Adam Ant: The Beacon Theater, New York, NY 9/13/2017 Anthems: The Singles Tour 2017

Since 2013, Adam Ant has made something of a comeback. He released his first album since 1995's Wonderful - the very fine Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter album, toured the UK in celebration of the reissue of Dirk Wears White Sox, embarked on a world tour to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Ants' basically perfect Kings Of The Wild Frontier album, and now he's on his Anthems: The Singles Tour.

His Anthems tour is basically the vast majority of his singles and a good portion of his best B-Sides. I'd seen Adam on tour earlier this year, so I knew what to expect in terms of his live band (he's got a cracking band that actually sound like a real band and not just backing musicians - Will Crewdson is an excellent lead guitarist and the two drummers are perfect - especially Jola). Adam himself has a lot more energy than one would expect from someone who's been through the Punk wars of 1977. He didn't disappoint on this night either.

The twenty-five song set was basically an Ant-fans dream set. The band opened with a fiery rendition of "Beat My Guest" and the show never really let up. Early singles "Young Parisians" (and its B-Side "Lady"), "Zerox" and "Car Trouble" all earned enthusiastic responses. Adam ran through plenty of obscure B-Sides such as "Greta X", "Christian D'Or" and "B-Side Baby". It was certainly nice to hear Adam perform hits that he doesn't do very often (excepting this tour) like "Apollo 9", "Can't Set Rules About Love" and "Puss N Boots". The ebbs and flows of the set felt fairly natural/organic with the energy level boosting up several notches on "Friend Or Foe" (which sounded amazing live, and truly benefited from having two drummers) and on "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" - which seemed to get the entire audience up and moving in a speaking in tongues sort of way.

Of course, Adam and his band performed the staples "Stand And Deliver", "Vive Le Rock", "Antmusic" and "Goody Two Shoes" all to the expected fervent response.

The only singles Adam didn't tackle were "Ant Rap" (for obvious reasons...Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee and Gary Tibbs were not on tour with "Yours Truly"), "Deutscher Girls", "Rough Stuff" and the US Top 40 single "Wonderful". None of which were missed too greatly.

I was basically a spoiled Antfan on this night - as I'd had my VIP package (which included a T-Shirt, a bandanna, buttons/badges, a tote bag and a numbered, limited edition autographed poster). Not to mention my eighth-row seat and sterling companionship.

Opening for Adam were the Glam Skanks. They're a quartet from LA who come off like a television producers dream of an a homogenized version of The Runaways. Their material didn't really resonate with me at all (it felt very affected and faux to put it lightly...very LA, very plastic). Their sound in terms of the house engineer and the room itself was fine though. About 3/4 through Adam's set, it was slightly overloaded and louder, which was basically unnecessary. The Beacon is a great sounding theater and really needs no help in terms of artificial loud sounds via the sound engineer. But I digress.

A great night.

Adam Ant: Charline McCombs Empire Theatre San Antonio, TX (2/15/2017)

New Wave icon Adam Ant has been touring on the U.S. performing his classic Kings Of The Wild Frontier album. The tour hit San Antonio, and Ant came ready to (Stand &) deliver the goods. Armed with two drummers (just as The Ants had), a bassist and a guitarist, the band was well-rehearsed and you'd be forgiven for thinking this was a brand new band and not an exercise in nostalgia. Although his fans know that he's covered so many bases and very well, it seemed like maybe Ant (nee Stuart Goddard) had something to prove. He's always been an energetic, charismatic performer, and at age sixty-two, he still is.

He performed the U.K. version of Kings Of The Wild Frontier album from beginning to end (which included the U.K. Top-Five hit singles; "Antmusic", "Dog Eat Dog" and the title-track). He tackled plenty of early material ("Zerox", "Cartrouble" & "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)"), mega-hits ("Goody Two Shoes", "Stand & Deliver", "Prince Charming"), a few shoulda-been mega-hits ("Vive Le Rock", "Desperate But Not Serious"), approximately six early Ants B-Sides and a cover of T.Rex's "Get It On".

All-in-all it was an amazing performance. His backing band were loud and present and were fine de facto replacements for the Kings-era Ants. The man is still as capable as he ever was and it seems like he has more fire under his belly than the average 80's new waver. Mellow is not a word one would use to describe his current edginess.

A perfect show.

Adam And The Ants: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (CBS/Sony/2016)

Kings Of The Wild Frontier was the album that started “Antmania” in the United Kingdom. It also contained “Dog Eat Dog” (UK #4), “Kings Of The Wild Frontier” (UK #2) and “”Antmusic”” (UK #2). The album itself reached #1 in the UK, #44 in the US and earned the band a BRIT award for Best Album and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

It featured the Burundi dual drumming of Chris Hughes (aka Merrick) and Terry Lee Mail. The glam meets art rock guitar of Marco Pirroni. There's shades of Ennio Morricone all over the album and images of American Indian meets American Cowboy of the old West. All delivered in a knowingly cam, post-art school way. By all accounts it is a classic album.

Sony has just reissued the album on vinyl. It's absolutely 100% faithful to the original UK release. It even includes the Adam And The Ants Catalogue, which is basically an awesomely cool magazine all about the ants and features a ton of photos and paraphernalia of the time.

Highly recommended for all New Wave lovers. And loves of post-punk and garage too.

Special Thanks To Tee-Vee Game's Dave Rerecich.

And now, here's the video review:

The Cure: Seventeen Seconds (Fiction Records/1980)

The Cure's sophomore release, Seventeen Seconds was released in April of 1980. It is the first album to mark a distinct path away from the faster of edgy pop of their debut, Three Imaginary Boys or Boys Don't Cry as it was released in the US. The minimal, precise pop the band plays on Seventeen Seconds had been present on Three Imaginary Boys in the songs “Another Day”, “Accuracy” and the classic “Three Imaginary Boys”.

The album is amazingly successful in creating a definite mood and is psychedelic in a downbeat way. The drums of Laurence Tolhurst and keyboards of Matthieu Hartly are very minimal and precise. Robert Smith's guitar lines are bright and nicely chorused while Simon Gallup's bass lines generally provide the melody lines. “In Your House” is a psychedelic, new wave classic. “Play For Today” although a promo video clip was made for the song and it's appearance on the Staring At The Sea Compact Disc led many to believe it was a single, it was not. Although it does sound like a long-lost classic single.

“A Forest” in fact was a classic new wave single - it was a UK Top 40 hit and reached number 47 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart. It's repetitive four-note bass-line, echoing vocals, backwards snare and chorused guitar all combined with a memorable Smith vocal performance make for a very memorable track. “Secrets”, “M” and the title track are effectively moody, lightly gloomy atmosphere pieces. “At Night” is a nocturnal mini-masterpiece. While “Three”, “A Reflection” and “The Final Sound” are basically instrumental exercises.

This is my favorite album by The Cure and I can't say enough good things about it.

Recommended. Highly.   

Here's the video review:

A Very Special Thanks To: Stephen Worth. 

The Cure: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY (6/20/16)

The Cure are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year (they formed in 1976, and started recording in 1978). To celebrate their career the band are on tour to (unofficially, at least) celebrate this. And from the offset of the tour, things were reportedly looking good for long-time/hardcore Cure fans. The band had been performing obscure songs they hadn't since the 1980's. And the band played a three-night residency at New York's famous Madison Square Garden. Despite being a longtime Cure fan, I hadn't yet seen the band perform live. So I was especially looking forward to this show.

The Cure line-up in 2016 is, of course, Robert Smith on vocals, guitar and occasional six-string bass, longtime David Bowie-band member Reeves Gabrels on lead guitar, longtime Cure member Simon Gallup on bass, Roger O'Donnell on Keyboards - who made a welcome return to the fold after a long absence - and Jason Cooper, who has been with The Cure since the mid 90's. The band has a wonderful uniformity of sound and sounded fantastic together. It was also fairly obvious that this was a fun show for them. Gallup and O'Donnell's playfully interactions were revealing of that. Smith still sounded in good voice and still looks as he has always (slightly chubby, black clothes, frizzy hair, some lipstick).

The band opened with the mid-tempo "Out Of This World" from Bloodflowers followed by the wonderful "Pictures Of You" and the fine "Closedown" both from Disintegration. I was overjoyed when the band launched into "High" - a personal favorite from the Summer of 1992's Wish - "A Night Like This", "Push" (which had nearly everyone up dancing) and "In Between Days" (the band's first Billboard Top 100 hit) all of which came from The Head On The Door album. The performed most of their US hits ("Just Like Heaven", "Love Song", "Lullaby") notable absences were "Friday I'm In Love" and "Fascination Street", both of which were performed at the previous MSG shows.

The band performed some classics that they don't always perform - all of which were favorites of mine;  the lilting "The Caterpillar", the bonafide psychedelic classic "A Forest",  the new wave synth dance pop classics "The Walk" and "Let's Go To Bed", the late 80's club classics "Hot! Hot! Hot!" and "Why Can't I Be You" (both of which had the entire place up and dancing frantically), "Play For Today" and "At Night" from their Seventeen Seconds album, the rarity "Bananafishbones" and "Shake Dog Shake" from The Top, "Close To Me" and "Kyoto Song" also from The Head On The Door. The band played for over three hours performing 31 songs with four (!) encores.

Opening band The Twilight Sad were a fitting opening band and were a pleasant surprise.

Overall, The Cure were amazing and exceeded all expectations that I had going in to the show. If you're a Cure fan and are hesitant about seeing them. Don't be. I highly recommend seeing them if/when you have the chance.  

Photos by Bill Wikstrom.

Magazine: Play (Virgin Records/1981)

Manchester's Magazine were one of the finest bands to come out of the post/punk movement. Forming in 1977 after leader Howard Devoto left The Buzzcocks, the band released three excellent albums on Virgin Records. In mid-1980, guitarist extraordinaire, the late-John McGeoch left the band to join Siouxsie & The Banshees. He was replaced by Robin Simon for the Correct Use Of Soap tour (he can also be seen with the band in their appearance in the film Urgh! A Music War). Considering Simon had big shoes to fill in replacing the ever-innovative McGeoch, he fares pretty well here. 


Recorded in late Summer of 1980 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia opening for XTC, Play is something of a neat little sampler of sorts. It contains the classic Magazine cuts “Because You're Frightened”, “The Light Pours Out Of Me”, “Model Worker”, “Permafrost”, “A Song From Under The Floorboards” and their deconstructionist take on Sly And The Family Stone's “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. The only glaring omission here is the classic debut single “Shot By Both Sides” (which was the band's only real UK hit). The band sounds in fine form and they certainly have more command than your average opening band.

 Recommended for fans of The Buzzcocks, post-punk and new wave.

 This is the video review:


 

The Suburbs: Credit In Heaven (Twin/Tone Records/1981)

The Suburbs were one of the greatest bands to come from Minneapolis in the 1980's. Originally a jumped-up, noisy new wave quintet, and later evolving into a more moody, danceable outfit. The band's first record in 1978, was also the first ever released on the Twin/Tone label (later home to Soul Asylum and The Replacements) and would serve as the band's label until 1983. In that time they released two albums, two EP's and three singles.

The second of those albums was Credit In Heaven. An ambitious double-album platter, with a nice and varied track selection and clear production via Paul Stark (who would later produce The Replacements' Hootenanny album). The album's lone single “Music For Boys” reached number 66 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play singles chart. And it became something of a new wave club staple.

While there is a singularly originality to The Suburbs and their material; a few points of references are Roxy Music, Talking Heads and David Bowie. Beej Chaney's vocals point to Iggy Pop, while Chan Polling's voice recalls Bryan Ferry. “Cigarette In Backwards” sounds like a boozy Roxy Music. “Drinking With An Angel” sounds like Iggy Pop fronting Talking Heads. “Idiot Voodoo” and “Dish It Up” sound like absolute new wave dance classics, while “Tape Your Wife To The Ceiling” and “Spring Came” sound like they should be alternative radio classics. Being that it is a double-album there are a few lesser tracks (namely “Macho Drunk”, “Postcard” and “Girlache”). But even those tracks don't detract from the overall cohesiveness and general effectiveness of the album.

The band's playing is tight and the arrangements accentuate the excellently understated rhythm section of bassist Michael Halliday and drummer Hugo Klaers. Lead guitarist the late Bruce C. Allen is shown to be an original player and effective foil to Chaney's spare, quirky parts. And Polling is an a master at knowing what to piano parts to play and what not to play. There is a shared sense of understatement which is common to all.

A highly recommended album.  

Here's the video review:

Special thanks to: Doug Mashkow of New Music Scene and CD Island.

Gang Of Four: Songs Of The Free (Warner Brothers/1982)

Leeds' Gang Of Four released 1982's Songs Of The Free, their third album, on the heels of the excellent Another Day/Another Dollar EP. It is their first release with Sara Lee on bass, who took over after Dave Allen left the band to for Shriekback with Barry Andrews of XTC. She's a excellent replacement and is adept to playing nearly as deeply-funky as Allen did.

The album is successful in marrying the band's slashing post-punk to the funky new wave that was all-prevalent at the time. It was produced by Mike Howlett of Gong (who also produced OMD, Tears For Fears and A Flock Of Seagulls). Songs Of The Free is really only weak when one holds it up against Entertainment!, Yellow and Solid Gold. All of which are on the perfect side. Songs Of The Free is jam packed with moody, nocturnal grooves and somnambulist funk. Songs like “History Of The World”, “Life! It's A Shame” and “I Will Be A Good Boy” are my idea of perfect background music that I'd love to hear in a bar or pub. “Muscle For Brains” has a great funky guitar line. “Call Me Up”, “We Live As We Dream, Alone” and “I Love A Man In A Uniform” are easily the most effective songs on the album.

“I Love A Man In A Uniform” was a new-wave dance hit peaking at #27 on Billboard's Club Play Singles chart and became a staple of Alternative radio. The album itself is usually held up as Gang Of Fours last initial creative hurrah. Although it produced a handful of decent tracks, 1983's Hard was indeed a fairly soft affair. I've always considered Songs Of The Free part of a logical conclusion to the trilogy of Entertainment! and Solid Gold.

Recommended. Indeed.  

The Replacements: Boink!! (Glass Records/1986)

Minneapolis' The Replacements are one of few bands on a personal shortlist of a half-dozen or so bands that changed me as a preteen. They informally introduced to American post-punk rock, American alternative rock, and boozy proto-alt country. They are what The Smiths from the United Kingdom, were to American teens in the 1980's in that they were a beacon for disaffected, alienated youth looking for a spokesman to speak for them. And they found on in Paul Westerberg. Or so I've always believed in any case.

Boink!! was an eight-song compilation album released in 1986 for the UK market on Glass Records.

In consists of three songs from Hootenanny - “Color Me Impressed”, “Within Your Reach” (which had it's widest exposure in the Cameron Crowe film Say Anything... and “Take Me Down To The Hospital”. Three songs from The Replacements Stink (the should've-been-a-single “Kids Don't Follow”, the bluesy rave-up “White And Lazy” and the mini-epic “Go”) albums. Plus the B-Side to their debut single “I'm In Trouble” (the fantastic, would-be-Merle Haggard song “If Only Your Were Lonely”) and the previously-unreleased Alex Chilton - produced “Nowhere Is My Home”. Alex Chilton was almost the producer for the band's Tim album, however Sire Records wanted someone with more name-recognition so they in-turn went with Tommy Ramone. Who did a fantastic job. “Nowhere Is My Home” is a fantastic song and also appears on the 2008 reissue of Tim.

Boink!! is a wonderful, if seemingly random selection of tracks and the album is pretty rare. In fact I've only ever seen it in record stores maybe five times tops.

Here's the video review:

Barry Andrews: Town And Country EP (Virgin/1979)

Barry Andrews was the keyboard player for XTC from 1976 to 1979. He appeared on one EP (The
3-D EP), two albums (White Music and Go 2) and four singles. He was largely responsible the band's whimsical funhouse sound. He quickly grew tired of being a third wheel to dominant composers Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. Virgin Records however loved his contributions to the band and upon leaving XTC released his first three solo singles. The first of these was the Town And Country EP which was released in May of 1979.

It contains some of Barry's whizzing organs and keyboards albeit in an understated way than on his records with XTC. Colin Moulding is the bassist on the EP which features an outtake from Go 2, “Sargasso Bar”. “Me And My Mate Can Sing” is perhaps the records' catchy stand-out track and appears to reference groupies or hanger-ons. “ Mousetrap” and “Bring On The Alligators” are measured, punky, cockney mini-rave-ups.

The EP was produced by Martin Rushent (who had produced XTC's “Are You Receiving Me” single) and engineered by Hugh Padgham (who later engineered XTC's Drums & Wires and Black Sea albums). I personally like it as it fills a gap between Barry in XTC and his time in the bands Resurant For Dogs, The League Of Gentleman and his formation of Shriekback with Dave Allen of Gang Of Four.

For fans of XTC and Shriekback or late 70's Post Punk.


Here's The Video Review:

The Damned: The Black Album (IRS Records/1980)

The Black Album is fourth album by The Damned. Released by Chiswick Records in October of 1980 (just in time for Halloween), it was a double album set that obviously references The Beatles' White Album. However when it was released by their US label I.R.S. Records it was trimmed down to just a single disc. Which is fine because what was omitted (a side of live versions of past hits) and a seventeen-minute composition (“Curtain Call”) are both on the skippable side. 

The album contains a few Damned classics “Wait For The Blackout”, “Hit Or Miss”, “Dr. Jeckle & Mr Hyde” and the stand-out “Drinking About My Baby”.Musically there's a subtle change in direction from the full-throttle punk rock of their first few albums. There are elements of jangle pop, power pop and goth rock. Some of the songs aren't that successful, while others certainly are. It's definitely one of the Damned's last great albums and worthy of at least a listen or three.

Here is the video review:

Redd Kross: Three Ten-Inch EP's (1993, 1993, 1994).

2,500 Redd Kross Fans Can't Be Wrong (Sympathy For The Record Industry/1993)

Lady In The Front Row (This Way Up/1993)

Visionary (This Way Up/1994)

After the commercial failure of Third Eye to turn Redd Kross into a houshold name, the band left Atlantic Records and released a few UK-only indie singles. Super Sunny Christmas was released in late 1991 in Australia on Inspid Vinyl, Trance was released in the Spring of 1992 on Seminal Twang in the UK and Switchblade Sister was released in Summer of 1993 on This Way Up Records in the UK and in Canada. 

Sympathy For The Record Industry collected various tracks from those releases for the six-song ten-inch” vinyl release of 2,500 Redd Kross Fans Can’t Be Wrong (a spoof on Elvis Presley's 50 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong). Highlights include the early 70's glammy “Switchblade Sister” (which should have appeared on their then-new album Phaseshifter), the glam/grunge rave-up“Trance” and its' B-Side “Byrds & Fleas” co-written bv Jeff McDonald and future-wife and Go-Go Charlotte Caffey.

Next we have the Lady In The Front Row ten-inch single from 1993 on This Way Up Records. The title track appeared on their Phaseshifter album and is a slice power pop perfection. A re-recording of “Standing In Front Of Poseur” from their self-titled 1980 debut EP. Also are a cover of The Kinks' “Fancy” and PJ Harvey's “Oh My Lover”.

Lastly we have the Visionary single from 1994 (also on This Way Up). The title track, again from Phaseshifter has a metaly riff and has big harmony vocals from the McDonald brothers. The B-sides are cover of The Beatles “It Won't Be Long” as performed by Queen and a live acoustic version of “Visionary”.

These are nice little unique starting places for the uninitiated, granted there are better places to investigate as to who Redd Kross are. However for the vinyl fanatic these three ten-inches (the only three released by the band) are fine additions to any power-pop, proto-grunge, glam pop fans collection. Or just check out Neurotica, Researching The Blues or Third Eye.

Here's The Video Review:

The Clash: Black Market Clash EP (Epic/1980)

The Clash have been dubbed "The Only Band That Matters". Coming from the original UK punk scene, The Clash were an important band, both genuinely and superficially. I often wonder what a modern audience would make of the Clash now. They were as impassioned as they were insufferable and they cared as much about "the message" as they did their well-groomed image. They have always been one of my favorite bands, but I've always been able see both sides of them. Their documentary Westway To The World was as riveting as it was revisionist (the band curiously failed to even mention the last three years of its' history). The band released twenty singles and six albums in only eight years time.

Black Market Clash was a 10" EP released as part of Epic's Nu Disk series. Nu Disk was a brief series of 10" EP's released in 1980 (other notable acts to be part of the series are Cheap Trick and Gary Glitter). It's a collections of singles, B-sides, dubs and outtakes. "Capital Radio" and "Bankrobber" were both single A-Sides (the latter in an extended dub-form), "Cheat" is from the UK version of their self-titled debut album, "Time is Tight" is a cover of a Booker T & The MGs song and the remaining tracks were UK-only B-Sides.

 Black Market Clash was released right before the triple-album Sandinista!. All of these tracks were assembled on CD as Super Black Market Clash in the mid 90's.I personally like 10" vinyl records so I'll go out on a limb and say, sure, why not, buy it. It's a nice little fill-the-gaps release.

Here's The Video Review:

The Soft Boys: Nextdoorland (Matador Records/2002)

The reunion of The Soft Boys in 2001 was something of a pleasant if albeit unexpected surprise. Band leader, guitarist and vocalist Robyn Hitchcock had worked with all of the ex-Soft Boys in some faculty (either on his solo albums or as his backing band in The Egyptians) since the bands' demise in 1981. This line-up is the same one that had recorded the band's magnum opus Underwater Moonlight. It's fairly safe to say that there is virtually no difference in Robyn's lyrical persona or from what he had been doing just previous to this. And there's little to no effort to imitate the busy arrangements that band had been mining at their outset. If anything these make the songs themselves and the album as a whole far more enjoyable.

Released in 2002 on Matador Records, shortly after the tour and reissue of the Underwater Moonlight

(in celebration of that albums 21^st birthday), Nextdoorland is one of Robyn's better releases from the 2000's. He definitely seems to be rejuvenated to be playing with lead guitarist Kimberly Rew, bassist Matthew Seligman and drummer Morris Windsor once again. The sweet backing vocals or Rew & Windsor are certainly nice to hear alongside Robyn's Syd Barretesque crooning. And it's nice to hear Robyn and Kimberly playing together in a modern context as well. The songs themselves work as a unified whole. “I Love Lucy”, “Japanese Captain”, “Pulse Of My Heart” and “Unprotected Love” being among the stand-out tracks. Outtakes from this album were issued later that year as the EP
Side Three.

The vinyl release was pressed on 150 gram vinyl and came packaged with a 7” single of live versions of “Underwater Moonlight” and “Only The Stones Remain”that were both recorded at the Hollywood Bowl.

This was rated as one of the best albums of the year when it was released and I'll stand by it.

Here's The Video Review:

Special Thanks: Doug Mashkow of New Music Scene.

Certain General: Holiday Of Love (Labor Records/1982)

Certain General spawned from the downtown New York scene. Alongside peers like Bush Tetras and Band Of Outsiders, Certain General were New York's leading purveyors of guitar-based atonal dance rock. The band formed in 1980 is still currently actively playing shows and releasing new music. And in fact they're virtual (cult) stars in France.

Holiday Of Love is their first release and having been released in 1982, as 1982 and 1983 was the era of the EP, this release also happens to be an EP. Released on Labor Records and produced by Peter Holsapple of The dB's and Michael Gira of Swans, the five-song mini-album is a nice mix of jittery-dance rock and somber mid-tempo material.

“Back Downtown” sounds like The Feelies a smidgen, “Hello My God” recalls “The End” by The Doors, “Leader Out” sound not unlike Bauhaus. “B flat, C2” sounds like what would happen if Gang Of Four were a surf rock band. “Holiday Of Love” could've been the hit dance single that X never had. There's something slightly Velvet Underground-y and Televisionesque about Certain General's approach yet lead singer Parker Dulany has a lyrical vision all his own.

Recommended for fans of any of the band I named. Certain General is worth checking out.  

Here's the video review:

Special thanks to: Kevin Tooley, Prefab International & Dennis Landau.

Adam And The Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox (Do It Records/1979) (Epic Records/1983)

New Wave icon Adam Ant had numerous UK hit singles in the early 1980's with his band the Ants. Among them “Ant Music”, “Stand & Deliver” and “Prince Charming”. However the band initially had a significantly different sound. Based in all things S&M, the original punk/post-punk Ants were somewhat less colorful-sounding than the hit-laden Ants were.

The lone album this era of Adam And The Ants was Dirk Wears White Sox. Released in October of 1979 the album contained plenty of early Ant favorites such as “Car Trouble” (which would later be re-recorded and released as a single peaking at #33), “Cleopatra” and “Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)”. The music is a fairly unique blend of post-punk. The album is comparable to XTC's Go 2, Gang Of Four's Entertainment, Magazine's Real Life and Siouxie & The Banshees' The Scream. Plenty of angular, atonal guitars and interesting rhythms ornamented with stark lyrical themes.

The album was finally issued in the US in 1983, after the success of “Goody Two Shoes”. The album contained different cover art (a still taken from the “Zerox” music video, a still was also used for the single-sleeve of “Cartrouble”). “Day I Met God” & Catholic Day” were dropped in favor of the singles of “Zerox” and Car Trouble” (and their B-Sides “Whip In My Valise” & “Kick”, respectively) .

It is this line-up of Adam Ant on vocals, Andre Warren on bass, Dave Barbarossa on drums and percussion, Matthew Ashman on guitar that band manager Malcolm Mclaren poached from Adam to subsequently form Bow Bow Wow.

Both versions of the album are worth hearing and dare I say the American Version is more crowd-pleasing of the two. But there is an integrity to original UK version that is possibly unmatched by the US version, as it was Adam's original version of the album in the first place.

Very Most Highly Recommended for fans of post-punk, punk and new wave.

Here's the video review:

Photography: Janet Beckman