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| 1983 cover |
release date: Nov. 30, 1979
format: vinyl (1983 reissue) / cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,92]
producer: Adam Ant
label: CBS Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)" - **2. "Kick" - *3. "Nine Plan Failed" - 6. "Cleopatra" - - B) **1. "Zerox" - *3. "Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)" - *4. "Animals and Men" - 5. "The Idea" - **6. "Whip My Valise"
* [different track # on 1983 version], ** [only appear on 1983 version]
Studio debut album by Adam and the Ants originally released on the small independent label, Do It Records. All songs are written, arranged and produced by Adam Ant except tracks #1 & #2, which are produced by Chris Hughes. Adam and the Ants are Adam Ant (aka Stuart Leslie Goddard) as band leader, and he is credited for lead vocals, and for playing acoustic & electric guitars, piano, and harmonica - he has teamed up with Matthew Ashman on guitar and piano, Andrew Warren on bass, and with drummer Dave Barbarossa (credited as Dave Barbe). Fact is, the band always was Adam's project as the line-up before the recordings for the album had seen various incarnations, and just before the release, bassist Andrew Warren was replaced by Leigh Gorman. Shortly after the album release, the band went through another major change.
The band erupted in the post-punk vacuum, where no one seemed to have any idea of where contemporary music was going. The style is a big blend of influences with post-punk at the centre but with obvious links to glam rock, art rock, funk, and punk rock.
I didn't really hear of the band until they released Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980). I remember how we read an article about the band in a teenage music magazine one day in our German class back in 1980. That's actually the only German lesson I recall from that school year. We read about The Ants, their costumes and funny looks as well as other similar artists of new romantics, which i think The Ants were wrongly associated with at the time. I thought it was cool looking and had to check out the music, and that was when I discovered the fine 1980 album. Anyway, this album is different with a more glam rock, new wave, and art rock style to it. I didn't hear this album in its full length until buying the '83 vinyl version of the album, and by then the music already seemed dated.
Apparently, the manager of Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren, was involved in the promotional strategies for the band, and he was also the one, who is said to have pulled out most of the line-up for this album to establish the band Bow Wow Wow founded Jan. 1980.
[ allmusic.com4,5 / 5 stars ]
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| original cover |
