| Homeland (CD/DVD) | 
| Artist: Laurie Anderson
Label: Nonesuch
List Price: $23.98
Buy New: $16.78
as of 9/9/2010 07:25 MST details
You Save: $7.20 (30%)
New (45) Used (9) from $13.99
Seller: dolphywas1
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,822
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.8 x 0.4
UPC: 075597999181
EAN: 0075597999181
ASIN: B003905M2O
Release Date: June 21, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Transitory Life | | • | My Right Eye | | • | Thinking of You | | • | Strange Perfumes | | • | Only an Expert | | • | Falling | | • | Another Day in America | | • | Bodies In Motion | | • | Dark Time In The Revolution | | • | The Lake | | • | The Beginning of Memory | | • | Flow |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
'America is a good place for stories,' Laurie Anderson told London's The Guardian right before she brought 'Homeland,' her self described 'concert poem,' to English stages. 'Homeland' contains some of Anderson's most incisive work, -- darkly humorous, starkly emotional, and, at times, movingly tender. Her stories are once again about these United States of America, the sprawling subject that first brought her acclaim more than 25 years ago with her eight-hour Reagan era phantasmagoria, 'United States, Parts I - IV.'
'Homeland' is a distilled, up-to-the-minute portrait of our agitated nation, its politics, its economics, its delusions and its dreams. Her tone is less outraged than elegiac, mourning for lives lost, ideals misplaced. The music is dramatically stripped down to a handful of players, centered around Anderson's haunting violin and voice, frequent Bill Frisell band-mate Eyvind Kang's viola and Peter Scherer's keyboards. The arrangements are embellished with such touches as the siren-like vocals of Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons), thumping keyboards from Keiran Hebden (of Four Tet), and, on the brilliant, wickedly funny 'Only An Expert,' a gnarly guitar turn from Anderson's husband and co-producer Lou Reed.
'Homeland,' long awaited in recorded form, has evolved over more than two years of touring as Anderson developed the songs in front of concertgoers around the world, from downtown clubs in Manhattan to an amphitheatre in Athens, Greece. In Artforum, Anderson summarized the songs as 'one-third politics, one-third pure music, and one-third strange dreams.' The work was shaped more by humanity than by technology; Anderson built an intimate rapport with her audience during a show that featured a shifting set-list of new material and relied on words and music far more than visual and theatrical effects. That intimacy is just as palpable in the songs that evolved to make up her new album.. The Guardian said ''Homeland' represents some of the most purely beautiful music she has ever made.' In the States, Daily Variety declared, 'The music that accompanies the vignettes and songs is some of the loveliest that Anderson has ever written ...Like the narratives it accompanies, the sound's grave but not without wit; measured and dispassionate, but not without heart.'
On the road, 'Homeland' drew acclaim and attracted controversy for its political content. But Anderson is not merely criticizing or complaining; on tracks like the stunning 11-minute album centerpiece, 'Another Day In America,' Anderson is really singing for our survival, retelling the stories of our present state in the most forthright material of her career. It can be harrowing but it can be hopeful, and it is as riveting as anything Anderson has produced since the groundbreaking 'Big Science' in 1982. As Variety concluded, ''Homeland' reinforces Anderson's place as the best interpreter of our troubled times.'
Packaging Specs: 4 color 36-page hardbound book, CD and DVD. DVD contains 'Laurie's Violin' (7:22): Laurie plays and talks about the violin, and 'Homeland: The Story Of The Lark' (41:27), an art documentary broken up into 16 chapters.
Album Description
CD/DVD release. 2010 album from the performance artist and avant-garde Post-Punk heroine. Homeland contains some of Anderson's most incisive work, -- darkly humorous, starkly emotional, and, at times, movingly tender. Her stories are once again about these United States of America, the sprawling subject that first brought her acclaim more than 25 years ago with her eight-hour Reagan era phantasmagoria, United States, Parts I - IV. Homeland is a distilled, up-to-the-minute portrait of our agitated nation, its politics, its economics, its delusions and its dreams. Her tone is less outraged than elegiac, mourning for lives lost, ideals misplaced. The music is dramatically stripped down to a handful of players, centered around Anderson's haunting violin and voice, frequent Bill Frisell band-mate Eyvind Kang's viola and Peter Scherer's keyboards.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
I Have No Mouth, And I Must Sing September 7, 2010
Luciferal (salt lake city)
All it took to convince me that Laurie Anderson's HOMELAND is, in fact, the album of 2010--was listening to it once.
The intensity and meaningfulness of the instrumental music alone is enough to demand respect from any attentive listener. Throw in Laurie's incisive lyrics and provocative vocals--[her husband Lou Reed has named her male-vocalized alter-ego "Fenway Bergamot" (depicted on the cover in transgender CGI-drag, looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Groucho Marx)]--and you have the most original and thoughtful musical statement of the year, hands down.
No one outdoes Laurie. She distills more menace into a bassline than any one of a dozen overrated 'kvlt' artists could ever manage in a decade of fiddling with their protools. She imbues a more lucid sense of atmosphere into her music than the most acclaimed of ambient artists. HOMELAND is the album that Brian Eno and all the members of King Crimson are sitting themselves down to give a thorough listen to (and by thorough, I do mean losing themselves entirely to the music).
I can't even begin to break down this superlative soundscape into its individual tracks, quite yet. I'm still absorbing the album as a whole. To say this is the "album of the year" is to easily dismiss it into a compost heap of forgettable recordings that are churned out annually. HOMELAND is an apotheosis of musicianship that only a lifetime of genius could possibly have incubated and then delivered unto the world. It is easily in the running for the "Album of the Decade": HOMELAND is something that comes around once in a lifetime - nothing less.
What a beautiful shock and soothing surprise this album is. I could never "forget" about Laurie Anderson entirely, but I'll be honest and admit that I didn't know what she's been up to, lately. After hearing this album, it pleases me immensely that what she's been up to for the last few years, is touring and developing the nexus of live musical tracks that would form the bones, sinews, and muscle tissue of this most accomplished album of her entire career.
My wife and I caught her performance a few weeks ago on David Letterman, of the song "Only An Expert", and that was one doozy of a live spot for that late night talkshow, lemme tell ya. She was on fire, her commanding presence on stage was electric, and we were riveted to the TV screen while she performed it. With its infectious chorus and assassin-sharp lyrics, "Only An Expert" vaults easily onto radio as a surprisingly accessible hit for her, and it only begins to scratch the surface of this collosal iceberg of an album.
Whether you ever listened to Laurie Anderson in your life or not--get this album and give it a try. It will envelop you in Laurie's alternately terrifying and soothing postmodern world, and provide the trapped human beast inside you with an outlet it would otherwise not have. Reminescent of the title of Harlan Ellison's story "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream", Laurie's latest album is the escape pod by which the modern music mage can make his temporary getaway from the ongoing pressures of this splintering American life.
Thank you, Laurie Anderson, for this gift to the human race.
Homeland September 3, 2010
Hurricane Kiwi
Laurie is at the top of her game. A must have for anyone who is remotely interested in her work. The product was as advertized and sent in a timely manner. I will buy from them again.
thought provoking beauty August 23, 2010
T. Legras (cayucos, CA)
a good friend sent this cd as a gift. she knows me well. I love it - it is a work of art and something i will listen to again and again. with each listen, i catch more of her brillance. I wept in a few places and smiled in others. Thank you Laurie.
 Only an expert can review Laurie Anderson. August 13, 2010
Jason Stein (San Diego, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In preparing to listen to "Homeland", Laurie Anderson's first album in nine years, I went back to the beginning and listened to all of her albums in sequential order. The one thing that struck me is that each of her albums is its own entity. I know there is a compilation of her work, but I don't see how you can pull tracks from any of her albums to make a good compilation. Each of her albums stands on its own merits as a whole listening experience.
"Homeland" is its own listening experience. The first time through I immediately liked "Only An Expert" with its humorous philosophical observations about problems and who defines what a problem is, and who decides how a problem is handled and how consensus is gained as to whether there is or is not a problem. I also liked "Only In America" with its observations on how time is viewed, and I particularly enjoyed the line about how the couple, who could never really stand the sight of each other, decided, in their 90's to divorce, because they wanted to wait until their children died. Hilarious. First time I've laughed out loud at a Laurie Anderson song.
"Homeland" is filled with philosophical brain-teasers and minimalist sounds to support them. To say that "Homeland" is anything less than bold and cohesive in its approach would be tantamount to idiocy. Through further listening, I began to enjoy "The Beginning Of Memory", "Dark Time In The Revolution", "Transitory Life" and "Thinking Of You". After more listening I became convinced I liked all the odd numbered songs. The even numbered songs are solid, don't get me wrong, but they somehow are not as memorable as the odd numbered tracks.
"My Right Eye", "Strange Perfumes", "Falling", "Bodies In Motion", "The Lake" and "Flow" did not strike me as hard as the other six tracks, but when interwoven, the whole album is a meditative listen. And I have to say that at 63, Laurie Anderson is doing what I have hoped many of my favorite artists her age would do, and that is experiment. Too many of my old favorites just keep make boring choices, but not Laurie. "Homeland" is refreshing, and that's not something I'd expect after nine years off. It's also not what I'd expect from a 63 year old, but then, that's Laurie, right? Always full of surprises.
The frustrating part of being a Laurie Anderson fan is: There are no Laurie Anderson fans. I have never met one person who has said, "You like Laurie?! I listen to all of her music, she's fantastic!" Nope. Not one. In fact, I get dead silence and a blank look. Fine. Laurie is my little secret then. My wife can't stand her music. She has said, "Who listens to this stuff? She must not sell many albums." Then I have to point out that most of her albums have cracked the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. Again, an incredulous look.
It's not easy being a Laurie Anderson devotee. I see I am only the 10th critic to acknowledge this fine work, "Homeland", after nearly two months with it on the market. All I can say is, if you ARE a fan, you should get this. If you are looking for something DIFFERENT, then I recommend this. I can't say that "Homeland" is my favorite Laurie Anderson work, but it's definitely good.
Here's how "Homeland" compares to Laurie Anderson's previous albums:
1982 Big Science: Four Stars
1983 United States Live: Four Stars
1984 Mister Heartbreak: Five Stars
1986 Home Of The Brave: Three Stars
1989 Strange Angels: Five Stars
1994 Bright Red: Four Stars
1995 The Ugly One With The Jewels: Four Stars
2001 Life On A String: Three and a Half Stars
2002 Live In New York: Four Stars
2010 Homeland: Four Stars
welcome home to the homeland, all people of the earth and mind and soul July 27, 2010
muzic mania (dearborn mi)
WOW.....what more can i say, this cd is nothing short of brilliant. no words can sum up the greatness of this cd, it just to bad more people wont find or hear this cd. A loss for all who dont.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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