Young Lions/Pretty Pink Rose

by

Adrian Belew

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Well, not really. He goes environmentalist with this collection, originally released in 1990. Throughout the album, the lyrical concerns, such as they are, involve allegories to the natural world ("Young Lions"), dark commentary on helicopter hunters ("Men In Helicopters"), and fantasies about being helped out of our mess ("Looking for a UFO").

The album, with all instruments played by Belew, is at once a piece of splendid pop, with the David Bowie duet "Pretty Pink Rose" (possibly the catchiest thing ever recorded by Belew), a poppier version of King Crimson's "Heartbeat," and a cover of the Traveling Wilburys' "Not Alone Anymore," which in many ways surpasses the original (a hard thing to do, considering the talent involved there). However, he also indulges his experimental side, most notably in "I Am What I Am," which consists of a spacey sermon by the Prophet Omega ("Friends seen and unseen...") backed by a trademark Belew instrumental. He also turns the microphone over to Bowie completely for the original album's closer, "Gunman."

In its original form, Young Lions is at once awesome and frustrating. He makes nods to pop, then goes off and indulges his experimental side. It's very, very good, but it makes for a disjointed listening experience.

Wounded Bird's bare-bones reissue adds the Pretty Pink Rose EP that came out around the same time to promote the album (back in the day they were called 'CD Singles'). We get a replay of "Pretty Pink Rose" (no changes), an interesting instrumental, a so-so folk-pop tune, and "Oh Daddy," Belew's cult hit from 1988 (incidentally, the first thing I ever heard from him). It's not a bad addition, but I'd rather have the two unreleased songs as bonus tracks. Wounded Bird doesn't do that, though. They put the music out in its original form or not at all. I'm actually grateful to them for keeping some pretty hard to find stuff in print. Graham Parker and Kris Kristofferson are just two of the many artists Wounded Bird's reissued. True, it's bare bones, no lyrics or essays or anything like that, but the music's the important thing, right? If the music is what drives you, Wounded Bird comes through in spades.

Young Lions is a good album that deserves to be in print. It's also very much worth your time, although a bit challenging or frustrating at times. Kudos to Wounded Bird for issuing it, and kudos to Belew for following his muse when most of us would have been satisfied with another Mr. Music Head.

Adrian Belew wears his influences on his sleeve which is often a good thing--he can create a melodic fascinating fusion of those influences combining it with his own idiotsyncratic style. "Young Lions" isn't his best solo album but it's very good indeed.

Wounded Bird has given us a flat transfer of the original album (perhaps using the original mastering for the CD when it was issued in 1990). The CD sounds quite good--warm and with nice detail without a hint of compression.

We also get the CD EP that was issued to promote the album/single release "Pretty Pink Rose" which was written by David Bowie after Belew accompanied Bowie on his 1989/90 world tour. Belew had collaborated with Bowie before appearing on a couple of his albums including a live album and appeared with him on a world tour.

The highlights for me are the stunning cover of The Traveling Wilburys "Not Alone Anymore" (which Roy Orbison originally sang and that Belew easily equals with the same passion as Roy). "Heartbeat" is a more mainstream remake of the minor hit that Belew wrote for King Crimson and appeared on "Beat". I prefer the original. "I Am What I Am" reminds me a bit of David Bryne and Brian Eno's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" with its use of a found radio broadcast (or even "I Am The Walrus" the first pop song to use that technique, or even Belew's experiments with audio verite on "Discipline" with King Crimson). "Men in Helicopters" and "Youg Lions" are two of the stronger Belew written tracks on the album. He's nicely backed on the album by the Van Kampen percussion ensemble, Mike Barnett playing bass on "Phone Call from The Moon", Bowie again on "Gunman". All the instruments and vocals aside from these guest appearances are ably handled by Belew himself much as he did on his first two solo albums.

The bonus tracks include the original CD/LP version of the single "Pretty Pink Rose", an interesting instrumental "Neptune Pool" and a short song "Shoe Salesman" which no doubt was inspired by something that occurred in real life to Belew's daughter. We also get "Oh Daddy" Belew's minor hit that appeared on the previous album featuring his young daughter (at the time) Audie on vocals.

As usual Wounded Bird doesn't include any liner notes on the making of the album or the lyrics but does include the credits for the making of the album (although in the past Wounded Bird HAS included lyrics for albums that had them although in very very very small print). This is a good album that Belew fans will probably want to add to their collection although it isn't as consistent as "Inner Revolution" or unusual as "Lone Rhino", it does have its moments.