Mr. Music Head

Mr. Music Head
Studio album by Adrian Belew
Released	April 28, 1989
Recorded	1988–89
Studio	Royal Recorders, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Genre	Electronic rock new wave
Length	45:37
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew chronology
Desire Caught by the Tail (1986) Mr. Music Head (1989) Young Lions (1990)
Singles from Mr. Music Head
"Oh Daddy" Released: July 1989

Professional ratings

Review scores
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Rolling Stone

Mr. Music Head is the fourth solo album by Adrian Belew, released in April 1989, and his first for Atlantic Records. It features the single, "Oh Daddy".

Background

The album was recorded following the unwilling split of Belew's mid-1980s band the Bears, which dissolved due to a lack of record company support (following which Belew managed to secure a solo deal). Belew recorded the majority of the album by himself, making use of his own multi-instrumental abilities and his ability to create assorted sonic and instrumental impressions via processed guitar sound. The album also features a prominent use of piano, an instrument on which Belew was not particularly confident but which he applied to many songs which he believed required it.

The album features Belew's second duet with his daughter Audie, with whom he had previously recorded the piano-and-guitar duet "The Final Rhino" on his Lone Rhino album in late 1981 (when Audie was four). This time, Belew wrote a humorous father-and-daughter pop duet for himself and the now-eleven-year-old Audie to sing, poking gentle fun at Belew's own pop ambitions and career to date. The video for the single "Oh Daddy" featured Belew playing the rubber-necked guitar prop which he'd previously employed for the Home of the Brave project with Laurie Anderson.

Track listing

All songs written by Adrian Belew, except where noted.

1. "Oh Daddy" – 3:05
2. "House of Cards" – 3:44
3. "One of Those Days" – 3:21
4. "Coconuts" (Belew, Stan Hertzman) – 3:29
5. "Bad Days" – 3:06
6. "Peaceable Kingdom" – 3:36
7. "Hot Zoo" – 4:24
8. "Motor Bungalow" – 3:36
9. "Bumpity Bump" – 3:46
10. "Bird in a Box" – 3:16
11. "1967" – 5:23
12. "Cruelty to Animals" – 4:23

Notes

• The last track, "Cruelty to Animals", doesn't appear on vinyl and audio cassette versions.
• The song "Coconuts" was used as the title track for the movie Much Ice Crew's Coconuts (1989).

Personnel

Musicians

• Adrian Belew – vocals, guitars, piano, bass guitar, drums, percussion, additional instrumentation
• Mike Barnett – string bass (tracks 2, 11)
• Audie Belew – vocal ("Oh Daddy")

Technical

• Adrian Belew – producer
• Rich Denhart – engineer
• Dan Harjung – assistant engineer
• Adrian (Sotto Vocé) – cover design
• Sandy Ostroff – photography
• Stan Hertzman – photography