Adrian Belew
Coming Attractions
Thirsty Ear
This is a sampling of the thirty or thousand projects that Adrian Belew is working on currently, including solo work, the Bears, anthologies and more. Belew – who also built his reputation through his work with King Crimson – has never been quite the conventional musician, and releasing a collection of material that is yet to be released strikes me as a very Belew thing to do. Belew’s future sounds a lot like his past, which sounded mostly like the future to begin with, so there you go. Belew’s prowess on guitar lies more in playing the right number of notes in the right tone color than in defining some sort of guitar/effects/amp sound and trying to cram as many sixty-fourths in it as possible. “117 Valley Drive” (with the Bears) is a sunny reminiscence of Beatles-themed backyard practices. “I Know What I Know and That is All I Know and I Know It” is a return to the found wisdom of the Prophet Omega, last heard on “I Am What I Am,” this time abandoning deeper philosophical musings in order to huckster a moving company. Two tracks from Mr. Music Head make an appearance, transformed to a lesser or greater degree: “Bird in a Box” and “House Of Cards.” The closing “Animal Kingdom” is a long safari into the dark continent as sound effects, percussion and the mating sounds of analog and digital, living and electronic come together. If this is the trailer, I can’t wait to see the movie.
Thirsty Ear Recordings, 274 Madison Ave., Suite 804, New York, NY 10016; http://www.thirstyear.com
