Big Electric Cat

Aside from having been given an opportunity to prove his chops by Frank Zappa as a relative unknown in the late 70's, Adrian Belew contributed to the Talking Heads' Remain in Light, also playing with the band on its adjacent tour, played with David Bowie in support of "Heroes", and is credited for his session work in the recording of Paul Simon's Graceland.  Though the lineup didn't bear as much fruit as I had eagerly anticipated, Les Claypool and Danny Carey can be heard on bass and drums for the first two tracks of Side 1, the first in a line of four recent Belew solo albums. Oh, and he just so happens to have fronted my favorite King Crimson amalgamations since 1981.  

I experienced Adrian Belew's Power Trio Sunday night at the Natick Center for the Arts.  I was literally situated in the front row seat precisely in front of him.  An extremely intimate venue -sold out crowd of 200- I easily could have shaken Belew's hand, and would have, if not for the overexcited retard seated to my left who did exactly that immediately after Belew took to the stage.  (In a crowd of 200, of course I end up seated next to the only hippie, reeking of pachouli, bad breathe, and seemingly intent on sticking his goddamn pony tail in my mouth during repeated fits of musical ecstasy.)  The opener was actually a joke.  Not a good one though.  I'm still curious how he got the gig.  This guy was a pop singer-songwriter with a couple of looping pedals and no band. I was actually embarrassed for him. Situated, as I mentioned, in the front row, I felt obligated to try to look engaged, but this guy was killing me. I actually hypothesized between his set and the main event that Belew must have a gambling problem and had, prior to this tour, hit a streak of really bad luck, and, in order to settle an overwhelming debt, he had taken his bookie's brother in law out of his parents' basement and on tour.  

My compatriot, for whom I was presumptuous enough to buy a ticket thinking he'd easily be won over by the music, was underwhelmed.  While he did claim to have enjoyed himself, he also declared as we walked to the car afterwards: "I'm just not a prog guy".  I guess he was looking for something a little less "out there".  Alt-country maybe?  More like Girls Guns and Glory, for whom he had played the bongos up until very recently. All kidding aside, as I'm sure he'd be perturbed at any attempt to pigeonhole his taste in music, I think he was looking for something a bit more organic....  

Bass player, Julie Slick, is only 22 years old.  She's a more than capable player; was even a little cute.  Being 22 and on tour with Adrian Belew only accentuated this. The fact that she played barefoot was somewhat appealing as well.  Not in a pervy foot fetish way, just that it made her seem vulnerable and self-assured at the same time; a dynamic I never would have expected at a "prog" show.  Her brother Eric Slick plays the drums.  I still have a hard time believing he's only 20.  He was not only competent enough to merely keep time when necessary, but he was more often carry passages within songs better than any drummer I've ever seen live short of Stanton Moore.    

Belew was literally surrounded by pedals.  Right in front of me on the stage he had a "Boomerang phrase looping machine".  I think it's safe to say he, like Robert Fripp, has  wholeheartedly embraced and utilizes technology's potential role in breaking new musical ground.  While Brendan seemed put off by it, or at least found it distracting, I felt, as my father put it, to have "vastly expanded his sonic palette".  To refer to Adrian Belew as a "good guitarist"  is an abomination.  The things he does with a guitar are awe-inspiring.

The interplay between the three was fun to watch.  Good musicians play but great musicians listen to each other while they play.  While Belew was undoubtedly the driving force, the Slicks took and gave cues to each other and Belew, allowing for instrumental passages to take on lives of their own.    

To my surprise, I am familiar enough with Side 1 though Side 4 to have recognized the vast majority of the set immediately.  Somewhat unexpectedly, they closed with two King Crimson songs, one of which is one of my favorites: "Three of a Perfect Pair".

If you're interested (though the sound quality is a bit lacking):

"Madness"

"Ampersand"

"Big Electric Cat"