Adam Ant: Wonderful (Capitol Records/1995)

It had been five long years since Adam Ant released an album when Wonderful appeared in March of 1995. However, this was not through any fault of his own.

In 1991 he'd recorded Persuasion, his would-be second album for MCA Records with longtime collaborator Marco Pirroni on guitar and the former Chic rhythm section of Bernard Edwards on bass (and doing double-duty as producer) and Tony Thompson on drums. Persuasion was to be the follow-up to the fairly-successful Manners & Physique album (which contained the Top-20 hit "Room At The Top"). Apparently MCA - who'd been a floundering label in the early 1990's - was entirely restaffed from top to bottom. The people who were in Adam's corner were long gone and the label implemented an absurd policy of "release only albums that are guaranteed to go platinum". Persuasion - which is a much better album than Manners & Physique in every way and would've sat nicely alongside other alternative dance of the day like Jesus Jones' Doubt and The Soup Dragons' Hotwired albums - was put indefinitely in the vaults of MCA. To this day MCA refuses to release it, licence any material from it, or even discuss it (!). 

After being released from his contract with MCA Ant signed with EMI in the UK and Capitol in the US. In the interim however, Adam suffered multiple stalkers (one of which held Adam at gunpoint after breaking into his home), being placed in a mental institution in late 1994 which led to the breakup with his girlfriend actress Heather Graham and ultimately exacerbating his bipolar disorder.

Recorded at Abbey Road in the Spring of 1994 with a band of Ex-Polecat/Morrissey sideman Boz Boorer and Pirroni on guitars, Bruce Witkin on bass and drum duties shared by Dave Ruffy of The Ruts and John Reynolds (whom Pirroni had worked with previously on the Sinéad O'Connor albums he'd played on). Produced by David Tickle (Split Enz, Divinyls), the album has a mellower feel than what Ant is generally known for and is similar in feel to fellow New Wave comeback albums like Duran Duran's Wedding Album and then-new artists like The Cramberries' Everybody's Doing It So Why Can't We?.

The album is littered with low-key glam stompers like "Vampires", "1969 Again" and the rollicking single "Gotta Be A Sin" (the chorus of which contains the chords to T. Rex's "Jeepster", backwards). Swaggering tracks like "Very Long Ride" and "Beautiful Dream" (both co-written by Kings-era Ant bassist Kevin Mooney). Ballads like "Yin & Yang", "Won't Take That Talk" and the album's soaring title-track - the album's lone Top-40 hit. "Wonderful" was Adam with his heart on his sleeve, something he'd never done in the past. And it actually was poignant and effective enough to be a real hit. 

Although, this may be damning it with faint praise, the album is loaded with subtle, adult, minor pop songs that have been largely overlooked and/or simply forgotten about. Sonically, the album is reminiscent of Morrissey's Vauxhall And I and is like nothing else in the Antman's catalog. 

Recommended. 

Thomas Dolby: Aliens Ate My Buick (EMI Manhattan/1988)

I first discovered Thomas Dolby in the Spring of 1989 on a program called Classic MTV. It was a thirty-minute show that showed 5-6 music videos and was hosted by returning-VJ Martha Quinn. I discovered a lot of artists via this show. The video was "She Blinded Me With Science" and Thomas Dolby made a big impression twelve-year old me. The song had an insanely catchy, quirky hook and Dolby generally sounded like the younger brother of Gary Numan and Andy Partridge. The low melodic synth line that precedes the "Science!" sounded vaguely sinister and the understated funky, chorused guitar was (and still is) a favorite pet guitar sound of mine. Quintessential new wave with a decidedly quirky bent. I was sold on Mr. Dolby.

I went out and bought the 7" single and Golden Age Of Wireless cassette at Record World later that week. MTV had done its job. There was another cassette tape in the Thomas Dolby section too; Aliens Ate My Buick. The cover was an homage to classic, campy B-Movie posters (although, I didn't know this at the time). It just looked sort of dopey and silly and twelve-year old me was not interested. I eventually picked up the album many years later. In the interim I'd fallen in love with both The Golden Age Of Wireless and its underappreciated follow-up The Flat Earth.

I had no knowledge of what had led-up to this album. Dolby scored a few films, moved to Los Angeles and married an actress. The album - produced by Bill Bottrell (Madonna, Sheryl Crow and Michael Jackson) - definitely sounds like an L.A.-album from the later 1980's (I don't think I've ever heard that description be used in a complimentary way) which, it in fact is. It spawned three singles; the Caucasian-funk of "Airhead", which has cliche-ridden observations of dumb Hollywood blondes and sounds like it could've been the theme to Earth Girls Are Easy. "Hot Sauce" which was written by George Clinton of all people and employs a definite Prince-influence. The song sounds like it might've worked if it was handled by another artist. The thin production - and mastering of the day - sort of deflates the whole thing. and "My Brain Is Like A Sieve" which isn't a bad song, but the arrangement sounds vaguely wrong and is, again, sabotaged by a weird mix and/or ill-suited production.

The remainder of the album is all-over the place. "The Keys To Her Ferrari" has a self-consciously wacky big-band arrangement with unpleasant keyboard sounds. "Pulp Culture" sounds like Beck about ten years before his excursions on Midnight Vultures. In general, Dolby comes off lyrically like the smartest kid in the class being humored by the teachers, as he attempts to be humorous; it just comes off as embarrassing. But here, Dolby sounds like he's impossible to embarrass. Ouch.

The final two songs on the album proper are both excellent and makes me wish Dolby had recorded more straight-forward tracks like these instead of attempting to sell an overripe, wacky-persona with misguided funk exercises. Co-written with sometime-collaborator Matthew Seligman of The Soft Boys, "The Ability To Swing" has a low-key jazzy shuffle. And despite Dolby's curiously affected vocals, the lyrics are direct and effective. Random aside; the chorused bassline also reminds me of that scene in The Breakfast Club where the detentioned teens are all bored and falling asleep.

The last track on the album is the positively excellent "Budapest By Blimp". At over eight-minutes long, what could be an overlong exercise in atmospherics, turns out to be a sublime soundscape with wonderful musical and lyrical imagery. It singularly displays what makes Thomas Dolby such a special artist; unexpected depth and surprising poignancy wrapped in quirky packaging with casually intelligent lyrics. Some wonderfully understated vocals from Dolby and ethereal female backing vocals on this track as well. Absolutely beautiful

The final song on the compact disc and cassette editions of the album is "May The Cube Be With You", which was originally released in in 1985 under the moniker Dolby's Cube. It's a flat, rote P-Funk-styled singalong featuring George Clinton himself and Lene Lovich (the latter of whom Dolby wrote "New Toy" for, about his desire for a new synthesizer). It ends things in a rather unspectacular fashion.

Aside from the two tracks mentioned toward the end of the album, an unfortunate collection of material by an artist whose work is generally excellent.