Laurie Anderson played the fourth and final concert in her brief tour with music from her album Homeland at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday. The Washington Post calls Homeland "one of her best ... more contemplative, as well as prettier than Anderson's best-known work." She will sign copies of the new album at Other Music in New York City on Wednesday.
Laurie Anderson played the fourth and final concert in her brief tour of the US East Coast showcasing music from her latest Nonesuch album, Homeland, at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday. Up next, Anderson will sign copies of Homeland at the Other Music shop in New York City, this Wednesday evening; a pair of tickets to the Opening Night of Delusion performances at BAM this September will be raffled off.
The Washington Post's classical music critic Anne Midgette reviews the Birchmere performance in her Post blog, The Classical Beat. The revised version of the album track "Only an Expert," from which Anderson performed so memorably on The Late Show with David Letterman last week, proved quite forceful in the live setting, says Midgette; on Homeland, she explains, "this song is fluid and downright catchy, with a dance beat as a counterpoint to the bitterness of words about experts assuring us there is no problem with things like recession and bailouts and climate change." Read the concert review at voices.washingtonpost.com.
Midgette's colleague at the Washington Post, Mark Jenkins, reviews the album. He looks back to Anderson's surprise 1981 pop hit, "O Superman," which he calls "a cool, stark and gently comic monologue about life as 'made in America,'" to suggest that now, "Nearly 30 years later, the New Yorker expands on this sound and vision on Homeland ... [I]t's one of her best."
Jenkins goes on to say that, while "Only an Expert" stands out as an "uncharacteristically outspoken" turn from Anderson, "Most of Homeland is more contemplative, as well as prettier than Anderson's best-known work ... [T]he 63-year-old contemplates loss, mortality and the origins of civilization. Anderson may not be an expert on such matters, but she certainly sounds like one here."
Read the complete album review at washingtonpost.com.
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Anderson spoke with BlackBook magazine about the making of the new album in an interview available at blackbookmag.com. She also appeared on last week's episode of the NPR program Echoes, which is now available online at echoes.org.
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To pick up a copy of Homeland, with the complete album included as high-quality MP3s at checkout, head to the Nonesuch Store.
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