A new Laurie Anderson album is usually a thing to welcome. Often less a performance artist than point person for global-village storytelling--as on 1995s The Ugly One with the Jewels--shes also demonstrated a high level of musical savvy. Life on a Strings meld of Biblical references, New York wanderings, world rhythms, and chamber music doesnt cohere like it should, though. Caught between bemusement and empathy, Andersons knack for nailing oddball details can lift her work beyond mere wit, but not here. On Dark Angel, she damns consumerism with lines that wouldve been laughable even at the outset of her career in the 70s: Look at all the things I bought / Im feeling kind of lost. Her quoting Im a Little Teapot on One Beautiful Evening sounds like self-parody, or the result of a lost dare with another artsy type. And is the observation that its a small world but she wouldnt want to paint it supposed to sound fresh? For true Anderson wigginess and smarts, try Ugly One, or for that matter, her classic debut, Big Science.