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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Don't Drink. Don't Smoke. What Do You Do?", April 20, 2003
Confessing that you like Adam Ant still won't win you credibility points in a few elite circles, but the truth remains that he was one of pop music's most vibrant figures in the last 25 years. Often a collaboration with guitarist Marco Pirroni, the music of Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) was a hybrid of punk rock, African tribal rhythms, and pop sensibilities that dominated the UK charts for much of the early 1980s. And though his popularity waned by the release of 1985's flop "Vive Le Rock," fans were still humming to many of his hits. Speaking of hits, "Essential Adam Ant" is a collection of his work from 1979 right up to 1995's "Wonderful." Digitally remastered for superior sound, these hits give me back some fond memories of the good old days. The most familiar track is the Top 20 hit "Goody Two Shoes," but there are other fun tunes like "Stand and Deliver," "Desperate but Not Serious," and the Phil Collins-produced "Strip." While the previous compilation "Antics in the Forbidden Zone" has more tracks, "Essential" covers his material more comprehensively and includes his work from the 1990s. My only gripe is that it could have dug deeper into his punk roots and included "Kick," "Whip in My Valise," and "Cartrouble." It's unlikely that he'll ever make such a big splash as he did 20 years ago, but we can always turn to this disc as a reminder of why he was so popular in the first place.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice remastering but omits a few essentials songs, April 21, 2006
For the individual who just "likes" Adam and is not an Antmaniac this maks for a nifty purchase (as do a great deal from the desperate "Essential" series). However there are a couple of head-scratchers in terms of song selection and omissions from the collection. The inclusion of "Physical (You're So)" is a bit questionable seeing as "Cartrouble" (a classic catchy single featuring the debut of Marco) should have been neatly placed after "Zerox" and "Vive Le Rock" (a record company error made this should-have-been-hit single exactly that) should have been sequenced after "Apollo 9". However neither of these singles are included here and are somewhat important in presenting a complete, accurate and essential Ant collection.
Later period Adam songs like "Room At The Top" and "Wonderful" are lone representations of the albums they were culled from. Perhaps other singles from these albums ("Can't Set Rules About Love", "Rough Stuff", "Gotta Be A Sin" and "Beautiful Dream") would have possibly made these songs not seem so out of place and different from earlier Ant material but I digress.
It is nice to have an American collection of remastered Ant material (a first indeed). This collection is somewhat similar to The Very Best Of Adam And The Ants which came out a year or so earlier. But for a nice collection of (almost) complete essential Ant music I suppose this makes a nice little purchase.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's no "Antics in the Forbidden Zone", September 14, 2005
I'm really not sure what the purpose of this Disc is, other than as an Adam Ant filler for those collectors who need to add more to their collection. This is a slightly scaled down version of the truly best of "Antics in the Forbidden Zone" which detailed Adam Ant's career up until the bombastic "Apollo 9" album. "Essential" adds the 1990 single "Room at the Top" from "Manners & Physique" album and "Wonderful" from the 1995 "Wonderful" album. These two songs are not really worth the cost of admission and I think are probably the weakest songs on those two albums, anyway. And of course "Essential" ignores the unreleased 1993 album "Persuasion" which had some really good songs on it. If you want later period Adam Ant, "Manners" is really good and "Wonderful" is, well, less than wonderful, but still a worthwhile Adam Ant. If you want an introduction to Adam Ant, the chronologically catalogued "Antics" is great and a more complete collection!
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is one of Adam Ant's 
