C/D: Adrian Belew

D: Contributing to the Tom Tom Club album and getting no recognition or credit or money from it, just a big F-U from Tina Weymouth.

what do people think of "oh daddy"? i hadn't thought of it in nearly 20 years and suddenly it popped into my head today.

to answer amateurist's question: "Oh Daddy" is one of my favorite novelty songs. My top forty station played this a lot in the summer of '89.

I'd kinda like to see the Belew Power Trio/Stick Men/Crim Encore tour this fall.

http://tonylevin.com/tours/smusa11/smusa11_1.htm

I haven't been interested in his work in almost 20 years (aside from The Bears reunion records, which I loved) but a pal'o'mine just asked me about going to see Adrian and I've never seen him so - hells yes!

The last time I saw King Crimson, a couple of years ago, I thought the band sounded as good as I'd ever heard them. It was Fripp, Belew, Levin, Pat and the drummer for Porcupine Tree, the latter of whom added a lot. The double bass version of KC kind of sucked, but this double drummer version was great. The band always seems to do well with two drummers, or a drummer and percussionist (a la Larks Tongues). I actually saw one of the Crimson "Projekts" or whatever that was Fripp, Trey Gunn and Belew on drums (!).

Anyway. Belew. Is his trio still composed of him and those two young male/female siblings?

BTW, my fave random Belew fact: he plays on Paul Simon's "Graceland!"

guitar synth, no?

Yeah. Why would Paul Simon bother to hire a horn player when he can hire a guitarist to play like a horn player?

Anyway. Belew. Is his trio still composed of him and those two young male/female siblings?

Julie Slick is still the bassist, but the drummer is now some guy named Tobias Ralph.

Yeah, I like bits of both, but overall it's Young Lions much more than Inner Revolution. Maybe because "The War in The Gulf Between Us" is pretty much one of the worst lyrics/titles ever. --Kim (Kim)

Search: "1967" onMr. Music Head -- great Revolver-style collage/medley.

"Big Blue Sun" on Inner Revolution -- prob the best of his ELO side.

Weird - just realized that the old drummer of the trio left the band to be the drummer for... Dr. Dog?!?!

"The War In The Gulf Between Us" pretty much sealed his fate with me, too. Really disliked "Inner Revolution", though I did enjoy bits of his subsequent KC work.

That "Guitar Solo" on 'Born Under Punches' is still one of the seven wonders ever committed to tape...

One time I screwed up a casual coffee house meetup with an OKCupid girl... probably for several reasons... and I don't remember how it came up (might of been me listing King Crimson as my music interests) but this girl said she liked Adrian Belew and I said that a lot of people think his voice is too weird. Anyways, this girl had to of been a relative or something because what kind of girl actually knows about Adrian Belew?

The girl of ILMs dreams?

I doubt it. She was a teacher, black belt in karate and she had some butt ugly homemade 'Operation' halloween costume (in her profile pics). That's all I remember about her but at least two of those three things remind me of my older sister.

I doubt it. She was a teacher, black belt in karate and she had some butt ugly homemade 'Operation' halloween costume. That's all I remember about her but at least two of those three things remind me of my older sister

I would go to that Stick Men/Belew show in SF except I think I'm seeing either Opeth or the Musial Box (Genesis tribute band) that night...

also, favorite belew album is Desire Caught by the Tail, by far. I think it's out of print. It was instrumental and weird. I like some of the pop albums too, but Mr Music Head is probably the strongest one all the way through.

Yeah, his 80s albums are generally strong all the way through. There's a comp of the first 3 albums called "Desire Of The Rhino King" that's ace.

God -- I heard "Pretty Pink Rose" today for the first time since, I dunno, 1991.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I don't care for the squealing guitar but it's hilarious how Belew does David Byrne vocal imitations while Bowie does Bowie imitations. Good goofy lyrics ("She tore down Paris on the tail of Tom Paine").

from FB:

hey world!
for more than 2 years now
Daniel Rowland and I have been working on my new solo project. all of us recording artists are charged with making yet another record, another CD, releasing another download into the massive download universe.
this is not that.
this is something which, to my knowledge, has never been done. that rare entity:
something new. a different way to enjoy music.

it's called FLUX: Music That Is Never The Same Twice.

think about that for a moment.
music that is never the same twice. how is that possible?
what will it sound like?

over the upcoming weeks I intend to tell you all about it but with the limited space of facebook I'll have to break into pieces (kind of like the music itself).
but for now let me say this.
FLUX will be a kind of listening
"experience". each time you hear it, the experience will be unique and surprising. even I will never know where it will begin, where it will end, or what will happen in between.
since FLUX is not meant to be
"commercial" it can and will contain literally anything which appeals to my ears. found sounds, guitar effects, snippets, and loads of bits of music and songs. every now and then a whole song play all the way through, but most of the time songs will come to you in ever-changing pieces like a giant jigsaw puzzle. even the pieces will not always sound the same.
for example, instead of a song having the same guitar solo each time, alternate solos may happen when you least expect it. or a different mix. a different vocal with new words. anything may happen!

FLUX will also be interactive so you the listener can affect the experience and personalize it more to your taste. over time it will include simple but random visuals which you may also have a hand in.

FLUX: Music That Is Never The Same Twice has one more serious difference to a CD/download. it will never be finished. I intend to add to it as often as possible to further insure you'll never hear it the same way twice. FLUX is in fact a living evolving entity.

to read about the genesis of FLUX go to www.elephant-blog.blogspot.com

sounds pretty crazy/perhaps excellent

Sounds like Eno's generative experiments. Except not self-generating, it sounds like.

remember when ageing art-rock musicians were really into cd-ROMs?

oh god

belew i love you but seriously

Headcandy is the name given to a series of kaleidoscopic, psychedelic videos, DVDs and CD-ROMs created by Chris Juul and Doug Jipson. The first volume was called "Video Kaleidoscope", the second was called "Headcandy with music from Brian Eno", the third, "Sidney's Psychedelic Adventure" and the fourth "Psychedelic Headcandy."[1]

The concept of Headcandy is this... kaleidoscopic, psychedelic visuals set to music and viewed while wearing a 3-D style pair of prismatic glasses. The film covering the lenses of the glasses refracts white light into a prism of color. When viewing Headcandy in a dark room it turns the monitor into a gigantic wall of color kaleidoscopic visuals.

Each program is approximately 60 minutes in length.

http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-049/bb/U-049-S-01410-A.jpg

Oh.daddy daddy when you gonna make a million bucks

Laurie Anderson's one actually sounded pretty cool, I bet it wasn't though. My impression is that all there oldsters were excited by the possibilities without having much understanding of how the technology actually worked.

just write a fucking song ok

"Postmodern Prog Blues"

Woke up this morning
Wondering how I could put eighteen chord changes into a five second sequence reprocessed through a filter that's then remixed by your mind each time you breathe in a different way.
Oh lord.

Lol I genuinely can't tell if that's real, it's quite plausibly the kind of bollocks our ade would come up with

_Headcandy is the name given to a series of kaleidoscopic, psychedelic videos, DVDs and CD-ROMs created by Chris Juul and Doug Jipson. The first volume was called "Video Kaleidoscope", the second was called "Headcandy with music from Brian Eno", the third, "Sidney's Psychedelic Adventure" and the fourth "Psychedelic Headcandy."[1]

The concept of Headcandy is this... kaleidoscopic, psychedelic visuals set to music and viewed while wearing a 3-D style pair of prismatic glasses. The film covering the lenses of the glasses refracts white light into a prism of color. When viewing Headcandy in a dark room it turns the monitor into a gigantic wall of color kaleidoscopic visuals.

Each program is approximately 60 minutes in length._

Eno on Headcandy:

"When I saw the result it was so awful and terrible and disappointing, I've never looked at it again. I looked at it for about a minute. The image is this big, [he says, measuring two inches in the air], and it looks like shit anyway. The music sounds like tin and every time the image changes the music stops. It was an absolute disaster. I really apologise to people if they bought that on the strength of my name because I tell you, I did everything to get my name off there. Oh, it was embarrassing. It's one of the only things I've ever been involved with that I feel really bad about."

i really like the idea but IMO the more straightforward Belew gets the better

I don't know, straightforward Belew gets us stuff like this --

I'm a lone rhinoceros
There ain't one hell of a lots of us
Left in this world

I stand alone in my concrete cell
Where people stare and toss me coke cans
I guess it's better than being poached
But I'd give my horn just to see my homeland

so weird that he is in Nine Inch Nails now

well now he isn't

I thought he's on the new tour?

no he's not doing it now for some reason. he is on the album

Trent: Welcome to the team, Adrian.
Adrian: Yeah, this is exciting.

[Trent hands Adrian a box]

Adrian: What's this? A present?!
Trent: No, it's your wardrobe.
Adrian: My wardrobe.
Trent: Yeah.
Adrian: Like, the clothes you want me to wear? On stage?
Trent: Well, not just on stage. Also, in photos and pretty much any time you're out with us in public.
Adrian: So, like, suits?
Trent: Well, more like ... costumes.
Adrian: Costumes?
Trent: Yeah. And make-up.
Adrian: Make-up?
Trent: Yeah. Also, we're going to need to shave off your eyebrows.
Adrian: My ... eyebrows?
Trent: Yeah.
Adrian: You haven't shaved off your eyebrows, Trent.
Trent: It's my band. Don't you want to open up the box?

[Adrian opens the box]

Adrian: This looks like black fishnets and shiny plastic shirts.
Trent: That's right.
Adrian: And you want me to wear this?
Trent: Yep.
Adrian: See you later, sucker.

[Adrian walks out]

Trent (calling after him): Wait, Adrian, don't go!

belew has only ever been a mccartney-level lyricist though xxxxp

Not enough love here for the first Bears record. The second falls short but the debut features the best of Belew (guitar orgasms, irresistible melodies) without the worst of Belew (dumb lyrics, irritating mannerisms).

Wasn't there another more recently?

i would totally buy a no vocals mix of Discipline by King Crimson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k02Dn-V3dQ4

M@tt hella otm. The music on Discipline is so good that I just bite down on a rag and bear it, but fuck if I can listen to anything else he sings/writes lyrics on.

And I listen gladly to every Police song with the exception of 'walking in your footsteps'

Has anyone seen recent Adrian Belew Power Trio shows? I'm thinking of going next week. Looks like the setlist is pretty much greatest hits, to the extent there is such a thing as Adrian Belew greatest hits (and with the glaring omission of "Oh Daddy").

Seeing the King Crimson thread bumped reminded me to report back on this show in case anyone else gets a chance to see Belew. It was great! Noisy and insane, so much amazing sound. And he enjoys himself on stage as much as anyone I've ever seen.

just watched the 78 tokyo bowie show, and i hadn't realized belew was already there in 78 tour. i've seen other versions of belew's station to station intro, but i really enjoyed it here around min 45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaKpJl4D8bc&feature=youtu.be

I am so glad people don't shoot concert footage that way anymore.

DB really assembled a ridiculous amount of talent on that tour.

I always loved what Robert Christgau wrote about him in his Distinctions Not Cost-Effective list at the end of his 80s book:

"Adrian Belew: A welcome addition to other people's music."

Something caused me to pull out Mr. Music Head recently. It's a really good record.

Underrated gem: "Bird in a Box." Lyrics are typically a bit goofy but the chorus where the "Drive My Car" guitar shows up for approximately six seconds is absolutely amazing and pretty much what makes this guy worthwhile.

i wonder if this is worth going to? what are his shows like nowadays

http://turfclub.net/show/2017-03-adrian-belew/

His Faceache feed is pretty good. Interesting guitar gearhead posts.

Moving this here from the Van Halen thread:

...Buckingham is similarly self-taught and doesn't know much if any musical theory, but his playing is impeccable and original. And yet still rarely if ever part of anyone else's projects but his own, because that is really not his thing. He's Lindsey fucking Buckingham and he is one of a kind, just as EVH was one of a kind on an even bigger, more influential scale. (I'd cite someone like Adrian Belew as the cultier equivalent.)

Belew seems v different from this, unless I'm misunderstanding? He has an original style but his career was built on playing on other people's projects. You don't play in Zappa's band and just play whatever you want. Whatever theory he might have lacked he would have surely picked up there.
xpost It's a digression, but I don't know about that. There are a few dudes who played in Zappa's band who famously couldn't read music or not well but did the best they could, which was still pretty great, like I want to say a freak like Bozzio. Anyway, I guess my broader point is that Adrian Belew sounds like no one else and plays like no one else, and even when he's playing in other people's projects he is doing his expected idiosyncratic Belew stuff, and otherwise (in Talking Heads and Bowie) often with another guitarist handling the "normal" stuff. Belew is not someone I would just drop into any band, any band he is in has to make room for his presence, because he really doesn't do anything other than that. I've mentioned before some (filmed) interview with Belew where the interviewer keeps pressing him on his influences, and eventually pries out Hendrix (which is who Fripp typically cites as well). And then the interviewer, as I remember it, keeps trying to get an example of how Hendrix influenced Belew's playing, and eventually, with incredible reluctance, Belew plays a quick Hendrix lick, and I remember thinking, huh, that might be the only time I've heard him play anything other than his own stuff. I don't like Zappa, but I could have sworn I've seen a clip or two of Belew in his band (wearing a dress?) and it definitely seemed like Belew still kinda being Belew.

― Josh in Chicago, mercredi 7 octobre 2020 09:40 (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

So this is an interesting question to me. From what I've read, Belew didn't read music and Zappa just told him to learn his parts quickly with whatever method he could, which I would still regard as an equivalent level of comprehension/transcription if he was able to do it (which he was). There were moments when he got to do his thing but aiui he mostly played rhythm guitar on the Sheik Yerbouti/Baby Snakes era stuff, sometimes doubling Zappa's leads as well? Even his vocals on stuff like "Jones Crusher" sound more like 'normal' blues-rock singing than what he did with KC (although still recognizably him ofc).

Here are some clips I saw (which must be from what I remembered) of Belew soloing with Zappa. In the first he largely seems to be ... improvising?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ5zzNiqSgk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvXKvXhGgw

These are both from Baby Snakes, right? It's really hard for me to hear what Belew is up to, since it seems a lot of the time he either drops out or Zappa is mixed really high. Also, this music is pretty obnoxious.

FWIW, Belew posted an Eddie Van Halen-related story on social media, but it got deluged with negative comments so he took it down. I missed it but it sounds like people were fighting over what innovations were really invented (or maybe just innovated) by EVH. A shame, I imagine Belew was commenting on his technical prowess and it would've been nice to see what insights he had on his work.

Here's a clip of Belew with Bowie. Some great playing, and informative, because he's playing on a song from before his tenure. But he's not trying to replicate the album version, he's in the Belew zone, very much presaging his Talking Heads work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tWyIug2qP0

I love that Belew played on so much NIN stuff

Totally

It's interesting, though, that all he really does is provide squiggly noise improvs that Reznor manipulated. (There's a great tale you can track down of Belew refusing to join the band because he didn't want to wear silly stage clothes every night). Funnily enough, people forget that Reznor later enlisted none other than (speak of the devil) Lindsey Buckingham to play on a couple of tracks, too, but Lindsey sort of only did what Belew did, just noodled around some stuff for Reznor to use. I could have sworn I saw an interview with Reznor were he admits that he and Bucky were sort of neighbors, and he wanted him on the record because he thought it would be cool to have him as a friend, but the two really didn't click/.

Though it looks like Bucky played with them at the Grammys?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfOrECg6jI

That’s like Big Love Buckingham on top of NIN. Weird.

Belew put that post on EVH back up. He basically just said he and a guy he played with went to see VH live and were excited to see him also tapping the fretboard. I didn’t see the criticism but I’m guessing it was some people who thought he was trying to take credit for “Eddie’s innovation.”

Re. Belew blending in, I always remember what Xgau said about him in his 80s Consumer Guide’s “Distinctions Not Cost Effective” section:

“Adrian Belew: a welcome addition to other people’s music.”

I have owned the first Bears album for well over a decade and never listened to it. That changes now. It's pretty cool!!

There's a great tale you can track down of Belew refusing to join the band because he didn't want to wear silly stage clothes every night

wait this is the reason that belew didn't end up joining the touring band in 2013? lmao, i don't really remember modern nin having much in the way of silly stage clothes beyond like, 'wear dark colours'.

When Bowie died, I remember being amazed that a clear copy of the Pretty Pink Rose video just didn’t seem to be out there anymore. How does something with him on lead vocal fall into obscurity like that?!

This is the one that never seems to leave me - something about his “weird” vocal just works. (phone call from the moon)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K5ixzIr9n0

> I have owned the first Bears album for well over a decade and never listened to it.

great album! i tried to convince my friends to listen to it when it first came out but they physically doubled over laughing at the cover and wouldn’t bother.

Just saw that Chris Arduser, drummer for the Bears/Raisings/etc., passed about a month ago ...

Yeah I think I saw that on Belew’s FB maybe. Sad.

I pulled The Bears’ S/T record out a few months ago on a longish drive and it still sounds terrific.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H678YcwCl4

he's finally explained in more detail what happened with nine inch nails in 2013 - reznor had told him that he wanted to reinvent nine inch nails and that there wasn't any need to learn the songs verbatim, just get to know them, so belew went into the twelve weeks of rehearsals planning to experiment and figure out what his parts should be as the rehearsals went. this approach really didn't fit with the some of the other band members (who were mostly nin veterans) who felt that he wasn't playing the parts right and didn't know the songs properly, and so after seventeen days of rehearsals reznor apologised and cut him from the lineup to placate the other members. a real shame

Eric Avery from Jane’s was also meant to be part of that line-up I think - could’ve been a killer band

yeah, avery withdrew before belew, stating that he just wasn't up for it after having just finished a year-long tour with garbage