Lone Rhino/Twang Bar King [IMPORT] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Adrian Belew

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 2004)
• Original Release Date: January 4, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Gottdiscs
• ASIN: B0002Y2GNI
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,128 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Remastered reissue of the eclectic guitarist's 1980 & 1982 albums for Island together on one CD. 23 tracks. Slipcase. Gottdiscs. 2004.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lone Rhino/Twang Bar King, February 28, 2005

By	M. Tittel "Ohio Fan" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Both albums are great examples of Belew's early 80's. Anyone who owned the original LPs may want to reconsider purchasing the CD collection though. The Lone Rhino transfer sounds fine but the Twang Bar King transfer sounds really bad. Extremely noisy, harsh and at times uncompressed to the point of being obnoxious. Don't know what happened but they dropped the ball on reissuing two really good records here.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars for the music 2 stars for the sound quality, February 24, 2006

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

First I like both of Belew's solo albums but this isn't the disc to buy when it comes to "Twang Bar King". Along with Richard Thompson's "Across a Crowded Room" this has got to be one of the worst reissues put out. While the highlights of both albums earn a solid four or five stars, the sound quality on "Twang Bar King" sounds like it was played through speakers and recorded again for this master. My guess is that they used the wrong (the vinyl)master vs. the new remaster created for the Japanese reissue. The same problem occurred with Richard Thompson's "Across a Crowded Room" which also sounds pretty bad (plus that CD has one track sped up slightly in order to allow the song to fit on an LP side). Perhaps they used the masters prepared for the compilation album but even that sounded better than this.

I'd suggest going for the Japanese remaster if you can find it. Personally I found "Lone Rhino" the more ambitious of the two. Sure Belew wears his influences on his sleeve but he also deftly makes them his own on all the songs. Some of the material doesn't quite work on both albums but both are worthwhile additions to your CD collection.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lone Rhino , February 16, 2006

By	Brian Bilick "Ohnobono" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I honestly think this album deserves two reviews:

One for musicianship
One for songwriting

I give it 4 out of 5 stars for musicianship. The guitar playing is inventive, innovative (Lone Rhinoceros, Naive Guitar) and the bass playing by J. Clifton Mayhugh is superb (check out Addidas in Heat, Swingline and Stop it.)

I give it 3 out of 5 stars for songwriting. The stand out cuts for songwriting: Adidas in Heat, Naive Guitar, Lone Rhinoceros. Since so few cuts were that good thus the three out five.

Influences are apparent: David Byrne, Frank Zappa, Robert Fripp however Adrian has managed to take his influences and forge his own sound. Always distinctive, always original, funny, quirky and extremely musical.