Belew, Adrian: Side Two

Side Two is the second installment in a trilogy of themed albums by King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew and is completely different in scope from Side One. This is a solo album in every sense, from the words and music and instrumentation all the way to the disturbing artwork adorning the digipack. It becomes even more disturbing when one reads the essay from Belew himself, detailing his inspiration for the album. He recounts the horrifying shock he experienced after running over a dog in his pickup truck. But Belew turned his trauma into art by immediately taking up painting as a hobby and designed the "Dead Dog on Asphalt" as seen on the album cover. As for the music, while parts of the arrangements are reminiscent of recent Crimson, Belew experiments with electronic effects, drum loops and synthesizers. The lyrics are equally arranged in an unorthodox fashion, resembling haiku like poetry as opposed to standard verse chorus verse heard in most rock music. This is extremely weird music, but somehow it manages to be eerily hypnotic. There are no tracks that will hit you over the head as album highlights, but the tripnotica groove will carry you over the entire recording. At thirty-three minutes, Side Two is really merely an EP's worth of material, but if you've just finished watching a David Lynch film and you need something to keep the surreal ambiance going, give Side Two a spin.

Track Listing

1. Dead Dog on Asphalt (4:05)
2. I Wish I Knew (3:19)
3. Face to Face (3:03)
4. Asleep (5:23)
5. Sex Nerve (3:06)
6. Then What (3:02)
7. Quicksand (3:19)
8. I Know Now (1:26)
9. Happiness (1:53)
10. Sunlight (4:32)

Added: April 15th 2006
Reviewer: Steve Pettengill
Score:
Related Link: Official Adrian Belew Site
Hits: 2718
Language: english

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