watch out.
I see pictures of people. They're watching. They're watching out.
I see pictures of people. Watching. Watch out. They're watching.
I see pictures of people. Watching out. Watch out.
Pictures of people. They're watching out.


Blue Lagoon

I got your letter. Thanks a lot.
I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot.
Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.
Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island.

Days, I remember cities. Nights, I dream about a perfect place.
Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.
Full fathom five thy father lies. Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade.
But that suffers a sea change. Into something rich and strange.
And I alone am left to tell the tale.
Call me Ishmael.

I got your letter. Thanks a lot.
I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot.
Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island.
Days, I remember rooms. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon.

I saw a plane today. Flying low over the island.
But my mind was somewhere else.
And if you ever get this letter. Thinking of you.
Love and kisses. Blue Pacific. Signing off.


Sharkey's Night

Sun's going down. Like a big bald head.
Disappearing behind the boulevard. (Oooeee.) It's Sharkey's night.
Yeah. It's Sharkey's night tonight. And the manager says: Sharkey?
He's not at his desk right now. (Oh yeah.) Could I take a message?

And Sharkey says: Hey, kemosabe! Long time no see.
He says: Hey sport. You connect the dots. You pick up the pieces.
He says: You know, I can see two tiny pictures of myself
And there's one in each of you eyes. And they're doin' everything I do.
Every time I light a cigarette, they light up theirs.
I take a drink and I look in and they're drinkin' too.
It's drivin' me crazy. It's drivin' me nuts.

And Sharkey says: Deep in the heart of darkest America.
Home of the brave. He says: Listen to my heart beat.
Paging Mr. Sharkey. White courtesy telephone please.

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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