Bright Red (1994)

Laurie Anderson Bright Red (War-ner Bros.) With more spoken-word and less singing than on her last LP, this is a sparse, spooky affair. Coproducer Brian Eno provides glimmers of keyboard throughout and Lou Reed adds some guitar (''In Our Sleep''). The album is best when Anderson forsakes her ironic shtick and confronts the heavy stuff -life, death, and memory's fleeting nature. B --Johnny Huston