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Tracklist (Vinyl)
A1 | | Friend Or Foe | | 3:21 | A2 | | Something Girls | | 3:50 | A3 | | Place In The Country | | 2:48 | A4 | | Desperate But Not Serious | | 4:12 | A5 | | Here Comes The Grump | | 3:33 | A6 | | Hello I Love You | | 2:37 | B1 | | Goody Two Shoes | | 3:28 | See more tracksB2 | | Crackpot History And The Right To Lie | | 2:44 | B3 | | Made Of Money | | 3:28 | B4 | | Cajun Twisters | | 2:57 | B5 | | Try This For Sighs | | 3:03 | B6 | | Man Called Marco | | 3:26 |
* Items below may differ depending on the release.
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Review Friend or Foe, Adam Ant's fourth album, confirms the diagnosis indicated by his third LP, Prince Charming: Adam is a man with limited musical ideas, and apparently he used them all up on Kings of the Wild Frontier, the record that made him a star in England. Much of his latest LP simply reprises the familiar elements ersatz tribal drumming, chanted background vocals and reverb-heavy lead guitarin a pallid, uninspired manner. The production, by Adam and guitarist Marco Pirroni (the lone remaining Ant), is cluttered,… Read More with instruments bumping into one another like shoulders in an overcrowded elevator. And the addition of a horn section whose charts sound like Saturday-morning-cartoon music doesn't help. Attempts at funk ("Cajun Twisters") and pop ("Here Comes the Grump") and an embarrassing remake of the Doors' "Hello, I Love You" come off as flat as a bottle of champagne that's lost its fizz. If the spark has gone from Adam's music, the narcissism hasn't. He uses seven of the twelve tracks to shout about all the problems that he's faced since becoming famous. We have Adam flaunting his image ("Take it or leave it, I'm not gonna change a bit"), moaning about how tough it is to be successful ("When you get a Number One/The only way is down"), trashing girls who want him for the wrong reasons ("You sit around and suck my veins") and, of course, putting down the press ("Mister Pressman with your penknife/Always asking me about my sex life"). In the title track, Adam sings: "I want those who get to know me/To become admirers or my enemies." One gets the feeling that those who hear Friend or Foe will be joining the latter camp. (RS 384) MICHAEL GOLDBERG |