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Oedipus Schmoedipus is an album by the English musician Barry Adamson, released in 1996.[2][3] Like Adamson's previous albums, Oedipus Schmoedipus was conceived as a soundtrack to an imaginary film.[4] The album peaked at No. 51 on the UK Albums Chart.[5]

Oedipus Schmoedipus
Studio album by Barry Adamson
Released	1996
Studio	GT Eden; Worldwide Studios, London
Genre	Experimental music
Label	Mute[1]
Producer	Barry Adamson
Barry Adamson chronology
Soul Murder (1992) Oedipus Schmoedipus (1996) As Above, So Below (1998)

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" appears in the David Lynch film Lost Highway.[6]

Production

The album was produced by Adamson.[7] 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".[8][9] Billy Mackenzie sang on "Achieved in the Valley of Dolls".[10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[7]
Muzik	[12]
NME	7/10[13]
Pitchfork	8.1/10[14]

NME called the album "too cool to be cringingly kitsch, too deep to be flaky."[13] 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."[14]

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."[15] 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."[16]

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."[11] Dave Thompson referred to the album as a "supreme slab of disturbance-with-a-(bit of a)-beat."[17]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Barry Adamson; except where noted.

• Sample of "Vertigo" taken from The Vertigo Suite
• Sample of "O' Les Temps des Souvenirs" by Françoise Hardy
• Sample of "Blue Lines" by Massive Attack

Personnel

• Barry Adamson - lead vocals
• Mark De Lane Lea, Ken Low - guitar
• Richard Hand - classical guitar
• Jarvis Cocker - vocals on "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Pelvis"
• Billy Mackenzie - vocals on "Achieved in the Valley of Dolls"
• Nick Cave - vocals on "The Sweetest Embrace"
• Seamus Beaghen - Hammond organ, piano
• Pete Wyman - saxophone, clarinet
• Ileana Ruhemann - alto flute
• Carla Bozulich, John Napier - voice overs on "It's Business As Usual"
• Miranda Gooch - storyteller on "Vermillion Kisses"
• Beverley Skeete, Chantel Mapp, Roy Hamilton, Zeeteah Massiah - backing vocals
• Atticus Ross - programming and sounds on tracks 1-6
• Ivor Wimborne - additional programming
• Audrey Riley, Billy McGee - string arrangements

Technical

• Kevin Petrie - recording
• Barry Adamson, Simon Henwood - sleeve concept
• Steve Gullick - cover photography, still from Philippe Garrel's Le Révélateur

References

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