Adam & the Ants - major upgrade in UK (1 Viewer)

[Will_B]

Just a head's up that the first 3 Adam & the Ants albums have been released this month in the UK after extensive remastering by bassist Marco, and they're only available via Amazon.co.uk, and they're absolutely worth importing. They've never sounded smoother, and the gatefold packaging is truly impressive.

I've owned, let's see, four versions of Kings of the Wild Frontier over the years as I've searched for a version that wasn't buried in hiss and mud. The sound quality on this latest one is a massive improvement. Massive. As good as the original vinyl.

Link to Amazon.co.uk.

And at only £5.97 each they're equivalent to the regular US price of a typical CD. Later this year, 3 more will be released, and so on, until they're all out, each remastered and with lots of demos and thingees.

I've spoken (ok, emailed) an associate of Marco's who has told me that Sony has no plans at the moment for these to be on SACD so one may safely buy the regular CDs at this time. I'm also aware that Amazon.co.uk has already run out of their first shipment of Kings, but they'll have more in shortly.

Here's another link, this one is to the complete track list and packaging (note that this is the first time a complete version of Dirk Wears White Sox has ever appeared on CD) :Don't tread on an ant

 

[Chris Stainton]

Thanks for the heads up Will. I will order these right away.

 

[Grant B]

Steve Jones (of Pistols Fame) was talking to Marco on the Radio a few months back about the reissues. I am glad you reminded me
Thanks!

 

[Will_B]

A new heads up that the remaining 3 Ant remasters are now available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk for delivery in April. Like the first three remasters there is no US release.

You'd be well advised to order now if you want a limited edition set of these next three remasters (Friend or Foe, Strip, and Vive le Rock) which includes a handy cardboard slipcase with room for the three previous remasters, and also includes a bonus CD of extra songs that didn't quite make the cut as bonus cuts on the albums proper. (They're not advertising them that way, but I suspect that's about right - they're leftovers).

I've ordered mine already, knowing that previous Ant releases have sold out pretty quickly (remember AntBox?).

Here's the link. At the moment it does not have a description which would give you confidence that this is really it, but people in the know say that yes indeed this is the product:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007U1NTK


On the Ants message boards there has been talk that the next project after this one won't be the DVD of videos as had been planned (due to various legal hell) but rather a box set of the very earliest material from back before Malcolm McClaren stole some of the Ants away.

 

[Will_B]

More about that next potential project for later:

 

[Will_B]

And another note to say the box is arriving from the UK now, so if you haven't yet ordered from Amazon.co.uk, you probably should.

Since these are more recent albums (Friend or Foe, Strip, Vive le Rock) the improvement in sound quality is not as stunning as the first set, but they're still formidable upgrades. I haven't listened to the bonus disc that comes in the box yet.

And in related news, a believed-to-have-been-recalled-and-destroyed Adam Ant single is currently on ebay pulling down bids of £952.03 and counting! That's like nearly two grand, isn't it? It's from one of his later albums which is not getting reissued, thus the demand.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Ugh. What is with these catalog reisues in the UK taking forever to come out in the U.S. or never happening at all? I'm lucky enough to live in L.A., where I can find them, but it's disappointing that neither the Adam & The Ants or the Boomtown Rats' catalog is deemed worthy of reissue status by their respective labels. The only reissue problem that seems at least semi-understandable is that of the Pogues, whose albums were spread out across three or four labels throughout their run and have run into legal problems sorting it all through in the U.S.

 

[Will_B]

Adam Ant, my favorite pop star of the 1980’s music scene, has an autiobiography out in the UK this month. I say “autobiography” but there is a strong chance that it was written by literary agent Mal Peachey, based in part on extensive diaries that Adam kept. As some may have heard, Adam has been suffering from manic depression that became more pronounced in recent years (a widely reported arrest at a London pub, pants down and sobbing, showed how bad his condition had become).

But this book should be interesting regardless of who wrote it, as long as it is based on the diaries. It is of course sad to hear that someone was fighting a debilitating disease all of their life, and the vicarious thrills of hearing firsthand (or secondhand) about his creation of the “Ant” persona and his romance with actress Amanda Donohoe are thus surely tinted with that sadness. I’d still like to read it, because I happen to be a fan of both of those people’s creative works – and no life is perfect. Sometimes splendid, yes. Perfect? Probably no.

As an Amanda Donohoe fan I’d spotted her in a couple of Adam Ant’s early music videos – Stand & Deliver, in which she’s on the stagecoach that is being robbed by the dandy highwayman, and Ant Music, where she’s one of many people on the dance floor – and wondered how exactly that came to be. (On a related note, if you ever see Kate Bush’s music videos, you get to see a heck of a lot of now-famous British actors, including the wonderful guy who plays House, M.D.).

(If you can’t place her: Amanda Donohoe played the lesbian lawyer on LA Law – one of the first openly gay non-farcical characters on prime time television. People who were children when LA Law was on may remember her better as the executive who Jim Carrey sleeps with in the comedy Liar Liar. She’s also done voice work on Batman Beyond, an animated series I’m keen on).

This book should illuminate the connections that I’d always been curious about. Hopefully without being a tell-all kind of book. Some appearance of pandering is unavoidable given that Adam tried to fight his depression through the opiate highs of having sex with many people (the publisher is touting his dalliance with Jamie Lee Curtis), but, beyond that, this book should record his creativity and ambition…and his effort to stay ahead of the illness.

Unclear on if this book will be out in the U.S. or just the U.K. The Amazon.co.uk listing is here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stand-Delive...dp/0283070277/
...BUT DO NOT BUY THE FIRST EDITION! “Pages 151 to 182 are missing and pages 183 to 214 are duplicated on pages 215 to 336,” according to buyers. Of course if people hear about this, the book won’t sell well enough to get a second edition...

More directly related to the music: As a tie-in to the autobiography, they've made yet another greatest-hits disc, and on some sets there is a bonus DVD with a few videos. I am wondering if anyone knows if that bonus DVD is PAL or NTSC? I'd expect it to be PAL, unless they are counting on lots of exports to the US... Anyway I don't want to take the risk that it is PAL format.