Or, My Pathetic Excuse for an Unfinished Album (Coming Attractions - Adrian Belew)

Name: Frankingsteins

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Product:	Coming Attractions - Adrian Belew
Date:	22.03.08 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: If you were desperate for an Adrian Belew release in 2000.

Disadvantages: Unfinished, disappointing new songs and pointlessly reproduced old ones.

No one could say that Adrian Belew is averse to releasing shoddy, half-assed compilations in place of genuine studio albums, and 'Coming Attractions' is a fine example of this shoddiness. Reputedly released to offer fans a taster of what was to come (and ultimately never would), this is merely an excuse to put out a couple of unimpressive works-in-progress alongside live and studio performances of old material, for no real reason that I can see.

Belew's obsession with animals is again prominent in this release, from the declaration that his 'Inner Man' is an animal in the opening song through to the finale 'Animal Kingdom,' essentially a tediously extended version of the same jungle ambience stuff he's always doing that lasts for twelve minutes, but ultimately none of this material is really satisfying. The new songs are predictable and disappointingly mainstream-oriented, considering his experimental leanings during this period, and the old songs were never particularly good in the first place for being based in much the same style.

'Predator Feast' uses the same guitar sound effect for animals that Belew has been using since 'Elephant Talk,' '117 Valley Drive' is simply dull, and 'Inner Man' even cuts off at the end, suggesting that it's literally incomplete. Elsewhere, 'No Such Guitar' is a disappointingly apt instrumental that features hardly anything in the way of guitar, which is what most people will be approaching these albums to hear.

1. Inner Man
2. Predator Feast
3. 117 Valley Drive
4. Inner Revolution
5. Time Waits
6. I Know What I Know and That Is All I Know and I Know It
7. People
8. No Such Guitar
9. Bird in a Box
10. House of Cards
11. The Man in the Moon
12. Animal Kingdom

Summary: Collection of ideas (2000).