Life on a String

Infobox Album | Name = Life on a String
Type = Album
Artist = Laurie Anderson


Released = August 21, 2001
Recorded = 2000-2001
Genre = Avant-garde
Experimental music
Pop music
Length =
Label = Nonesuch/Elektra Records
79539
Producer = Laurie Anderson
Hal Willner
Reviews = *"Rolling Stone" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/laurieanderson/albums/album/111744/review/5941827/life_on_a_string link]
Last album = ""
(2000)
This album = "Life on a String"
(2001)
Next album = "Live in New York"
(2002)

"Life on a String" is an album by performance artist Laurie Anderson, released in 2001 on Nonesuch Records.

One of Anderson's predominantly musical (as opposed to spoken-word) albums, "Life on a String" was recorded at the Lobby Studios in New York City, and produced by Anderson and Hal Willner. Guest musicians on the album include Mocean Worker, Mitchell Froom, Vinicius Cantuária, and Lou Reed.

The first three songs, "One White Whale," "The Island Where I Come From," and "Pieces and Parts," were taken from her show "Songs and Stories from Moby Dick". The song "Slip Away" is about the death of her father.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Laurie Anderson, except where indicated

# "One White Whale" – 2:03
# "The Island Where I Come From" – 4:08
# "Pieces and Parts" – 3:36
# "Here With You" – 2:22
# "Slip Away" – 5:50
# "My Compensation" – 2:28 (Anderson, Skuli Sverrisson)
# "Dark Angel" – 3:22
# "Broken" – 3:19
# "Washington Street" – 4:41
# "Statue of Liberty" – 4:24
# "One Beautiful Evening" – 5:05
# "Life on a String" – 2:57

Personnel

Laurie Anderson - vocals, violin, keyboards, percussion, gong
*Van Dyke Parks - keyboards, conductor, string arrangements
*Lou Reed - guitar
*David Torn - loops
*Joey Baron - drums, percussion
*Martin Brumbach - mixing, percussion arrangement
*Mino Cinelu - percussion
*Greg Cohen - acoustic bass
*Bill Frisell - guitar
*Danny Frankel - percussion, handclapping
*Erik Friedlander - cello
*Mitchell Froom - mellotron, wurlitzer, claviola
*Peter Scherer - keyboards
*Chris Speed - saxophone
*Skuli Sverrisson - bass, guitar, keyboards, sounds, percussion programming
*Hal Willner - turntables, sampling
*Cuong Vu - trumpet
*Vinicius Cantuária - percussion
*Eyvind Kang - violin
*Ben Rubin - bell

Executive Producer: David Bither