Released today in 1983: Strip

CBS A3589

Adam Ant’s Stand And Deliver – The Autobiography contains a fascinating account of being famous in the music business in 1980s Britain. What follows are extracts from the book concerning the year 1983, which include details of the struggles he had with getting his second solo album Strip completed and into the shops.

February 1983 – Cleveland
21 February: Adam and the band are on the ninth gig of a 48-date American tour, intended to “seal the conquering of the USA by Adam Ant”.
“The pain was terrible. Three songs into the set and my knee had exploded. It felt as if someone was sticking a red-hot poker into it. I had to stop singing and slump backwards on to a drum riser…the band ended the number we were in the middle of and followed me off stage. The Cleveland crowd were booing and clapping at the same time. What a place to collapse, I thought – the home of rock n’ roll.”

March 1983 – Los Angeles
The tour was abandoned. Adam’s kneecap was found to be ‘floating’ and he had surgery in America while the rest of the band returned to the UK. It was during his convalescence that work began on the Strip album in earnest.
“Throughout my stay in LA I spent the morning having physical therapy on my knee, and worked on songs with Marco [Pirroni, his song writing partner and band member] for the rest of the day. In that time we wrote and recorded a demo for the next and only¹ single of the year, Puss’n Boots.”

May 1983 – Paris
About half of the songs required for another album were written and demoed by May 1983, but more material was needed if the album was to be released in ’83.
“I joined Marco in Paris where we’d booked a 16-track studio in Montmartre to write new songs. We wrote almost all of the seven songs needed to complete the new album, including Strip, which could, I thought, be the title track. All of the songs are about women, sexual encounters, love and romance, and all of them are more mature that previous Adam Ant songs. I planned a new look to go with them that would also be more ‘mature’, with less make up but keeping a Romantic element to the clothes².

June 1983 – Stockholm
Adam had not been happy in Paris and was happy to leave.
“I was glad to finally get to Stockholm and work with Phil Collins. He was a delight throughout the three weeks that we worked together. He and Hugh Padgham, who worked with him, were professional and adventurous, willing to try a number of different things in the studio and taking care of what I called ‘drudge’ work, making things sound exactly as they should. The drum sound was perfect, of course, as were the horns. One day they persuaded Frida of ABBA to come into the studio and record a spoken word section for the song Strip. Later both Benny and Bjorn would visit us at work in their studio, which was also a thrill. At the time they were writing a musical with Tim Rice (‘Chess’), and the following year they asked me to record one of the songs for the soundtrack, which was an honour, even though it didn’t make it on to the album.”

July 1983 – Stockholm
Adam took a short break after the sessions with Collins and Padgham, spending time in London and Los Angeles. Then he returned to Sweden.
“I had decided that the album needed more work, and wanted to re-record at least three of the songs. Unfortunately, Phil Collins was no longer available to produce them, and so Marco and I had begun asking around to find another producer. We tried former [David] Bowie producer Tony Visconti, but he couldn’t do it, so Marco and I began producing it ourselves. After a week or so we employed Richard Burgess, who had most recently worked with Spandau Ballet. He proved to be very efficient and very hard working, as I’d hoped he would be. July turned into August, and the album took shape. I worked on storyboards for the Puss’n Boots video at the same time as planning the next American tour. After finishing the Puss storyboards, I started writing a script for the video for the second single, which would be Strip. It wasn’t proving to be easy, probably because the album work was beginning to bore me. I had also begun to worry about releasing a single at the most competitive time of the year in the UK (Christmas) especially after almost a year away from England.”

September 1983 – London
The video shoot for the album’s lead single runs into trouble.
“I had brief second thoughts about Puss being commercial enough to succeed as a single, and decided that in America, Strip would be the first single from the album, both being supported by another big tour. In the meantime I could spend a whole week in London making the video for Puss’n Boots. The Puss’n Boots video had an enormous budget but no leading lady. I had asked for Suzanne Danielle, a small, sexy French actress, or Finola Hughes, John Travolta’s co-star in Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Staying Alive’, neither of whom could do it. I had employed Christopher Tucker to make me a rat face-mask (he had designed John Hurt’s make up in ‘Elephant Man’) but he couldn’t deliver it in time for the shoot. The CBS MD, Maurice Oberstein, then refused to foot the £50,000 bill for the shoot, so with only three days left before the filming was due to begin, I cancelled the original script and spent a weekend re-writing it, shaving the budget to £35,000.”

October 1983 – London
Ten days before its release, Adam still had doubts about Puss’n Boots and the campaign for the new album generally.
“On 4 October, I wrote in my diary, “Tonight the ground opens up and swallows me with fear and loathing. The fear is failure in the next few months with Puss’n Boots and the follow-up Strip, the album and then Playboy the next³ single. The plan is made.”

December 1983 – New York
The album had entered the UK chart at #20, which would be its peak position: a considerable disappointment. The single that Adam would lead with in the US at the beginning of 1984 is released in the UK first, but proves a failure.
“In New York I once again became unable to sleep because of worry about Strip. The video for the single release of the title track had caused a national scandal, apparently, and had been banned by children’s television. It never made it past #41 in the charts.”

¹ In fact, of course, there were two singles in 1983, including today’s featured release.
² The costumes Adam wore for the album cover and the Puss’n Boots video were by Susan Blane who designed the wardrobe for Peter Greenaway’s film ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’
³ Plans for a third single from Strip were shelved when the title track failed to make the Top 40.

NEW SINGLES on sale from Dec. 2
1983
ADAM ANT Strip (CBS CBSA3589)
1985
David SYLVIAN Words With The Shaman (Virgin VS835)

Released today in 1984: Apollo 9

CBS A4719

There have been many ups and downs in Adam Ant’s career, but the most extreme of them have been before and after the 1980s so are the concern of other writers. In 1980, his star was in the ascendant, and he had a string of seven Top 10 hits with The Ants in the space of 13 months. “There came a point when I was sitting pretty and everything I did was hunky dory and I started thinking, ‘Am I really that good? Do I really deserve all this?’,” he told Smash Hits’s Tom Hibbert in September 1984. “Then at the end of 1981, I put out Ant Rap which was very self-indulgent – a bit experimental, all drums and voices, no instruments – and when it was a hit I was totally nonplussed. I couldn’t for the life of me – I swear to you – understand why it went to #3. It was too easy; there should have been more from me. It was just nutty; I mean, there’s nothing more bland than when everybody likes something. When everybody likes you, you’re in real trouble. And I got in real trouble.”

At first he didn’t seem to be in trouble. It might have seemed to some to be a risk to drop The Ants, which is what he did went he went solo in the spring of 1982, but the hits continued: his first lone effort Goody Two Shoes was a #1. But the flow of regular singles that had kept him in the charts and in the public eye would now be interrupted by touring and the time needed to write and record new material. He was out of the UK for as much time as he was in it due mostly to two extensive American tours, the first running from November 1982 until May 1983 (it might have finished earlier but injury led to the cancellation of a series of dates that were then rescheduled for the end of the tour), and the second from January to April 1984. Between those two stints in the US, he had only one big hit back home in the UK, Puss N’ Boots, the lead single from his album Strip. He was then absent from the Top 40 for ten months: the title track from the album, its second and final single, peaked at a disappointing #41.

Adam told Hibbert about some of the other projects he had been working on since the release of the Strip album and the completion of the Strip tour, including his first acting role since the punk movie ‘Jubilee’ in the mid-70s (an indication of what would occupy his time in the second half of the 1980s), and appearing in a television commercial with Grace Jones: “They wanted to couple me up with Grace Jones so I thought, ‘These people must be pretty kosher for her to be involved in it.” The flirtatiousness between them depicted in the advert for Honda motorcycles was all for the cameras, he said: “Grace has got this massive boyfriend called Hans [Hans is Dolph Lundgren’s birth name; he was yet to make a movie at this point] who’s like a muscleman – and I come up to his knee.”

But the reason for the interview was the promotion of Adam’s new single, Apollo 9, which was “just me saying, ‘All right, fuck it! I don’t have to justify who I am. It’s 1984. I’m 29 years old. This is it! Undiluted ME! Wham bam whack!’” For the public, though, ‘wham bam whack’ it wasn’t. As the single’s title indicated, the fancy dress theme this time was astronauts, and a very cheap-looking video was filmed to help promotion of the song. But the new look didn’t have the same effect on his fans as his dandy highwayman garb, perhaps because it was more difficult to copy, and the song made little impression. Furthermore, there was no follow-up single ready and the new album (Vive Le Rock) wasn’t finished. In fact, in the 18 months from January 1984 to July 1985, Apollo 9 was his only release.

Given he was no longer as prolific as he had been, Hibbert asked him how he might feel about a lower public profile and not having so many big hits; what if Apollo 9 wasn’t a success? “It’s like putting a rocket in a bottle,” said Adam. “If it takes off, wonderful, but I also like what happens when they fall over. My definition of success is a lot different now. It’s not just having #1s and being on the front of all the papers. I’ve had a lot of that in my life and I don’t particularly want to go through it again. Duran Duran and Boy George – my nemesis – can have all that. But I’ll still give them a run for their money. I still like that sense of competition.”

NEW SINGLES on sale from Sep. 10
1982
The JAM The Bitterest Pill (Polydor POSP505)
1984
ADAM ANT Apollo 9 (CBS A4719)
David BOWIE Blue Jean (EMI America EA181)
UB40 If It Happens Again (DEP International DEP11)

Released today in 1982: Nine To Five

EG EGO8

Shameless cash-in of the month for July comes courtesy of this 1982 single from EG records. Nine To Five was recorded in 1977 for the soundtrack album of the following year’s Derek Jarman movie ‘Jubilee’, which featured among its cast members a number of British punk rock artists. The track itself was credited to Maneaters, but was performed by Adam Ant and Toyah Willcox, both of whom had yet to have a hit at the time. Then, after years of trying, they both had their breakthrough hits within months of each other: Adam & The Ants had their first Top 10 hit at the end of 1980 and Toyah had theirs in March 1981, and both acts had several more in the twelve months that followed. Two of Adam’s former labels had already plundered his catalogue recordings for reissues, and now it was EG’s turn.

For the single, EG billed the song as being by ‘Adam and Toyah’ and advertised it as being available in a “special picture bag”. Both artists objected to the release and the way in which it was marketed. Toyah was quoted in Billboard (24 July 1982) as saying, “In 1977 I was involved in the film ‘Jubilee’ which reflected the punk scene of the time. I was involved in writing the song Nine To Five and eventually in performing it. It was fun at the time. But to release that single now is simply pathetic opportunism. I want fans to know it was never intended as a single, but was essentially a piece of music written for a punk film score some five years back. I dissociate myself entirely from the project.” Adam agreed. “It was a decidedly low budget affair,” he said in a statement, “probably costing less than the normal demo recording. It was agreed that my name should appear only as co-writer and at no time did I allow it to be associated with Adam Ant or similar professional context. In fact, the record is released in a completely different capacity and the inference is that I play a major role in what I say is an inferior recording.”

Adam insisted that his name be removed from the record, and the single was withdrawn, to be replaced with a version using the artwork shown above later in the month. Neither he nor Toyah had cause to worry about this ‘inferior recording’ being made available as a single for the first time: the record didn’t chart.

NEW SINGLES on sale from Jul. 2
1982
ADAM and TOYAH (MANEATERS) (Adam Ant, Toyah Willcox) Nine To Five (EG EGO8)
The BELLE STARS The Clapping Song (Stiff BUY155)
The CURE (Robert Smith) Hanging Garden (Fiction FICS15)
1984
KING (Paul King) Soul In My Boots (Epic A4573)

Released today in 1981: Stand And Deliver

CBS CBSA1065

The back of the sleeve for Stand And Deliver featured photographs of the members of Adam & The Ants who would remain with the group until its demise less than a year later. Not all of those pictured performed on the single: bass player Gary Tibbs is credited as ‘a new bucaneer’, having joined shortly after the song was recorded. His recruitment had not been completed when Stand And Deliver was originally scheduled for release on 27 March 1981, but when the date was put back to May (due to some welcome consequences of The Ants’ sudden move into the A-list in the last few weeks of the previous year – more in a moment) there was time to confirm his appointment and he was therefore able to help with its promotion.

This was Adam & The Ants Mark II, the Mark I version having been formed in early 1977 and featuring singer Stuart Goddard (later to go by the name Adam Ant), the only contributor common to both versions. Ants I were a very different proposition from the New Romantic Ants II: the mood was darker, the lyrics had more serious themes (art, iconic figures from history, fetishism) and the music was post-punk with a nod to funk and even soul. Joining Goddard in Ants I were a succession of guitarists and drummers and a long-serving bass player, Andy Warren. They started gigging in May 1977 and by the time they made their first professional recordings, Dave Barbarossa had joined as drummer. The songs were intended for the film ‘Jubilee’, in which Goddard had an acting role and in which The Ants could be seen supporting him as the backing band for his character Kid.

In January 1978 they appeared on John Peel’s show for Radio 1 and in April the ‘Jubilee’ soundtrack album appeared, making two of their recordings commercially available for the first time. At this time the group was also touring extensively in the UK, supporting bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees. They found little support in the music press, although they did develop a cult following in fanzines. New guitarist Matthew Ashman joined as the group secured a one-single deal with Decca: Young Parisians did little business and although they recorded around 20 songs in demo form, Decca dropped them. They moved to a new contract with independent label Do It but again, single Zerox failed to chart and debut album Dirk Wears White Sox was an underground cult hit only.

In the Autumn of 1979 the band almost broke up: Ashman left temporarily, Warren quit in November, and Goddard and Barbarossa recorded some demos for a proposed solo Adam record which Do It rejected. Things seemed to be looking less gloomy when Leigh Gorman was brought in to replace Warren, Ashman returned, and Goddard approached Malcolm McLaren to manage the band; unfortunately in January 1980, after just a few weeks of this arrangement, McLaren persuaded The Ants to form a new band, Bow Wow Wow, with girl singer Annabella Lwin.

Goddard started again. Ants II was formed from February to April 1980, a key hire being Marco Pirroni (an ex-member of Siouxsie and the Banshees) who would go on to co-write many of the group’s future hits with Goddard. Goddard still owed Do It a single, and so he and Pirroni organized a re-recording of the Dirk Wears White Sox track, Cartrouble, produced by Chris Hughes who as a full member of Ants II would go by the name Merrick. (Also featured on this recording was future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, credited as ‘Terrys 1+2’ as permanent drummer Terry Lee Miall had just been found.)

Bass player Kevin Mooney joined in time for the appropriately named ‘Ants Invasion’ gigs that followed. During this tour the group signed with major label CBS and had a minor hit with Kings of the Wild Frontier, which indicated the change in musical direction to New Romanticism. But it was the release of the album of the same name in November 1980 that saw Adam & The Ants become a major attraction at last. It immediately entered the album chart in the Top 10, going on to spend 12 weeks at #1. Over in the singles chart, Dog Eat Dog, the second CBS single, was also in the Top 10 and Antmusic about to make its way to #2 in the New Year.

The “welcome consequences” of all this activity mentioned at the start of this article were that past recordings by Ants I started to sell too. Past companies cashing in with old material is not necessarily welcome, but in this case it all helped to keep Adam & The Ants in the media: and they were everywhere. Indeed, on 24 January 1981 there were five Ants singles on the Top 75, a situation repeated in each of the weeks from 21 February – 21 March 1981. This was caused in part by Decca and Do It re-promoting their past releases: Young Parisians reached the Top 10, and while Zerox and Cartrouble achieved rather more modest chart positions, all three singles remained on the chart until the week ending 21 March 1981. Album Dirk Wears White Sox also put in an appearance on the album chart Top 20.

CBS also benefitted from this surge in the group’s popularity; Kings of the Wild Frontier also re-charted (during the single’s re-appearance, Mooney left the band and was replaced by Tibbs), this time falling one place short of topping the chart when it had struggled to reach #48 the first time. Hence the delay in releasing Stand And Deliver: as indicated above, the market and the charts were saturated with Ants records. Promos for the single had already been sent out in March 1981, meaning that by the time the single was released in May the public were familiar with it. Consequently, it performed the highly unusual (for the time) feat of entering the singles chart at #1. It stayed there for five weeks, ending up the biggest hit single of Goddard’s career when it earned him a gold disc to go with several silver ones.

NEW SINGLES on sale from May. 1
1981
ADAM AND THE ANTS (Adam Ant) Stand And Deliver (CBS CBSA1065)
ALTERED IMAGES A Day’s Wait (Epic EPCA1167)
IMAGINATION (Leee John) Body Talk (R&B Records RBS201)
JAPAN The Art Of Parties (Virgin VS409)
Q-TIPS (Paul Young) Stay The Way You Are (Chrysalis CHS2518)