Lou Reed’s favourite Laurie Anderson album
Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson were more than just a couple. Their relationship was the coming together of two of the most interesting artists who seemed to act as a perfect yin-yang. On his end, Lou Reed was the dark rocker who had started out as the darling of counterculture and delved deeper and deeper into the avant-garde. On the other side, Laurie Anderson began as a performance artist and somehow found herself on the world’s stage when ‘O Superman’ unexpectedly hit the big time. Together, they not only lived in domestic bliss but helped create harmony between their experimental edge and musicality.
There are now countless interviews in which Anderson talks about Reed. During their relationship, the pair were incredibly private as they simply got on with their lives and their work in New York City. However, after Reed’s death in 2013, his widow spoke about him a lot. “Frankly, at first, I felt it as a huge, overwhelming responsibility that I was not at all prepared for,” she told Vanity Fair. In the wake of his death, Anderson felt the need to keep on carrying the torch, not only of their mutual world of artistry and love but of Reed’s incredible legacy.
But over time, that became a beautiful undertaking. “It’s so much fun thinking of him and his work and getting a chance to read it and reread it and think about it in different ways,” she said, admitting, “It’s a wild way to be with your partner.”
However, Anderson’s joy over getting to share Reed’s work was a mutual feeling back when her husband was alive. From the second they met and fell in love, both had been vocal fans of each others work. In a list of his favourite records of all time, Reed gave a spot to his wife, considering her among greats like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Scott Walker and more as one of the artists that influenced him the most.
The list is a little mangled. For some artists, he picks out a full album. For others, he picks a single. For Anderson, he writes, “Oh Superman Laurie Anderson & United States”, which doesn’t exist.
It could be that he simply meant the 1981 song, ‘O Superman,’ which rocketed Anderson to commercial notoriety. Despite still being a strange and decidedly avant-garde piece, the song shot to the top of the charts. Suddenly, her name was no longer known only in the art circles, as the world seemed to let this unique little earworm into their lives.
But it feels more likely that Reed meant her album, United States, which features the track along with 76 others. Released in four parts, the album is a recording of a performance of Anderson’s performance piece, United States, captured at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City in 1983. Split into four parts, it’s a true magnum opus that displays the full depth of Anderson’s artistry from more commercial tracks like ‘O Superman’ to spoken word pieces to sometimes humourous wonderments on life in America.
It’s easy to see why Reed would love the record. Not only does it come from a mind that he’s come to know like no body else could. But the incredibly adventurous undertaking of the performance feels powered by the same bold creative spirit that spurred him on. The artists true were cut from the same artistic cloth like a match made in alternative, avant-garde heaven.
