•
Rating:
To those who know nothing about Stuart Leslie Goddard, born in '54, known as Adam Ant, it’s enough to simply visit his site to learn about this young man from the London working class, his adolescent leanings towards sadomasochistic visual arts, his life parallel to marriage, his performances as a genuine "flesh artist," his tendencies that gradually destroy him and his marriage... Anorexia, overdose, this charge ready to explode, divorce, a new life, encouraged by a fertile ground like London town during the punk period.
And anyone who reads his bio knows how Malcolm McLaren, whose stable Adam belonged to, took away his band, the Ants, joining them to himself and creating Bow Wow Wow, with the excuse that he, the punk guru, saw no possibility for Adam to break through in music and that Adam was also too old to become a sex symbol among girls with safety pins in their noses.
Abandoned by his friends and his mentor, beaten to a pulp in his sleep by Syd Vicious (Adam proposed to the infamous girlfriend of Vicious to teach her boyfriend to play the bass DECENTLY, and so the sex pistol had to avenge himself in true punk style, namely in the most cowardly and despicable way), with only his alter ego-grey eminence-best friend-big brother-guitar player, the Italian (or Anglo-Italian?) Marco Pirroni, in 1979 he brings out this debut album, which is the sum, the quintessence of the musical model, compositional approach, to the score and instruments, lyric writing, years of work, of an artist until then almost outside of any standards, both pop rock and punk itself.
The album starts immediately at full power with "Cartrouble", indicating right away the artist’s powerglam inclination who, in the following years, will wear 19th-century masks and eye-patch pirate bandanas, Robin Hood hats, and various shamanic feather adornments...
"Digital Tenderness" is very nervy with that guitar whose strings seem too tightened. The vocal parts are significant: Adam confidently plays with his voice, but he seems a bit in love with himself. It seems he thoroughly enjoys deconstructing the form of his song like a magic cube: just listen to those "bom bom bom" halfway through the track... Notably, the lyrics in "Nine Planed Failed", the story of a man transforming into a war machine, amidst martial rhythms and slightly psychedelic guitar bursts... Special mention for Adamo the Adonis’s falsetto choruses which instead of talking about beautiful chicks tell of this warrior without a war, this Rambo before his time, who at St. Peter’s, instead of kissing it, snaps off four fingers from the Saint Father’s hand.
A very simple and somewhat (intentionally, I believe) drowsy ballad, "Tabletalk". Echoing and slightly slack guitar, while Ant’s singing is a bit too playful (and not punk at all, rather very glam, and somewhat Prince-like). Again, a sui generis chorus, a suggestive repeating and pursuing of "LoveLoveLove" echoing to infinity. Once again, I emphasize the originality not so much of the music but of the lyrics of Adam the oddball: the tabletalk is nothing but communication with the beyond through an overturned teacup moving on the table, indeed. More glam with "Cleopatra", over a very seventies rhythm. Sounds like a piece, perhaps by Gary Glitter to tell the truth. Nothing but filler, in the end.
"Never trust a man (with egg on his face)" is a little gem. An engaging rhythm that rises in volume and intensity, lyrics about aliens or the end of the world, or both and more, a finale with pathos counterpointed by the singer’s carefree "la-la." "Animals-men" is all dedicated to our (underappreciated?) Futurism artists. It’s a pity that Adam, who recorded and composed part of this album even in Milan (as read from the credits), mispronounces Palazzeschi, and the number one becomes (Yoko) ONO. He replicates the "dynamic," moving structure of the Futurist compositional style to bring out a kind of jazzed punk, with piano tinkling here and there and bass guitar sounding like a double bass.
"Family Of Noise" is pure rifforama, which then ends up producing a (brit)pop chorus. It even includes "She loves you yeah yeah yeah". Filler and a bit cheeky, this theory in which noise will come and destroy the entire society, saving humanity from itself (by singing the Beatles). "The Idea", a bit beat and quite a lot psychedelic... Then a brief chase between two guitars... Psychedelic returns, then stops... Restarts, accelerates, decelerates... A hallucinated piece that Ant seasons with all his voice. Special with grunting pigs; then, instead of a verse, a sermon, a prayer. "The Idea" is that there must be something to believe in, but from there to being religious is quite a leap! Maybe it could become easier if DJs in clubs replaced dance with prayers and sacred songs (!!!!!!).
"Zerox" is a pure example of hypervitaminized glam. And it seems indeed as if Marc Bolan had been born artistically not in the sixties of "peace brother" but in the seventies of "no future brother". A roaring guitar for an almost traditional hard rock finale ("almost"). This "Whip In My Valise" might be the first example of sado-maso-rock. Splendid the full-empty-full guitar while Adam sings "your sadistic suits my masochistic". To sing in a choir, perhaps with lighters lit and arms gently swaying, the reconciliation chorus with the world that goes "Who taught you to torture? Who taught ya?"... Superpunk acceleration in the middle of the track... Noise, highly distorted guitars... The piece starts over with musicians, singer (and listener) exhausted and fades out definitively after the last chorus-"little question".
A sort of glampunk, a puzzle that first depicted a beautiful girl, and that Adam Ant reassembles at his pleasure, transforming the girl into a cubist painting. The major episodes are certainly the two singles, namely "Cartrouble" and "Zerox", primarily because they are very catchy and easy to grasp, but above all because they are worthy examples of "unbridled glam" (Ant will become very famous in the world especially with a piece similar in structure, the very famous "Stand And Deliver"). Special mention for "Tabletalk" and "Whip In My Valise", for how they are played and for the originality of the lyrics (combined with a greater 'effectiveness' from an artistic standpoint compared to the lyrics of the other songs)... I believe it's definitely worth listening to the remaining other tracks, to pause on how they are created, how they were given life, to underline the originality of an artist who perhaps isn't a genius but who, from this "jumble" of glam, punk, and simple beat-brit pop, created a very original style all his own, which he himself - perfectly aware of the thing - christened with the name of "Antmusic". To prevent plagiarism attempts.
Therefore a very nice and original album. Recommended for those who need to temporarily detox from the usual three or four genres, but who for this, are not willing to give up the roar of an electric guitar.
I invite you, if you want to know something more about this strange character without changing sites, to read Francescobus's review of the album "Prince Charming" and especially the related comments of the excellent RingoStarfish.
Loading comments slowly
