Customer Reviews

Manners & Physique

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sadly, when this album came out in 1989, Adam Ant was well on his way to "Where Are They Now?" status. While this album's predecessor, "Vive Le Rock" generated the hits "Apollo 9" and the title track, the five year gap between albums proved costly to Adam's ability to sell albums. By 1989/1990, Antmusic in the USA was all but forgotten.

One thing I like about Adam is that he's a huge Marc Bolan (T. Rex) fan, and it shows in his image and music. Like Bolan, Adam's albums from "Prince Charming" to "Wonderful" have shown various shifts in style. "Prince Charming" and "Friend or Foe" = the Dandy; "Strip"= The Romantic; "Viva Le Rock"= Space Age Cowboy;" and "Manners & Physique"= 90's GQ model.

"Manners and Physique" is a Dance album, pure and simple. It is a far cry from the tribal rhythms and harmonies found on his albums with the Ants and "Friend or Foe" through "Viva;" but on its own, it works. It works as a great dance album, and as yet another incarnation in Adam Ant's personas.

Okay, if it's so good, why wasn't it more popular? Good question! There were two singles form the album, "Room at the Top" and the excellent "Can't Set Rules About Love." "Room" had some major MTV airplay, and was a minor dance hit in the US; while "Rules" charted in the UK, but not the US. My feeling is that if this album had been released a few years earlier, it might have done better.

With the shift of mainstream music to grunge and the onset of Hip Hop, "Manners & Physique" really didn't fit into any play list. As a result, it dropped like a stone. This is also the reason that Adam's former label MCA decided to shelve the follow up to "Manners," 1993's excellent "Persuasion." Even though this album was shelved, booted copies have leaked out.


So if you're an Ant fan from the "Friend or Foe" area and you're expecting the same thing, you're going to be sorely disappointed. If you like Adam Ant, and like 80's Dance oriented music, this album album is a must have. I guarantee You'll find yourself singing along with "Anger Incorporated" "USSA," "Manners & Physique," and "You Can't Set Rules About Love."

This is my first Adam Ant purchase. Before I bought M&P the only songs by Adam that I was familiar with was Beat My Guest (via SLC Punk)and Goody Two Shoes (I never knew he sang that song). Anyway as a first time Adam Ant listener I got this CD only because his name was familar to me and I was looking for anything New Wave in my local discount record shop. I wasn't to know what I would be listening to but once I got home and stuck M&P in my Cd player I was amazed on how good this album is. It's a classic! Not one song on the album is bad they are all great. My favorite songs include: If you keep on, Manners and Physique, Can't Set The Rules About Love, and Anger Inc. I highly recomend this album. You can't go wrong. It's the perfect album to make your move into the world of Adam Ant. It is very underated album but don't let that stop you. It is a "CLASSIC"! You'll be glad your alive after listening to this LP.
It's too bad what happened to him thought.

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5 *****<*>

It is so great to have several labels that are dedicated to reissuing classic albums by 80s artists with plenty of bonus tracks, but inevitably, almost every release falls short of giving fans everything they want (and everything that deserves to be brought into the digital age). The good news here is that BOTH remixes from the "Room at the Top" 12" are present. The bad news--instead of giving us BOTH remixes of Rough Stuff that were done back in the day, they give us an EDIT of the remix already on here! The "alternate mix" of this track is actually the one I prefer (it was the b-side to the original promo 12"). Guess it was just too obscure for the label to even realize it existed? And of course, those who never knew the promo only mix existed wouldn't even know what they were missing.

Sure, it's no "Friend or Foe" or even "Vive Le Rock", but "Manners & Physique is a good pop album on it's own merit and well worth a listen. In 1990 Adam Ant was trying to be more innovative and modern I suppose and brought in Prince's producer Andre Cymone to produce something that can most probably be compared to, well, Prince stuff. It's pop with a danceable rhythm with Adam Ant's unique lyrics still abounding. Unfortunate, too, is the release of "Room At The Top", which is probably not the best song on the album, that honour would probably have to go to "Anger, Inc". True, it's not a definitive Adam Ant album, but it's still worth a listen. Adam's unreleased "Persuasion" album from 1993 is in the same vein as this, as well. The 1995 album "Wonderful" was a lot more pop adult contemporary and not as fun as this.

Amazon doesn't seem to list the tracks, so here they are:

TRACKS:

1. Room At The Top. 4:43
2. Rough Stuff. 4:40
3. If You Keep On. 4:16
4. Manners & Physique 3:30
5. Can't Set Rules About Love 4:43
6. U.S.S.A. 4:27
7. Bright Lights Black Leather.5:22
8. Piccadilly.4:52
9. Young Dumb And Full Of It.3:32
10. Anger, Inc. 4:35

This is my first Adam Ant purchase. Before I bought M&P the only songs by Adam that I was familiar with was Beat My Guest (via SLC Punk)and Goody Two Shoes (I never knew he sang that song). Anyway as a first time Adam Ant listener I got this CD only because his name was familar to me and I was looking for anything New Wave in my local discount record shop. I wasn't to know what I would be listening to but once I got home and stuck M&P in my Cd player I was amazed on how good this album is. It's a classic! Not one song on the album is bad they are all great. My favorite songs include: If you keep on, Manners and Physique, Can't Set The Rules About Love, and Anger Inc. I highly recomend this album. You can't go wrong. It's the perfect album to make your move into the world of Adam Ant. It is very underated album but don't let that stop you. It is a "CLASSIC"! You'll be glad your alive after listening to this LP.
It's too bad what happened to him thought.

*****************************************************************
5 *****<*>

I didn't find this album too interesting when I first got it. It is different than Adam's classic Ants material like 'Kings', 'Prince Charming' or even 'Viva Le Rock', so it's not for punk enthusiasts or for those who dislike later Adam Ant or 80's pop in general. I remember when this album came out in late '89/early '90 it had a sticker on it saying 'Adam Ant IS Back' and something like 'Pure Ant-pop built on the Minneapolis R&B scene' or something. Indeed, in between this and the previous album 'Viva Le Rock', Adam had disappeared for four year concentrating on an acting career which had limited success. And indeed, besides right-hand man guitarist Marco, a strong second contributor here can be found in former Prince collaborator Andre Cymone, who handles most of the instrumentation. Musically I suppose this album is closest to 'Strip' for its 'pop-ability', though less campy, more funky. Both are underrated Ant albums.

However these songs have since grown on me, so this album is money well spent. These are catchy songs here, including the hits 'Room AT The Top' and 'Can't Set The Rules About Love', the title track, 'Young Dumb and Full Of It' and 'U.S.S.A.'. There are lots of synthesizers here, which is unique to Antmusic and reaffirms how innovative his early Ants stuff was. Back in the early 80's when the Human League and all the 'New Romantics' were synth-happy, the Ants charted different territory by being tribal drums and spaghetti western/rockabilly guitars instead. So it's strange how Adam got into synth-pop this late in the game for 'Manners'. There is a hefty amount of 80's keyboards as well as funky beats. But there isn't a total absence of the Ant/Marco sound here, it's just more measured out. Dig 'Piccadilly' for example. 'Manners & Physique' still has the same Ant lyric style as anything else he's done, the same vocal quirks you love and some of the same Marco guitar twang you remember. If you like Adam Ant beyond his punk years, his Pirates Of The Carribean image or his 'Goody Two Shoes' heyday, then this album will make an enjoyable addition to your Antdiscs.

"Manners & Physique" has always been one of my favorite albums from Adam Ant. It was my first album of his I got and sports a nice, slick late 80's production moving Adam forward a little closer to hip hop than his hard rocking previous effort, "Vive Le Rock".

One thing I must say about Adam is really has guts. This is a guy who has consistently reinvented himself by making a different record every time which is something most artists don't dare to do. "Manners and Physique" employs a drum machine, much less guitar and more of a synthpop/electronic sound. Rockers will hate this album in the same way they hated Van Halen's "Jump" where this album shows no signs of Adam's punk oriented work and guitars are replaced with synthisizers and drum machines.
At this point, Adam has experimented with pretty much everything:
Punk
Rockabilly
Rap
Swing
Hard Rock
Pop
and now bringing him to hop hop.

Adam Ant in some ways kind of reminds me of Bowie. Their music is much different but it won't surprise anyone to see Bowie as Ziggy Stardust or The Thin White Duke. We've seen Adam mostly as a rocker, or a new waver with bizarre style which more than likely set some trends in the 80's but here we see a more corporate, cleaned up and sober looking Adam compared to his early 80's image. What's funny is this is a man who never drank or did drugs in the 80's, as clean and sober as they come regardless of what people said about him back then.

This release sports more positive lyrics. My mom bought this album for me when I was a kid. It's pretty much safe for anyone to listen to. Nothing weird, no mentioning of sex or disease or anything else he used to talk about on his records. The album produced a hit with "Room at the Top" but that's about it. I agree with what someone said on here, if this was released in '87 or so, the album probably would have put out more hits but who cares. It's still a great album and a must have for any fan. I can't remember what the critics said about this album but he was blamed for some of the same things Gary Numan was accused of back then which was sounding too much like Prince. I believe Prince's bass was on this album and has a strong Minneapolis pop type of production. Yeah, it does kind of sound like Prince but it's a dance album and I like Prince and I like dance albums so I will probably always enjoy this record.

It kind of reminds me of modern hip hop meets mid 80's Prince without the sexually driven lyrics which are probably the reason why the album wasn't a huge success. In 1989 rap was becoming more prominent on dance floors where this wasn't quite as cutting edge as Rob Base or Information Society who was tearing up the floors back then. This album didn't quite stand up to that stuff but overall, it's a good album. Nothing weird, no guitars, no screaming, just good, easy on the ears top 40 pop. If you can get your hands on this release, by all means.....get it. It's one of the few albums that was well produced and doesn't need remastering. Think mid-80's Human League and how they sounded with their song "Human". Kind of top 40, kind of contemporary fused with pop and hip hop. That's what this is.

I agree with the below reviewer this is Adam in his late 80's GQ pose. Very of it's time.

The songs on the record are:
Room At The Top/Rough Stuff/If You Keep On/Manners & Physique
/Can't Set Rules About Love/U.S.S.A./Bright Lights Black Leather/Piccadilly/Young Dumb And Full Of It/Anger, Inc.

The dated sound of the drum machine that graces each track leaves much to be desired. The album has a few things going against it.
The minimal use of Marco and his fabulous playing, the aforementioned drum machine, the production and ill-suited colaborator in Andre Symone (Prince's old bass player).
Having said that the songs themselves are pretty good but are somewhat devoid of the fun signature Ant sound. It sounds like it was produced by someone who had no idea of who Adam was.

"Room At The Top", "Rough Stuff", "Can't Set Rules About Love" and the title track (which is a re-rewritten song called "Doggy Style" from the Vive Le Rock demos) are the winners in an otherwise forgettable batch of songs.

Infact a few of the B-sides that accompanied the albums' singles
("Bruce Lee", "Brand New Torso", "How to steal the world") would have made the album more intersting - as these songs are all better than a lot of the album's tracks.

Sadly this album's follow-up Persuasion was lost in the record label restaffing and was never released. Which is unfortunate as Persusaion is a much better record than Manners & Physique.

"Rebop The Bebop"

After a four year hiatus Adam Ant returned recharged in early 1990 with "Room At The Top". He proved he could still crack the top 40, something I'm sure no one thought possible at the time. I remember when this came out, and I remember thinking it was average. Now however, it actually is better than "Vive Le Rock". There's something here, if you listen past the late 80's production gloss that still resonates well today (better than "Vive Le Rock" at least). There are a number of good tracks here like "Rough Stuff", "If You Keep On", "Manners & Physique", "Can't Set The Rules About Love", Bright Lights Black Leather", "Young Dumb And Full Of It" and "Anger, Inc." By far, the worst track is "U.S.S.A."

It's too bad this isn't digitally remastered (due to it being on a different record label from his first six albums). His next album would not be released by the evil record company execs, so we'd have to wait five more years until Adam would re-emerge with "Wonderful".

So, overall, not a bad album, but a little dated with the late 80's production and instrumentation. It's not as timeless as "Prince Charming" or "Friend Or Foe", but worth picking up for the Ant fan.

From what I have read "Manners & Physique" was ready to roll around 87/88 but wasn't actually released in the states until 1990. Whereas at one time Adam Ant was more punk, he was all pop on this album. The first single, "Room At The Top" was a really great song for 1990. Adam appeared in the video in a suit and was very dapper looking. Some of the stand out songs on the album include "If You Keep On," "Bright Lights, Black Leather," and "Anger Inc." Personally, I like every song. It really takes me back to a great point in time. I am suprised this CD isn't more respected, it really is a great body of work.