50 albums: 1982 - Big Science by Laurie Anderson

It is still baffling that Laurie Anderson's O Superman was a hit, it reached number 2 in 1981 (in the UK). But that's what made the pop charts so wonderful was that weird things like that could happen for apparently no reason. I loved O Superman, we (clearly) all did, but by the time Big Science came out, that love was forgotten and I'm fairly certain that I'd not listened to the album until I did on Tuesday lunchtime.

I approached it with a fair bit of trepidation, there's always a nagging emperors new clothes feel to anything that gets described as "avant garde" but thankfully it doesn't seem to apply to Big Science, possibly because it is capable of standing up on its own musical feet.

It is a rather great album whose weirdness means it hasn't suffered the ravages of time.

(play on YouTube)