MISTER HEARTBREAK

3.5 stars. Laurie's debut "Big Science" from 2 years earlier released in 1982 broke some new ground. Some innovative ideas not the least of which was her speaking the words with that attractive voice. Lots of humour and wit, I mean the lady can write lyrics. That debut gained her a cult following of fans as well as the attention of musicians and artists wanting to be on her records.

So from a basically no-name band on her debut, to having some names on this 1984 followup "Mister Heartbreak". Adrian Belew adds some guitar, Bill Laswell bass, as well as the mixing and producing of it. We get William S. Burroughs doing his spoken word thing, perhaps he was an inspiration. And Peter Gabriel adding vocals on one tracks and backing vocals too. He along with Laurie use her synclavier and Peter also programmed the drum parts on "Excellent Birds" where he also sings.

By the way the first time I ever even heard of a synclavier was on the Frank Zappa album "Perfect Strangers" which was also released in 1984 like this one, and I was impressed. I like the use of the synclavier on that Zappa record better than here. But the music is quite different from one another. My favourite track is the opener "Sharky's Day". Funny is the word. The album ends with "Sharkey's Night" and those two numbers were a part of one of her live stage shows.

I rated this the same as "Big Science" but there's something about this one that makes me say it's my favourite. The sound quality perhaps is part of it, maybe this is more adventerous. The guests add to it all as well.