Adam and the Ants “Dirk Wears White Sox” 1979. Do It Records. Their debut studio LP and according to Wiki it holds the distinction of being the very first number one album on the UK Independent Albums Chart when the chart debuted in Record Week, 1980. Despite that accolade, the band didn’t do as well as expected and this iteration of the Ants bailed, going on to form Malcom McLaren’s creation Bow Wow Wow.

A friend posted about getting a copy of the second pressing of this LP yesterday so I decided to dig out ours, which is likely a second, possibly third UK pressing.

This is super-early Adam Ant: much less poppy and polished than subsequent releases, sounding slightly garage-y at points, but still with a bop beat and sometimes danceable. His glam-punk roots shine on “Nine Plan Failed,” where Adam and his Ants sound like a rawly produced David Bowie accented with woo-woo backup singers. “Tabletalk” has a stark goth flavor, reminiscent of post-punk contemporaries, Siouxsie and the Banshees, especially their “Scream” release. “Cleopatra” is musically post-punk and lyrically challenging:

Cle-o-pa-tra!

C-Cleopatra did a ten-thousand
In her lifetime
Now that’s a wide mouth
C-Cleopatra gave a service
With a smile-oh
She was a wide mouthed girl
A wide mouthed girl

C-Cleopatra did a hundred (1-0-0)
Roman centurion
For after dinner mints
C-Cleopatra used a suction
Oh so unheard of
She was a wide mouthed girl
A wide mouthed girl (believe it)

Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth
Show me a bigger mouth (yeah)

What a weak distorted image
Elizabeth and Richard gave upon the screen
Of that wide mouthed girl
Wide mouthed girl (oh yeah)