Guitarist/songwriter Adrian Belew [ tickets ] has just released "Coming Attractions" on New York's Thirsty Ear label. The record contains sneak previews of his upcoming album--currently called "NewBelew"--as well as rare demos and live versions of previously released material like "Inner Revolution" and "People," which was recorded with King Crimson.

''I'm a big believer that sometimes a song has a second life,'' Belew said, ''and can be treated a different way, or just put out there again, and people will rediscover it. People who didn't know about it will discover it. It's intriguing, to me, to see the older songs come to life in a new way.''

One of the more interesting new tracks from ''Coming Attractions'' is ''I Know What I Know and That Is All I Know and I Know It,'' containing ramblings of the Prophet Omega, a radio evangelist from Nashville.

''I used parts of his sermons in a track from [the] 'Young Lions' [album] called 'I Am What I Am,''' Belew explained. ''The Prophet also had a penchant for impromptu radio ads. The music is a new 'blues' version of the same music as 'I Am What I Am' and the voice is pure Prophet Omega improvising in his inimitable fashion a radio ad for the Shipp Moving Company.''

Belew, who has worked with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads and Trent Reznor in addition to King Crimson, said his guitar playing on the new album is ''very aggressive, probably some of the most aggressive electric guitar playing I've done in a long time. I would say it's the closest to King Crimson that my solo records have ever come.'' Belew performed all vocals, guitars, basses, synthesizers, drums and percussion on the album.

Laurie Stalter, director of media relations for Thirsty Ear, has worked with Belew for a year and a half. ''Adrian is just a huge talent,'' she said. ''He's so prolific--he played all the instruments on the two albums he's done with us.'' In 1999, Belew released ''Salad Days'' on Thirsty Ear; the album has sold 11,000 copies to date.

Besides ''Coming Attractions'' and the ''NewBelew'' project, Belew is also putting together a box set, titled ''Dust,'' due out in 2001.

''It's a 20-year retrospective, a four volume set of rarities,'' Belew explained. ''I have 90 songs finished on that, all rare things that were never released. There are at least 30 new songs, live cuts, demos, remixes. The whole thing is called 'Dust,' which is the title of one of the unreleased King Crimson tracks that I have from the '80s.''

Although Belew hasn't made a deal with a label to release the box set, Stalter made no bones about the possibilities of working with him again. '''Dust' doesn't currently have a home, but we'd certainly love to give it one.''

An extensive sampling of Belew clips can be found at Belew's website.