The Great Re-Listeninging 1: AC/DC to Adam and the Ants
I was at a friend’s house for dinner along with a bunch of fellow music nerds, and we were, of all things, listening to records. We all had something interesting or niche or unplayed for so long it was as though the record was new. And that got me thinking.
My husband and I have, between the two of us, anywhere between 1,500-2,000 albums, with (as best as we have determined) only one repeat.
I cherish these albums, but I am also ridiculously unfamiliar with a lot of them. To the best of my reckoning there is only one way to fix this and so, today begins what will have to take me like a year to complete: The Great Relisteninging.
The rules are simple. This is a vinyl-only excursion. Albums are arranged alphabetically by artist. They are currently also arranged alphabetically by album title but I’m pretty quickly seeing the value in listening to an artist’s work chronologically. Albums have to be played from beginning to end, both sides, and I am allowing myself to skip oddball things like 12” dance singles. I can also choose to skip things like greatest hits compilations, but I may still put some of them on the turntable. Unless it’s The Eagles. That greatest hits LP can burn in Hell for all I care.
Since I’m only listening to vinyl, it may come to a surprise that the first band on my playlist wasn’t ABBA. It’s a fair question but I only have their stuff on CD and so, AC/DC took the premiere spot.
In earlier times I never took a side about who was a better lead singer for AC/DC but as of today I’m coming down hard on the side of Bon Scott. They were a better band with him. Funnier. More interesting. Cheeky. Kind of bluesy. And I will not besmirch the name of Back in Black, which introduced the world to Brian Johnson and is a monster of an album. But when listening to Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap right next to, say, For Those About to Rock, it’s easy to spot the differences. For Those… is hardcore and rockinrollin, but it’s kind of one note, like something Robert Plant might have done in a studio one day while noodling around and then forgetten about.
Then I listened to Adam and the Ants, from Dirk Wears White Sox to Prince Charming. I had forgotten how good Dirk Wears White Sox is, from beginning to end. Sure it’s quirky and a little uneven and really raw, and Adam Ant clearly was working out the baggage from some kind of crappy office job he must have held at some point, but it was also fearless and entertaining.
I’ll die on the hill of percussion in the song Dog Eat Dog, from Kings of the Wild Frontier, but overall that album suffers from overproduction. And the introduction of Ant rapping, with Antmusic. It’s easy to see why the sophomore curse is considered a real thing, if the band is shooting for success as the machinery buffs all the rough edges out of their music. I blame Malcolm McLaren, I’m sure it’s his fault somewhere down the line. Adam and the Ants rebounded a bit with Prince Charming, though it had so much Spaghetti Western in it I expected Sergio Leone to be listed as a producer. It’s biggest downfall, for me, is Ant Rap, which I didn’t like then and think is hardly listenable now. I’m not linking to the song. You want it? You can get there yourself.
Image from the Adam Ant website.
Albums covered:
AC/DC, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
AC/DC, For Those About To Rock
Adam and the Ants, Dirk Wears White Sox
Adam and the Ants, Kings of the Wild Frontier
Adam and the Ants, Prince Charming