Customer Reviews

Desire Caught By the Tail (Mlps)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like it.
The small acoustic mirrored against the gtr synth choices which were available at that time (1985) yields a special flavor. While these synths tones may now sound dated, I consider that this recording exists at all a bonus.
Additionally one might consider what 'good melodies and harmony intervals' means in music. While Ade often shows a love for 'Beatles-esque' melodies and harmonies within his vocal-oriented material, this recording doesn't really lean toward that side of his taste, instead focusing on other types of tonal intervals and other instrumental blends.

Belew has always been known for incorporating noises & sounds & texture within his output.
I think he does it well - - and often seems to be having fun!

After two albums of pop music, Adrian Belew's third release, "Desire Caught by the Tail", is a slice of avant-garde instrumental guitar work. My understanding is that the record is processed guitar and percussion only, rendering an enormously wide range of sounds.

The music itself lacks any real sense of unity, wheras sometimes its melodic (opener "Tango Zebra", parts of which would eventually become "Peace on Earth" from "Here"), other times it is decidingly amelodic (the opening to "Beach Creatures Dancing Like Cranes"). Given that I've always found one of Belew's strengths to be writing melodies, I find the former tends to work better than the latter.

The real problem though is that everything on here is a bit incompletely conceived-- virtually all the pieces seem ok for a while but eventually either drag on ("Laughing Man"), fall apart completely ("The Gypsy Zurna") or just can't maintain interest ("z").

This isn't really an essential in Belew's catalog, it's got enough decent material that I won't rate it one star (which I consider basically unlistenable), but there's not much to go on.

La discografía de Adrian Belew se debate entre 3 polos: los discos instrumentales experimentales, los discos de canciones pop, y los discos más rokeros. Este pertenecea los primeros (el otro es "The guitar as orchestra") y me parece un intento muy logrado. A diferencia de The guitar as orchestra, no intenta componer música sinfónica con una guitarra sino hacer música, dentro de parámetros rock, bastante vanguardista. Un muy buen disco.

I have to be honest--Desire doesn't do a thing for me and never has. That is the album, not...well you catch my drift. Belew has assembled a number of interesting instrumentals that for me just never catch fire. It's interesting mood music which is probably the point. Before buying I'd suggest sampling it to see if it's you're cup of tea.

Desire isn't a bad album just an unfinished work that offers more than it delivers.