{"id":28887,"date":"2025-02-23T05:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T10:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=28887"},"modified":"2025-02-24T10:20:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:20:56","slug":"five-songs-you-show-know-featuring-adrian-belew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/five-songs-you-show-know-featuring-adrian-belew\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Songs You Should Know Featuring Adrian Belew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Guitarist Adrian Belew is one of the most celebrated and versatile musicians in and beyond the rock idiom. The Kentucky native started out his musical endeavors as a drummer, moving to guitar in his teenage years. Largely-self-taught. Belew quickly developed a style that not only set him apart from his contemporaries, but soon made him one of the most in-demand players on the scene. His deep r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes work with Nine Inch Nails, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Herbie Hancock, Joe Cocker, Jean Michel Jarre, Paul Simon and many others.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also a producer and technological innovator, designing a guitar (the Parker Fly) and a multi-effects mobile app (FLUX). Belew\u2019s current project is leading BEAT, a supergroup featuring Tony Levin, Steve Vai and Tool\u2019s Danny Carey. Here are five great tracks that merely scratch the surface of the artistry of Adrian Belew.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cBoys Keep Swinging\u201d by David Bowie from <em>Lodger<\/em> (1979)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter being discovered by Frank Zappa, Belew toured with the iconoclastic band leader and appeared on Zappa\u2019s 1979 double LP <em>Sheik Yerbouti<\/em>. At the urging of pioneering musician Brian Eno, David Bowie invited Belew to leave Zappa\u2019s employ and join his band. Belew played lead guitar on the tour documented on Bowie\u2019s <em>Stage<\/em> LP, and handled the squealing, squalling and knotty leads on Bowie\u2019s next studio release, <em>Lodger<\/em>. This angular cut is a highlight of that critically-acclaimed record.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2KcOs70dZAw?si=GBoiOwkVYUOMjH8l\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cFrame by Frame\u201d by King Crimson from <em>Discipline<\/em> (1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter a seven-year hiatus, Robert Fripp relaunched King Crimson in the 1980s. The group\u2019s progressive music took a daring turn toward complex polyrhythms, but maintained a melodic sense thanks to Belew\u2019s songwriting skills (Belew offset those pop vibes with guitar effects that sounded like charging elephants). Featuring the interlocking fretwork of Fripp and Belew (plus Levin on Chapman Stick and the great Bill Bruford on drums), \u201cFrame by Frame\u201d would be the breakout track from the new lineup\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IpMyf9EJDFA?si=ofAg8bD_bDUuGfps\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cFear is Never Boring\u201d by The Bears from <em>The Bears<\/em> (1987)<\/strong><br \/>\nBelew\u2019s pop sensibilities have always coexisted with his progressive proclivities. His membership in The Bears underscores the former. Written by fellow Bears guitarist Rob Fetters, \u201cFear is Never Boring\u201d features a catchy melody and sharp hooks, adding just enough proggy weirdness to keep the math rock enthusiasts happy. The Bears\u2019 self-titled debut album would be a critical smash and a solid seller.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AN7iUlKuY8o?si=DA4TGWfa-CvD0Q7z\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cOh Daddy\u201d by Adrian Belew from <em>Mr. Music Head<\/em> (1989)<\/strong><br \/>\nAdrian Belew\u2019s rich sense of humor has always figured into his music, even in the early days when he did Bob Dylan impressions onstage with Frank Zappa. On his fourth solo album <em>Mr. Music Head<\/em>, Belew was joined by daughter Audie \u2013 age 11 at the time \u2013 taking the lead vocal on this playful and amusing look at life from the perspective of a kid whose dad is a first-call guitarist to the stars. \u201cOh Daddy\u201d was released as a single, and Belew created a wacky and hilarious music video for the track as well.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3syRWXod_i0?si=oG9OkHwI0yXz4-1g\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDeadwing\u201d by Porcupine Tree from <em>Deadwing<\/em> (2005)<\/strong><br \/>\nAmidst much other activity, Belew found time to guest on <em>Deadwing<\/em>, the eighth studio album from progressive rock heroes Porcupine Tree. For that album, leader Steven Wilson \u2013 a first-class guitarist himself \u2013 brought in two of his favorite guitar players, giving each the space to solo on one of his songs. Opeth\u2019s Mikael \u00c5kerfeldt played on the epic \u201cArriving Somewhere but Not Here,\u201d and Belew provided masterful solos on \u201cHalo\u201d and the album\u2019s title track.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VTNCMuNGIkQ?si=xk7wNvnVFjdMDZ0a\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guitarist Adrian Belew is one of the most celebrated and versatile musicians in and beyond the rock idiom. The Kentucky native started out his musical endeavors as a drummer, moving [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-28887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-adrian-belew","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29101,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28887\/revisions\/29101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}