The Bears: Rise and Shine (1988)

The second record from The Bears is not as good as the first. I often wonder how Belew managed to write so much music. After the trilogy of fantastic King Crimson records in the early 80s, how did he have any creative energy left? I'm tempted to say that this record is disappointing, but compared with the mass of garbage released at the same time, this is much better than the norm.

The Bears: The Bears (1987)

I've never understood why it took until 1985 for a band called The Bears to emerge. It seems like such an obvious name. The Bears features one of my favourite guitarists, Adrian Belew, as you already know. (He's the dude on the left of the cover, with the guitar).

This album is pure guitar pop. I also have a copy of this release on CD and cassette. What else can I say?

Adrian Belew: Desire Caught by the Tail (1986)

This is another winner from Adrian. By the way, the title is borrowed from the title of a play by Picasso, originally entitled Le Désir attrapé par la queue. For his third record, he went all instrumental, and it works very very well. There are so many cool tunes on the record.

Adrian Belew used his third release to blatantly demonstrate his love and talent for avant-garde guitar work, but many of the tracks on Desire Caught By the Tail take his passion for boisterous distortion, warped notes, thick sound, and highly experimental playing methods into absurdity. But those who appreciate the many facilities that an electric guitar can perform, musical or otherwise, will feel right at home with Desire's eight tracks. There's no question that Belew is a master at what he does, and even though cuts like "Laughing Man," "Z," and "The Gypsy Zurna" are indeed unorthodox, there's a certain attraction to the way he creates music out of, well, non-music. [source]

I agree. It's amazing, and I forgot how much I liked it until I threw it in the turntable a while back.

Adrian Belew: Mr. Music Head (1989)

Mr. Music Head is a solid record, but it is, by no means, my favourite Belew release. 1967 is a fabulous tune, but I find that I like the acoustic version from Belew Prints better. I would make the same statement for One of Those Days and Bad Days. The big hit was Oh Daddy, and it's a cute song featuring his daughter.

Adrian Belew: Twang bar King (1983)

Given Belew's love of The Beatles, it shouldn't be too surprising that he would have decided to cover a Beatles tune. Indeed, Twang Bar King opens with a cover version of The Beatles' I'm Down. This album, like his first, is very diverse, with moments of pure pop, some really frenetic pieces, and some very sedate atmospheric tunes.

Adrian Belew: Big Electric Cat b/w The Lone Rhinoceros (1982)

This is a two track 10" 45 RPM single. Adrian played the guitar, drums, vocals, piano, keyboards and produced the tracks.

As I mentioned in ta recent post, this is probably my favourite Belew track. In fact, one year, during CFNY's All-Request Nooner (when CFNY was still a good radio station, and there were still some independent radio stations), I requested this song for my birthday, and I even introduced it on the air.

Adrian Belew: Lone Rhino (1982)

During my undergraduate degree, I could always count on residence-mate Pete to alert me to great music, old and new. I have greatly missed his recommendations over the years. Geography has gotten in the way, and we have both drifted apart. If it weren't for Pete, lots of bands might have slipped past.

In 1985 or 1986, Pete lent me two Adrian Belew cassettes. I had what I would call an instant appreciation for what I heard coming out of my speakers. Undeniably, there was a Beatlesesque pop sensibility, but it was infused with a radical guitar sound, the likes of which I had never heard. Later, I found copies on vinyl.

Over the years, I have seen Belew's name pop up everywhere as producer, writer, or collaborator. In fact, I already mentioned him in the Laurie Anderson posts. He has also worked with The Bears, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Jerry Harrison, David Byrne, Tom Tom Club, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Mike Oldfield, Paul Simon, Porcupine Tree, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jars of Clay, Tori Amos (I think I can forgive him for that), Robert Palmer, Mariah Carey, Herbie Hancock, Asia, and Tony Levin. He has worked with as many as 100 acts.

Incidentally, I should add that of all the bands and singers I have mentioned so far, Adrian is the only one I have seen in concert, the first time with King Crimson, for whom he was the guitarist (along with Robert Fripp) and with ProjeKct Two, also with Robert Fripp. I have never seen him solo, unless you include the between-sets mini-concert he did during the ProjeKct Two show in Toronto several years back.

There are so many amazing songs on this record, it's hard to know what to highlight. I am tempted to embed a video for Big Electric Cat, possibly my favourite Belew track, but I will save that for later. Instead, here is an infectious pop tune. The songs are quite diverse, so don't take this tune as representative of the entire album.

A Look at my CD Collection, part 4 - Laurie Anderson


I acquired a cassette copy of Home of the Brave years ago from a friend (Thanks Pete).  At the time, I was fascinated by the guitar playing of Adrian Belew, who showed up on the three glorious King Crimson albums in the 1980s, and many more later on.  The first of that trilogy (Discipline) remains as perhaps my most favourite album of all time, but more on that another day. Anyway, Adrian plays some wicked guitar on Mister Heartbreak and Home of the Brave.

Later, I added some Laurie Anderson vinyl to my collection, most of which I still have.  Yes, I am old enough to remember vinyl.  I regret selling some of my records when I became infatuated with compact discs, mostly because early digital mastering really sucked, but it has gotten better.  Still, there is something about the warmth of a vinyl recording that is lacking on CD.

The most perplexing thing about Laurie Anderson is not her weird music; that, I like.  The first track of hers I ever heard was O Superman and I couldn't really believe what I was hearing.  I still think this song is awesome and I continue to appreciate the bizarreness of it.  I have included the video below, thanks to YouTube.  As I was saying, the most perplexing thing about Laurie Anderson is that she married Lou Reed.  I am a huge Lou Reed fan and I have all of his albums and those of The Velvet Underground too.

(see other posts about Lou: one, two, three)

So, although I like Reed's music, isn't it generally agreed that he is somewhat ugly?  Who am I to judge?, you might ask.  Good point. Someone once said that beauty is only skin deep.

Anyway, I have three Laurie Anderson CDs and some vinyl.  I like her music very much.