• Record Label: Nonesuch
  • Release Date: Aug 21, 2001
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Alternative Press
    70
    If the wordplay occasionally misses the mark, the music (which includes calypso, funk, '40s jazz, and chamber pop) invariably carries the day. [Aug 2001, p.76]
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Despite an occasional dip into buzzy techno waters, Life is more retread than reinvention. [Aug 24/31 2001, p.137]
  3. Magnet
    70
    Life On A String also reveals the tedious aspects of Anderson's muse. [#51, p.82]
  4. Mojo
    70
    The perfect album for cool, sequestered evenings in scary cities. [Sep 2001, p.102]
  5. The haunting melodies and string arrangements enhance the CD's contemplative mood, bringing us into the artist's reverie about emotional pain and art's dependence on such painful experiences.
  6. Laurie Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignance - a minimalist painter of melancholy moods who addresses universal themes in the vernacular of the commonplace.
  7. Anderson's best work has always been simultaneously opaque and pointed, suggestive, and even topical, without being didactic. Those qualities apply again here.
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. MikeW
    Feb 23, 2007
    9
    Best since Big Science, still strong remnants of the old style in there, with some good rich mature sounds.
  2. SteveP
    Nov 22, 2004
    9
    Almost back to her best!
  3. Ron
    May 16, 2002
    8
    chamber music and L.A., not ready, unexpected, fragile, looking for new ways