If the post-punk era produced a renaissance man, it's
Barry Adamson. He was an integral member of
Magazine and the founding incarnation of
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. He played on synth pop albums by
Visage and
Pete Shelley. He's written and arranged for
Nitzer Ebb, Ethyl Meatplow,
Scott Walker, and
Simple Minds, to name a few, and has contributed music to soundtracks like Derek Jarman's The Last of England,
David Lynch's Lost Highway, Allison Anders' Gas Food Lodging, and
Oliver Stone's
Natural Born Killers.
Adamson has also directed films, including the acclaimed 40-minute feature film noir Therapist. Along the way, he's released nine studio albums as well as singles and EPs.
Memento Mori looks back on his 40-year career that, while astonishingly consistent, has branched off in several musical directions. Of these 17 tracks, all but two are culled from his solo catalog:
Magazine's "Parade" and
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' "From Her to Eternity."
Adamson is a pioneer in the "imaginary soundtracks" genre. Noir cinema has always been a muse; its inspiration is the thread that ties this music together. The tunes are sequenced aesthetically, creating a seamless -- though jarring -- listening session. While the closing cut from his widely acclaimed 1989 debut
Moss Side Story -- a jagged cover of
Elmer Bernstein's title theme for The Man with the Golden Arm -- opens this set; it's followed by the
Atticus Ross-produced "Jazz Devil" from 1998's
As Above, So Below with its swinging B-3 and horns accompanying
Adamson's humorous Beat and lounge lizard narrative. "007, A Fantasy Bond Theme," from 1992's
Soul Murder, combines fat swinging brass, West Indies-patois narration, skanking reggae and ska rhythms, and razor-wire surf guitars, woven through a warped take on the original Bond theme.
Adamson took three selections off 1993's
Oedipus Schmoedipus in various spots, including its hit single "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis," a string-laden, psychedelic, gospelized fingerpopper co-written with and featuring
Jarvis Cocker. (The others are the funky, steamy, beat groove of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and the big-band spy-themed "The Big Bamboozle" that nods at
Henry Mancini and
John Barry.) Other highlights include the whomping junglist funk of "The Snowball Effect" from
The Negro Inside Me (1994) and the
Bowie-esque rock that is "The Sun and the Sea" from 2012's
I Will Set You Free. Another stellar inclusion is the single edit of the harmonica, B-3, and acoustic guitar-driven pop of "Long Way Back Again."
Adamson includes tracks from his classic 2008 effort
Back to the Cat, 2016's
Know Where to Run, and a pair from 2017's
Love Sick Dick EP and its remix companion. The only album not represented -- inexplicably -- is 2002's
The King of Nothing Hill. Despite that omission,
Memento Mori serves as a fitting retrospective of -- as well as a brilliant introduction to -- one of the most enigmatic musicians of the last half-century. ~ Thom Jurek