Every once in a while a true innovator comes along in contemporary music who can do things with a guitar that should be impossible. Adrian Belew is such an artist and he has been making incredible sounds with his instrument for decades now. His innovative sounds sometimes remind me of the best of the Beatles at their height but he's gone beyond what they accomplished and wound up on his own planet.

Adrian is well known among artists you are more likely to have heard of playing lead guitar on recordings by such venerable greats as David Bowie, King Crimson, Talking Heads, and Frank Zappa's Mother's of Invention. Suffice it to say, Adrian is perhaps one of the best guitar players to have ever lived on the planet, at least IMHO. Enough said. So what is this album about? Rich, full, amazingly innovative guitar sounds mixed in with some great percussion, sound effects, African tribal chants, and haunting lyrics. In many ways, Adrian evokes the sort of sonic experience you had the first time you listened to "Sargent Peppers" but updated to the 1990's (this album was released in 1990 but is still a revelation to hear).

Adrian brings contemporary issues in to his music and also has some fun with his quirky sense of humor. Good vocals and harmonies are important but so is a LOUD sound that is VERY LOUD but not painful (does that make any sense to anyone but me?) I like my Adrian very loud and it invigorates me like a drug, gets me singing along at the top of my voice.

Enough already. Here's what's on this album:

Young Lions The title song crescendoes up from nothing with tribal drums and chants to an electric guitar and magical words. "Hot tribal night, underneath florescent skies, bonfires rage, strange wild waving, shouting, Picasso faces.....

Pretty Pink Rose This one is a Bowie tune and indeed he shows up and sings with Adrian on this track. Adrian does it justice. A quiet start bursts in to wild electric guitar, then the vocals singing of pain, insane politics, and "we're dying for you my love, pretty pink rose".

Heartbeat Starts out as a quieter tune that speaks .... "I listen to your heartbeat (heartbeat) so close it feels like mine, I remember the feeling, my hands in your hair, I remember the rhythms we made...feel your heartbeat right next to mine". Kill me now, so romantic!!! Intensely passionate love.

Looking for a UFO A song about looking for salvation out there somewhere to get us out of our mess. Upbeat rhythms. "I wonder what they see on earth, do they see the hate and hurt, do they see the Christmas lights and mirth and hear songs of peace on earth"

I Am What I Am What a strange but interesting song. Seems like Adrian found a recording of an anonymous radio evangelist and sampled it and built a song around it. So strange and yet it works. "...for yo' minds are my mind an' my mind is yo' mind and I'm sending out my mind to you, an' you, an' you....now repeat these words behind me: I am what I am....now that's all you are...you are what you believe you are....stretch out" And behind the words is a galloping guitar riff and percussion beat. It rolls along leaping and rollicking. Good fun.

Not Alone Anymore Here is Adrian's homage to Roy Orbison. From the credits, this song was a collaboration between Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Lynne. So it is most likely from the Traveling Willberries period but I can't be sure. Anyway, the song sings of a lost love who the singer wants back, but she or he has found someone new so "You're not alone anymore" is the plaintive wail. Enough to break anyone's heart.

Men in Helicopters This tune despairs of the destruction of the African habitat, the damage done by poachers and hunters in helicopters. This is truly an appeal to save the planet from greed. "Wouldn't it be odd, if there really was a God, and he looked down on Earth and saw what we've done to her. Wouldn't it be just if he pulled the plug on us and took away the sun".

Small World "Someday when I'm lost in a dream, out my window in the clouds, somewhere you'll be doing your gardening hear me singing out loud....Hey, it's a small world when you see it on a 2 inch tv screen". Makes no sense but its great to hear.

Phone Call from the Moon An astronaut on the moon calls home. He calls home to see how his honey is doing and how much he misses home and the kids. So far from home. "Sometimes my mind gets blurry and I lose all sense of time". Evocative, lonely, so far away.

Gunman Another Bowie tune with Bowie joining in. Very much an anti-gun appeal. "Gunman, leader of packs, shadow of death, killer in chic, never betrayed, friend of our kids". An indictment of the epidemic of death on the streets brought on by easy access to guns. This was written years before the recent spate of high school shootings over the past few years. A bit preachy but effective.

Adrian's studio sounds are respectably well done. He continues the tradition started in the 60's of incorporating unusual sounds in his music and elevating the art of electric guitar to a fine and amazing level of technical expertise. His mixes are good, his vocals are emotion packed. His words get across messages that convey the intensity of passionate love, the pain of a lost love, the joy of intimacy, and concern for all life on the planet. There is humor here too and delight in the quirky.

Adrian, you are the best!!!

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out