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Adrian Belew
A wizard of sonic manipulation and texture, Belew has been the guitarist of choice for the art-rock crowd, playing with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, and Nine Inch Nails [see entries]. He has also fronted a version of King Crimson and sustained a lower-profile career as a solo artist.
In his hometown of Cincinnati, Belew was originally a rock drummer before developing his prowess on guitar. He was working the mid-American club circuit with his band Sweetheart when Zappa happened to attend a Nashville performance and tapped Belew for his band. Belew toured and recorded with Zappa (Sheik Yerbouti, 1979). After touring with David Bowie (captured on 1978’s Stage; he also appears on 1979’s Lodger), Belew recorded with Talking Heads (Remain in Light, 1980). Belew’s startling work - e.g., his careening solo on “The Great Curve” - immediately established him as a sought-after player. Belew toured briefly with the first expanded edition of Talking Heads and can be heard on their live 1982 album The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads. Belew later worked with Talking Heads Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth on their band Tom Tom Club’s first album.
In 1981 Belew joined Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford, and Tony Levin in a latter-day King Crimson. Belew’s virtuosic playing - which by now included a whole lexicon of electronically produced animal sounds - as well as his urgent singing of his own caustic lyrics helped make this one of the most popular and respected Crimson lineups. Belew recorded Discipline (1981), Beat (1982), and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984) with the band before they broke up in 1984. He also made guest appearances on Laurie Anderson’s Mister Heartbreak (1984) and Home of the Brave (1986) and on Paul Simon’s Graceland (1986).
With The Bears - a short-lived band he helped form in 1985 - and in his subsequent career as a solo artist, Belew displayed his ease with pop songwriting and singing. Mr. Music Head yielded the minor hit “Oh Daddy” (#58, 1989), a humorous look at the vicissitudes of a middle-aged rocker, which Belew sang with his 11-year-old daughter, Audie. Inner Revolution both paid homage to, and affectionately deconstructed, the sound of the Beatles. He joined David Bowie on his 1989 Sound + Vision career retrospective tour. In 1994 Belew’s guitar playing was featured on the industrial band Nine Inch Nails’ album The Downward Spiral.
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Heaven & Earth: Live and in the Studio 1997-2008
by John Kelman
Yet another year, yet another characteristically detailed and chronologically contextualized King Crimson mega-box set. Except that 2019 is no typical year. And Heaven & Earth is no typical King Crimson box set. While Heaven & Earth: Live and in the Studio 1997-2008 completes (well, almost) the series of box sets documenting King Crimson's original commercial recordings (and so much more), it's far from the group's first (or only) release to go along with the current three-drummer ...
read moreAdrian Belew Power Trio at Ardmore Music Hall
by Geno Thackara
The Adrian Belew Power Trio Ardmore Music Hall Ardmore, PA May 6, 2017 Like so much of life, music is really a work in progress that never stops changing. Adrian Belew has always been one to live by the idea rather than follow it--he's best known for an extended tenure in the always-inventive King Crimson, spins smart and often convoluted songs that still grab the ears effortlessly, and can wring sounds out of a guitar ...
read moreAdrian Belew: Power Trios and Crimson Heads
by Justin M. Smith
Since 1977, Adrian Belew has been a guitar and songwriting innovator in the cutting edge rock field. Spending time in bands with Frank Zappa, David Bowie and Talking Heads, he's also clocked serious studio time with other artists including Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Tom Club, Tori Amos and Herbie Hancock. He's fronted the various incarnations of perennial art rockers King Crimson since 1981, as well as putting together several of his own solo projects.Belew has continued ...
read morePark West, Chicago, Illinois August 7, 2008
by John Kelman
When it was announced, in late 2003, that touch guitarist Trey Gunn was leaving perennial art rockers King Crimson, to be replaced by returning bassist/stickman Tony Levin—a member of the group during its 1980s and 1990s runs—anticipation was high. Gunn's strength was as a virtuosic melodic foil for guitarists Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew as well as holding down the bottom end, but Levin has always been considered Crimson's ultimate groove-meister. When Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison was recruited in ...
read moreAdrian Belew: Side Three
by Glenn Astarita
Amid stints with King Crimson, guitar hero Adrian Belew has continued his solo career with his Side One and Side Two recordings, recently adding this final installment. Following suit in numerical title only, this set finds Belew grouping stylistic pieces that didn't fit into the motifs presented on the previous albums. Though much acclaimed for his work as an experimental guitar-slinger, the artist is also a strong vocalist and crafty multi-instrumentalist.
With the opening “Troubles," Belew incorporates twisted ...
read moreThe 21st Century Guide to King Crimson Volume Two: 1981-2003
by John Kelman
While Robert Fripp—erstwhile leader and only remaining member of the group that literally shook the foundations of the rock world in 1969 with In the Court of the Crimson King (Discipline Global Mobile)— rankles at those who call the continually evolving band King Crimson a progressive rock band, what band better fits the term progressive? Merriam-Webster defines the word progressive as: “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities," and “moving forward or onward." ...
read moreGuitar Legend Adrian Belew Presents Newest Music In An App Flux By Belew
Source:
Glass Onyon PR - William James
Nashville, TN - Guitar legend Adrian Belew has just released his newest music – and it’s like nothing you’ve experienced before. FLUX by belew™ is music that is never the same twice...think about that for a moment. This new revolution in music provides listeners with a mobile “listening experience” that blends music and art all in one accessible iOS application. Now you have access to hundreds of combinations of new Adrian Belew songs, snippets and sound bites that have been ...
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Guitar Legend Adrian Belew Announces Massive North America Tour
Source:
Glass Onyon PR - William James
Asheville, NC – Adrian Belew is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist, who has released 20 critically acclaimed solo albums. He has worked alongside some of the most innovative artists of the past 30 years, including Paul Simon, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Frank Zappa, Laurie Anderson and Nine Inch Nails. For 33 years he was the frontman, singer, and guitarist in art-rock giant King Crimson. Known as a highly inventive guitarist, much of Belew's music mixes pop songwriting with ...
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One Track Mind: Adrian Belew on Songs from King Crimson, His Power Trio and the Bears
Source:
Something Else!
On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews' One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to Adrian Belew, guitarist with King Crimson. Discover why he likes working with younger musicians (no mortages or spouses to lure them out of the studio!), and how he'd like to push Crimson's double-trio format even further out. Reminesce on Belew's criminally underappreciated side project the Bears, and find just how relieved he remains that “Oh Daddy," his late-1980s novelty favorite, didn't become a ...
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Something Else! Interview: Adrian Belew, of King Crimson
Source:
Something Else!
Adrian Belew, at work these days a classical reformulation of his well-received 2009 trio project e, admits that he's unsure when King Crimson will reform. “No word right now," he says of the group, led since its late 1960s inception by Robert Fripp. “We're just waiting on a word of encouragement from dear Robert." It's not like he's been sitting idly by. Belew, who's also worked as a sideman with the Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie, has ...
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Gimme Five: King Crimson's Adrian Belew
Source:
Something Else!
By Nick DeRiso His credentials are as deep as his records are extraordinary: Adrian Belew, after all, has had stints with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Talking Heads, King Crimson and Nine Inch Nails. But, try as he might with pop outfits like the Bears, Belew—bless him—has never swerved out into the mainstream. His impulses are too idiosyncratic, his guitar experiments too eccentric, his voice sometimes unearthly peculiar. There have been, no surprise, a series of missteps, false starts, things ...
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Gimme Five: Favorites from King Crimson's Adrian Belew
Source:
Something Else!
By Nick DeRiso His credentials are as deep as his records are extraordinary: Adrian Belew, after all, has had stints with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, the Talking Heads, King Crimson and Nine Inch Nails. But, try as he might with pop outfits like the Bears, Belew—bless him—has never swerved out into the mainstream. His impulses are too idiosyncratic, his guitar experiments too eccentric, his voice sometimes unearthly peculiar. There have been, no surprise, a series of missteps, false starts, things ...
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Adrian Belew Signature Fly Guitar
Source:
All About Jazz
Parker Guitars Announces General Availability of the Adrian Belew Signature Fly Guitar
Cutting Edge Construction and High-End Components Make This One of the Most Advanced Guitars Ever Built
Chicago, IL. - Parker Guitars, a leader in innovation and originality within the music world, announced today the addition of the Adrian Belew Signature Fly to their line of electric guitars. Designed from the ground up to the exacting standards of legendary guitarist Adrian Belew, the Adrian Belew Signature Fly is one ...
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Parker Guitars Announces General Availability of the Adrian Belew Signature Fly Guitar
Source:
FortyThree PR
Cutting Edge Construction and High-End Components Make This One of the Most Advanced Guitars Ever Built Chicago, IL. — March 5, 2009 — Parker Guitars, a leader in innovation and originality within the music world, announced today the addition of the Adrian Belew Signature Fly® to their line of electric guitars. Designed from the ground up to the exacting standards of legendary guitarist Adrian Belew, the Adrian Belew Signature Fly is one of the most advanced and innovative guitars ever ...
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Experimental Guitar Icon Adrian Belew Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
Since 1977, Adrian Belew has been a guitar and songwriting innovator in the cutting edge rock field. Spending time in bands with Frank Zappa, David Bowie and Talking Heads, he's also clocked serious studio time with other artists including Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Tom Club, Tori Amos and Herbie Hancock. He's fronted the various incarnations of perennial art rockers King Crimson since 1981, as well as putting together several of his own solo projects.
Belew has continued his ...
read more
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Adrian Belew
Instrument: Guitar
Born: December 23, 1949
