Adrian Belew's Best?

Review Score: (10/10)
This is a great album. Though I was familiar with Adrian Belew for his work with King Crimson and David Bowie, Young Lions surpassed my expectations.

The album resonates with its own verve. The songs are all good, the lyrics are full of images and the guitar work is as belew as it gets. It's a very listenable album, and representative of an idiosyncratic pop stylist. Belew carves his own niche with his manic guitar style and vocal wail (reminiscent of Bowie in some ways yet distinctive in itself).

The killer track here for Bowie fans is "Pretty Pink Rose". (As a sidenote, Bowie seemed to fare better in one-off outings with other artists in this era including Pat Methany and Mick Ronson.) PPR is easily one of Bowie's best songs from this period, and Belew makes it click all the way.

Certainly underrated by pop and rock pundits, you'll find this often in bargain bins or not at all. Worth getting.

More Reviews:

• Young Lions Bite The Hand That Feeds Them
• The Complete Belew.
• Good if you like music that's not always straightforward