Adam Ant remasters and DVD -- oh happy day!

Thanks, Nedrick!

In Praise of.....Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam & the Ants

The only song of theirs I actually heard at the time was "Goody Two Shoes," via pop radio in upstate New York. Never knew anything else about him until years later, now he's a definite fave.

http://www.antsinvasion.com/index2.asp

Actually put on a pretty good show! Wasn't planning on seeing them but they happened to be on the bill last New Year's Eve. Also played a slew of relative obscurities.

http://www.antsinvasion.com/images/band/southpark/ants-southpark.gif

and then i'd have to take Bow Wow Wow. But I would feel a little bit bad about it.

and I guess i would have to take Monochrome Set. A fave of mine from the ages of 17 to 35 (and counting). Whereas, Adam was a fave from the ages of 11 to 12. But he was one of my gateway drugs! And for that I will be eternally grateful. And the first 2 albums do rule the school. And, what the hell, the third one too.

Sorry Ned!

"TS monochrome set vs. adam & ants"

"what the hell kinda taking sides is that? More like Bow Wow Wow -vs- Adam & The Ants."

It's a very good TS in terms of the original Ants (Bid, Lester Square and Andy Warren were all former members of B-sides / Adam & The Ants).

Fwiw, I reckon: Monochrome Set > original Adam & The Ants (77-79) > pantomime Adam & The Ants (80-82) > Bow Wow Wow.

my wife and I both
saw the "Strip" tour in high school
but HAD NOT MET YET

Kings is without doubt a fantastic album - it certainly has greater instant impact than Dirk - but as part of an era (80-82) it's been diluted too much by what came after: they seemed to bve running out of inspiration and recycling old ideas with Stand And Deliver; Prince Charming was weak and mildly embarrassing and the Ant Rap was frankly atrocious and hugely embarrassing .

On the other hand I think not only does Dirk seem to have aged better (it actually still feels strangely relevant to stuff I'm hearing today, whereas the only appeal Kings seems to hold now is purely nostalgic) but as part of an era (77-79) it's only strengthened by all the various singles, B-sides, outtakes, radio sessions etc. that are out there.

My order of them having come in to my fave store Noise Noise Noise. I am happy as a clam and then some.

btw, I'm w/ Stewart on:

Fwiw, I reckon: Monochrome Set > original Adam & The Ants (77-79) > pantomime Adam & The Ants (80-82) > Bow Wow Wow.

and I'm a fan of all the above.

You've certainly got the chronology right Dan. Not sure who's supposed to have credited Marco with "inventing" that sound but afaik it (supposedly) goes back to that brief period when Malcolm McLaren was managing The Ants, before he booted Adam out. Largely inspired by the Drummers Of Burundi who were making quite a big noise (yes, pun fully intended, obv.!) in the UK at the time; plus of course Gary Glitter etc.; naturally both Mr. Goddard and Mr. McLaren have claimed that it was their idea to incorporate this sound into the band and that the other one nicked it.

It never ocurred to me that "The Monochrome Set(I Presume)" might have been an Ants reference, although know that you've said it, I can see why you might think so. I simply took it to be a reprise / sufficiently radical re-working of their theme tune to allow it to be included on the album on Virgin without causing legal issues (the original version of "The Monochrome Set" had previously been released as their third single on Rough Trade).

Also my recollection (not entirely reliable!) is that The Monochrome Set album was released several months before either Malcom had unveiled Bow Wow Wow or Adam had revealed his new Ants.... can anyone find definitive dates for these?

The Monochrome Set LP released 04/80
Bow Wow Wow - "C30 C60 C90 Go" single released 07/80
Adam And The Ants - "Dog Eat Dog" single released 11/80

So if "The Monochrome Set (I Presume)" was intended as some sort of Ants reference it would have been a pretty obscure / personal in-joke at the time!

I finally got 'round to listening to the new remastered edition of Dirk Wears White Sox at the weekened - and it actually sounds totally different to my (original '79 UK) vinyl version (the one that included The Day I Met God and Catholic Day and didn't include Zerox, Kick or Whip In My Valise).

To start off with, I'm sure the "album" versions of CarTrouble sound far more like the single version than they did originally (and what are these "Chris Hughes Mix" versions all about?); and throughout the album I keep hearing little bits of percussion, additional backing vocal and guitar tracks etc. that I'm sure weren't there originally.

This doesn't sound so much remastered to me as completely remixed - and (without having spent any time directly comparing the two track-by-track - in fact, I must admit, I haven't even had time to read the booklet to see if this offers any explanation) I reckon some of the vocal and guitar tracks that have been used are actually different to the ones on the original album!

The drums on "Zerox" and particularly "Kick" also seem to have been pushed higher up in the mix (and maybe more echo added?) in what sounds to me like an attempt to make them sound more like the "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" material.

I'm reminded of "The Lost '77 Mixes" version of L.A.M.F. that was recreated from abandoned studio takes not used for the original album and which sounded at once almost identical and yet strangely different (vastly better for starters, in that instance!) to the version I'd been living with for the intervening 18 years.

I know there were (at least) two later versions of Dirk.... (for US / non-domestic markets?) with slightly different tracklistings; but were these different to the original UK release in other ways? Is it possible that the sound of the original UK release was deliberately simplified, stripped-down (dumbed-down?) to meet some curious perception of the "punk" aesthetic?

Can anyone shed any light?

http://www.adam-ant.net/demoinfo.html

As previously announced, a multi-CD box set is currently in the planning stages with Sony Music in the UK. This yet to-be-titled album will contain the DECCA demos, Putney tapes, Chelsea tapes, Muswell Hill tapes, Virtual earth demos and other rarities. This may include uncirculated tracks entitled "Hooray, I'm Hetero", "Bobby Baby", "London Sound" and many other never-heard-before tunes from the late 70s and beyond. The majority of this material will be from Adam's original tapes wherever possible.

Tentative release date for this is March, 2005. Andi Vaughan, Mark Alleyne and Marco Pirroni will compile this CD box set. In addition, production is the task of Marco Pirroni and Mark Alleyne.

I also found the following helpful explanation of the various confusing links between the bands at The Officuial Monochrome Set site:

"Andy Warren and Bid went to school together, Lester Square and Adam Ant both attended Hornsey School of Art. The latter two formed a band called "The B-Sides", which Andy joined sometime in 1976. Bid also joined a couple of months later, and Adam left shortly after. Lester, Andy and Bid occasionally continued to write and rehearse together (it was around this time that some of the songs later to be used by The Monochrome Set were written, e.g., Goodbye Joe, He's Frank, Puerto-Rican Fence Climber, Lester Leaps In), until Adam formed The Ants with Lester and Andy. Whilst Andy continued on with Adam to record the first Ants album, Lester left The Ants in 1977, to form, firstly The Zarbies & The Ectomorphs with Bid and Jeremy Harrington, and then The Monochrome Set with Bid (Jeremy joined later)."

Friend or Foe will contain at least 10 extra tracks including unreleased titles They Know I Know, Gargoyles are Go, So You Shall and a unique version of Sex Rumples the Clothing. Vive Le Rock will contain two Francois Kevorkian remixes of Apollo 9 including the Splashdown Mix and an unheard version of the 7 inch mix. There is an unreleased Vive Le Rock extended mix, a Rip Down demo and an released track entitled Doggy Style and Night They Vietcong.For Strip extra tracks will be announced shortly but there will definitely feature some extra unreleased production dialogue with Adam, Marco and Phil Collins. Stay tuned here for more information as it happens!

Sony Music UK will also be creating a limited edition, collectors box set to coincide with the release of the three remaining remasters. This special box set will be packaged with the three new remasters , PLUS provide extra storage space for the previously released gems - Dirk Wears White Sox, Kings of the Wild Frontier and Prince Charming that were already released in 2004.

This new box set will hold all six remasters nicely but with an added bonus! To complete the set, a 15-track bonus disc of a selection of rare tracks that were from the original recordings of the six remasters albums will also be included! In addition, this will also feature a cover of Mark Bolan's 'Dandy In The Underworld.' The full track listing will be announced soon so watch this space for more info!

There are tracklistings for all three up but they say that they may yet change some.

DVD and the early demos box all still being worked on...

until i bought live aid 4 disc dvd i never heard "vive le rock".I'm nearly buying ant box.

By coincidence, I'd been listening to the first Bauhaus LP at the same time, and I can hear a fair bit of "Dirk" Ants in the sound. Not a connection I would have made before, but it seems far more present than the usual lazy Bauhaus/Bowie comparisons.

(Hey, weren't they looking for a singer?)

1. Prick up your ears (Demo)
2. Jolly Roger demo (Demo)
3. Making History (Demo)
4. Don't be Square Be There (Demo)
5. Mohok (Demo)
6. That Voodoo (Demo)
7. 5 Guns West (Demo)
8. Ups and down (Demo)
9. Friend or Foe (Demo)
10. Seven Up (Instrumental demo)
11. Desperate but not serious/Manzanera (Instrumental Demo)
12. Saigon (Demo)
13. Scorpio rising (Demo)
14. Mohair Locker Room Boys (Demo)
15. Dandy in the Underworld (Unreleased track)

Still no word on the DVD. :-( And the page on the demo box set isn't working currently! Hmmm.

I bit it and got them all, Redux too. It took forever, thanks to a lazy ass Amazon reseller, but I got the last three + Redux + box new for $35 or so. Well worth it.

Digital Tenderness - an Adam and the Ants video history from 1977 to 1996.

This long awaited DVD collection includes all videos, (including the rare Cartrouble and Tabletalk), in addition to other bits of rare footage

Release date and region type is set for early March, 2006.

Confirmed List

Plastic Surgery
Dirk Wears White Socks
Cartrouble (part 2)
Tabletalk
Zerox
Kings Of The Wild Frontier
Kings Of The Wild Frontier (alt version)
Dog Eat Dog
Antmusic
Physical (You're So)
The Idea
Ants Invasion
Killer In The Home
Stand And Deliver
Prince Charming
Prince Charming (alt version)
Ant Rap
Goody Two Shoes
Friend Or Foe
Desperate But Not Serious
Puss 'n Boots
Strip
Apollo 9
Vive Le Rock
Room At The Top
Room At The Top (12")
Can't Set Rules About Love
Rough Stuff
Rough Stuff (12")
Wonderful
Wonderful (EPK)
Beautiful Dream
Gotta Be A Sin
Adam interviewed by Marco for the 2001 London convention

More information to follow!

But here's something I'd missed -- his autobiography! There's a book tour starting tomorrow in the UK. There's a soundtrack CD (of course) that does have a bonus DVD, but with only eight videos. So I'll wait...

(The demos box set seems to be lost in the 'well maybe' zone.)

Digital Tenderness release cancelled

It was announced today by Adams manager that Digital Tenderness will not be released as previously announced, due to problems with clearance rights on some of the videos that were to be included. There will be a DVD compilation of Adam’s videos released later in the year.

Garg. Well, hopefully they'll at least get all the hits era stuff on there.

Disc One
1. Zerox
2. Kings Of The Wild Frontier
3. Kings Of The Wild Frontier [Alt. Version]
4. Dog Eat Dog
5. Antmusic
6. Physical (You're So)
7. Stand And Deliver
8. Prince Charming
9. Prince Charming [Alt. Version]
10. Ant Rap
11. Goody Two Shoes
12. Friend Or Foe
13. Desperate But Not Serious
14. Puss 'N' Boots
15. Strip
16. Apollo 9
17. Vive Le Rock
18. Room At The Top
19. Room At The Top [Extended Version]
20. Can't Set The Rules About Love
21. Rough Stuff
22. Rough Stuff [Extended Version]
23. Wonderful
24. Beautiful Dream
25. Gotta Be A Sin

* Disc Two: DVD 85 Minute Documentary