
Oedipus Schmoedipus
BARRY ADAMSON
Oedipus Schmoedipus (Mute)
Released in 1996, Barry Adamson’s third album, Oedipus Schmoedipus, gets a pristine white vinyl reissue. Its eventual title – it was originally conceived as A Prayer Mat Of Flesh – combines Freud’s Oedipus complex and Nilsson Schmilsson, Harry Nilsson’s 1974 album that includes one of Adamson’s favourite songs, Without You.
Oedipus Schmoedipus was Adamson’s third soundtrack to an imaginary film with himself playing the main part and oozes noir coolness with jazz and soul alike stirred into an aural cinematic stew. Jarvis Cocker collaborated with Adamson on album opener Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis; Billy MacKenzie sings on Achieved In The Valley Of Dolls, and Nick Cave on The Sweetest Embrace. Miles finds Adamson interpolating Miles Davis’ Milestones, while the Massive Attack-sampling Something Wicked This Way Comes was later heard in David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
An essential purchase, and a good place to start for those not familiar with the maverick brilliance of Barry Adamson.
words DAVID NOBAKHT