Adam and The Ants - Prince Charming (1981)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a LP, recently replaced by a CD. The CD I listened to was the 2004 remastered reissue with six bonus demo tracks.

This past weekend, I saw the image of a skull and crossbones ☠ and almost immediately started singing the song Jolly Roger from Kings of the Wild Frontier. So I grabbed that CD off the shelves and gave it a listen. Man-oh-man, that album is good stuff. Listening to that album made me think of the song Stand and Deliver which led me to think of Prince Charming. I owned a copy of the LP in high school, but I had never replaced it with a CD (probably because I never thought it measured up to KOTWF). But I've got a music addiction to feed, so I ordered a copy and am about to listen to it all the way through for the first time in over 35 years.

Smash Hits, Nov. 12, 1981, p. 25

To be fair, I have four songs from this album (the 3 singles and an incredible b-side) on the 1990 compilation disc, Antics in the Forbidden Zone: Stand And Deliver (#1 UK), its b-side Beat My Guest, Prince Charming (#1 UK), and Ant Rap (#3 UK). Oddly, Beat My Guest isn't included on this edition. I'd rather had b-sides than demos, but whatever. Let's give this thing a spin...

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #94
• CashBox: #85
• Rolling Stone: #41

Tracks:

1. Scorpios: It's been a long while, but I immediately recognize it. This one starts off like a soundtrack to a '70s TV detective show. The verse isn't good but the chorus is pretty good. Not at all like the Antmusic from Kings Of The Wild Frontier, but not a bad opener - lets the listener know this album is going to be a little different.
2. Picasso Visita El Planeta De Los Simios: Even though it harkens back to KOTWF, I'm gonna pass on this one. I don't think I listened to this cut much 35+ years ago, because I have little memory of it. For good reason, it turns out.
3. Prince Charming: An odd little chord progression from Marco, but Adam does the best he can with it. This tune wouldn't be out of place on Friend Or Foe, so it indicates the direction the duo was headed with their writing. A British #1, I'm not sure this was even released as a single in the US.
4. Five Guns West: man, this album sure could use some of the old drumsticks on cement/Burundi drumming. This ditty is derivative of spaghetti western soundtracks and not a very good derivation, at that. "I'm a big tough man and my name is Stan."
5. That Voodoo!: Starts off with a promising groove, but never quite delivers on that promise, despite the amusing Tijuana Brass section. I have absolutely no memory of this one, so I'm guessing that I flipped over my LP to side two after hearing Prince Charming. (Is the above reviewer correct? Are the intros the highpoints here?)
6. Stand and Deliver: Finally, Adam and the boys come through with what might be their best single ever. It's certainly the reason I originally bought this album. "...the faux-tribal calls of his previous hits are suddenly shifted into the 18th century setting with the gloriously idiotic chant of 'fa diddly qua qua!'. "Gloriously idiotic chant" - wish I'd written that.
   
   
   
   
7. Mile High Club: No memory of this one, either. Maybe because there's not much to it. Not even three minutes in length but still too long. But if there's ever been a rock star who I'd believe is a member of the mile high club, it would be Adam Ant (or Rod Stewart).
8. Ant Rap: a favorite of young Mark and I still know all the words. It's silly and an affront to the term "rap" but I simply don't care.
9. Mowhok: I'm not sure why I like this one - is it because it sounds like a discarded track from KOTWF or because it immediately follows Ant Rap or because the catchy chant of the chorus?
10. S.E.X.: I didn't care much for this haunting experimental cut as a 16 year old, but today I'm thinking its brilliant and probably the second best track on the album. Odd that I wouldn't like a song titled S.E.X. as a 16 year old boy, because sex was all I could think about back then.
10. The Lost Hawaiians: an unlisted track, this is stuck on the end of S.E.X. on this CD reissue. It's an slack-key guitar version of Los Rancheros from KOTWF. A goofy way to ended a disjunct album.

Bonus tracks (original 1981 demos and writing tapes):

11. Prince Charming: I've written it before - demos are interesting to hear once, but certainly not more than that. I can't even say this one is worth hearing once. If you were forced to go see your nephew's high school production of Grease, would you rather watch the performance or a read-through of the script?
12. Stand and Deliver: see above
13. Showbiz: sections of this demo have promise so it makes me wonder why they never fleshed out a version of this. At the very least, it would have been a serviceable b-side.
14. Picasso Visits The Planet Of The Apes: I had hopes that the demo might be better than track 2. Go fish.
15. Who's A Goofy Bunny Then?: I'm a goofy bunny for listening to this shite. (Low hanging fruit, admittedly)
16. Scorpio Writing: an in depth, informative look at how a song is written, developed, and produced in a studio setting. I'm just messing with ya - it's 3½ minutes of studio chatter and the musicians messing around hoping lightning will strike.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: When trying to cultivate my Johnny Slash image in 1982-3, I almost always had an Adam Ant pinback on my shirt or jacket (see below). Nonetheless, the only song from this album I'd ever blast on my car's Pioneer deck was Stand And Deliver. No surprise there.

Various Adam Ant/Adam and the Ants pinbacks from my personal collection.
My favorite that I wore the most is the yellow one on the left.

Somewhat related trivia: even though the band had been around in some form since 1977, they were nominated for the (cursed?) "Best New Artist" Grammy award for the year 1981 (presented February 24, 1982), losing to Sheena Easton. Other nominees that year were The Go-Go's, James Ingram, and Luther Vandross.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Antics in the Forbidden Zone (1990)
Friend Or Foe (1982)
Kings Of The Wild Frontier (1980)