Hey. Remember me? Bet you didn't think you'd ever see me again. There's been points in the last few months when neither did I. But here I am, in another state entirely, and I'm gonna yack up three posts at decade's end here to make it an even 100 for 2019.
The first one has to do with the 70th birthday today of a true guitar visionary of visionaries.
He burst upon the scene in the 1977 iteration of Zappa's Mothers, only to be stolen from that band into that of David Bowie. Who then lost him to the Talking Heads for awhile.
From there, he was drafted into the position for which he is best known: the first guitarist ever permitted to play alongside Robert Fripp in avant rock originators King Crimson.
Along the way he's had his own groups, like GaGa and The Bears. As well as a whole passel of solo records.
More recently he's been in a supergroup called Gizmodrome, with some other superheavyweights from some other super-revered bands.
What distinguishes him is pretty simple, really: he can make an electric guitar sound like more things than perhaps any other player ever to thrum.
In some senses one of the most singular heirs to Jimi Hendrix in terms of sounds and tones, he's played a zillion sessions on a zillion records too, and will always be in demand for his completely singular approach and arsenal.
Anyway he is out on the boards now, coming to a city near you, and will likely live to play into his 100s.
So we'll celebrate his septuagenarianization with a concert from 30 years ago this last summer -- on tour behind his then-current Mr. Music Head platter -- from the legendary First Avenue club in Minneapolis, made famous by Prince in Purple Rain.
Adrian Belew
First Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota
7.24.1989
CD1
01 Cruelty to Animals
02 Hot Zoo
03 Three of a Perfect Pair
04 Bad Days
05 Coconuts
06 One of Those Days
07 Bird In a Box
08 1967
09 Oh Daddy
CD2
01 Heartbeat
02 House of Cards
03 Bumpity Bump
04 Motor Bungalow
05 The Rail Song
06 Superboy
07 Elephant Talk
08 guitar sounds intro
09 Big Electric Cat
Total time: 1:35:39
Adrian Belew - guitar, vocals
Rick Fox - keyboards, wind instruments, vocals
Mike Hodges - drums, vocals
DAT of a master soundboard capture, which was possibly also a DAT
543 MB FLAC/December 2019 archive link
This crackler of a set even includes some interesting arrangements of a few Crimson classix, for your nostalgic inclinations.
I will pop back up like a naughty, sexually explicit Elf On A Shelf in 48 hours to shower you with holiday giftings and tidings aplenty.
There may even be spiked fruitcake, if I can straighten out the recipe. You'll wake up sometime in 3020, free of all the 21st Century Schizoid Men and Women.
For now, get your Elephant Talk on and celebrate the six-string psycho we know as Adrian Belew, born this day in 1949 and probably somewhere making a Fender Stratocaster sound like one of those honking, exploding party favors you blow into as I type this unmitigated nonsense.--J.
