Monday, January 31, 2011

Listening Post: Devo - Shout



Devo- Shout - 1984

I'm not sure what to make of this. Everything I've read says it's awful. And it's the last Devo recording for a while. Also follows a tradition of self-production after someone else at the helm. But I kinda like the opening track, the title track. It reminds me of Human Sexual Response's "Pound" or "Land of the Glass Pinecones". But poppy. It's obvious that Devo is goin for radio play or some kind here. They've tasted the money teat and, why the hell not? Aren't they the godfathers of this movement? Shouldn't they benefit from what they've wrought?
This is the most generic synth music one can imagine. It's Flock of Seagulls/Thomas Dolby/Howard what's his name and everyone else, though devoid of personality and without glee. Although "The 4th Dimension" sure tries hard to have a melody...
I don't find Shout as offensive as it appears many others do. Of course, that could be because my expectations are so low. It's a notch below the last one.


Grade: C-
ASide: Shout
BlindSide: The 4th Dimension

Listening Post: Devo - Oh, No! It's Devo



Devo - Oh, No! It's Devo - 1982

The opening track of Oh, No!, "Time Out for Fun" is at once the full immersion into synth rock (there's not a real instrument on this record, save Mothersbaugh's vocals and even that sounds fake) and also more fun than anything else on the previous record.
With Oh, No! it seems obvious the guys had given up on their "De-evolution" doctrine and were going for hitsville, U.S.A.
At just over 30 minutes, it's barely an album. Using lyrics based on the writings of John Hinckley ("I Desire")
make it a subversive and caustic one as well.
On Oh, No! It's Devo, the group employed ex-Queen, ex-Cars producer Roy Thomas Baker who shines everything up nice and glossy. But that doesn't mean there isn't bite. Well, if not "bite" at least it's easier on the ears.
An antiseptic record, it's no Freedom of Choice, but it's not as dull as New Traditionalists.
I'm one of those people who actually like the uber-pop sheen of Weezer's Make Believe. It's no surprise that I like this one as well.

Grade: B-
ASide: Peek-A-Boo
BlindSide: Time Out for Fun, That's Good, Big Mess, Deep Sleep

Listening Post: Devo - New Traditionalists



Devo - New Traditionalists - 1981

Ah, success.
Following the success of their massive top 40 hit, "Whip It" and with a healthy disdain for their new-to-the-cause fans, Devo came out the next year with their most synthetic sounding album to date. I've already discussed in the last post the reasoning for marginalizing the guitars and it's really evident here. More than noticeable. This is the sound that would mire down bands like Sparks and The Cars. The affection for the disaffected sound of synths.
That said, much of this album is poppier than one would have expected, but that's most likely due to the instrumentation. The collection of songs from "Through Being Cool" to "Pity You" and others show a strong disdain for their status as pop icons. I mean, Devo were supposed to be artists, right? They were Warholian to the t, no?
The hit "Beautiful World" suffers from sounding just like Sparks "Cool Places", obviously the latter is inspired by the Devo tune which came out 2 years earlier. The Sparks song is better but the Devo song has Marco Pirroni-esque guitars.

This album is the first time Devo produced themselves and it shows, there's no one to stop them from the keys-implosion.
The result is a rather tedious affair. A smattering of hooks here and an occasional catchy track there, but otherwise, this is a lackluster affair.


Grade: C-
ASide: Through Being Cool, Jerkin Back n Forth, Beautiful World
BlindSide:
DownSide: Soft Things, The Super Thing

Listening Post: Devo - Freedom of Choice

"Freedom of Choice is what you got. Freedom from choice is what you want."



Devo - Freedom of Choice - 1980


There is a terrific interview with Bob Lewis, the unsung co-creator of Devo here. It's a must read if you are even remotely interested in the history of pop music and new wave of the 70s. My favorite takeaways?
That Girl U Want is the band's rewrite of "My Sharona" in an effort to get a hit. And that the reason they moved away from guitars was because the guitarist, Bob Mothersbaugh, married a girl that co-creator Gerry Casale liked and so Casale started edging the music away from guitars and more to synths. Hysterical. And a good cautionary tale. For that is one of the things that contributed to the creative demise of the band.
But, that's not going to happen here because this is Freedom of Choice, the big hit, the monster, the one you probably had if you had one at all. The one with "Whip It".
I bought this the week it came out and didn't listen to Side Two for the first couple of weeks. I never got around to it, since Side One was so fantastic.
By the second song on FoC it's obvious that what is happening is the fulfillment of the promise of the debut. The robo-soul is there but the dystopian snark has been replaced by hooks and catchy tunes. The hit single, "Whip It", is the very definition of catchy and hooky. It's transporting as its so obviously from an era, and yet, it's timeless at the same time. Delicious.
My favorite track was the almost anti-Numan synth track, "Snowball". The energy coupled with monotony almost dares you to pogo and air synth at the same time. The cheeky, "Ton O' Luv" is as funny as it is slovenly. The title track is replete with irony and black humor. If you don't listen, you won't get it.
And that's just side one.
Side Two opens with a song as easily played by the likes of Dead Kennedys, "Gates of Steel", and proves that turning "punk" into "new wave" does indeed make it more palatable and easy on the ears of mom and dad. Subversive, though it is. The album is relentless in it's timelessness and nostalgia. There are 100 minimalist synth bands in "Cold War" but none of them had the humor. Perhaps it was because Devo was born out of the tragedy of Kent State by ex-hippies who saw the world for what it truly was for a few minutes: inhumane and hysterically funny.
The album runs out of steam a bit toward the end, "Planet Earth" sounds like something that B-52s would have done, but this is nitpicking.
Freedom of Choice is a seminal album.

Grade: A+
ASide: Girl U Want (It IS My Sharona!), Whip It, Freedom of Choice
BlindSide: it's Not Right, Snowball, Ton O' Luv

Listening Post: Devo - Duty Now For The Future



Devo - Duty Now For the Future - 1979

Duty Now For the Future opens with Devo's Corporate Anthem which could just as easily been the theme to Space:1999 or The Lathe of Heaven, it's sci-fi to the core, dystopian but with a sense of the absurd. Things weren't that bleak back then. They were, but we all had a sense of humor back in the 70s.

The album tries to be as cheeky as its predecessor but doesn't quite hit as hard in most places. The obvious Uncontrollable Urge, "Clockout" tries to hard to be new wave soul that it just misses the mark as does "Blockhead", this album's "Mongoloid". That said, almost all the songs on Duty Now clock in and out so quickly that they play as a sort of soundtrack for corporate cubist America. Taken as a concept album of sorts, Duty Know is actually quite brilliant.
Taken song for song, Duty Now is actually not that great and a completely unnecessary relic in light of how brilliant the debut and the next record would be.


Grade: B-
ASide: Secret Agent Man
BlindSide: Timing X
DownSide: Swelling Itching Brain

Listening Post: Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!



Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! - 1978

Devo's debut explodes with the herkiest of jerkiest pop songs, "Uncontrollable Urge". Mark Mothersbaugh's nerd voice is married perfectly to the style AND the substance. He's an outlier. Devo is all outliers. "Praying Hands" is their version of soul. The yips and yelps only contribute to the disconnectedness. Their deconstructed "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", though more easy on the ears than The Residents version a few years earlier, is actually just 13 years away from the original. Think about that. How much had music changed between 1965 and 1978. This was bold experimentation, it was punk at its core, but relabeled to not scare off parents. Even the most punk track, "Too Much Paranoia", which is as much experimentation as it is punk, is so replete with humor that it's impossible to hate. And it only sticks around for 2 minutes. And there's little doubt that Black Francis was thinking about "Shrivel Up" during nearly every session on Doolittle.

The first time I really listened to Are We Not Men was in the form of a cassette. I can't think of a more devolved form to listen to music on. The quality was poor, easily degenerated and, ultimately so fragile to border on decomposable. In other words, it would quickly devolve.

To many, Devo is a joke. Guys from Ohio who wore upside down planters and took "nerd rock" to a new level. To those who were in from the beginning we knew that it was more than that. If comedy had an ironic equivalent in music, it was Devo. Just a few years out of releasing his brilliant "Here Come the Warm Jets" Brian Eno recognized the Op Art meets Pop Music (The Cars would make this more accessible the same year) and signed on as producer. The result was a record that would be the true soundtrack to post-punk new wavers and pave the way for the likes of Laurie Anderson and Adam Ant. Where there was Bowie and XTC and the like, Devo wrapped it all in the coldness of a casio player. Challenging but never off-putting, this album was the true marker of the ascendence of New Wave.
It was dada, it was art. It's sublime.

Grade: A+
ASide: Uncontrollable Urge, Mongoloid, Come Back Jonee
BlindSide: Jocko Homo, Gut Feeling (Mothersbaugh sounds more like he's aping Jagger than on Satisfaction and the song itself sounds like it could have been written by Ocasek)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Zack Attack: Day 5 of the ICU

For me, this was the strangest of all days so far. I didn't see Zach at all. Beth's sister had to go home this morning and Zoe isn't allowed in the icu.
She and I dropped Beth off at Cedars and raced over to Ballet/Tap class. I couldn't be prouder of my daughter. She embraces every experience like it's the greatest thing she's ever seen. That kid relishes life, man. It's going to be weird being the father of a son. I just get girls, you know? I've had two and each of them were sparkling jewels in my otherwise sephardic eye.

Zoe has been terrific during the entire affair, but to her, I fear, babies live in the hospital for a week when they are born. This is her norm...

Beth spent about 3 hours with Zack. Fed him. Hung out with him. She says he's amazing.

I bet.

As I drove to pick her up at the hospital and get both of them home (it's rainy and Beth needs to recuperate) I thought, hmm...my kid was born last week but we have to visit him in a hospital. It's like mail order. We've seen the item but it isn't in stock yet. They're still putting it together. Like a sofa you'd get at Pottery Barn. You love it, it's comfy, you bought it, you PAID for it, but it'll still take 4-6 weeks to arrive.

With Liz, her diagnosis came so late in her newness that we had already gotten used to living with her. Or maybe that experience has prepared me for letting a hospital take care of my kid. I don't know.

I just know that I'm sitting here, typing this and thinking, wow, 6 miles away, in a plastic incubator, my son is sleeping.

That just isn't right. I really want him home.

Just what is this blog, anyway?

There might be some of you who are new to this blog and started reading for the Zack Attack series. Hi!
This blog is actually sort of antiquated and quaint nowadays with the world moving over to Facebook.
Lord knows I certainly partake in that. But I also love blogging. I had one when Liz was in the hospital, one for Zoe's gestation, one for her first few years, I like the format. It's like my own magazine where I am content provider and editor and it's also a diary or repository.

This blog took it's name from the concept of "sevens". The earliest concept was to enlist other bloggers to look at the world the way our bodies shed skin. How do things change every seven years? If you go wayyyy back to the first pages you will see that I tried to do that. But I couldn't stick with it.
Then it became a marker of events that took place during the Obama election which I volunteered for.

Then I had an idea: I wanted to listen to every single U2 record in a row and review them all. That was fun and fed in to my own personal obsessive compulsiveness. And I kept doing it.
before I knew it, this blog was 90% music reviews and 10% whatever else I threw up here. In this week's case, it was about Zachary Lulu and the difficulties we are experiencing with him.

It could change any time but for now it's a blast and I love it. I hope you'll stick around but if you don't, that's cool. I'll be here.

I promise not to make you sit through much more Kiss oriented music. I am almost done with that but I can only take it in small doses.
No. Next up?
Devo!
I'm pretty psyched. The whole point of the project is to look at the catalog of a band that has been around for a long time but is somehow still relevant. Devo's new release allowed me to explore them, just as REM's upcoming release did them.

So, leave a comment, have some matzoh ball soup, knock back a few and welcome to Septenary.

Allen

Kissening Post: Ace Frehley - Second Sighting



Ace Frehley - Second Sighting - 1988

So, what did we learn from last year's outing, Ace?
Not much, apparently. But why should he? First off, he's ACE FREHLEY, universally accepted "most talented musician" in the original Kiss quartet.
Secondly, this is 1988, not 1998 or even 2008. Hair metal hadn't been swept away by Nirvana yet and there was no reason to think that it would. The well was no where near dry.
Thirdly, spending 10 years studying at the feet of the master of self-promotion, Gene Simmons, can teach you only one thing, if nothing else: Balls out hubris. If YOU like it, they MUST buy it.
But Ace is no Gene. He believes in the first article as much or more than the other two. So, his hubris is sadly misplaced. He's a fine musician but as an arbiter of pop taste, he's a drunk. The album has all the pitfalls and trappings of the era; processed drums, high pitch testicle squeezing vocals, muddy mix, nonsense songs. It's an excuse to waste people's time and money.
So, Second Sighting is Frehley's Comet part 2. And the first trip wasn't that great to begin with.

Grade: F+
ASide:
BlindSide: Loser in a Fight
DownSide: Time Ain't Running Out, It's Over Now...ugh, there's not enough room to list the badness on this record.

Kissening Post: Vinnie Vincent Invasion - Vinnie Vincent Invasion



Vinnie Vincent Invasion - Vinnie Vincent Invasion - 1986

This album is really all about how fast Vinnie can shred. There are shades of Ratt, VH, you name it, it's all in there.
Ya got your songs about how hard they rock, "Boyz Are Gonna Rock", about how sexfull they are, "Shoot You Full of Love", "Do You Wanna Make Love?", how Whitesnake-y they are , "No Substitute", (a song I kind of enjoy) it's all in there and it's all something you've heard before.
The last track, "Invasion", was designed to loop at the end of a vinyl pressing so it would never end unless you pulled the needle up. On every other recording it's three minutes of this siren sounding monotony. I appreciate the former, the latter makes me want to punch a baby.

This is as generic a late 80s metal album as you'll ever hear, Bereft of subtlety, absent style, lacking song-craft, any one of the tracks could have fallen off a teen-comedy soundtrack. Probably did. This record was made for frustrated, parking lot dwelling, 15 year old zitheads. These people are now 40 and part of the ruling class. Any wonder we're in the shape we are?

Grade D
ASide: Boyz Are Gonna Rock
BlindSide: No Substitute (This is just me, I know it sucks)
DownSide: Animal, Back on the Streets, I Wanna Be Your Victim (Not sure there's ever been a metal track this dull before)

Kissening Post: Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet



Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet - 1987

It's been a long time since I visited the Kiss Katalog. I had always intended on getting through the entire thing including solo discs but life gets in the way sometimes.

I had heard forever that Ace's solo output outside of the Kiss Brand offerings were the best of the bunch. Is it true or was it some backlash hype?
Were it not for Ace's guitar songs like "Rock Soldiers" would be relegated to hair metal status quo status. However, with Ace's fingers offsetting his remarkably mediocre voice, the song is a welcome opener that would probably have found itself on the record shelf of every band member of Ratt, Warrant and the like. Except that, instead of leading those upstarts as he had on his solo Kiss record 9 years earlier, Frehley comes off as just another Hair Metal rocker. And he's a little long in the tooth and late to the party to be effective.
On tracks like the dynamic "Breakout", "Something Moved" and "Calling To You", Ace recognizes his weakness and hands over lead vox to Rhythm Guitarist Tod Haworth. This allows a track like "Breakout" to be a feature for shredding and skin pounding. There's no real song here, just some progressions to hang chops on. But it's a thrill ride nonetheless. And "Something Moved" actually has the kind of energy that calls to mind the better days of Def Leppard, which is also evident on the sludge-glam "We Got Your Rock". Elsewhere songs like "Into the Night" are so imbued with 80s compression and keyboards that they sound hackneyed and cliche now, if they didn't back then. And I'm sure they did in 87 as well.
"Calling to You" is obviously designed to be a hit single and it's not bad. By the end of the 80s this sound was dying. For what it is it's pretty good and I could see cruising around on a Saturday night blasting this song on the way to the beach. It's the theme for "Jersey Shore" if that show was produced 25 years ago.
The only weird experiment that almost succeeds but doesn't quite is the bizarre "Dolls". It's a combination subject matter, approach and production that make it interesting to listen to while repelling at the same time. Occasionally Kiss would employ strange production tics that came out of left field, in this case it's the children singing the chorus that threatens to take the song into horror show idiom but just comes off more as oddly perverse.
Frehley's Comet isn't as good as "Ace Frehley". I'm not sure what went wrong, perhaps on that solo disc Ace was trying to preove himself to the other guys and this time out he's got to prove himself to the world. He ends up trying to make a sellable product that comes off as boring and rote.

Grade: B-
ASide: Rock Soldiers, We Got Your Rock, Calling to You
BlindSide: Breakout, Something Moved
DownSide: Into the Night, Love Me Right

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Zack Attack: Day 4 of the ICU

How would you react if the nurse in your newborn son's ICU told you upon arrival that morning that your baby boy's heart rate had dropped to a point so low that it was abnormally slow two times during the night and that each time the event lasted about 3 seconds before self-correcting?
Right?
Now, what would you say if they followed that up with, "But for all we know that happens to a lot of newborns. We just aren't monitoring them the way we are little Zachary."
Soooooo....nothing to worry about?

Holy.

Fuck.

So, here we are. No more apnic episodes. No more tests. But he's still in the ICU. Still being watched because, well, those 4 events earlier in the week were pretty freaking frightening.

Today Beth was able to breast feed Zack and he took to it. He's been behaving like a normal baby for all intents and purposes. But we still won't have anything concrete til after the weekend. And no idea when he'll be coming home.

But in this case, no news is actually good news and our level of worry is starting to diminish.

But, please, Zack, breath, keep your freaking food down and stop with the heart slowing. Your making us nuts.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Zack Attack: Day 3 of the ICU

Here's an interesting theory that was posited by a nurse and then by me to a doctor who in turn denied the entire concept:
When I was holding Zack on the day of the episodes he proceeded to fart in my hand with the duration and gusto of an old jewish man in a retirement home after a dinner of Canters' Mish Mosh and a Fresser.
We laughed about this and were amazed at how long this went on for.
Later, in the icu, little Zachary pooped no less than 6 times. And these weren't your run of the mill, regular ol' craps. These were epic. Homer could have written books about these bowel movements. They were so powerful that they had to hose down his incubator.
The nurse put forth the idea that maybe Zack was pushing so hard that morning that he turned blue and stopped breathing.
Sounded good to me. In fact, I really liked the irony that a son of mine would nearly die from flatulence.
Then Mr. Johns Hokins - neo-natologist - runs the nicu practically by himself - doctor said, "Nah.---But it would be great if it was that simple, huh?"
I love that guy.

Zach's third day in the icu was a turning point as far as we are concerned. He hasn't had a breathing episode since Wednesday morning and he has been off forced air for most of the day. It's beginning to look more and more like this was one of those things that just goes away. But the results of the tests are not in, so it could be anything.
He could have another episode and send us back to square one.
Or he could be fine.

In the meantime, taking the mask off, removing the IV, turning off the bright lights (his jaundice is gone as well) meant that Beth could hold him, skin to skin, and even feed him. This being her last day as a patient herself was the perfect, if bittersweet, outgoing present.

We both took turns holding, feeding, burping, all those things we should be doing at home. And then it was time to get Momma home. Her body, her spirit, her everything has been taking a beating since Monday morning. With issues compounding upon issues it's good that she be in her own home, with her dog, her daughter, her own bed.

In the morning she will drive to Cedars and feed him. When can we take him home? We still don't know, but most definitely not before Monday. Could be as late as next Friday.

Hopefully not.

Below are some pictures. The first is of how Zack looked when I posted the first report from the icu. The others are, well, they speak for themselves, I think.






Thursday, January 27, 2011

Zack Attack: Day 2 of the ICU

When I went to see Zack today he looked like a burn victim in an Iraq War Movie. His hands were covered and bandaged to protect him from pulling out the IV (s).
The doctors were very apprehensive about keeping him on IV fluids because he's not a preemie, he CAN eat. It's very important that he learn to eat food on his own and his mom has been pumping for that very reason.
So, they gave him about 45ccs of breast milk/formula. He did well...at first. Then he vomited most of it up. More cause for alarm. Does he have reflux? Is it a digestive situation? Oy.
The good news is he hadn't had a breathing "episode" in 24 hours. But he was still living in the incubator.
On top of that, he had become jaundiced.
Like I said, Oy.

I went to the ICU after dropping Zoe off at school and checking in on Beth. When I got there, around 9:30, I was informed that the docs had started their rounds and would be coming by soon. It took 90 minutes.
By the time they got to Zack they didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. They were continuing to run tests, evaluate the eeg, check for reflux, basically, runing the gamut.
Thank goodness I live in a country where we have great insurance!
I mean, thank the gods that I have been able to maintain my union insurance.
(I wonder if Zack's experience would count as a "pre-existing condition" in the Tea Party's Universe....)

I asked Dr. P when they planned on taking Zack off the CPAP to see how he would fare on his own. "I guess, now." He said. Which was great, because then Beth could get some quality "skin to skin" time with him.

I wheeled her up and she put Zack on her chest for the first time since Tuesday. It was magical. Beautiful. And wayyy too short.

I had to go pick Zoe up from school but I just now called and checked in with Beth and they were just starting some reflux probe. (I've been down this road before....)

The good news is Zack's been breathing on his own since about 1 and as I write this it's 6. So, five hours without incident.

Start the clock.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Zachary in ICU

I debated with myself whether to write this and then I realized that I had documented Liz's death for the world, Zoe's gestation, the early parts of her life, and the entire in vitro process as podcast .
We also announced Zack's birth on facebook, so it would do him a disservice not to continue the reporting.

I don't believe in "God". I'm an atheist. I believe that when we die, we die and our contribution to the world and the universe and the multiverse is we become part of the soil and feed the planet. I think its too coincidental that just about every creatures' blood is the same color, even fish! There is too much in common with potato bugs and horses and pigeons to dispute that we are all interrelated.
It's for this reason that I was deeply offended when Lizzie was buried in a pink sarcophagus with little or no chance to decompose and become part of the earth. She's alone. In her pink tomb. It made me sad.
I was raised Jewish but I cotton more to the traditions and lifestyle guidance than I do to the dogma. It didn't rain for 40 days and nights and if it did it was just a pretty bad flood. But it didn't cover the Earth. It covered the small patch of land that was the neighborhood that the dwellers of the bible lived in and to them, that was the world. The stories are better suited as parable. They are Aesopian at best.
But, if I did believe in "God" I would seriously wonder just what he has in mind today. Because I'm sort of trapped in a cosmic joke.

At 11:30 AM yesterday, just under 28 hours of life, Zachary stopped breathing. He turned blue. I wasn't there to see it. Beth was and we were fortunate that she was awake to notice. She's on a lot of pain killers and little sleep, the C-Section and all.
To her credit she reacted quickly: She yelled for help. Then she called me and I raced through the streets of Los Angeles from West Adams to West Hollywood. Anyone who has had to deal with the San Vicente/Fairfax intersection knows what a feat it was that I made it, door to door, in 15 minutes.

When I arrived I made a beeline for the nursery. I could see Beth soon, but she was a few doors down and I really needed to check in on my son. There he was, in his lucite bassinet, sleeping behind three nurses who were going about their administrative business.
I breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Beth. She was so upset. I could see it in her eyes. Why shouldn't she be? But I assured her that her son was great. Come on, I implored, come, I'll show you.
I helped her to her feet and she, with great pain, ambled down the hallway to the nursery. As we walked in we approached the plastic crib. There was our son, all right. But he was turning blue. Again.
The nurses sprang in to action, especially the one nicknamed "Milkshake". That's what it says on her scrubs. "Milkshake". Wouldn't it be really great if that was her given name?
Alas, it wasn't.
I explained to her my previous experience with Liz (for Liz's story, please click here) and my understanding of O2 levels and the like. (Of course, in my panic, I misread the machine and thought her oxygen level was 120. And that was ridiculous.)
There's something about Cedars that has actually gotten even better over the past 4 years since Zoe was born there. The bedside manner has become even more helpful. It's now a case of "the customer/patient is ALWAYS right. Always where they need to be. Even if they are in the way." I came to learn that this was actually a dictum handed down from on high. Customer service and positive experience is the mantra of Cedars Sinai. Amazing. Liz would have loved this hospital.
The doctors determined that Zack needed to go up to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). I went with him. I've been down this road before. Liz had been in hospital something like 45 times and I think I only missed a handful of those visits.

I held Zack's hand as they stuck him to draw blood. I held him as they put in the IV stick.

No one could figure out what was happening, why this newborn had decided to stop breathing 3 times in 3 hours (it happened again while in the NICU), dropping his O2 to as low as 65 and turning blue.
Was it an infection? Was it neurological? What was the problem?

The doctor spoke with me for a bit and assured me that this is something they see in a great many newborns and 50% of the time it disappears without warning. 25% of the time it's infection. 25% of the time it's something else. He wasn't worried about it being fatal. Zack is healthy is every other way. He just...has some issues.

And that was yesterday. They put him on a CPAP mask which is blowing oxygen into his lungs about 20 times a minute. And they would monitor him all night. In the meantime I took a call from his pediatrician.

Zack and Zoe's ped is the best in town. We adore this guy. But in his effort to be thorough he did tell me that one of the tests they would run would determine the level of risk Zack would have for "crib death". Good that we can test for that, I guess. But, take a neurotic guy and tell him that and, well, that's all he's gonna hear.

See, while they see this type of thing a lot, my only experience that I can call on is being bedside by my daughter as she coded, turned blue and died. That's my "go-to". That's my frame of reference. Add SIDS to the affair and, let's just say, if there is a God, he's got one hell of a sense of humor.

Actually, that's ridiculous. Because it would paint him as just over the edge from Heath Ledger's Joker.

But, I can't help thinking that, actuarially speaking, this shouldn't be happening, right? I mean, once you bury one child, that's sort of it, short of sending them to war.

Right?

So we wait. He will be fine in the NICU. Hopefully they can figure out what this is. They were hoping to take him off the CPAP this morning and see how he fared, but before they could Zack did it again and went all blue. Just for 20 seconds but it was enough to put him on 48 hour watch before they take off the assistance.

So, that's where we stand. I'm home with my daughter, who is oblivious and just wants to know when her mother and brother are coming home. Beth is with her sister at the hospital. I'm thinking a LOT about Liz. I'm worried about my son. I'm drinking a nice glass of lowland scotch.

And, for some reason, I keep thinking about Job. Or is it Gob?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

OscarWatch 2011

The nominations came out today, so let the handicapping begin!

BEST PICTURE
127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
INCEPTION
THE FIGHTER
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE KING'S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK

TOY STORY
TRUE GRIT
WINTER'S BONE

A grand ten, I don't mind saying. I've only not seen The Fighter, 127 Hours and Winter's Bone and I must say there isn't a true clinker in the bunch. A lot of people are divided on Inception. I actually ended up liking it a lot more AFTER I saw it then during.
But I think the race here is really between King's Speech and The Social Network.
It's still too early to call. But I am giving an early lead to The King's Speech for a number of reasons. While TSN took the non-vaunted Golden Globes the Producer's Guild gave the award to KS. And I would never ever underestimate Harvey Weinstein and a critically lauded tearjerker.
Right now it's leaning
The King's Speech - 65%,
The Social Network - 35%

We'll see what happens after the SAGgies.

BEST ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES - TRUE GRIT
JAVIER BARDEM - BIUTIFUL
JESSE EISENBERG - THE SOCIAL NETWORK
COLIN FIRTH - THE KING’S SPEECH
JAMES FRANCO - 127 HOURS

Is there anyone who doesn't think this is Colin Firth's gimme? No one has seen Biutiful, Eisenberg is too cold, Bridges just won and Franco has time. It's a lock
Colin Firth - 100%

BEST ACTRESS
ANNETTE BENING - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (Focus Features)
NICOLE KIDMAN - RABBIT HOLE (Lionsgate)
JENNIFER LAWRENCE - WINTER’S BONE (Roadside Attractions)
NATALIE PORTMAN - BLACK SWAN (Fox Searchlight)
MICHELLE WILLIAMS - BLUE VALENTINE (The Weinstein Co)

Another lock category. Sure there are some who are dying to give this to Annette Bening but most people know in their hearts that The Kids...was mediocre at best and had no ending. Whereas Portman transformed herself and disappeared into the role. Plus she's been escalating royalty since The Professional and she opened a Rom-Com to decent numbers last week.
Natalie Portman - 100%

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
CHRISTIAN BALE - THE FIGHTER
JOHN HAWKES - WINTER’S BONE
JEREMY RENNER - THE TOWN
MARK RUFFALO - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
GEOFFREY RUSH - THE KING’S SPEECH

Another locked category. It's Bale's award. The Batman numbers are astounding but, even more important, is that Bale has been working since Empire of the fucking Sun when he was like, 9. He's the male Portman. And he disappears into his roles. Listening to him speak in his own accent has become disconcerting. No one saw Winter's Bone, Renner is the token nominee for a film that got no love, Ruffalo famously worked 6 days on Kids and Rush has an Oscar already.
Christian Bale - 100%

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
AMY ADAMS - THE FIGHTER
HELENA BONHAM CARTER - THE KING’S SPEECH
MELISSA LEO - THE FIGHTER
HAILEE STEINFELD - TRUE GRIT
JACKI WEAVER - ANIMAL KINGDOM


NOW we get to the real race. Amy Adams is rapidly turning in to the Meryl Streep of her generation. This is her THIRD Oscar nomination in 6 years. That's crazy. And she won't win here, either. Neither will Carter. This fight is between the newbie, Steinfeld, the vet, Leo and the workhorse, Weaver. Who? I know. I don't get it, either. I didn't see the movie but it's the kind of nomination that gets traction and becomes the sentimental fave. But I can see Steinfeld easily getting this award as she's in almost every scene of this movie and she's terrific. Leo has been nominated for the second time in 4 years BUT her Golden Globe speech was so weird that the Academy might be turned off.
Haley Steinfeld: 35%
Melissa Leo: 35%
Jackie Weaver: 30%

Have to see what happens in the next few weeks.

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
TOY STORY 3
THE ILLUSIONIST
Would YOU wanna be nominated in the same year as TS3? I didn't think so.
Toy Story 3: 100%

BEST DIRECTOR
DARREN ARONOFSKY - BLACK SWAN
DAVID FINCHER - THE SOCIAL NETWORK
TOM HOOPER - THE KING'S SPEECH
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN - TRUE GRIT
DAVID O. RUSSELL - THE FIGHTER

I think this is actually an easy pick. It's Fincher all the way. Look at his legacy. Se7en. Fight Club. Button. Etc. And he pulls off understated brillioance with Social Network? No question. Aronofsky needs a hug, Hooper made a tv movie, the Coens just won and Russell is still thought of as the jerk who yelled at Lily Tomlin,
Fincher: 99%
Hooper: 1%

This is all predicated on early momentum.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANOTHER YEAR, Mike Leigh (Sony Pictures Classics)
THE FIGHTER, Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Paramount)
INCEPTION, Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros)
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
THE KING'S SPEECH, David Seidler


Another huge battle! The Kids Are All Right is terrible. But it has made some cash and this category is usually the consolation prize. But! The King's Speech has a great story of an author who was a writer of such crap like a bio pic on the making of The partridge Family but he also wrote Tucker: The man and His Dream, which is a favorite Coppola film of mine.
Oh, this is gonna be a fun category and an indicator. If King's Speech wins, look for some upsets later in the evening. Or not.
The Kids Are All Right: 75%
The King's Speech: 25%


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 HOURS, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
TOY STORY 3, Michael Arndt, Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich
THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Aaron Sorkin
WINTER'S BONE, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
TRUE GRIT, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Just change the name to the Aaron Sorkin Award for Writing and be done with it.
Aaron Sorkin: 100%

There you have it. My predictions. Like always I am 100% correct with a 100% chance that I will change my mind.

Monday, January 24, 2011

New Lulu!

There used to be a blog called newlulu.blogspot.com which was a year long baby watch of our first new child after Liz died. Then after a couple years of no luck having another kid, we resorted to In Vitro. The entire process was presented as The Allen and Beth Show on iTunes and is still available.
However, since there's no New New Lulu blog, it's only apropos that I announce here that the unnamed Baby Lulu is a boy, born 7:48 on Jan 24th. 8lbs, 3oz and 21 inches.

He's very mellow. Just like his dad.

right.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - B-Side Babies


Some B Side issues are awful. Most of them, actually. I can remember torturously trying to get through Pisces Iscariot by Smashing Pumpkins. And the only redeeming feature of that was a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”.
Adam Ant’s B Side collection is a very different animal. In the late 70s and early 80s Adam and his crew were at a creative peak. After punk but before the co-opting of all things New Wave, there were some really great experiments coupled with a sense that life was fun, making music was cool and it’s all about sex anyway. Later Adam would try and fail to be a hitmaker, but that’s always the way; you can’t get a hit when you are trying. Unless you’re Max Martin.
In the early days it almost seems like they had unlimited access to recording equipment and some of the really difficult stuff would find its way on to the Antbox collection. But the treats were the B-Sides. Like the almost Garage Metal version of “Physical” and the Garage Band Jam on “Red Scab” an ode to one of Adam’s Tattoos that ends with Marco’s “Dad” kicking the band out so he can put the car in. The trilogy of Antmusic as Garage Band culminates “B-Side Baby” a track from the Vive Le Rock time and it kicks. Even Adam’s harmonica playing is just great.
The Mexican flavored, “Juanito the Bandito” was probably the last time the world would get to hear how goofy these guys could be.
But my two favorite tracks are, first, the terrific “Human Bondage Den” as bouncy a number as Ant would ever put out. Also from the Vive era it shows, as a song that didn’t make the album’s final cut, just how creative these guys were at the time.
But, the piece de resistance is the B-Side that would come to have a longer shelf life than it’s A-Side. Covered by bands from Epoxies to Nine Inch Nails, “Beat My Guest” is simply great. A riff worthy of classic rock, a subject matter that, while it is ostensibly about S&M, when the chorus is hit, Marco’s gliss on the guitar suggests masturbation. “Beat” is simply on of my favorite tracks of all time.
There are only a couple blah numbers and they come from, obviously, the Strip era (well, there’s also a fucking remix of a Vive song as well) but, other than 2 or 3 tracks, this is a stellar event.

Grade: A

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Redux


Adam Ant – Remastered Redux

1.“Prick Up Your Ears” (Demo) – This would eventually become “The Magnificent Five”. It's fun to see how the song developed.
2.“Jolly Roger” (Demo) – the missing lyrics are equal or superior to the final version. I wish they had included them on what is one of my favorite Adam Ant songs.
3.“Making History” (Demo) – A sloppy version of an already lesser track.
4.“Don't Be Square (Be There)” (Demo) – I always like hearing unpolished tracks, with flubs and all. When I would record I would talk while waiting for my turn to sing. If not for that, I don't think I would care for any of these demos.
5.“Mowhok” (Demo) – Yay. What the world truly needed. ANOTHER version of this song.
6.“That Voodoo” (Demo) – I don't know. Why do we need these again, Marco? There's an expanded nonsense lyric section, but I didn't need to hear it.
7.“Five Guns West” (Demo) – If you thought they were having a grand time on the final version, this one is madcap!
8.“Ups and Downs” (Demo) – from that familiar bassline I was hoping that it was the original “Ant Rap”. No such luck. This is the first version of “Mile High Club”.
9.“Friend or Foe” comes off as some hybrid Kings era Antmusic sound and Kraftwerk.
10.“7 Up” (Demo) – is an instrumental reworking of “5 Guns West” while sounding almost completely different. Cute. Inessential.
11.“Desperate But Not Serious (Manzanera Mix) – I don't know if this means Phil Manzanera or what but it's bigger and acoustically heavy on the treble. And it's another fully instrumental track. The official version is far superior.
12.“Saigon” (Demo) – A demo for a track that never made it to the final track listings. I think they're trying to tell us something. I think they really wanted to include this on FoF. It can be found in better form on the Antbox.
13.“Scorpio Rising” (Demo) – Great. Another version of a vastly inferior song.
14.“Mohair Locker Room Pin-Up Boys” (Demo) – features Piano heavily, turning itself into a honky tonk. Not what the song should be. Curious, but I prefer the Vive Le Rock version.
15.“Dandy in the Underworld” (Demo) – A cover of a T. Rex track. Sounds like it was recorded for the Wonderful sessions. So, it's too smooth to be glam rock. Which is what T.Rex was all about.

In short. Skip the Redux. It's a waste of your time. And I just spent an hour on it.
For you.
Cause I love you.

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - The Remastered Box Set


Adam Ant – The Remastered Bonus Tracks

As I wrote earlier, the remastered reissues, which my late daughter bought me for a birthday present in 2005, is not only a comprehesive collection of Adam's Columbia years but they include bonus tracks, demos and curios not heard before.
Here's a peek at what you're missing:

From Dirk Wears White Sox:
Dirk immediately paints me as a a liar as it starts the additional material with some singles and doesn't have much to fofer in the way of “unheard music”. Ah, the late 70s, early 80s, when weird-ass songs could be released as singles and corporate record labels didn't have their fingers in every single decision.
“Zerox” was a well know Adam song that can be found in a lot places, b/w “Whip in My Valise”, which is included here. Adam was able to buy his original masters (from what I recall) for his debut after the sales of later records, rare for artists, so Marco was able to include that material here.
The next set are also singles from the Do It days. “Kick” is a post-punk exercise, “Physical” is the early version of “Physical (You're So)” which Adam had been playing for a while and would show up on Kings.
“Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)” is a slightly reworked version of the original album opener and “Friends” is a name dropping piece of piffle about an unctuous club goer who is trying to prove his importance so he can “get in free”.
The last are the single versions of “Cartrouble” which is more aggressive, powerful and is only the second half or Part 2 of that song. The same goes for “Kick”. Bigger, stronger and incorporating the “burundi beat” that Adam was about to make famous.

From Kings of the Wild Frontier:
An alternate mix of “Antmusic” is hardly worth hearing but then we get to the nuggets.
The demo for “Antmusic” shows different lyrics being tried out and, even in the early stage, they were concentrating harder on Adam's multi-layered vocals than just about anything else.
“Feed Me To The Lions” demo and the one for “The Human Beings” just show songs in an early development stage.
Interestingly, there is a very early version of “S.E.X.” which would, of course, be included on Prince Charming. I swear there are sounds of a bong being smoked in the background and I don't know if that's part of the song or if they were just high. I imagine since the song is just bass, guitar and vocals that the bass is being played by Adam. The song is actually slightly better on this version than it would turn out with big production.
Then there's the real treat: The original, demo version of “Ant Invasion” a seminal piece on the record started off very different from what it would become. Whereas the album version is a scary and dangerous b-movie horror show, the original is much more cheeky. The B-movie in the demo would more likely have been directed by Ed Wood. And it's not about an Ant invasion.
No. It's called “Omelette from Outer Space” and it's about someone who is “so frightened by the omelette from outer space”. Dig it.

From Prince Charming:
The “Prince Charming” demo is a stripped down 4 track version of the unlikely hit. The same for “Stand & Deliver”. I was so surprised not find “Beat My Guest” here but, if it were, why you buy other Adam reissues?
“Showbiz” is a an attempt at some salsa inspired craziness, the only part of it that would survive is the lyric, “I hope the day would never come when showbiz is a dirty word” which appears on Friend or Foe's “Cajun Twister” and is probably included here for that reason.
“Picasso Visits the Planet of the Apes” is in stripped down demo form, set to a drum machine.
“Who's a Goofy Bunny Then?” would be rewritten for Strip and become “Libertine”. Since that's one of the better songs on that disaster its hard for me to say that I wish the song had stayed in it's original form. But, have you ever heard a title that great?
“Scorpio Writing” is just what you would think and hope for: Adam talking about what to play while the tape is running and him, Marco and, I assume, Hughes, running through an acoustic version that sounds like a couple teenagers trying write a rock song with little or no knowledge of the form. You almost feel embarrassed for them. And then you remember that final version and realize they were geniuses.


From Friend or Foe:
This album is loaded with extras.
“Coup D'etat” is a bouncy piece decrying new technology and how the music of the day is taking over.
“Little Italy” is a wholly instrumental version of “Man Called Marco”. The original's vocals was just Pirroni introducing his guitar. That's not here.
“Maid of Money” is the demo version of “Made of Money” and it might only be included because of the different title except that it features Adam on drums as does the demo for “Place in the Country”, which is such a mess that it sort of proves why Adam shouldn't play the drums.
“And So You Shall”, while it sounds very familiar and might have been reworked as other songs, it's a fun song extolling Adam's prowess in various arenas. It's also a song I think could have had a life over something like “Hello, I Love You”.
“Yellowbeard” is a piano driven pirate march, a trifle at best.
“I Know They Know” is begging for a full production. It's traditional Antmusic but much more fun than some of FoF's tracks.
“Gargoyles Are Go” is reminiscent of “Five Guns West” and is the early progenitor for “Mowhok”. Part of it sounds like Oingo Boingo.
And we close with “Good Sex Rumples The Clothing”. A play on the famous Jackie Onassis quote “Sex is bad because it rumples the clothing”. It's great piffle and I'm glad I had a chance to hear it.

From Strip:
The demo for “Strip” is just an early sketch of the song.
“Dirty Harry” would turn into “Amazon”. I like it better as a theme song for a take no prisoners asshole cop than as an ode to big, strong women.
“Horse You Rode in On” would become, well, a few other songs, but it's the closes to the “Goody Two Shoes” feel and that's probably why it was never developed further.
“She Wins Zulus” is a trite lesser track. It fits perfectly in the idiom of Strip but, more importantly, it has the lyric “She wishes she could sing like Michael Jackson, no chance”, which was also found on “Showbiz” and would turn up on either “Cajun Twister” or “Crackpot History”, I can never remember and the lyric “She Likes Johnny, she like Joe but they both ignore her so” which would find it's way on “Playboy”.
The “Puss in Boots” demo proves that Phil Collins wasn't really needed after all and the bizarro feedback heavy solo is sorely missed from the final product.
They've included the rehearsal take for “Playboy”, which is a song I almost never imagined anyone playing live. I don't remember it from the Radio City Show I saw on that tour. It's massively uninspired. Adam's spoken word parts on the album are creepy, unctuous and bland. But, live he's cheeky and ironic. So, in that way, the song is preferable. By the time it's over, with the band references and all, you'll find you wish that this was the version they left on the cd.
“Navel to Neck” gets the rehearsal addition as well. I always kind of liked the minimalism in this song and it's here, too. But it's great to hear Adam actually singing. He had a pretty good voice. If only he knew what to do with it outside of the Antmusic bubble.
In both of these rehearsal takes it's obvious that the fun and humor was stripped out of strip. Whether that was by Adam & Marco's design or the producers, I don't know. But it's sad.
The alternate version of Strip includes a little banter between Collins and a german assistant talking about how to get the strings in the studio with Adam. Otherwise, the original's better.

From Vive Le Rock:
“Human Bondage Den” was probably left off because it sounds a little too much like Apollo 9. Too bad. It’s a great song. It can also be found on the Antbox and the B-Side collection. Well worth being included.
The Rico Conning remix of “Vive Le Rock”. This was the era of the remix. Every band from Madonna to Queen was remixing and putting out 12” singles. I hate remixes and this one is no exception. It’s boring at best. Redundant at worse.
The Francois Kevorkian remix of “Apollo 9” manages to make an exciting dance track boring. It actually borders on obnoxious.
“Doggy Style” (Demo) just makes me wonder how much studio time Adam was allowed. Not complaining but, wow, he just pumped out track after track. This is an early version of “Manners & Physique” and it’s superior in every way.
“Night they Vietcong” is maybe the ugliest and laziest song Adam’s ever recorded.
“Big Big Man” is the original template for Razor Keen and is actually a neat little jazzy beat number.
“Rip Down” (Demo) shows a song almost completed. Man I love this album (Vive, that is)
There is ANOTHER Kevorkian remix of “Apollo 9” and it’s as boring as the other. What separates them is this is the 12” version where the other was the 7”. And they both grate.
The fun ends with a Steve Thompson remix of “Vive” and not a moment too soon. The remix festival was killing.

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Wonderful

Now each and everyday, I realize the price I have to pay you. You’re Wonderful. - Wonderful




Adam Ant – Wonderful – 1995

There I was, prepping my radio show at the local station on a Saturday morning, about to go on for my one hour entertainment show, listening to the FM sister station play the Top Forty hits of the week. I had been given this time slot simply because I walked in to the station and asked the program director. I sold him on the idea and he gave me the show.
Simple.
I don't recall who my guest was that day.
But I'll never for get the moment that I heard a familiar voice seeping in over the speakers.
And Casey Kasem's voice.
“That was 'Wonderful' by Adam Ant.”
How does this happen? I hadn't heard note one from Stuart Goddard in half a decade.
If you haven't heard “Wonderful”, the song, then you haven't completed your Adam Ant discography because that song, in and of itself, was more of a comeback than the previous three four records combined.
“Wonderful” is lovely. It's honest. It sounds great. It has that great bridge where, when Adam sings “so deep I can't get under it” while his voice gets higher and higher...it's inspired.
The album is almost personal. It features more acoustic guitar than I've ever heard on and Ant record. The lush, pastoral opening of “Won't Take that Talk” obviously is inspired by Radiohead and the tropico-stylings of “Beautiful Dream” begs for a steel drum but thank god there isn't one. “Image of Yourself” is the sublime amalgam of Strip era sounds with a forward thinking Ant sound. It's what that album should have sounded like. “Alien” tries too hard to ape David Bowie and “Gotta Be a Sin” wants to be a single (although it almost succeeds).
“Vampires” is the most complete epic that Adam has ever achieved. One wonders why he hasn't touched on the dark children of Dracula to evoke sexuality in the past.
While songs like “Yin & Yang” are difficult at best, they also owe so much to Lennon and the great experimenters in pop-music that it's easy for me to forgive.
I like Wonderful a lot more than I thought I would, having avoided it for so long. I think it wears better as a record heard by an old Adam Fan entering his mid-life.
This is mid-life Adam. And the last we'd hear from him.
Come back, Adam. All is forgiven.

Grade: B
A-Side: Wonderful, Beautiful Dream
BlindSide: Won't Take that Talk, Image of Yourself, Vampires
DownSide: Very Long Ride

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Persuasion

Seems to me we’ve got a new aristocracy - Seems to Me.


Seems to me we’ve got a new aristocracy - Seems to Me.

Adam Ant – Persuasion – 1993

Finally, we get to the album that inspired this Reflecting Pool series in the first place. The Adam Ant Record you don't know about.

There is a book called “The Greatest Music Never Sold” written about a few of the great unknown or unreleased records. Juliana Hatfield's tragic story of her unheard masterpiece, God's Foot, is probably the impetus for the book, closing out the sad tales.
Mick Jagger's work with The Red Devils is in there. Ray Davies soundtrack for the aborted stage production of Around the World in 80 Day. Seal's attempt to break free from Trevor Horn. David Bowie's album of resurrected songs that he wrote and recorded prior to Space Oddity. Other.
But the reason I wanted to read the book is for the chapter on Adam Ant's Persuasion.
You didn't know there was an Adam Ant record called that, huh? Didn't even know there was an unreleased Adam album, right? It's hard to imaging that there is actually Adam Ant music that has not been marketed somewhere.
This is a guy who just a few years ago put out a box set called “Antbox” (which I have) that traces his career through demos, remixes, alternate versions, from his early days just after Bazooka Joe to the very last record which I will cover here next.
This is the New Wave icon who has been repackaged and remarketed so often it's hard to keep track. There's the Peel sessions. The B-side collection, B Side Babies. Then there is the granddaddy. The remastered, repackaged box set of the first albums, carefully and lovingly produced by Marco. Each of those discs contain MORE additional material PLUS one last CD called Redux, which has even MORE material.
HOW COULD THERE BE MORE ADAM ANT??? And if there was, why wouldn't someone put the damned thing out?
Labels. Marco has tried over and over to buy back, license, steal, the recordings of Adam's lost album.
So, what is it? And, moreover, how is it?

It's so hard to be objective about a treasure like this. Because who wants to slam someone's lost baby?
On the other hand, coming after the abortion that was Manners & Physique, it's hard to get excited and look forward to another dance oriented Adam Ant record.

The production: Adam & Marco were responsible for the song which was to be left off the album, “Seems to Me” as well as Survival of the Fetish, All Girl Action. Larry Blackmon; Little Devil, Brain Candy. Leigh Gorman (Ex-Ant!!!) did Persuasion & Headgear, while Bernard Edwards handled Charge of the Heavy Brigade, Sexatise You & Obsession and Don't Knock It.

The work with Blackmon did not include Pirroni. He was busy reigniting a relationship with the ex-ant Gorman.

So, how does the mishmash of production sound?

Let's just examine the songs:
Gorman was the bassist for the original Ants and Bow Wow Wow:
“Persuasion” is a grinding, sexy, wide sounding, piece of dank club dance rock.
“Headgear” is very reminiscent of what Vive or (even parts of Strip) would have sounded like if they were written in the era of Bobby Brown and the big R&B stage shows.
Larry Blackmon was the front man for Cameo:
“Brain Candy” is one of the most listless dance tracks Adam's ever recorded. He tries to overcome the “Word Up” sound but he's not up to it. “Little Devil” combines the big, glam sound of Adam's bigger successes with an uninspired song, with an unfocused rap in the middle that conjures up another Adam fixation, namely a Jim Morrison lyric.
Bernard Edwards was the bassist for Chic. Why Adam decided to use R&B producers after the failure of Manners speaks to the sound of the day.
“Obsession” is a trite, synth laden song wherein the subject matter is covered in the title and explores it no further. I will admit that I have a soft spot for “Charge of the Heavy Brigade” with its nonsense backing vox by Adam and the soulful backing vocals. It's an ego trip but it's fun. And “Sexatise You” could have been an attempt to reclaim a lost sound. But that sound was heard on Vive Le Rock and it wasn't exactly “lost”. No one wanted to hear it. Sadly.
Don't Knock It is more of that sound. Crunchy guitars. Pounding bass drum. Funky bass. Almost, anti-Antmusic. But the song itself is one of the better on the record. A track where Adam sounds as close to the Prince Charming narcissist we loved.
Now for the Ant/Marco songs:
All Girl Action is the first time I've heard an Ant song that at least tries to sound like an Ant song. There's no double drumming, no “antmusic” and it's still a little steeped in dance rhythms. But it works. “Survival of the Fetish”...hmm... I can't help but think, as Adam sings, “Going, round and round and round and round”, that that's just what we're doing here. Marking time. Going round and round. The record seems more like a job than an inspiration. While neither Adam nor Marco cared for “Seems to Me” it's actually one of my favorite songs on the record. It's the one where they seem to be less interested in the sounds of “the day” and are entertaining themselves. It was actually dropped from the original track list in favor of “Charge of the Heavy Brigade”. I don't know why. But I'm glad I have it. And now you can hear it, too.

I suppose I am being kinder to Persuasion than I might be if the record actually came out. It's not that great. While it's a vast improvement over Manners & Physique and in many ways preferable to Strip, it's ultimate just not that great.

Grade: C
A-Side: Persuasion, Headgear, Seems to Me
BlindSide: Charge of the Heavy Brigade, Sexatise You, All Girl Action
DownSide: Brain Candy

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Manners & Physique

There is always room at the top. Don't let them tell you that there is not.” - Room at the Top




Adam Ant – Manners & Physique – 1990

Okay. So, in 1990 I was trying to start my acting career and needed a day job. Not wanting to work in an office (actually, not being able, really...fucking cubicles) I decided to try my hand at wedding and bar mitzvah DJ-ing. Never mind how I ended up doing that, suffice to say that the guy who introduced me to it went on to a very VERY successful television sitcom career and is a millionaire.
I'm not.
But, at one of these Bar Mitzvahs I was shocked to hear the guest of honor ask for a special request: He wanted “Room at the Top” by Adam Ant.
He didn't have a clue who Adam was. In fact, why would he? Adam's last album would have come out when this kid was 8. His last hit was in 1982, that kid was 1. To him, and just about everyone else, Adam came out of left field.
I was shocked.
Of course I got Manners & Physique. I gave it the cursory listen and realized that whatever Adam had 10 years before when he was on the cutting edge of new music was, for all intents and purposes, gone.
Sure, his vocals are there, although they sort of border on sounding like the Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet. And Marco's guitars pop up every once in a while. But all the rest of the instruments and the production is done by ex-Prince protege, Andre Cymone.
NOW Adam sounds anonymous on his own record.
It's dance pop at a time when that stuff was as innocuous and invasive and unctuous as it would be 20 years later.
This is the era of New Kids, you know?
One thing I realize as each song comes on is how much I wish the record would end. There are moments that work, “Rough Stuff”, “Room at the Top”, they sound like they could have worked on previous Adam records.
Of course, the title track harkens back in subject matter to the Adam of old: appearance and style trumps all. Too bad the song itself sucks hard. It's ugly. It's crass. It's tired.
The third single, “Can't Set Rules About Love” sounds half like it might have fallen off the plan for Vive's recordings and half like it wants to be on the Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack. It smells of faded jeans, high tops and denim jackets. And just when you think it can't get any worse, “U.S.S.A.” rears its ugly, over produced, mess of a self and makes you want to hurl the record across the room. Or, in my case, toss my ipod across the airport, where I am currently listening and writing this entry.
I wonder what would happen if you went back in time and played Manners for the same Adam who was at the infamous Sex Pistols boat cruise. Or even grabbed him outside of the studio when he was booted from the Ants and said, “Please. I know you'll be rich. But you'll also be crazy. And you will put this music out.”
I think he would have gone back to art school.
As “Bright Lights, Black Leather” comes on I realize; I've never listened to this whole album. I must have decided at some point to just stop and never listen to it again. I was better off...
“Young, Dumb & Full of It” actually comes kind of close to approximating what “Antmusic” would sound like if it was twisted into modern dance pop. I don't know if I like it for real of if I just appreciate anything outside the canned mid-tempo crap that has come before. But the album doesn't let you down, you know. Sure there might have been that brief bright spot but the whole shebang comes crashing to a torpor with the sluggish “Anger, Inc”. Sure, Adam, yeah, you read Kerouac and all, but it doesn't mean you can write a song about it. Count this among “Scorpio Rising” as among his worst.
The demo version of Manners & Physique included on the Antbox box set actually shows that song would have rocked in a Vive le Rock fashion if they had decided to go with that kind of sound. So sad.


That bar mitzvah kid is 33 now. I wonder what he's doing now....

Grade: D-
A-Side: Room at the Top, Rough Stuff
BlindSide: Young Dumb & Full of It
DownSide: Manners & Physique, U.S.S.A., Picadilly

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Viva Le Rock

"Bang Bang, you're dead, stop diddy boppin' buddy, bouncing tty on you!" - Vive Le Rock




Adam Ant – 1985 – Vive Le Rock

You know, almost nobody knows this album. It should have been Adam's comeback record but I don't think it was even released in the states. At least not for a while. At least not in any big way.
Amazing. Just 3 years before Adam was soaring on the back of the “Goody Two Shoes” rocket. One terrible album later and he's not welcome at the table anymore.
Vive Le Rock was supposed to a back-to-basics Adam record. A lot of work went into it. The logos, the imagery (future rock, almost apocalyptic but more interested in cash) and the sound: A BIG guitar record. More so than ever before. We're still one drummer down from the original Antmusic sound but the muscle, and more importantly, the fun and silliness of Prince Charming and Kings of the Wild Frontier are actually back.
Adam isn't as happy as before but he's goofier than ever.
“Walla ba-loomba!” (from “Miss Thing”)
“Stop diddy boppin buddy, bouncin' betty on you” (“Vive le Rock)
“Whoopsin' a whoopsin, Jam jam jammamin', Yabba Yabba Ding Ding, Delta Hey Max 9” (“Apollo 9)
and so many more! Just what the hell is a “choocha laben dollylay”?

The subject matter is more objective than ever before. Like X's “I Must Not Think bad Thoughts”, Adam decries the synthetic sound that is so popular in the day and harkens back to the great raw power of rock. Fortunately he has Marco's power chords to support the theorem and they've enlisted David Bowie's big glam sheen producer Tony Visconti for the production chores.
Subsequently, it's Adam's best sounding record in years.
I disagree with Allmusic when they say that Adam is rendered Anonymous on his own record (Although I think that's an inspired description and have been known to use it often).
This should have been the next record after Friend of Foe. It builds on the swagger of that record. It's bouncy in places (“Rip Down”). It's nonsensical. It's a little sluggish and apprehensive, but I imagine Ant was a little gun shy by this time. If he wasn't then that's the sound they were going for.
Either way, I am always happy when I hear Vive or songs from it.
Except for “Scorpio Rising”. Ripping off a little Kenneth Anger, well, actually, paying homage to that movie and the filmmaker is as turgid a song as I've ever heard. And I've listened to R.E.M.'s Around the Sun.
I love the singles on this record, mostly “Apollo 9” a nonsensical space age rock song which, I guess you could say is the Antmusic/dance take on Bowie's “Space Oddity”. It's NOTHING like that song but I see the connection.
The biggest problem with Vive Le Rock is the running order. Side Two is much better, catchier, energetic, aggressive and exciting than Side One. Each time I hear “Hell's Eight Acres” I am surprised that it wasn't a hit and even more chagrined that I never thought of covering it with my own band.
Followed by “Mohair Locker Room Pin Up Boys” and the rockabilly twinged, “No Zap” Side Two closes with the political nuclear screed “P.O.E.” (Damn your eyes, Mr. Kruschev. Don't go droppin' bombs over here!”)
If you're gonna listen to Vive Le Rock and I hope you do, make a new playlist:
Side Two first all the way to the end of P.O.E. Then listen to Side One all the way through “Scorpio Rising” and finish up with the original side two closer, the a capella version of “Apollo 9”. I think you'll agree that the record is a lot better and that it is easily Adam's 3rd best. Just behind Kings and Prince.
I do wish the jaunty, S&M ditty, “Human Bondage Den” B-Side was included in the original release. It's so great.
But this was the final Adam Ant record for a while as he would try his hand at acting in the states. It would, it turn out, be the last album featuring any form of “Antmusic” that the public would be allowed to hear.

Grade: B+
A-Side: Vive Le Rock, Apollo 9, Hell's Eight Acres
BlindSide: Miss Thing, No Zap, P.O.E.
DownSide: Scorpio Rising

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Strip

"We're just following ancient history. If I strip for you, will you strip for me?” - Strip



Adam Ant – Strip – 1983

Every artist has one. The nadir. The bottom. A record so terrible that either they revive themselves in true comeback form or they never find their way to their previous glories.
In Adam's case it was by far the latter.
He doomed himself for many reasons. I like to blame Phil Collins. Because, well, why the fuck not? Collins was brought in as a star producer to work on the two singles from “Strip”: the title track and “Puss in Boots”. In and of themselves they are not awful. In fact, they're kind of fun. But...why? Because Adam's sound revolved around percussion did they bring in a superstar producer? What was wring with Hughes? He was a drummer?
And then Richard Burgess? Another drummer? For the rest of the record?
What we are left with is a serious misstep. Not the least of which is a come hither photo on the cover of Adam aping Jean Harlow.
I saw him at Radio City for this tour (as well as for Prince Charming). It was fun. But, something was missing. Adam was trying to hard to be relevant in a Michael Jackson world. He was never a dancer. But now he thought he had to be.
Pop had left him behind almost overnight. He would be playing catchup forever. And never quite making it.
How bad is Strip? Pretty bad.
The singles are catchy, I guess, but the rest of the album is atrocious. Partly, or mainly, depending on how you look at it, because the songs are stripped almost bare. (Pun intended). Gone is any sense of fun. All the elements are there, the vocal gymnastics, the excessive overdubbed backing vox, but it's all steeped in the unctuous, smarmy, faux sexualized semi-soul and dance music. It wants so badly to smolder in places but instead of working like it did on past records it fails so miserably that it should be experienced to understand.
“Baby let me scream at you. You can decline of course. I'm talking to you, girlfriend. Give me some chili sauce.” Presupposing that we all accept “chili sauce” as some erotic term is something Adam never did.
“What do you wear in bed? Some headphones on my head. What do you like to hold? My breath, she said.” This is a chorus. And they're all this bad.
Obviously Adam and Marco and the rest were going for some uniform theme here. Overt sexuality. But it comes across as pedestrian.
And sad.
Instead of building on the success of Friend or Foe Adam, ever the independent trailblazer tripped so far and hard that he would never be able to recover. Not fully.
Antmusic is gone. There's one drummer. There are too many violins. What an unpleasant record.
“Saw the couple lying there. Teach each other how to swear. Could this be a dirty night? It could be if they're doing it right.”
Atrocious.

Grade: D
A-Side: Strip, Puss In Boots
BlindSide: Navel to Neck
DownSide: The rest of it

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Friend or Foe

Reprinted at Allenlulu.com

When you get a number one the only way is down - Here Comes The Grump




Adam Ant – Friend of Foe – 1982

The “Ants” were always meant to be dispatched. After all, Adam wrote all the songs with Marco Pirroni, who would not leave. And “Merrick” was really Chris Hughes, the producer of the last two records and this one. So, it was really just the drummer and bassist that they could replace.
I'm sure that wasn't fun for those guys. But it was fine for the listener because Adam was about to fulfill the promise of the last 4 years.
From Art School post punk, to experimental New Wave to New Romantic, no one really knew what to expect from this “solo” record.
The horns warm up on the head of the first track “Friend or Foe” and then that double drum attack and it's obvious. Nothing has really changed. It's just streamlined, radio friendly and pop precision.
Addressing his detractors on this and the rockabilly super smash hit, “Goody Two Shoes” Adam cemented his place in rock history and became rich. It's still “Antmusic” and it's still great. But this time the aim is directly placed on teen girls and MTV. Two things that go hand in hand and were tailor made for the ex-Stuart Goddard and his “Pure Sex” ethic. Pure Sex, by way of caricature.
Gone are the ridiculous pirate/Indian/cowboy themes and tossaways. Adam is extolling the virtues of “every girl” (“Something Girls”), lamenting the pitfalls of fame (“Place in the Country”, “Here Comes the Grump”, “Desperate but Not Serious”, “Crackpot History & the Right to Lie”), he's got a score to settle with a gold digger (“Made of Money”) and desperately wants to be the heir to that sex-god lizard king, Jim Morrison (A botched cover of “Hello, I Love You”).
All of this amidst yodels, nonsense lyrics, hyper-frenetic drumming, click clacks and a controlled mayhem. Perhaps that's what “Antmusic” really is, after all.
If you haven't heard the song, “Goody Two Shoes” in a while...well, I'm over my anger that this was the song that made everyone fall in love with Adam. Where were all you posers last year!!? I'm over I because it just came on while I'm in a hotel room and I can't help but shake my hips and move my feet. It's just plain great.

Friend or Foe was designed to break Adam stateside and over the world. It did just that. To say that he is the face of New Wave or one of the primary faces of the 80s is dead on in its accuracy. But he would pay a heavy price for this. If one were to listen to Dirk Wears White Sox and Friend of Foe back to back the two would not stand well as brothers. The singer and songwriter might be the same but they couldn't be more different. The fact is, Dirk is an album of more integrity than Friend. Not to say FoF is bad. It isn't. It's piffle. Candy. A product.
But, I will give it this: When my late daughter, Lizzie, was 11 and she heard this album for the first time she responded with, “I like this, it's bouncy!”.
It sure is.

Grade B+
A-Side: Friend or Foe, Goody Two Shoes, Desperate But Not Serious
BlindSide: Something Girls, Here Comes the Grump, Try This for Sighs
DownSide: Hello I Love You, Crackpot History & the Right to Lie

Reflecting Pool: Adam Ant - Prince Charming

Reprinted from Allenlulu.com

"Liberte, elgalite, aujourdhuis c'est tres, tres, tres. Voici l'oppurtunite, nous encroyable!




Adam and the Ants – Prince Charming – 1981

I'll be honest. The main reasons for doing this Reflecting Pool is to (finally) listen to Wonderful, an album I've had since its release and never given more than 5 minutes to, a chance to examine the unreleased Persuasion, and as an excuse to really listen to this record again.
I love Prince Charming.
In many ways it's better, by far, than Kings. It's much more muscular. It builds on the sounds created for “antmusic”, while at the same time abandoning almost fully the minimalist art school posing of Dirk. Adam and his crew are fully vested in their mythos and image, Indian war paint meets Sgt Pepper Pirates traded in for Ornate Highwaymen and, well, okay, they're still pirates.
The opening number, “Scorpios” is easily one of Adam's best and often overlooked songs. A pompous, self-referential, self-aggrandizing song, it opens with a horn section attack (there's some woodwind in there, too!) and has one of the greatest drum breakdowns in the history of modern rock just before the end of the song.
It's a powerhouse.
Followed by a song that, when stripped down, probably would fit on Dirk, but thanks to the fun everyone seems to be having in the studio is just a fantastic curio that, unlike ANYTHING on Dirk, begs and cajoles and dares you to sing alon. I am talking about, of course, “Picasso Visitos Los Planetos de los Simios”. Yes. Pablo Picasso visits the Planet of the Apes.
Genius. And when Adam starts imitating monkeys you know that these people were just having a fucking blast in that studio.
I haven't even mentioned the Rap yet. Don't worry, we'll get there.
The last album had the unlikely hit single, “Kings of the Wild Frontier” and this one doesn't miss a step, the title track is a big pirate shanty march celebrating individualism and peacock of the walk style and goes on way too long and is like eating a piece of delicious taffy. Fully satisfying and full of flavor.
They're cheekier this time with even more songs that talk about how great they are (“5 Guns West” & “Ant Rap”) and it's impossible to get annoyed by this because when Adam sings in that overwrought American South drawl, “I'm a big tough man, with a big tough plan, Gonna spend my day in a big tough way.” it's hysterical and stoopid and fun.
Rap had barely registered a blip in the states where it originated by 1981. It's massive success was still a few years away. But some artists, most notably the New Wavers, loved it. Blondie had already incorporated it (Eat to the Beat) and the Waitresses used it on their perennial holiday favorite, “Christmas Wrapping”. But for my money no New Wave artist “got” rap and had more fun with it than Adam. Ant Rap is sung partially in french. Why? I have no idea. It's more than passingly interested in puffing out it's chest and singing about how amazing “Marco! Merrick! Terry Lee! Gary Tibbs! And Yours Tru-ly!” are.
And it was a hit. Ha!
As was the brilliant “Stand & Deliver” with the equally terrific ode to S&M B-Side, “Beat My Guest”.
In fact, S&D can be looked at as the epitome of all things “Antmusic”. Lyrically it's inspired. Hughes and Marco and Adam take full advantage of Adam's vocal gymnastics. The drums pound, the guitar is huge, that signature click-clack ant sound is all over the place. The song was ready made for a video and it's beyond silly with it's “fa-diddly-qua-qua” backing vox.
It's perfection.

Prince Charming slips all over the place but even when it does the band is still having a blast. Recognizing the disposability of their music on songs like “That Voodoo” and “S.E.X.” and “Mowhok”, it's impossible not to notice that they aren't very good (well, I kinda dig “Mowhok”) but they fit with the theme and the production is just top notch.
Only “Mile High Club” is kind of terrible, but it bleeds so well into “Ant Rap” that it's almost worth listening to. Almost. But, “Mashed Potato, rocksteady rub”? What the hell is that?

Grade A-
A-Side: Prince Charming, Stand & Deliver, Ant Rap
BlindSide: Scorpios, Picasso Visitos Los Planetos de los Simios, Mowhok
DownSide: That Voodoo, Mile High Club