The man of a million musical hats, a witty performer whose albums include The Negro Inside Me, King Of Nothing Hill and Stranger On The Sofa, and sideman extraordinaire, Barry Adamson returns with the typically genre defying Back To The Cat.

Adamson's resume reads like a rock novel: He played bass with ex-Buzzcocks singer Howard Devoto's band Magazine, followed that by working with another ex-Buzzcock, Pete Shelley, then went on to join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He recorded four Bad Seeds albums: From Her To Eternity, The Firstborn Is Dead, Kicking Against The Pricks and Your Funeral, My Trial. Adamson has even composed soundtracks for the films Gas Food Lodging and Lost Highway. Not bad for a kid who wrote his first song, "Brain Pain," at the age of 10.

But Adamson's sideman resume pales next to his own, highly individual solo albums. Seemingly influenced by John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, and the pit bands for 1000 unknown burlesque strippers, Adamson's music comes on like some hipster elite composer gone mad, a soundtrack boffin impresario creating parodies that nearly outperform the originals, a renaissance man who prefers underground fame to rock star absurdity.

"Spend A Little Time" opens with what sounds like birds chirping and an old 35MM camera clicking, soon joined by a rollicking retro rock groove and equally charismatic finger snaps. It's 1965, go-go boots dancing, Eric Burdon and the Stax horns kicking ass and taking names. Adamson sings about "spending some time in your front garden" like Jack Jones crooning up a mean streak. A tenor sax solo drips film noir cool all over the place, "Spend A Little Time" quickly dropping back to the nocturnal sound of mating crickets and Adamson whispering as if he's peeping through the blinds at some femme fatale supremely unaware of his psychotic desires.

"Shadow Of Death Hotel" recalls some Nick Cave title, but the song shimmies and shakes like a Paul Weller R&B blast. John Barry-prescribed brass kicks the track up a notch, further enlightened by Adamson's direction over a pealing tenor solo and Farfisa organ twists.

"Psycho-Sexual" puts me in mind of a "transsexual from Transylvania," but the song is all Mahler timpani, white noise cacophony and a beat straight from Peggy Lee's "Big Spender." A man out of time? Barry Adamson suspends time and takes us along for the ride.

Barry Adamson
"Spend A Little Time" (mp3)
from "Back to the Cat"
(Central Control)

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Barry Adamson
"Shadow Of Death Hotel" (mp3)
from "Back to the Cat"
(Central Control)

More On This Album

Barry Adamson
"Psycho_Sexual" (mp3)
from "Back to the Cat"
(Central Control)

More On This Album

Pussy Galore?: While we're in that soundtrack moood, please check out PUSSY: The Musical by Pacific Coast Hellway. Think some cheesy Broadway pit band stretching out to include what is really on their minds and you have PUSSY: The Musical, the first-ever musical broadcast for the iPod generation.

Munk
"Makes the World Go Round" (mp3)
from "PUSSY: The Musical (Soundtrack Album)"
(Hellway Records)

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"Makes the World Go Round"