and so September is here, look you see. theoretically, then. this is us here in England, the wider UK and much of the northern elements of the bits north of the equator, starting to say farewell to summer. my, there has been some heat and that in it, as well as one or two things of interest.
summer is a variety of different things to each and all of us. yearnings, awakenings and such seasonal afflictions see many of us fall in love for the first time, whereas others may well find themselves falling out of love for the last such occasion. it is just the way things go, and if we knew why then i suppose we'd all be a good deal closer to understanding why any of us are here, why any of us "are", and just what that drive to survive and continue our species is all about.
with this in mind, then, i was somewhat delighted to, for the princely sum of £1, be reminded of a first love. of sorts, i suppose. but, yeah, music is often the first love for many of us. well, me.
yes, Adam Ant. whereas my parents would cite Theme From Wombles by The Wombles as the first song that i took a shine to, apparently busting moves whenever it was on of a nature that Bez would later claim to pioneer, Adam Ant was, is and always shall be the artist i first remember having a musical infatuation for. and why not.
it was a time when i was resident in Australia. his music proliferated the TV and radio at the time, mostly i suspect in celebration of the fact that he (and the Ants) were touring the country; quite a rare thing in those days. as in, famously, it was only the early 90s when a band as big as U2 considered gigs there viable.
no, i didn't specifically go looking for this CD. i never do step into Poundland with a specific purchase in mind, for such robs one of the experience. fair enough, yes - i was browsing the CDs for something specific, seeing if i could spot any Placebo or White Stripes for my (considerably) better half. indeed we do have the collective works of both bands already, but from time to time it is nice to spend £1 on a copy for the car, such is the sorry state to which we have devalued music in its physical form.
this is a "classic" 80s CD release. numerous articles exist on the phenomenon, but in short the record labels were all caught by surprise with the success of CD. specifically, what shocked them was that people were buying CDs of albums they already owned on tape and vinyl. their expectation was that limited CD sales would happen, and no one would "upgrade". which of course we did, thanks to the advertising and superior sound.
so, to this end, the CD you see is absolutely nothing more than the record or tape slammed on a smaller, shiny, digital disc. no extras, no "digital remastering" or anything like that. even the CD artwork is just that which you would have found on the album or tape cover, formatted to a squarer size.
lazy, maybe, but done in a rush to meet demand, and not without some attention to detail. i like, for example, how the tracklisting on the CD is split, as if to be "side one" and "side two", with the divide of course being Adam & The Ants and then Adam Ant solo. erm, six Ants songs and seven Adam solo songs is an interesting divide, by the way - perhaps to appease the ego of the artist. let us be honest here; whilst Adam Ant's solo stuff was damned good, it was neither as decade defining or as "in the millions" selling as the lastt two Adam & The Ants albums.
where did it all "go wrong" for Adam Ant? well, his troubled 90s and 00s have been well documented and there is no need to cover that here. sadly, and surprisingly, the star of Adam Ant faded at around 1pm (give or take) on the afternoon of 13 July 1985. yes, Live Aid.
Live Aid was, for the most part, one of the single most beautiful and perfect days for the majority of the finest of British and American musicians. also, it gave something of a massive boost to their record sales, something the labels did notice and hence us having a couple of decades of "charity" gigs and records. the chart the weekend after Live Aid saw everyone who performed have their albums skyrocket up the charts - well, everyone except Adam Ant, who surprisingly saw his stuff fall down and out of the charts, at a time when the charts were proper and important.
why? it is a commonly accepted fact that Adam Ant got right royally f****d over by Bob Geldof, the concert promoters and all other artists on the bill. he was pressured into reducing his set from three songs to one, on the basis that "everyone else was", and told only to perform his latest song, because "that was what everyone else was doing". you can imagine how delighted he was, then, to see everyone else afforded much more time, and everyone else do a sort of "greatest hits" thing. meaning Adam looked more and more like he was just there to cash in as the day went along.
oh yes, i no doubt have this album on vinyl, locked away. and i can remember having the tape too. this is not the first instance of me having the same record across the main three formats. as has been mentioned in other posts, it was "the thing to do" in the 80s, perhaps to show your devotion to the artist, and your commitment to making the record labels, HMV, Our Price and Virgin Megastores rich.
how do fans show their love and devotion in the brave, crisp (hello, Faye) new world of today? with all these streaming things? is it how, like once, i would say "yes, i love Adam Ant, i have his stuff on tape and record and CD", now the kids would go, to select a random example "i am totes an Ed Sheeran fan. i have him bookmarked on Spotify, You Tube and Google"? doesn't feel like quite the same experience.
in the days since the early 80s other artists have certainly come along. they, be it Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Bowie, The Stone Roses, the Manics, whoever, have all shaped and formed my sense of feeling, what i respond to, and how i look at life. but, no, whilst not constantly aware of it, i have never, ever forgotten how it was Adam Ant who opened my ears to music, and just how amazing it all was.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment