SPRING ALBUM ROUNDUP : LAURIE: NO CONNECTION

“HOME OF THE BRAVE.” Laurie Anderson. Warner Brothers.

Taken from the sound track of Anderson’s upcoming movie of the same name, this album fails to connect on any level. Lacking both the focus of her two studio albums and the breadth of 1984’s mammoth five-record “United States,” “Home” seems an aimless single-disc collection of excerpts.

Much of the material suffers in its separation from the stage presentation. Certainly the best tracks are those closest to standard songs, and even two of them have appeared elsewhere, though in significantly different (but less-than-essential) arrangements. Other predominantly instrumental tracks just don’t go anywhere at all.

Though “Home of the Brave” was recorded and filmed at two special performances last summer, the album contains virtually no live ambiance or interplay with the audience. In fact, only on the radically reworked “Sharkey’s Night” is the audience evident at all. When Anderson delivers a line like “I dreamed I had to take a test in a Dairy Queen on another planet,” you’d like to hear at least a few titters from the crowd. “Language Is a Virus,” with production help from Nile Rogers, even sounds like a studio recording.

In the past, every Anderson record and show seemed to have a specific artistic purpose and demonstrated growth. Neither this record nor her recent Universal Amphitheatre show filled that bill.