Reply-To: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Sender: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Precedence: bulk From: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk To: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk Subject: Discipline #37 Discipline, Number 37 Thursday, 30 April 1992 Today's Topics: FROM YOUR EDITOR Re: Brain tease, CGT Submission for _Discipline_ Discipline #36 Re: League of Gents obscure tony levin Belew lyrics Re: Discipline #36 Discipline #36 Re: Discipline #36 Compilations Levin Belew concert tapes wanted ADRIAN BELEW INTERVIEW (at last!) [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] FROM YOUR EDITOR Hi! This issue's longer than usual -- I hope not TOO long for you all! First, thanks to everyone who's been sending stuff in for the Tony Levin discography. To avoid a lot of duplication, I've not included most of this in Discipline yet; I'll post a cleaned up summary, with acknowledgements, soon. In view of this, I've taken the liberty of editing some people's posts which start off with Levin info then mention other stuff of general interest. Finally, I'm sure you'll join me in a big 'Thank You' to Anil Prasad for giving Discipline an exculsive on his Adrian belew interview. Thanks Anil. Toby [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1992 12:50:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Brian Patrick Arnold Subject: Re: Brain tease, CGT Re: Brain tease King's Lead Hat, Eno's Before and After Science. Tribute to Talking Heads. Great Eno bee-bop song. I actually played this at a college party once in '86 and the unknowing, unwashed (and certainly underexposed) masses bopped wildly to it. Heh. Re: CGT Can somebody get the address of where we can obtain their CD? Maybe somebody attending their show in Washington DC can pick this up? I'd love to know how we can order it. Bert Lams is probably one of my favorite Crafty Guitarist alumni (along with whoever wrote A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur), and I'm glad to hear he and others have banded together. Oh, since they're from California, does anybody know if they are playing in the San Francisco bay area any time soon? OR can I bribe someone to pick me up their CD if the CGT are selling it at the Washington DC show? I will be in DC that weekend following that show... - Brian [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: Henry_Burdett_Messenger at cup dot portal dot com Subject: Submission for _Discipline_ Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 11:34:24 PDT dalton at pan dot arc dot nasa dot gov writes: > What song has Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, and Robert Fripp all on it? (Hint: > if you rearrange the letters in the name of the song you get the name of a > very well-known band which both Eno & Fripp played with) Not even hard. "King's Lead Hat" from _Before and After Science_ (Eno), "King's Lead Hat" being an anagram of "Talking Heads." Now, I get to ask one: What song has both Kate Bush and Robert Fripp? Henry B. Messenger "Now I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep henry_burdett_messenger@ Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle cup.portal.com And what rough beast its hour come round at last KD6EFY Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born." [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 10:17:06 PDT From: rpeck at pure dot com (Ray Peck) Subject: Discipline #36 > What song has Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, and Robert Fripp all on it? (Hint: > if you rearrange the letters in the name of the song you get the name of a > very well-known band which both Eno & Fripp played with) Easy. King's Lead Hat (Talking Heads). Aren't there other Eno anagram song titles. My fave is one an ex-roomate came up with: an anagram for Brian Eno: One Brain. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 15:13:08 EDT From: Rob Petrone Subject: Re: League of Gents From: malcolm at yuba dot wrs dot com (Malcolm Humes) Subject: League of Gents >Did any of you see the League of Gentlemen live? I did, two nights in a row >in Philadelphia ... Yes! I was there one of those nights! At the TLA on South Street, right? About two years ago or so? Wow, it's a small world! >When the lp was released it was very very different from what I recalled >the group sounded like live. Well, I had never heard of the League of Crafty Guitarists when I had gone, I was just interested in hearing Fripp, and certainly didn't expect to hear what I heard that night! I really was expecting some wild Frippertronics and electric guitar work by the master, but it was neat seeing something totally different. Leave it to Robert to keep one on one's toes. Needless to say, there was no drummer on tour. Just Robert and his boys...and the woman who did the "vocal stylings" every now and again. Was that Danielle Dax? I wasn't crazy about her stuff--she seemed to break up the mood of the guitar music. I would have rather heard less of her. Some of that accoustic stuff was really intense. I've neaver heard a dozen accoustic guitars going at once like that. >Fripp watered it >down with words and processed electronics to make it into something the >League of Gents weren't. Hmm. I'll have to check this out. This sounds a bit more like what I expected to hear that evening. It would be interesting to compare what I remember from the show to what was done in the studio. >The lp did not do justice in capturing the band that toured. Perhaps not, but I'd like to hear the finished product with the synth and the drums anyway. It may lose the intensity, but could enhance the melodic value of the music if done properly. Is this available in the US on CD? ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: __+__ I was thinking, 'This is :: Rob Petrone :: :: (+ + +) a dangerous place...' :: Temple University :: :: [[I]] This is a dangerous place :: Philadelphia, PA :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 15:56:00 EDT From: iws at lionel dot ssd dot ray dot com (Ihor W. Slabicky) Subject: obscure tony levin This may not be as obscure as you would like, but Tony Levin has quite a big role in the movie "One Trick Pony", starring Paul Simon. It was released around 1980 or so... Btw, my favorite Fripp solo is from "St. Elmo's Fire", a great song, melody, imagery, words, and solo - wise. I'd love to paint the imagery of that - Brown-eyes and I, sitting by a rock in the desert, watching St. Elmo's fire flashing about, in the backgound somewhere, the path we had taken... and the St. Elmo's fire tracing out Fripp's solo... I'm going to relisten to some of the other pieces you mentioned, just to see if those solos are as good :-) Btw, pt. 2 - my favorite segue of two songs happens to be: "In Dark Trees" > "St. Elmo's Fire". I have this on a tape and it always thrills me :-) Any other great two song segues? [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: mjgiles at ucdavis dot edu (Mentor (Jason Giles)) Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 14:28:23 -0700 Subject: Belew lyrics I have been listening to Belew's latest effort, and actually quite enjoy it. I think it's got a lot of little catchy quirks to it. It's not as good as some of his previous efforts, but it will certainly draw me to listen to and, to see him live. I was wondering, however, if there was someone who happened to scrawl out his lyrics on that album, or if they are available anonymous ftp or what. He only put snippets to some of the songs in the CD booklet, which is quite annoying. Thanks, =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = Jason Giles = "Tonight you're going to see me change, = = ccm025 at othello dot ucdavis dot edu = and not just my clothes.... " = = Amateur Brain Surgeon = Saga, 1989 = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1992 15:57 EST From: NAG8916 at ACFcluster dot NYU dot EDU Subject: Re: Discipline #36 An impressive solo that always impresses me is the acoustic work on Cirkus. It so so fast, elegant, and has that typical Fripp goofy-cocky tone of supperiority to it... I dare you to pick up your acoustics after listening to that one.. ----->Nils [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 10:39:35 PDT From: rpeck at pure dot com (Ray Peck) Subject: Discipline #36 > Wouldn't it be fun to compile a Tony Levin discography? > Thinking caps on, team! Come on, let's get OBSCURE! Not obscure: ABWH, and Union. Momentary Lapse O Reason. A bit more obscure: Richard Thompson "Amnesia" GREAT! album, w/ some of my favorite stick work on "Don't Tempt Me". David Torn "Cloud About Mercury" w/ Levin and Bruford. I think there's another Torn w/ them, too. A great disc of experimental guitar stuff. If you like The Sheltering Sky you should get this disc. Didn't he play on some Paul Simon albums? I assume there's a Fripp discography. How can I get it and back issues of this list? Is there a way to get reproints of Fripp's Guitar columns? Is there a Bruford discography? Bruford fans should check out Kazumi Watanabe's Spice of Life (especially) and Spice of Life Too. They are a Bruford/Jeff Berlin/ Watanabe. The first, especially, is pretty Discipline-influenced. Is there a list of European Unauthorized Live CDs? There are so many available that I want to make sure I get the best ones first. Right now I have Lament Live at the Concertbouw 1973 Return of the Crimson King Live '69, same show as "Get Your Bearings" on FbF Another live '73/74 of which I can't remember the name. What's the feeling here on live recordings, given Fripp's vehement opposition to them? I'd love to buy official live recordings of all the tours, since I feel that Fripp's playing is often better live, but can't. So I resort to these unauthorized discs. Which, BTW, I bought in Germany where they are legal. I'd *love* to get a CD of the The Noise concert, for example. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 22 Apr 92 13:04:39 -0700 From: dalton at pan dot arc dot nasa dot gov (lizard man) Subject: Re: Discipline #36 For the Tony Levin Discography Don't forget his work with Kazumi Watanabe on "To Chi Ka" Bruford also plays on Kazumi Watanabe's "Spice Of Life" and "Spice of Life Too" For those who haven't heard of Kazumi Watanabe, he is a master jazz guitarist from Japan and sounds like Robert Fripp in a good (!) mood. Check out his CD, "Mobo Club" for what sounds like a cross between Red-era King Crimson, Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis and Birds of Fire-era John Mclaughlin. --lizard man [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Fri, 24 Apr 92 08:56:11 EDT From: Bill Furman Subject: Compilations Does anyone know if 'A Young Persons Guide To King Crimson' is available on CD anywhere in the world?? A great pre-Discipline compilation. Also, can anyone verify that the frame by frame boxed set includes many abridged versions of tracks?? ( You know - fade out before the end ). My local CD shop claimed this was the reason that they were only special ordering the set. Thanks, William N. Furman ARPA : furman at trantor dot harris-atd dot com Harris Corporation Usenet: ...!uunet!x102a!trantor!furman PO Box 37, MS 3A/1912 AT&T : (407) 727-4339 Melbourne, FL 32902 FAX : (407) 729-3363 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1992 22:14:47 -0400 From: Jeremy Weissenburger <07822 at brahms dot udel dot edu> Subject: Levin I thought I'd add my two cents on Fripp's best guitar solo. This is tough, since a lot of Crimso stuff really didn't give him a LOT of solo area. But then again, that's not Fripp's style I guess. I think the best soloes I had heard were: 3) His work on the tune "Red" 2) The solo on "The Sheltering Sky" (there are times when I almost weep when hearing it.) 1) The solo on the title track of 3ofAPP. (Is that Fripp? Or am I making an idiot of myself (probably am anyway)?) The first time I heard that solo, I was stunned. I hadn't heard much of Crimso at the time, but the solo kept me thinking that that WASN'T a guitar. And then, I heard a boot of it done live, and although it was a completely different solo, I still loved it!! I'm also getting into his work on Sunday All Over The World. Musically, it's damn good. Anyway, I've babbled on for long enough... "Capt. Apathy" [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] From: Greg Hatch Subject: Belew concert tapes wanted Date: Sun, 26 Apr 92 23:03:16 EDT I am interested (extremely) in getting concert tapes of Adrian Belew's current tour. Any of the shows will do, but seeing as how I was at the shows in Cincinnati and Columbus Ohio, I would especially like tapes of those shows. If anyone has tapes of these shows, please e-mail me so we can work out something mutually acceptible. I have a wide range of other Belew and Crimson bootlegs to trade. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 01:00:42 EDT From: wcsanil at ccs dot carleton dot ca (Anil Prasad) Subject: ADRIAN BELEW INTERVIEW (at last!) Sorry for the late delay folks, but here it is at last... ----------------------------------------------------------------- Adrian Belew Interview March 26/1992 by Anil Prasad ----------------------------------------------------------------- The entire contents of this interview are (c) 1992 Charlatan Publications Incorporated (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). *No portion* of this interview may be reproduced in any format, anywhere. If you see portions of this interview appear elsewhere, please notify me *IMMEDIATELY* at: wcsanil at ccs dot carleton dot ca Thanks. -- Anil Prasad ----------------------------------------------------------------- I know I sound like a pompous ass putting a disclaimer like that at the top of this thing, but as of the date this interview was submitted for this one time appearance on the Discipline list (April 28/92), the interview has yet to be published, and won't be appearing in my magazine until mid-May. So this is for my own protection. Thanks for your understanding. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I think you'll get a kick out of some of the information in this thing. Belew is always an open and honest person in his interviews, and is of course, always entertaining. Hope you enjoy it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- AP: I understand you were in Mexico producing a band recently. AB: Well, I actually did the production for a band called Kaifanes, the production was done in Lake Geneva, Wisconson where I live, but I first met with them in Mrxico CIty for a week. It took us five weeks to make the record, and I would say overall it was completely a success. AP: What kind of music do they perform? AB: They're a progressive rock band. They have their influences not only from their own cultural, Mexican music, but also from groups like King Crimson and people I've worked with (laughs). So it was a very interesting blend of their particular own brand of music. I've never heard anything quite lke it. It sounds somewhat like a Mexican U2 (laughs). They're all really wonderful people and we had a great time doing the record. It's an excellent record, I really like it. AP: When does it come out? AB: I think it comes out the middle of May. AP: What label are they on? AB: They're on on BMG/Ariola. AP: How did you get involved with them? AB: They sent me their last CD, video and press kit, lots of information about the band, and I really liked the band. There was a time and a space when I had just finished Inner Revolution where they were producing the artwork and pressing the CDs where for 2 months you don't have anything to do. So it was perfect timing. So that's how it all came about. I've been wainting to produce outside projects.. AP: You were supposed produce Timbuk3 [a fabulous little band from Austin Texas -- known for their megahit "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" -- Remember them?] until IRS [Timbuk3's record label, and the former label of The Bears] threw a wrench in the works right? AB: Yeah, it didn't work out, but I really like their music... AP: I think that would have been a phenomenal combination. AB: It was a good combination, we met and it seemed like it was all going to work until IRS decided they wanted to do something else. AP: In their usual inimitable fashion. AB: Yeah... (laughs) [Note: I interviewed Timbuk3 a few months prior to this interview with Belew and they told me when they approached IRS about Belew producing their next album (which turned out to be "Big Shot In The Dark" -- GET IT! It's a fab album), IRS came back and said "Well, who's Adrian Belew? What hits has he produced?" And Belew and The Bears used to be signed to the label!!!!!!] AP: You tinkered about with some of the old tracks on Desire Of The Rhino King didn't you? AB: Umm, no i don't think so. There's a different version of "Lone Rhino" and there's a new song that was never on a record before that was on a guitar player flexidisc. Other than that, they're the same mixes. We remastered everything, and they probably sound a little better. AP: I could swear that you changed the bassline on "Big Electric Cat". AB: Yeah, I think I know what you mean. There was a mistake in the mastering at the front of "Big Electric Cat" that cuts off the first note and seems to turn the beat around. But that's very observant! (laughs) AP: On the first few cuts, Inner Revolution has a much raw and rougher feel than your last few albums. AB: Yeah, i tried to do that. About halfway through the record I decided to put some more aggressive songs on. The first few were songs like "I'd Rather Be Right Here" and "I Walk Alone" and "Everything" and then I decided that to really balance things out you're gonna need a few aggressive things, plus I've been dealing with this recording style of using less information per song. In other words, having three instruments doing the job of six, and that accounts for some of the rawness too. AP: Did you want to get away from the pop angle on a few cuts too? AB: Oh no, I think these are more pop songs than ever to me! But I just wanted to keep it simpler, more direct. Also, I knew that this would be some music to play live. I kept in my mind a vision of a band playing it. AP: Why did you choose to use Chris Arduser (drummer of The Bears) on a couple of tracks? AB: Well, Chris came into town in Lake Geneva and i thought I could use a sparring partner for a couple of days, so he came in to the studio and played my drums which were already set up and miked and we came up with some new songs that way. AP: What do you think of the Psychodots (the new band formed by the remaining three members of the Bears)? AB: I like them very much, actually, Rob Fetters is going to play guitars on this tour. The drummer is the same drummer from the Bowie tour, Mike Hodges, and we've imported a newcomer, a bass player named Brian Lovely. It's a real lean, mean nice rock band. AP: Two guitars? Great! AB: Yeah, it sounds good. We've already learned 18 songs in about a week and half. AP: So, I understand you're back in King Crimson. (laughs) AB: No, not really, not officially. AP: I read an interview where Fripp said you'll definitely be involved. AB: Well, we've only been talking about it at this point. I'm not certain it's going to happen. Ummm, it looks positive that it could happen. I think until we sit and play music together I wouldn't really be able to say for sure, but I'm excited about the possibility. I met with Robert last summer and we've talked a few times on the phone and it all sounds pretty good, maybe... but it's still a rumour. AP: Why did you choose to redo the vocal on "Cadence And Cascade"? AB: As I said, I was going to visit Robert over the summer for a couple of days and he suggested that "since you're here why don't you do something on this new compilation?" So, it was entirely his idea, but I enjoyed singing it. I always liked that track even though I had no involvement in the original version. AP: Do you really want to put up with all the crap you went through before with the band? AB: I'm not sure, that's what I'm thinking about. I'm just not sure... it would have to be done in a newer way, and that's what we're working out, and of course I would really like to see what the music would be. If it was vital, new, unique music, then that would really interest me. AP: So, Jerry Marotta is the new drummer? AB: Yeah. AP: Why won't Bill (Bruford) be involved? AB: I don't think Robert wants to have Bill involved and I think Bill is also entrenched in his new projects. Personally, I love Bill. AP: I think he's incredible.. AB: He's a remarkable drummer.. i learned a lot working with him... [This is where Adrian went into why Broof isn't involved in the new KC which I think from the 500 messages I got, was explained well enough...] AP: King Crimson was always full of strange relationships and conflict wasn't it? AB: Yeah, there was a lot of conflict built into that situation. AP: Do you think that the tension was a catalyst for some of that great music? AB: I'm not sure if the music is a product of that or not. I'm not sure if you could still make the same music... I'd like to believe you could without all that tension. It's just the potential of all four musicians put together, whether there were pressures beneath it or not, I think it would have still made the same music. AP: What would be the biggest challenge for King Crimson in the 90s? AB: Well, probably to overcome the stigma of being nostalgic, of "re-un-ite-ing" or anything like that, so that's why I'm saying, the only real reason for doing it would be to have some real, new, vital music. AP: Do you miss recording within a band format? AB: No I don't actually, I prefer recording alone. I approach recording more like a painter approaches painting you know. It's the challenge of working through all the problem solving, of how to get to the music that you hear in your head that I find most attractive about creating music in the first place and it quite simply is more challenging to do it all yourself and like a painter, I have my own vision of how to do it, and if I can do it, I'm gonna try to do as much of it as I can, so also, I think that in bands I've been in in the past, you get tired of having to compromise so often, so finally you say, I'll just do it myself ! (laughs) AP: Well, it's certainly worked well for you so far. AB: Well, yeah, I've worked at it a long time you know. If there's ever something that I can't do, like a string quartet, I'll gladly have other people play it. AP: Was there a particular "Inner Revolution" that inspired the song? AB: There wasn't a particular inner revolution that happened to me, although my life has taken on some dynamic changes recently. Inner Revolution really came from conversations I had with my girlfriend Martha Thompson, she studies communication and nearly has a masters degree and it's a theory of hers, a working theory about how things can change dynamically in your life. It could be something that causes you to change or it could be you causing yourself to change. So the general message that I read into the song was as it says, "If there's something in your life, you have the power to change it." AP: What were some of the dynamic changes? AB: Well in the past two years, I would say going on tour with David Bowie for nine months was a big change in my life. On a career level that was one of the biggest steps I had taken in a long time, not only because of the link there was, but also the finances of it, the whole scope of everything, it changed a lot of things. Also in the last two years, I decided to get divorced and start my life over. I had really felt my marriage had reached a complete failure state where I could no longer be myself and actually be the person I needed to be to do what i want to do in my life. This took a long time to work through and decide, obviously a big decision like that, and that was a big move. Following that, I met Martha and fell in love and that was a giant change in my life. So to me, a lot of this record revolves around the hope of a new love, of a new start in your life and a more positive feeling. Basically I feel better than I've ever felt in my life, so I wanted to write some songs about that. AP: On "This Is What I Believe" you've got a killing sax sound, that's your guitar of course. AB: Yeah, that's a GR-50 synthesizer, I can't tell you any more about it than that (laughs). It's one of those things I come up with now and then, it sounds to me something I liken to that Stevie Wonder style of harmonica playing, so that's what it's called, the synth patch on my synthesizer says Stevie Wonder (laughs). I like to give them names. (laughs) AP: Do you have a lot of new digital toys these days? AB: Yes I do. I just put together a whole new stereo, midi guitar rack, actually I say I put it together, but someone else put it together for me. What I do everyday now is work with all the sounds and try to get all the right things that the songs need. AP: I knew that "I'd Rather Be Right Here" was about a fear of flying, but I was surprised to find out that it was autobiographical. AB: It's the strangest thing. It's totally illogical and it just came on me a few years ago and this has happened to a number of people I know, David Byrne and David Bowie of course. I used to love flying, in fact I even have flown planes! I took flying lessons for a little while. I was always thrilled by airports and the whole idea thrilled me and then I don't know what happened, this real illogical fear started and now with the plane, there are times when I get up to move to another seat because I think I'm gonna help the plane little bit! (laughs) AP: Really? AB: Yeah, it's that bizarre and stupid! AP: Are you gonna be doing some flying during this tour? AB: Well, there will be some flying for this tour yes, but mostly it will stay on the ground. That's not by my design, it's just the nature of this level of touring. I'm trying to overcome it. It gives a great deal of humour to my friends. Whenever we start the take-off you know, as soon as the plane starts to take off, my hands break out in an amazing sweat, I mean sweat just pours off of my hands! Actually it's been quite awhile, because I remember, the guys in King Crimson used to laugh at it and they'd always say, "Watch this, watch his hands!" (laughs) It's some sort of stigma or stimata or whatever it's called. It certainly is weird, I wish I could get rid of it. AP: On "I Walk Alone", you have that Roy Orbison thing happening again. AB: Yeah, that was the one song I wrote when I was on the Bowie tour. I used to lay in my bunk in the bus sometimes when I would get tired and would try to think up songs. That was one I thought up and only later did I work out the chords and what it should be on the piano and then I realized as I was doing it, it had that emotional timbre of Roy Orbison and of course Roy being an influence on me when I was a kid, I thought it would be kind of nice to do something in that vein. Not many people write those kinds of songs these days. AP: Your voice really takes on his quality... AB: Well, the only thing I left out was the big "Roy note" he always hit at the end of a song (laughs), but I didn't want to copy him to that degree. I just wanted it to have that, I dunno, that qulaity of his voice, I wouldn't know how to explain it, but I wanted to try and get some of that in my voice. AP: Tell me about "Only A Dream". AB: It began as a drum track while we were testing mike technique and sounds for the drums and I went ahead and played the drum track and really liked it because it had a lot of different drum rolls and things I don't usually play and so I wrote the song over the top of that and it came very quickly, that song. As soon as I worked out the chords I knew what the melody would be. I always let the songs tell me what they want to be about and it seemed to me that this was a big dynamic type sounding song and therefore could be about something larger than some of the other subject matters so I went back to my usual "what are we doing to the earth" plea (laughs), but I always like to include something like that on a record to just to remind people who may not know of my convictions that I believe we are making some big mistakes in the way we are treating our planet. AP: Are you an active envrionmentalist at all? AB: I'm not an active environmentalist. I think my action is simply that what I can do is write songs about it to bring about some awareness and that's as far as I go with it. I don't really participate in any fund raising or anything like that. I think it's a private matter anyway, I think it's one person at a time doing what they feel would help. Even if it's just recycling, it does help. AP: What sort of selection of songs will you be peforming on tour? AB: We've worked out ten of the Inner Revolution songs and they all sound really good -- well everything sounds really good! I'm very happy with the way this band is turning out. It's a band that should be capable of doing everything I've ever done in different situations. We're gonna do something from King Crimson, a couple of Bears songs, we're also gonna play for the first time songs from Young Lions -- that album was never played live... AP: Are you gonna do "I Am What I am?" AB: We are doing "I Am What I am"! AP: Excellent!! Great!! (This is my fave Belew track of all time) AB: It's great! I love it, it's a great track, and it also gives us a break from singing, and we've got the taped voice of the Prophet Omega. AP: Did his camp ever get ahold of you? AB: No, we've never been able to locate him through every resource we know... [For those of you that don't know, The Prophet Omega was a radio evangelist from sometime during the 40s-50s. Adrian use samples of his speech and pieced them together for the vocal track for "I Am What I Am". He did it without Omega's permission and has been putting aside royalties for him, just in case he or one of his descendants wants to claim them.] AP: So, his royalties are still building up for him? AB: (cracks up) Yeah, I guess so! If he just wants to claim them! (laughs) The other day we learned "Young Lions" too, that was really a thrill. I wasn't sure if we could accomplish that. AP: Because of the percussion? AB: Yeah, it really sounds great though, and we're playing "Men In Helicopters" as well as "Pretty Pink Rose" of course. AP: With Rob on co-vocals? AB: Yeah, Rob is doing the David Bowie vocals and it's working out great. The only thing we haven't decided is what we're gonna play >from Mr. Music Head, but apart from learning "Big Electric Cat" and "The Momur" and maybe some songs from the older stuff, we've learned "The Rail Song" already, it's a little bit of everything, and there's also a really nice six minute piece of music I've put together to play on that has excerpts chronologically from my entire career from 35 different songs. It's a pretty nice piece, sort of like a musical version of "Cruelty To Animals". (laughs) AP: Last time we spoke, you were about to do some advertisments in Japan for air conditioners! AB: Well, they really weren't for air conditioning! (laughs) That's one of their products, the commercials don't tout a product as such, it's very different. They do a profile about me, in other words, the commercial is about me, and at the end it says "I'm always unique, like Dyken is", that's it (laughs), that's the name of the company. AP: How do you feel about that sort of thing from an artistic point of view? AB: I think it's fine. I don't have any problems with it from an artistic view. It's not an artistic thing, it's a commercial thing, a thing you do for money and i enjoy it a lot, and the money was good and they have a different view in Japan. In the United states it's frowned upon for an artist to do commercials, it's not looked at as you said, "artistic enough" but in Japan people do commercials there who wouldn't do commercials here because they have a different outlook on it, the commercials are very short and often they're the best things on television! People like Rob DeNiro and David Bowie and so on have done commercials there who wouldn't do them in the states. [Note: Bowie *HAS* done ads in the States!] I was told that it's one of the only ways for a non-Japanese person to achieve stardom in Japan because they don't play the music on the radio. You can't go through the normal channels, so the best way to be popular is to do these television commercials. A lot of people do them for that reason. I did them because it was an attractive idea and because the money was good, and I really enjoyed it. It was like a video shoot, like making a rock video and I liked the end result. I wish they'd show it here, it's a great little profile of me! AP: Are you planning on doing another instrumental album for the future? And would Atlantic give you that sort of artistic freedom? AB: Yeah, I would like to do that, I don't know if I'll get that freedom from Atlantic or not. I've been letting material like that accumulate and sometime I'll find something to do with it. I'd rather do a movie soundtrack or something. I think that kind of music needs more of a purpose to exist because there's no place in the market for it, maybe it'd be better if it were attached to a movie or something, but I would like to do some more instrumental music. AP: It's sad that record companies seem to reward innovation like "Desire Caught By The Tail" with punitive measures. AB: Yeah. I think it would be a dangerous step for me to take at this point on a career level too. I know that Desire Caught By The Tail lost me my record deal with Island, that was no big deal because I went over to Atlantic and did so much better with them. I'm happier, still that period was, well, confusing for me. AP: So how does a rock MEGASTAR cope with a receding hairline? AB: (cracks up) Well, my father had a receding hairline and I always thought he looked really handsome in it. So I thought that mine would get to that point anyhow. (laughing) I dunno, I think it kinds of gives me my own look, my own character, I think I deal with it by not worrying about it, I meet too many guys with receding hairlines, and that's all they talk about. I kind of accept mine, I like it. Martha likes it, that's all that matters to me! (laughs) AP: What's in the future for Mr. Music Head? AB: (laughs) Well, this tour will probably go for three months, Afterwards I think we'll figure out if there will be a King Crimson, which will probably be a big decision right there and I'll have to see what happens from there. If that happens, then that would be the next step for me, if it isn't the right think to do, I would probably go into making yet another solo album and I'd like to do another major production this year. I so much enjoyed being in the producer role, I felt natural doing it. Of course, I have produced a lot of albums, but they've always been my own or The Bears, and that doesn't count as much. Producing an outside project, someone you don't even really know, really appeals to me at this point. AP: A lot of us out here would love to see King Crimson together again, as I'm sure you know. AB: Yeah, well, I would too. If it works, I would like to see that happen too. Obviously, it was a great adventurous band I was happy to be a part of, it wasn't always fun, I've said that to you in past interviews, but that wasn't the object of it, it was to make some great music and I think we did accomplish that at times. AP: To me, King Crimson was THE band of the 1980s. AB: Well, if we could have it be THE band of the 1990s, that would be terrific (laughs) wouldn't it? AP: I hope it works out, I hope you all get along! AB: Well, I must admit, I had a much better time with Robert this time personally, but Robert and I always got along real well, but I still think we've both changed, grown up some, matured some, who knows, maybe that accounts for a lot the differences. AP: Robert's a quirky individual, I've had a couple of bitter encounters with him in the past. AB: Yeah, hs is. You have to approach Robert with kid gloves a little bit, because he's an unusually opinionated person, so you have to learn how to umm, like that. (laughs) He can be a hard guy to get along with, but he's always treated me very well, and we really have a good friendship and a good musical understanding. I'm just concerned whether King Crimson is the right thing to do with my time in the 90s, because you know I'm really enjoying being a solo artist quite honestly. That gives me a lot of autonomy and I'm a little scared of giving some of that away. AP: Your profile has been building up quite nicely as of late. AB: Yeah I think so too, and I'd like to keep making records on my own as long as they let me! (laughs) AP: Are you going to be releasing any non-LP things like that CD single you released a couple of years ago? AB: You mean from this album? AP: Yeah. AB: I don't know if they have a plan for doing that or not. I haven't heard of anything like that. I hope they will. I like that little extra CD, it had some other extra things on it as well. AP: My Baby's In Love With A Shoe Salesman! AB: That's an old, old song of mine from when I first started writing songs, I thought it would be fun to put on there. "Neptune Pool" is the other extra track which I think is a very nice musical piece. AP: Atlantic won't let you put that sort of the stuff on your albums? AB: Well, I guess I can. They don't really give me limititations,. For this record I wanted it to be songs and I chose out of all the songs I was writing the ones that I felt fit together best and made the most complete picture. ***********THE END********** ----------------------------------------------------------------- The entire contents of this interview are (c) 1992 Charlatan Publications Incorporated (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada). *No portion* of this interview may be reproduced in any format, anywhere. If you see portions of this interview appear elsewhere, please notify me *IMMEDIATELY* at: wcsanil at ccs dot carleton dot ca Thanks. -- Anil Prasad ----------------------------------------------------------------- [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] To join this group or have your thoughts in the next issue, please send electronic mail to Toby Howard at the following address: toby at cs dot man dot ac dot uk The views expressed in discipline are those of the individual authors only.