On 'Mr. Music Head,' Adrian Belew does some of his most imaginative guitar exploration ever – but first he serves up goofy fun about kids and animals, starting off right away with the hard-to-resist single "Oh Daddy," featuring vocals by Belew's eleven-year-old daughter Audie. "Oh Daddy" is a child's plea to an almost-famous dad – "When you gonna be a big star?" – to which Belew responds, "Well, don't hold your breath/'Cause it'll make you blue!"

Belew has played with Talking Heads, David Bowie, Paul Simon and Laurie Anderson, but he's still not a household name. Outside of his groundbreaking work with King Crimson and the Bears, he has released three frustratingly erratic solo efforts. Mr. Music Head is clearly his strongest solo album yet – and it's all the more impressive because he plays all the instruments himself except for guest bass work from Mike Barnett on two tracks.

And as always, there is Belew's astonishing array of guitar sounds. But there's lots more here: affecting piano playing, expressive singing, startling lyrics and a liberal dose of eccentric humor. Silliness reigns on "Coconuts," and "Hot Zoo" sounds like a playful update of King Crimson's "Neurotica." "One of Those Days" is an unaffected celebration of a summer afternoon, complete with softball, beer, kids, parents and dogs.

The more head-expanding stuff includes a CD-only sonic collage entitled "Cruelty to Animals" and "Bird in a Box," which echoes R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)," with hyper wordplay like "Is there a Groucho Marxist doctrine in the house/Calls about a lost set of Keystone Cops." More serious is "Bad Days," a hauntingly simple piano song, and "1967," a whimsical, Beatlesque ramble into the attic of a restless musical mind. (RS 558)

WIF STENGER