Seldom, if ever, have panethnic musical components been so seamlessly integrated with high-sci instrumental technology as on Mister Heartbreak, a record that, in its pure sonic preoccupations, makes performance artist Laurie Anderson's 1982 debut LP, Big Science, sound like a simple pop album. Assisted by such unlikely collaborators as Peter Gabriel, King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew and...

Laurie Anderson is the most compelling performer from New York City's bohemian art scene to land a recording contract since Patti Smith signed with Arista some six years ago. Big Science, Anderson's eerie aural collage of a debut album, communicates much, though by no means all, of her astonishing intensity.

Most of the pieces on Big Science come from Anderson's grand, cyclic work-in-progress,...

Performance artist Laurie Anderson is best known for her United States Live, a staggeringly witty, epic-length (more than six hours spread over two days in its staged version) dissection of American politics and popular culture that established her as a major art-world figure who could operate successfully on the fringes of pop. She's still not making music that fits into any commercial radio...