Released: 1982
Tracks: Big Electric Cat; The Momur; Stop It; The Man in the Moon; Naive Guitar; Hot Sun; The Lone Rhinoceros; Swingline; Adidas in Heat; Animal Grace; The Final Rhino
Best track: Lone Rhinoceros
Track to skip: Animal Grace has cool sounds, but isn’t a very good “song”
Lone Rhino is Adrian Belew’s first solo album, coming off of the heels of his work on King Crimson’s Discipline & Talking Heads’ Remain in Light…not to mention his work in the late 70’s with David Bowie & Frank Zappa. All 4 of those groups definitely exert a strong influence on Belew’s work (The Beatles too, of course), but in the end it’s unmistakably Belew’s sound. I love that his voice on guitar is completely intact here and from the first note you know who it is. Of course, I’m looking back with hindsight, but his distinctive tone is there right from the beginning.
I like how Belew’s not afraid to present both very serious & ultra absurd songs on this album. Both are important parts of his songwriting. For the serious songs we have The Man in the Moon (written about his father) & The Lone Rhinoceros, an “animal hugger” song dealing with the treatment of the Rhino. Lone Rhinoceros is clearly the best song on here and I honestly think it’s one of the most important and thought-provoking songs he’s ever written. I especially love the sequencing that goes from two excellent instrumentals, Naive Guitar & Hot Sun, into Lone Rhinoceros. This chunk in the middle is definitely the best part of the album. The bookends are where the goofy songs are found. The Momur is an extremely fun romp of a song, while Adidas in Heat is a VERY Zappa-influenced tune and a definite feast for the ears. The Final Rhino closes out the album in a duet with Belew and his 4 year old daughter.
Belew’s guitar work and slightly-odd compositions are the focal points of this debut. There is some very cool guitar playing here, even if the actual tones are pretty out-dated. Overall I think it’s a fun album and a good start for Adrian Belew, but it’s certainly not his best work. Songs like Swingline and especially Animal Grace drag it down a bit. You can definitely see that the creativity is there, but he just needed some more practice at composing before he consistently hits it out the park. Both this and his second album, Twang Bar King, have been re-released individually, as well as a two-fer with both albums on one CD. This is what I bought and I think it’s pretty cool this way.
Rating: 81
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