Home of The Brave

1986's Home of the Brave is the soundtrack to a film consisting of live pieces debuted during Laurie Anderson's first world tour, promoting 1984's Mister Heartbreak. Only one song from that album, a radically reworked version of the William S. Burroughs cameo "Sharkey's Night," appears here; the rest of the album is something of a return to the performance art basis of Anderson's earlier work like Big Science and United States I-IV. As a result, Home of the Brave has an oddly reheated quality to it, as if Anderson is merely going through the motions of what had gone before while incorporating snatches of the new, more musical direction she had begun exploring with Mister Heartbreak. (Even the title is a self-conscious echo of United States I-IV.) There are some successes here - "Language Is a Virus" is probably the closest Anderson ever came to a real rock song, and it was a minor dancefloor and college radio hit…

It must have felt like something of a coup for the little-known Scottish singer/songwriter Chris Rainbow to get teamed up with one of America's hottest production teams of the early '70s. Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff had been crucial in transforming the work of Stevie Wonder on albums like Music of My Mind and Talking Book, and were also known for their pioneering Moog albums under the name of T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band…

CAPTIVE HEART was a pure American AOR Melodic Rock band from Chicago, one of the many that arrived too late into the scene but deserved the stardom. They recorded this bunch of songs in 1991-92 to land a U.S. deal. Luckily a German label released the tapes in 1996 as "Home Of The Brave", and what an impressive material it is. Much in the style of James Christian (Giuffria, House Of Lords), a la Drive She Said with hints of House Of Lords and Storming Heaven. Jim Peterik (Survivor, Pride Of Lions) also lent his extensive songwriting skills to some of the fabulous tunes.

Laurie Anderson - Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson (1986) [DVD5]
DVD5 -> 4.33 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | ~ 91min | Audio: English (Dolby AC3, 2 ch) | ISO Image
© 1990 Reprise / Warner | 5% repair rar
Rock / Experimental Rock / Alternative Rock

While Laurie Anderson's music works well enough on its own terms, her 1986 concert film Home of the Brave (which she directed herself) makes it clear that her work is better served when you can see her performing it. While Anderson isn't exactly playing to the cheap seats most of the time, she's a far more accessible and engaging performer than most folks involved in "performance art" (and watching this film makes it clear that, while music is the core, performance art is indeed what Anderson is doing – the dancing, storytelling, and visual constructs are as much a part of the presentation as the musicians).