Mister Heartbreak

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Mister Heartbreak
Mister Heartbreak cover
Studio album by Laurie Anderson
Released February 14, 1984
Recorded July 1983–December 1983
Genre Avant-garde/Experimental/Pop
Length 39:42
Label Warner Bros.
Producer Laurie Anderson, Bill Laswell, Roma Baran and Peter Gabriel
Professional reviews
Laurie Anderson chronology
Big Science
(1982)
Mister Heartbreak
(1984)
United States Live
(1984)

Mister Heartbreak is the second album by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, released in 1984. Considered more musical than its predecessor, Big Science, the album's lead track, "Sharkey's Day" formed the basis of a popular music video. Author William S. Burroughs read the lyrics of the closing track, "Sharkey's Night", while Peter Gabriel provided backing vocals on "Excellent Birds", an alternate version of which also appeared on his album, So. Haunting "Gravity's Angel" borrows imagery from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow.

Most of the songs on this album were later performed in Anderson's 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave. Burroughs appears in that film and appears in two brief segments reciting lines from "Sharkey's Night" although it is Anderson herself who performs a complete version of the song at the film's conclusion.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Laurie Anderson except as indicated.

[edit] Side one

  1. "Sharkey's Day" – 7:41
  2. "Langue d'Amour" – 6:12
  3. "Gravity's Angel" – 6:02

[edit] Side two

  1. "Kokoku" – 7:03
  2. "Excellent Birds" (Anderson, Peter Gabriel) – 3:12
  3. "Blue Lagoon" – 7:03
  4. "Sharkey's Night" – 2:29

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Additional personnel

[edit] Charts

Album

Year Chart Position
1984 The Billboard 200 60
Languages