Barry Adamson remains one of those artists whose stuff is always worth hearing. From a career in Magazine, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and years of solo greatness, Adamson continues to surprise. His newest record, Scala!!! is a soundtrack, but it's also one of this week's most enjoyable records.
A soundtrack to the recent documentary Scala!!! or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits, works on its own terms as an Adamson record too. However, the backstory of the theater, and how it's owner, Jane Giles, stood trial for showing A Clockwork Orange (banned in England at one time) inspires "Jane's Day Out in Court", one of the best tracks here. Others, like "Sodom and Tomorrow" and Iggy and Lou and Mick Rock Too" find Barry taking inspiration from Dick Dale, and Esquivel, while "Timelines" keeps the twang going. The selections are, like so many here, rooted in a kind of kitsch-y approximation of the Fifties and Sixites. There's pulp-y fervor in these grooves, with the music having a kind of swing and pop that keeps this a truly fun listen, from the creepy vibes of "Acid Celluloid" and on to "Barry's Iranian Embassy Blues" with its faux raga rock.
Scala!!! works well as a stand-alone record. Barry Adamson still has an inventiveness about his work that keeps his material consistently surprising and enjoyable. Scala!!! is a fun listen, and it's got those cool undercurrents that have fueled so many of the best Adamson records of the past.
Scala!!! by Barry Adamson is out now via Mute Records.
[Photo: Fifty Four Woman]