''Bright Red'' is the fifth studio album by American

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

musician

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

, released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in 1994. The album continues the more pop-oriented direction Anderson launched with '' Strange Angels''. Produced by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

(who also co-wrote several of the songs with Anderson), ''Bright Red'' is divided into two parts: "Bright Red" and "Tightrope".

Background

Anderson originally planned to forgo electronics for the recording of ''Bright Red'' and instead focus on more organic instrumentation from bass guitars, accordions, violins, Brazilian percussion, and drums. However, Anderson later decided to process these instruments with a computer program and slow them down. Eno advised Anderson to remove some instrumentation from certain songs to keep the production sparse. Anderson likened the final product to some of her music from the early 1980s and said that the songs on ''Bright Red'' were less structured compared to her more recent work. The song "The Puppet Motel" was also featured on an interactive

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

titled '' Puppet Motel'', released by Anderson in 1995. "Speak My Language" is a re-recording of a song Anderson previously performed on the soundtrack to the 1993 film '' Faraway, So Close'' and was also featured in the 1995 film '' Fallen Angels''. The song "Beautiful Pea Green Boat" has additional lyrics from the poem " The Owl and the Pussycat" by

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

(misspelled "Edwin" in the album's liner notes).

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

co-wrote "In Our Sleep" with Anderson and also contributed guitar and vocals to the song, which also featured drumming from Joey Baron, tambourine

polyrhythm Polyrhythm () is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter. The rhythmic layers may be the basis of an entire piece of music (cross-rh ...

s from Cyro Baptista, and synth textures from Eno. Reed and Anderson married in 2008 after living with each other in

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

for over a decade. No commercial singles were originally planned for the album, although ''Billboard'' announced in its July 1994 publication that "The Puppet Motel", "World Without End" and "Poison" would be serviced to

college rock College rock is rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock p ...

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

, and

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

radio stations. Linda Goldstein, who served as Anderson's manager, expressed optimism that these formats, particularly album alternative, would lead to more commercial success. She also said that there were negotiations underway to release the album in select book stores to promote Anderson's book, ''Stories From the Nerve Bible''. Despite initial plans not to issue a commercial single, "In Our Sleep" was released as a CD single in 1995.

Track listing

All lyrics and music by

, except where otherwise indicated. ;Bright Red #"Speechless (The Eagle and the Weasel)" – 5:20 #"Bright Red" (additional lyrics from

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

13:21) – 3:12 #"The Puppet Motel" (lyrics: Anderson; music: Anderson,

) – 3:09 #"Speak My Language" – 3:38 #"World Without End" – 2:47 #"Freefall" – 4:32 #"Muddy River" (lyrics: Anderson; music: Anderson, Eno) – 3:02 ;Tightrope #

"Beautiful Pea Green Boat" (additional lyrics from " The Owl and the Pussycat" by

) – 4:20 #"Love Among the Sailors" – 2:49 #"Poison" (lyrics: Anderson; music: Anderson, Eno) – 3:47 #"In Our Sleep" (lyrics: Anderson,

; music: Anderson) – 2:31 #"Night in Baghdad" – 3:23 #"Tightrope" (lyrics: Anderson; music: Anderson, Eno) – 6:02 #"Same Time Tomorrow" – 3:51

Personnel

;Musicians *

– vocals (tracks 1–14), keyboards (1–2, 4–6, 8–14), violin (4), percussion (8) *Phil Ballou – back-up vocals (1, 7–8) * Cyro Baptista – temple blocks (1),

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

(1), surdo (3–4, 8, 11, 13–14), shaker (3–4, 8, 12–14),

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

(4, 12), tambourine (11), ceramic drum (12), tubes (12) * Joey Baron – drums (1, 3–4, 6–7, 10–11) *

– treatments (1, 3–4, 13), keyboards (1–6, 8, 10–11, 13), drum treatments (6, 10–11), loops (8, 10) *Ben Fenner – bass guitar (1) * Guy Klucevsek – accordion (1, 4, 8, 12) * Gerry Leonard – guitar (1, 5–6, 8, 11–12) *

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. In ...

– vocals (2) * Greg Cohen – guitar (3–4), bass guitar (3–4, 6) *Jamie West-Oram – guitar (4, 6) * Kevin Killen – treatments (5, 8) *

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his ...

– guitar (6, 8, 10, 12–13) * Neil Conti – shaker (6) *Dougie Bowne – drums (8) *

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, Rock music, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notab ...

– guitar (10) *

– vocals (11), guitar (11) *Peter Scherer – keyboards (12) ;Technical *Brian Eno – producer *Laurie Anderson – co-producer *Kevin Killen – engineer, mixing *Greg Cohen – music director *Joe Ferla – additional basic tracks engineer *Ben Fenner – overdubs engineer (Westside) *Alec Head – additional overdubs engineer (The Lobby) *Hiro Ishihara – assistant engineer *Andy Baker – assistant engineer * Danton Supple – assistant engineer *Miles Green – assistant engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering * Yolanda Cuomo – design *Monika Rittershaus – cover photo * Neil Selkirk – inside front cover photo *Stephen Cohen – back cover photo *John Walker – video images *

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American Portrait photography, portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid ...

–

MRI Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and rad ...

image *Samantha Levin – snapshots

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Albums produced by Brian Eno Laurie Anderson albums Warner Records albums