"The Ugly One with the Jewels" is a studio album by American avant-garde artist, Laurie Anderson. Released on March 5, 1995, it represents a departure from her prior work as it is not a music album in the typical sense. Instead, the album is a spoken word performance, providing the listener with a storytelling experience focused on spoken narratives set to minimalist music backgrounds.
This album is an offshoot of Anderson's larger project, "Stories from the Nerve Bible," a performance art piece that spanned her entire career up to that point. "The Ugly One with the Jewels" stands as a distillation of that project into album-form, with Anderson drawing from personal experiences, travelogue-like stories, and commentaries on modern life.
Laurie Anderson is well-known for her innovative use of technology in the realm of performance art. The spoken word narratives in this 17-track offering are compelling and unusual, infused with her signature thought-provoking style. As a whole, the album is less about melody and more about narrated stories to create an immersive audio experience.
