For me there is nothing like kings of the wild frontier and it's his only album I absolutely adore, just got the ant warrior logo tattooed on my arm , it's just been part of my life for so long
"KotWF", was the album that introduced me to Stuart Goddard and his musical stylings and I'm still very fond of it, however it was, "... Sox", that blew me away... I still have it on vinyl and I regularly crank up the volume and give it a spin... Brilliant !
I appreciate your interest and work about this Great artist terribly underrated - Im a french writer ( rocks book and novels) author of "adam ant the last punk rocker" 2016 (ed camion blanc 550 pages) the unique real documented biography about him helas there is no english version. Even if Im proud enough about my work to mention it on youtube its a shame that there is no other books - specially in UK - about him ( and by the way no translation of mine) . Bref, Its great to watch something about him here. His body or art desserves much more attention (songs visual videos graphism attitude...). I considere Manners and Physique as a good album with " If You keep on" with Kevin Rowland and "Anger Inc" ( quote Kerouac) even ""bright light black leather"/ "you dumb..." or "Picadilly" are good songs (better than the Strip LP which I like for bad reason I suppose,, because it was a bit too light ( except songs like "navel to Neck"). There was in 2006 a limited LP called "live at the bloomsburry " its a live acoustic album with songs, talk over and reading - Waitin for a new album? The 2013 double LP BLue Black Hussar contains great songs like "Shrink" it could have been a great simple album/ thanxs again for your work / sorry for my english xxxmarc TCB
Strip's problem is that the sleazy lyrics and the pure crystalline sound cancelled each other out. If you want to make records with that sound then they should have equally pure crystalline subject matter - see ABC's Lexicon Of Love or most of ABBA's work. Strip was actually recorded at ABBA's Polar Studios and had their strings arranger Rutger Gunnerson working on it.
Nice breakdown. I like the cover of FRIEND OR FOE, but I understand why some folk might not. To me, it has an immediacy and power that the grainy image only underscores. It shows the man at work, focused and intense on the new phase of his career. A sort of video noir, if you will.
I think the picture was probably taken from an old TV screen, using something like a polaroid camera... I think that blurry, badly saturated, TV image would have appealed to Adam at that time.
Watching from the Philippines. I saw him live in 1981 in the Cornwall Collicium. My first ever live concert aged 14. 5 mins before the show started, some drunk guy vomited down my back. Still enjoyed he show lol
Adam Ants 7" B Sides, wereoften culled from his back catalogue and were darker and heavier than their A side companions, I remember Red Scab being a B Side to something like Goody Two Shoes, really odd yet strangely appropriate choices.
There was an interview where Adam said Malcolm McClaren told him dirk wears white sox is the kind of album you put out when you've already done like 7 ....nd no artsy fartsy covers. that his face should be plastered on the cover because he was so good looking. Probably the best advice he ever gave anybody.
I more or less agree with you, love Dirk and I go to that most often. But those Burundi drums do something else. He is still fabulous live whatever he plays. Thanks for a great compilation of your thoughts and the career of Adam. Really enjoyed it.
Manners and Physique is best treated as an Adam/Andre Cymone 50/50 collaboration. Perhaps Prince and Marco should have collaborated too to balance things out. Room At The Top was BIG in the states (it was Adam's second US Top 20 single) and he could have really capitalized on that with Persuasion, to the point where if Kings and PC were Adam's Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, Persuasion could have been his Let's Dance.
Remember a lot of the reason Adam did those two soul/funk albums was because that was a stll unrealised artistic dream of his, dating back to the failed soul album that was Dirk and the better attempt that was the SGS demos.
I really enjoyed this, thank you for putting it out. I might have a few of the albums switched around, but basically agree with your ranking. It was interesting that after (rightly) saying how bad the covers for Kings, FoF and PC are, you didn't mention the cover of Dirk. I think that is a great cover and really portrays the film noir feel to the album. Keep up the good content!
Thank you 🙏 that's honestly so nice to hear 😁 I'm having a bit of a break at the moment, but looking forward to making more vids! The Dirk album is great! I often forget to mention stuff, and then kick myself when finishing the edit lol
I had a mate known as Titan, he is currently known as Clive Zone, absolutely an original.... Titan was and is a Titan. even though he roamed with some giants. He gave me some really cool Antz bootlegs back in the disant past, along with Bowie and Roxy and Marc Bolan, I believe he produced a film of The Blue Black Hussar..
Nice! I grew up with bootlegs of every band I love, still have many, these days second hand places won't sell them because of the lack of barcode, which is a bit depressing... And I really enjoyed The Blue Black Hussar film..
I grew up with Adam Ant during the MTV heyday of the early 1980's. When I moved to London in 1984 from the US I assumed that Adam would still be all the rage but to my disappointment I quickly found out that ship had sailed, and everything was about WHAM at that time. I was even more bummed when he only did one song at Live Aid. Why did he even bother going at all? Vive Le Rock flopped at the time but I personally loved the album to this day.
I basically agree with your list though I personally would rank Manners and Physique over Strip. I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon during the Vive Le Rock Tour in '85 (I'm a Yank who was living in London at the time) and I enjoyed his sped-up rock version of "Strip" that he did on stage. I wish the single would have been more like that.
First thought:doesn't it all depend on your age when what was released? Second thought:prince charming wasn't his best look, but the album is fantastic. Third thought: I love this artist, he's unique!
Excellent work. Tight between the top 2 - it’s Dirk I’d play most often though. Ditto 3&4, but Friend or Foe wins that - Prince C was always a bit dour is my childhood memory of it. But it’s arranging fine vintage wines for these. Seen the Hussar tour, not bad, hope to get a chance to see him again
To misquote Billy Bean in 'Moneyball': There are good albums (Dirk/Kings/Friend or Foe/Vive Le Rock), there are bad albums (Prince Charming/Wonderful/Manners and Physique/Persuasion/Hussar), then there's fifty feet of crap - and then there's Strip.
I really dig Strip (and I’m a dude). I love how the strings sound with Adam’s melodies and ridiculous lyrics. Live at The BBC is excellent as it show cases a bunch of early unreleased songs and Dirk tracks that he doesn’t regularly perform anymore. Living in the US gave me a different experience with Kings and Dirk. I had Kings on cassette which included a bunch of additional tracks that were not on the original UK release, plus it was missing Making History. One last thing regarding Strip, I had it on cassette and there was this Baroque classical music that played in the background of the entire album. It was a bit distracting, but also kind of cool in a weird way. I’m wondering if it was a pressing error or if it was intentional. Do any of you know what I’m talking about? I’ve never heard anyone else talk about this.
Manners & Physique suffers from the complacency and sins of early digital recording. You’re right it does sound like a demo at points - I think Adam was too trusting of Andre Cymonde’s production. I think the only song that has stayed in any playlists of mine is Bright lights, Black Leather.
Cant argue with the order, although id probably classify the last tgree aa equally meh tbh. I generally like the Feiend or Foe album but not Goody Two Goes oddly. And although id still put Prince Charming tgird, ut has my very favourite album track: Scorpios. Rhanks for a great listen/watch and analysis.
At some point I will offer a response to this. It’s not awful, but someone born in 1985, when I was seeing my 2nd Ant show during the Vive Le Rock tour, cannot fully understand Adam Ant. My first show was the Strip tour.
Vive le rock picture was taken at a cafe in london, picture in background is the real rocky, who the based the films on.vive le rock line-up was amazing it simply was a good decent album, everything he did should get credit.
As a lover of Adam since the age of 8!! I agree with your Top 2..... My least fave would be Prince Charming!! There are some great songs (Stand & Deliver, Scorpios, Picasso) But for me, as a whole, I really dislike it! Strip is not a favourite for me either. I liked Friend or Foe, but following the FOF live tour a couple of years ago, it became one of my favourites. Wonderful would be my No3. Totally different to everything else, but a masterpiece in my (very) humble opinion! I also love Vive Le Rock. Let's be fair, I even prefer Blue Black Hussar to Prince Charming........ One of the best live artists I've ever seen, and looking forward to seeing Adam twice this year! Anyone who hasn't seen him live really should. He's touring in Oct / Nov this year.
1 Wonderful 2 Manners 3 Dirk 4 Peel 5 Friend 6 Kings 7 Prince 8 Vive 9 Persuasion 10 Strip 11 Adam Soy español y aquí Adam Ant asomó tímidamente en las radios y televisiones, le conocí en 1990 con Manners & physique y me gustó muchísimo, discrepo con que suene a demos, suena limpio e impactante, cercano al Prince de entonces y con un estilismo actual y moderno en su época. Después conocí el resto de su obra anterior y me sorprendió ya que no tenía nada que ver con el sonido de Manners, me gustó mucho y de hecho con (el que pensaba que era su primer disco) Peel sessions conocí el punk por primera vez. Wonderful sin duda es el que más se acerca al sonido que me gustaba en aquella época y me parece un disco elegante y brillante como Adam nunca volverá a hacer, estuvo en estado de gracia, para mí ese es su último disco ya que "Adam Ant is the..." es un disco que me da vergüenza ajena, por el sonido, los arreglos y la producción en general. Strip aunque tiene una producción elegante también me da un poco de vergüenza.
Strip is a great album! navel to neck and playboy!!! and I love the manners and physique track on the MAP album! KOWF is probably best album overall for me tho, gonna go with hussar as my least fave though I still play it through every so often :)
Dirk No.1 for me, his only really artistically credible LP. A really brave album because it left a lot of his punk fans wondering why he’d ditched all his earlier songs in favour of a pretty experimental set of new songs with a darker and much funkier edge. Really provocative lyrics and dark humour defined this incarnation of the band alongside great imagery which dragged the fan base into a post punk age eyes wide open! The press hated it of course because they couldn’t pigeon hole it, there was no label they could stick on it. Every song is a killer, no filler. Of course it also went over the heads of his incoming new teeny pop fans completely and still does! A great album.
Adam Ant is usually hit or miss. His "hits' are amazing, and his "misses" are complete duds. A great example of this would be Prince Charming. One half is gold, the other half totally unforgettable. If I would rank his albums. I would say. 1.Kings 2. Friend or Foe 3. Prince 4. Dirk 5. Vive 6. Wondeful 7. Strip 8. Manner 9. Hussar
You can't be a good amt warrior , I'm a great obsessed fan of Adam ant's music I've been a fan since the late 70's his an UNRATED SINGER . FROM THE 80'S 🎉🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🎶🎶🏴☠️🏴☠️🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜
Hello, I've always been massively into music, got really into 70s Punk as an angry teenager, I get really into something when I like it, so I'll research everything lol... Discovered early Adam and the Ants, and went from there...
Antbox set is a nice item, ive got a books love them adam and the ants annual,and a paperbook i bought on hoildays 1986, chris welch 1981, i also sent to italy the book mostly written in english, with pictures great text written by a fan covers 1977-1980 adam and the ants era nice guy who wrote.
I think of this was inspired by the U2 album..from under a blood red sky. Still shots ..me I like it .also I get your views but you weren't around at the time..this is your appinon. No disrespect .MR.Lee
I'm one of those who Loves Hussar, not that it's a great album, but it has two of my absolute fave Adam songs..Punky Young Girl and Who's a goofy bunny which may be my all.time fave Adam song. Love Sausage too.
I really enjoyed a good 60% of the album, especially the heavier NIN sounding tracks... Goofy Bunny was interesting, it's Libertine from Strip with different lyrics about Malcolm McLaren if I recall correctly 🤔
Strip feels rushed. Too slick. Also in 1983 in my town you may get your ass kicked buying an album that looks like that. Phile Collins is great on it though.
Madam Stan definitely exists, I have an MP3 version. The other key bootleg to look for is called In Bondage which has some of the early Decca songs plus live versions.
Ive been a fan since 1981 love everything he did,lots of variety made antmusic for sex people, he really is a nice guy and glad he is happy safe and well, we all can have a bit of mental health.i also have a collection about 75 items, also a huge sex pistol fan seen them 6 times on comeback tours, met john and glen, big collection as well demos, box set, bootlegs lots more,and the same with afam ant as well.he had a stalker mid 1990's lucky she finally went away. I will say prince charming is decent but he has done much better, but i like everything he has done.
AAITBBHIMTGD was just a mess and a symptom, a paranoid Adam putting out his rough 2009 demos because he thought all the efforts to get him to rerecord everything were just a scheme to rip him off for money. Cool Zombie was the only properly recorded track, mainly because Andy Bell (the Oasis/Beady Eye/Ride one, not the Erasure one) blocked the 2009 Chris McCormack demo from being used, so it was either rerecord or drop the song.
100% correct regarding 'Manners and Physique'. The production is the worst I have ever heard on any album ever. I ditched him at this point and never returned. That said, I still listen to everything up to 'Vive Le Rock'.
I liked a lot of what he did after Manners... But yup, I certainly did not enjoy his early 90s output, I didn't really like a lot of anyone's early 90s output tbh😆
Kings of The Final Frontier was the first album I ever bought. By the time Strip came out I was over it, Strip was awful and far from the British punk of his older albums. in ‘83 I was listening to more Rockabilly and Death Rock which was actually closer to his earlier albums with Marco’s sometimes Duane Eddy twangy guitar or his distorted sound.
Totally agree, I wish Adam had done more of the Rockabilly or even Psychobilly thing in the mid to late 80s, like the direction the Vive la Rock album was going in...
@@thegoodthebadtheuglyshow he clearly loves music from the 50s and 60s. The dual drums sound like The Strangeloves, a band that Bow, Wow, Wow covered, and one can hear wolf Harris’ War Canoe. Wolf sued but lost, probably because Wolf was a perv. Sounds just like Prince Charming ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r261LPQ-gO8.htmlsi=cehmWa4cuj_BLit4
Indeed ..thank you, I've been drawn into a few arguments because of this video, by people who think the late 80s Prince production sound is amazing.. I just don't hear it..
Can't stand the drumming on Strip (sorry Phil). I do find Wonderful the weakest album. Best ties between ..Foe, Kings..., Husar. All of them have at least a few excellent tracks. Apollo 9 & Scorpios are fave songs, so that'll give you an idea where I'm coming from. Also, there's the matter of me being 20 years older than you, so I can when FoF came out, we thought the cover wicked cool. It's just been done a lot since.
The next two albums are way better and more memorable for me. Two of the best albums of that era. Easy number 1 and 2. Prince Charming I might actually have at number one, just. No filler and has more hits on it. Each to their own though.
Great video obviously I must be one of the teenage girl fans as I love strip,my wife is almost as confounded as I at this revelation kids are in shock. My top ten. 10.Blueblack Hussar 9 manners and physique 8 Wonderful 7 Dirk 6 vive le rock 5friend or fore 4 Strip 3 Prince Charming 2 kings 1 Antbox disc one...cheating I know.
It sounds like thegooodthebadtheuglyshow is a bit of a rockist putting Manners and Strip at the bottom like that. (I would put Manners somewhere in the middle and Strip about 2/3 of the way down.)
Not entirely... Just really don't like the final version of the Manners track, and not the biggest fan of Strip, I like it all to a degree, but had to put something last...
@@thegoodthebadtheuglyshow The version on the album was the lyrics of the original matched to a track Cymone wrote. I like the original but it wouldn't have fitted with the concept of Manners. And I wouldn't casually dismiss Cymone's track as vv@nk either, it was a decent enough piece of late 80s Minaeapolis Sound when considered on its own terms.
Ahr well, it's all riffing, and I'm only half serious at the best of times... And like I said, my opinions change a lot, if I made this video again next week I could have a completely different view point...
@@thegoodthebadtheuglyshow oh well, it could be worse. You could have been one of those hardcore punk fans who refuses to have a good word to say about the Prince Charming album.
Thanks. I didn't realize he made all these c rap albums after Prince Charming. I was going to see him live next year, but I'll give it a pass and play Kings of The Frontier at home instead.
I saw him live a few years back, and he was really good, there are parts of every album that are good, this is just a ranking list, I'd hate to think this video put anyone off... Please do go and see him, also give the albums a spin, you might have a very different opinion on a lot of it👍
The Madam Stan demos were potentially the tracks that would have been the 1st LP. I bought "Dirk" (which ends with "The Idea") that took a few listens but sounds better now than ever....way ahead of it's time. After that Malcolm McLaren had a brief spell as manager before kicking Adam out of his own band! McLaren then recruited Annabella Lwin and the band became Bow Wow Wow hence leaving Adam to form Ants MK2 including former Models members Marco Pirroni and Terry Day. McLaren had the idea of the Burundi drum beat so Adam added it to the new Ants sound literally to stick 2 fingers up to Malcolm for stealing his band! Personally i felt the sound of the new Ants was very mainstream with the b-sides of their CBS 45's having the power of the old band to appease the original fans. I only keep the "Ant Music" 45 for that reason. I saw MK2 on their 1st tour in early 1980 in front of 200 people and they were astounding but the records they went on to record on CBS sounded too clinical in comparison. Unfortunately the majority of the original bands from the 1976-79 golden era of punk rock had lost their fire if they even existed at all by the new decade!
@@thegoodthebadtheuglyshow I wrote to the band at the very end of 1979 asking if any of the pre-Dirk recordings would ever be officially released and to my surprise it was Adam himself who responded.....i still have the letter he sent to this day!
The Decca recordings are one of Adam's three masterpieces (along with Kings and Persuasion) but the Madam Stan bootleg does not present them in the best possibly light. Hear the full set in stereo with plenty of bass boost and you get the sound of the Matthew Ashman era Ants live in a small club with big growly Matthew guitar and stompy drums. The sound on Dirk is HIDEOUSLY watered down because Adam wanted to make a soul/funk/disco album (and made a better effort with the SGS demos just after Dirk) but it all came out wrong, sounding like a lo-fi jangly indie band which was NOT what the original Ants were meant to be.
you are the first person i totally agree with when it comes to Adam Ant, I was 13 in 1979 And my Friends older Brother Just Stole A Copy of Dirk wears white Sox from Somewhere? I remember that day 45 Yrs Later Like it was Yesterday, I Was Hooked straight away So much so i too stole that Album from my friends Brother, But I Have Bought Every other Album since, I downloaded the Persuasion album, and like a Sad old fart i have some picture disc singles in frames the ones i have 2 copies of i have in larger frame showing the A & B Sides I Know it's sad But I Don't Care, Because of Adam Ant My Brain Woke Up ! As prior to Dirk I Listened to Cliff Richard, Darts, Showaddywaddy i still play them for My Wife But She Cringes when Play Adam and Other Early Punk Bands, s]Seems i kind of got Carried Away Rambling on, Again Thank You Young Man This Video Is Great it's a massive Kenny Everett Style Thumbs Up (Brother Lee Love) Check him out Another blast from the Past 👍♥🤪P.s More Videos Like This Please......
Dirk wears white socks the original band is the album table talk is a song about Adolf Hitler's obsession with his neace gilie who committed suicide theres Catholic day about j f kennerdy ,very good thought provoking matter as apossed to bubble gum medioca mainstream mush like , ... Dirk could quite easily l have been a double albam check out madam stan and the early demos , i saw the original line up a couple of times they had a hardcore following it was like a very arty punky fetish thing rejected by the mainstream , the ants predate the sex pistols in the punk thing ,the original line up was stolen by Malcolm MacLean and formed bow wow wow
My personal take is The Prince Charming album is basically an unfinished demo, reminds me of the Gunners Daughter album ( I like both), Friend or Foe is a flat album which again needs better production. Vive le rock is a very underrated album (Mohair Locker room pinup boys should have been a single). Im more interested if he releases Bravest of the Brave album and the direction is goes with that. Cannot set rules about love is a guilty pleasure of a song. Its my shower song as it reminds me of 1990 and when life was good.
