You don't know how envious I am of your seeing Barbe, Ashman, and Warren live. I was only a nipper when it was released, so I had to make do with just the album, which I've had since it came out and have never gotten tired of it. A few years ago I decided to learn all Ashman's guitar parts, and love playing along to it. Can you recall what guitar Ashman played at the gig??
Great video… just stumbled across this. Very enjoyable and I 100% agree. It brilliant to see Adam and the Ants getting spoken about. I love those records. Cheers for making this 🙏☘️☘️☘️
I had no idea that Prince Charming had a gatefold cover. My original album one does not. I thought maybe I missed something LOL. I promptly searched Ebay for a gatefold copy :) It's hard for me to rank Adam's records because I love them all, all for different reasons. Thank you for this list!!
Love that I found your channel. Im from Chicago and been a fan since’82. Love all his stuff. I think the same about gunners. Vive Le Rock is in my favorite list too but Kings, Dirk and Friend or For are all masterpieces. Before the internet I never met a fan of his because they never give him any air play.
My list would be the same as yours, except I'd swap dirk and King's. I've still got every album, single, 12 single, picture disc and cassette up to and including vive le rock, then lost track after that other than the singles room at the top and wonderful. I have a test pressing of strip, a bootleg Lp called ant music for sex people, zerox with your so physical on the b side, and a pirate copy of the unreleased album persuasion. I was a massive fan and still listen to dirk wears white sox a lot. Great review. 👍
I lost him after Friend or Foe. I got into synth wave and completely forgot about him. But as the list I think you had it all right. And I can hear a bit of the Dirk Wears White Sox sound, especially on Prince Charming. And as a, I listened to it before school as well!
I have both Dirk cover albums. There were 2 x versions. Same record. Just different sleeve. Best album. Kings. Best song ever off this album. He is talking about is Whip in my Valice. ‘Who taught you to torture who taught ya’
Mostly agree, deffinately extremely disapointed in Hussar. Loved him since 1981 and seeing the Prince Charming video! I would move stuff around a bit and even though I loved Strip, I think Vive Le Rock is stronger. 1. Prince Charming 2. Vive Le Rock 3. Friend or Foe 4. Kings 5.Dirk And a HUGE honorable mention to Persuasion, saw the tour and have two bootlegs of it.
Great video, I had the top 5 albums in the same order. I have a copy of Persuasion, and think if it had been released it would have been in the top 5 as it is much closer to the Ants sound rather than Adams solo work.
So..... "Manners and Physique" and "Wonderful" are the duds. BIG duds. "Strip" is essentially 4 excellent songs. "Vive Le Rock" is the best non "ANTS" record. And I thought "Blueblack..." was brilliant. Some of the "songs" are just ramblings that tie the strong pieces together. I understood it conceptually, but I can understand the criticism. Parts of it does sound like demos. On that tour he was overweight, clearly insane, and ...... GREAT. So I would go with this. 1. Prince Charming 2. Kings of The Wild Frontier 3. Vive Le Rock 4. Dirk Wears White Sox (U.S. Version) 5. Blueblack.... Dud - Wonderful But that's just my opinion. Enjoyed the show. Cheers.
Goody Two Shoes was only number 1 for 2 weeks , I remember it well as it was the first single I bought. I think the album was several months later, so that may be a factor in why the album didn't get to number 1.
what annoyed me about "Dirk Wears White Sox" is that it doesn't include the track of the same name. I still have a white hanky with the ant in the Red Indian head gear, which I bought back in '81.
@@rpmbassy It had five great tracks Scorpios ,Picasso Visita El Planeta De Los Simios,Prince Charming.That Voodoo! & Stand And Deliver, Picasso is a fave along with all the Ants B-Sides.
I’ll post to my original Adam Ant page on FB. I’m in total agreement with the number one album and the dud. Strip wouldn’t have made my top 5 though I loved it more than Dirk as young 12 year old. My interest waned also around Strip in 1984 I discovered KING, Vive Le rock bought me back to fandom and is number 3 in my Ant list! I’d put manners and physique above strip too. Prince Charming is half great! Side 1 is amazing. I wish they had used the single mix on the album with the extended outro and the album version is too treble, tinny and shiny for my liking! After stand and Deliver the album takes a nose dive and sounds like a rush job! Christian D’or should have made the cut and mile high club should have been a b-side. The single version of ant rap should have appeared too
Hussar was a very much homemade album. He was just trying to get himself back together after his mental health issues and hadn't really got back on the road. Since then he's toured regularly and regained his zest. That said I think Shrink is a totally stunning song, full of anger and bitterness.
I have all the albums and cd's, an Antwarrior tattoo for 25 years and travelled many times to London to see him and will be seeying him in November '24 again ! Personally I would switch your number 1&2, and agree on all the rest. I still have hope that Marco and Adam will reunite and produce a masterpiece... greets from the Netherlands !
I don’t think Adam and the Ants get enough credit for the music they released in the early 80’s. The reviews at that time were mixed and have only now with retrospective reviews been given the respect they deserved. I remember being completely obsessed with the KOTWF album at the time, I was 13 and was only really just getting into music. That album now as I’m listening to it as a 55 year old just sounds incredibly good.
Wow you had zerox 1979, and dirk album, zerox got re release 1981, and dirk 1983 again, i first heard of adam 1980 dog eat dog on top of the pops, i heard kev mooney took loads of adam ant items to a record shop.
Dirk wears white søx is the only album worth serious praise. Whip in my Valise is the B-side to Zerøx. Press Darlings is the B-side to Kings of the wild frontier single. I'm surprised that you had to look up the date of release of Dirk. You should be ashamed of yourself 😂 Lady, the B-side to Young Parisians has got to be my favourite Antz song. It's absolutely amazing. Never featured on his compilations, as I believe he thought it was his true B-side Baby.
Kudos to the great review on "Friend or Foe". Full of world- weary sarcastic humour, a superb and his most realised album. Still has the Burundi beat, but propelled by a brassy horn section that is full of energy, and a wonderful full production.😅 I think "Something Girls" and the manic rush of "Place in the Country" were obvious singles, number 3 and 4 and would of pushed the album for a longer chart run. "Desperate but not Serious" should of stayed an album track for sure. Love the wry humour on "Made of Money" and only Adam could of written songs called "Crackpot history and the right to lie" and "Try this for sighs" were great eccentric songs but catchy as hell. "A Man called Marco" which no doubt has the heaviest vibrative guitar sound I have ever heard from a guitar, an absolute wall of sound. This album has no filler, no space between tracks and a ball of hyper energy. "Vive Le Rock" is an amazing album too, I wish it was me a real return to form and full of rockabilly riffs and Duane Eddie influence. Sadly "The Blue Hussar" is his most disappointing album, too long, half baked and yes, a piecemeal pro-tools creation that needed a band sound rather than the separately recorded collection of sound files. "Manners and Physique" would of been a good Miami Sound Machine or Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam album , an album designed for American consumption with the 1990 era lite funk style production. Adam's record company obviously wanted a Bowie "Let's Dance" style album, but this is far too contrived
You probably know but Malcolm Maclarn nicked the original ants line up when he formed bow wow wow the Dirk wears white socks and early demos are the best
Gunners Daughter should have been a properly studio produced (not sounding like they've been recorded directly onto a tape deck) ten track single album. 1. Cool Zombie 2. Stay in the Game 3. Marrying the Gunners Daughter 4. Vince Taylor 5. Punkyoungirl 6. Cradle Your Hatred 7. Hardmentoughblokes 8.Shrink 9. How Can I Say I Miss You? 10. Bullshit Sadly for me the rest of the tracks can go in the bin.
Great video! Kings of the wild frontier absolutely changed my life as a teenager. One of my favorite albums still. Strangely enough, I ended up taking some bass lessons from Gary Tibbs many years later, when he was living in Los Angeles. I did manage to get a few great stories out of him from those times!
Just found you. Liked this clip very much. I'm an American (sorry about that lol), who's been a fan since late 1980. I'm amazed that "Strip" made your top 5. I've disliked everything about it since the day it came out. I remember buying the "Puss 'n Boots" 12" and upon playing it (and seeing Phil Collins name on it! lol) I smashed it on a file cabinet in my bedroom. I saw the Strip Tour and ALMOST lost all faith in Adam and where he was going musically and style-wise. Since then, there's been so much great stuff. I'm glad that I never fled the Ant(s) Invasion. I saw him twice in April of this year and was blown away that he still looks so good and sounded better than he EVER did on those early 1980s U.S. tours. For what it's worth, here's my Adam top 9: #1 - Dirk Wears White Sox (UK of course) #2 - Kings of the Wild Frontier #3 - Vive le Rock #4 - Wonderful (Boz Boorer at his best) #5 - Manners and Physique #6 - Friend or Foe #7 - Prince Charming #8 - That Blueback mess.... #9 - Strip One day, "Persuasion" will come out and I look forward to it. I saw that tour (with Boz AND Marco) and despite an ill-advised hairpiece on Mr. Ant, it was a fantastic, rockin' show! The "Vive le Rock" tour was also good despite Adam posing with Marco's Gretsch White Falcon and not actually PLAYING it. Anyway, cheers man. I'll keep watching. Gonna have something to do tomorrow now, thanks to you. Cheers.
Nice video. Enjoyed it. Having had a similar (what sounds like) journey as you with regards to the Ants/Adam (first gig PCR, anticipation for PC etc) I find it interesting what true fans think are best/worst albums/singles. It’s all about the individual and what makes them tick. I am with you on numbers one, two and the ‘dud’ but for me FoF is 3, Vive La Rock is 4 and PC is 5. Strip for me was a highly anticipated album and I did kind of love it when it came out but the singles and video’s were too pantomime (for me). I do like the sound of the album but for me there are only 5 great songs on it. Vive is a better overall album, in my opinion. Still, a good video. I really enjoyed it
That was a very interesting video! Great stuff! I'm gonna have to hunt down your top 20 vid to get the more detailed KOTWF breakdown. I totally agree with the dud. As for my top 5, I think Strip and Vive Le Rock would need an arm wrestle for inclusion! Apart from that, very similar. Currently, DWWS is at #1 in my top 5, but KOTWF will reclaim it back, I'm sure. 🐜🎶
Great video! However the second version of Dirk isn't an 'American' version, it was released in the UK first. The master tapes reverted to Adam and he wanted to release the album to a wider audience via CBS. They removed Catholic Day I believe as they didn't want to be political when it was released in the US. I'm happy to be corrected by that though... I'm really surprised Vive le Rock isn't included here, I think its is strongest solo album and Tony Visconti still counts it as one of his favourite albums he has worked on, which is praise indeed. Totally agree with the dud, I got given a copy of this a whole year before it was released and I just couldn't believe how bloody awful it was. Literally a bunch of demos. Shrink and Cool Zombie could have been amazing, It needs Marco, Adam always needs Marco but Adam won't admit it.
Really interesting and enjoyable video. My favourite Adam Ant song is "Wonderful" featured in his 5th solo album titled "Wonderful". I was happy this wasn't your dud album! Glad this video popped up on my homepage. Subbed!
I had an American release of Dirk Wears White Sox on cassette. It actually had a number of different tracks. Car Trouble - Kick - Digital Tenderness - Nine Plan Failed - Family Of Noise -Tabletalk - Zerox - Cleopatra - Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face) - Animals And Men - The Idea - Whip In My Valise. So, aside from Car Trouble being the single, there were twelve tracks in total, with Day I Met God, and Catholic Day replaced with Kick, Xerox, and Whip in My Valise.
Desperate was a precipitous drop in popularity from previous singles (like Culture Club's 'Medal Song'), it was a more challenging single than others, but a great song. Friend or Foe the album, came out a while after Goody, and the chart impetus that had (2 weeks at number one) had faded from memory a bit, so the album sold on the more recent title single. I had issues with Prince Charming as I preferred Kings a lot, and it felt like 2 big singles (Prince and Stand), one single oddity (Antrap), a couple of good album tracks, and some filler. I feel the same way about T.Rex when they went from Electric Warrior to The Slider - the two singles preceding the album were stuck at the start of each side and felt noticeably better than the rest of the album. I wish they had put a couple of the b-sides on Prince Charming, like Christian Dior or Friends - less polished but more fun.
Have to agree on your rating of each album. I would probably have also added Strip as a dud, but as the name of the episode is 5 Diamonds and a Dud, having two duds wouldn't have worked. The album Adam was reportedly working on did come out as a bootleg, and featured Chris McCormack rather than Marco. I did hear Adam fell out with Chris at the time as he just went ahead and released the demos which didn't sit well with Chris.
loved this , agree with the dud , except i have a playlist which has cool zombie , but never listened to this album , was so gutted when i first heard it , it was all wrong , but always have friend or foe , kings and strip to go back to , by the way i have the us release of dirk , my uncle got me that when i was 8 / 9 around 83 , and was gutted it wasnt the black sleeve album , wont buy the vinyl now too expensive , but willl hope to get an orig copy one day and also need zerox 7 inch to complete my collection up to 85
Strip is a weak album, though I did like Spanish Games and Playboy. Friend Or Foe is excellent from start to finish, though Adam committed commercial suicide with Desperate But Not Serious. Place In the Country would've been a killer single.
Strip to me is a punk rock Adam album. It's Adam. It's sexpunk. I can attest to that. That album has guitar progressions that kick butt! But yes mine go Dirk, kings, friend or foe are tied for me. Then it's Strip and charming tied, then viva le rock. Favorite track off gunners daughter is cool zombie. I love Adam.
Mmmm dirk wears white sox is my favourite ,, dark edgy most underrated album of all time ,, in my opinion its 1 I still play regularly ,, cheers great information bud
