| Oedipus Schmoedipus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1996 | |||
| Studio | GT Eden; Worldwide Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Art rock [1] | |||
| Label | Mute [2] | |||
| Producer | Barry Adamson | |||
| Barry Adamson chronology | ||||
| ||||
Oedipus Schmoedipus is an album by the English musician Barry Adamson, released in 1996. [3] [4] Like Adamson's previous albums, Oedipus Schmoedipus was conceived as a soundtrack to an imaginary film. [5] The album peaked at No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart. [6]
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" appears in the David Lynch film Lost Highway . [7]
The album was produced by Adamson. [8] Nick Cave cowrote and contributed vocals to "The Sweetest Embrace", while Jarvis Cocker cowrote and sang on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis". [9] [10] Billy Mackenzie sang on "Achieved in the Valley of Dolls". [11]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | |
| Muzik | |
| NME | 7/10 [14] |
| Pitchfork | 8.1/10 [15] |
NME called the album "too cool to be cringingly kitsch, too deep to be flaky." [14] Pitchfork stated that, "with 13 tracks that sound like they could take form and commit acts of homicide on their own, the former Bad Seed's creation is undeniably ... alive." [15]
The Guardian determined that "Adamson's psychogeographical soundtracks snag your head and won't let go: he's made a (bad) dream of a music that simulates mainstream accessibility but is drenched with the maker's own terrors, memories, fixations." [16] Rolling Stone thought that "Adamson can brilliantly—and without words—suggest entire movie scenes with dizzying combinations of dance beats, jazz phrases, finger-snapping big-band arrangements, luscious strings and even references to '60s French pop." [17]
AllMusic wrote that "Adamson's skill in layering and devising unusual sound textures still qualifies him as one of experimental rock's more imaginative composers and producers." [12] Dave Thompson referred to the album as a "supreme slab of disturbance-with-a-(bit of a)-beat." [18]
All tracks composed by Barry Adamson, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis" | Adamson, Jarvis Cocker | 5:37 |
| 2. | "Something Wicked This Way Comes" | Adamson, Adrian Thaws, Andrew Vowles, Charles Blackwell, Grant Marshall, Harry Middlebrooks, Jacques Datin, Maurice Vidalin, Mike Shapiro, Robert Del Naja | 4:32 |
| 3. | "The Vibes Ain't Nothin' but the Vibes" | 4:48 | |
| 4. | "It's Business as Usual" | Adamson, Carla Bozulich, John Napier | 4:28 |
| 5. | "Miles" | Miles Davis | 5:26 |
| 6. | "Dirty Barry" | 7:25 | |
| 7. | "In a Moment of Clarity" | 4:12 | |
| 8. | "Achieved in the Valley of Dolls" | Adamson, Billy Mackenzie | 4:26 |
| 9. | "Vermillion Kisses" | 3:02 | |
| 10. | "The Big Bamboozle" | 3:33 | |
| 11. | "State of Contraction" | 1:37 | |
| 12. | "The Sweetest Embrace" | Adamson, Nick Cave | 4:46 |
| 13. | "Set the Controls Again" | 1:32 |