Customer Reviews

Lone Rhino/Twang Bar King

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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 master or a copy (since the original mastertapes were missing for years) 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.

Has someone who has heard the BGO issue of this CD please provide a brief report or review regarding its sound quality? Is it full and detailed, as opposed to thin and lacking both low and high end? Also, is it taken from vinyl as some previous "official" issues have been? All current reviews published are in reference to the previous two-fer issue on Gott that was plagued with lackluster sound. I was about to buy this BGO edition outright and find out for myself how it sounds, until I saw the brilliant attention to detail paid by the art director on the cover titling "Twang Bar King" as "Twang Bar Kid". It doesn't exactly inspire confidence that they got the sound right either. Until I know for sure, I'll stick with the carefully mastered two-fer I made myself.

Adrian's first 2 albums are a great intro to the wild musical world of Belew. Lone Rhino has some stellar guitar work as would be expected. The Rail Song from Twang Bar King is awesome. And, Belew does a smokin' rendition of the Beatles' I'm Down. If you like King Crimson with Belew, you will appreciate these 2 albums.

I've always like Adrian Belew and of the 2 albums on this CD I lile Lone Rhino a little better. Good value!

a real treat to find two albums i grew up on one disk. a bargain in every sense of the word

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.

This collection combines Adrian Belew's two somewhat inconsistent debut albums, "Lone Rhino" and "Twang Bar King".

Adrian Belew's first album, "Lone Rhino", is a somewhat inconsistent effort clearing bearing the stamp of the ensembles he had most recently played with.

While Belew's Beatles influence is often talked about, this record bears the stamp of David Byrne and to a lesser extent David Bowie far more than Lennon or McCartney. Several tracks sound as though they'd fit in nicely on contemporary Talking Heads records ("The Momur") or on a Bowie's "Station to Station" ("Stop It"). And certainly the influence of King Crimson partner Robert Fripp is felt throughout ("Big Electric Cat", "Adidas in Heat").

When the record excels is when Belew discovered his own identity-- "Man in the Moon" is poorly executed and has an annoying guitar line doubling the vocal, but it shows signs of the Belew songwriting, and it certainly sounds like more than the sum of its influences. Likewise, "Animal Grace" is a bit under-realized, but it is uniquely Belew and while he'd conjured sea gulls for Crimson, the effect never grows old. But it's "The Lone Rhinoceros" that's the gem on this one-- easily the standout of the record. A great, melodic piece with all the Belew cliches-- rhino guitar growls, a driving rhythm, and a witty lyric.

While "Lone Rhino" felt like a Talking Heads sideman stepping away from the band, "Twang Bar King" finds Belew beginning to find his own identity. Embracing the Beatles influence and finding an esoteric mood, the album is a bit too inconsistent to be a completely satisfying listen, but it holds much better than its predecessor.

The Beatles influence comes through to great effect on a number of pieces, from opener "I'm Down" (clearly) to early-Beatles-meets-punk-meets-crazy-guitar "Twang Bar King" to the somewhat more subtlely Lennonesque "Another Time".

Admittedly, its got its share of failures, "Sexy Rhino" is a total disaster of an experiment (electronic voices never worked for me) that is mercifully brief and the second side falls apart ("She Is Not Dead", "Fish Head"). But somewhere in the midst of this, like the title track on the previous record, Belew finds his own identify in "The Rail Song" and the quirky "The Ideal Woman". Sometimes execution isn't as good as it would be in the future, but it's getting there.

This twofer is a nice value with a lot of great music, although for those new to Belew, I'd recommend starting with "Young Lions", its a superb record, and certainly among Belew's best material.

Only OHIO FAN gives any sort of useful information to the Belew fan considering the purchase of this reissue. Wish the first two, would have spared on the "I'm Roger Ebert the rock and roll critic" bologna, and just report on the quality of the re-issue. The only people likely to be checking in are people who are already familiar with the artist and therefore do not need some boring and lame biography on the talent of the artist. STICK TO REPORTING ON THE QUALITY OF THE SPECIFIC PRODUCT, please. So . . . can anyone else corroborate OHIO FAN, and report on the re-issue's quality? IS O.F. correct - is the transfer, for the most part, lousy??? Please advise further. Thank you.