Dirk Wears White Sox

Dirk Wears White Sox
Studio album by Adam and the Ants
Released	October 30, 1979
Recorded	Sound Development Studios August 24–29, 1979
Genre	Post punk
Length	40:39
Label	Do It Records
Producer	Adam Ant, Chris Hughes
Adam and the Ants chronology
Dirk Wears White Sox (1979) Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980)
Alternative cover
1983 U.S. re-release with different running order and track selection

Dirk Wears White Sox is Adam and the Ants' first album, released on Do It Records in 1979, before Adam (born, Stuart Leslie Goddard) went on to fame with "Kings of the Wild Frontier." Dirk Wears White Sox features a much more eclectic, sometimes brooding sound than Ant's later work. Many of the songs, notably "Cleopatra" and "Never Trust a Man (With Egg on his Face)" remained a part of Adam Ant's live repertoire throughout his career, both with the Ants and later as a solo artist.

The "Dirk" of the title refers to classic British film icon Dirk Bogarde. No title track was featured on the album, although a song entitled Dirk Wears White Socks (sic) had been played extensively at the band's live concerts during 1977-78 and a demo recording of it had been made at Free Range Studios, London in August 1977. This demo was due to have been released on the cancelled DVD compilation Digital Tenderness accompanying some 8mm film footage of the Ants in concert from 1977.

The album was made with an early lineup of Adam and the Ants, which disbanded after the album was released. Guitarist Matthew Ashman and drummer David Barbarossa went on to form Bow Wow Wow with then-Ants bassist Leigh Gorman (who had only played one gig with the Ants and was not involved in any studio recordings). Original bassist Andy Warren had departed shortly after recording the album to join former Ants guitarist Lester Square in The Monochrome Set.

When the Ants became commercially successful the singles "Zerox" (7/79 reached # 45 in 1/81) and "Cartrouble" (3/80 reached # 33 in 1/81) were re-issued.

After Adam Ant acquired the rights to the album, it was re-released by Epic Records in the USA in 1983, at the peak of his popularity, with new cover artwork based around a close-up video still of Adam, a practice also used for the Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Friend Or Foe albums. Despite having already been a UK Top 20 hit album, a UK edition of the new version was also released by CBS Records

This release angered many fans, not least because two lyrically controversial songs, "Catholic Day" (about John F. Kennedy) and "Day I Met God," were deleted, although they are arguably two of the album's highlights.^{[citation needed]} They were replaced with the single "Zerox" b/w Whip In My Valise while opening track Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2) was replaced with the Cartrouble/Kick single. Another track, The Idea had a lyric about "a wallfull of handicapped" rendered as "a wallfull of handclaps" on the lyric sheet of the new edition, although the original lyric was still audible on the actual LP.

The album was re-released in the United Kingdom in 1995 with its original black and white artwork and all songs intact, although retaining the running order of the 1983 version. The album was remastered and reissued in 2004 with several bonus tracks from original single EP releases.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Allmusic's Chris Woodstra rated Dirk Wears White Sox four-and-a-half out of five stars. He explained that "the album offers a fascinating look at the Ants' formative years", although he also stated that "the somewhat pretentious, overly arty lyrics and inexperienced playing are a drawback".^[1]

Various track listings

Dirk Wears White Sox has been released many times, each version varying from the previous one:

Original 1979 Do It release track listing

1. "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)"
2. "Digital Tenderness"
3. "Nine Plan Failed"
4. "Day I Met God"
5. "Tabletalk"
6. "Cleopatra"
7. "Catholic Day"
8. "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)"
9. "Animals and Men"
10. "Family of Noise"
11. "The Idea"

1983 Epic/CBS version track listing

The 1983 re-release version came with a different album cover taken from a December 1979 video for the song ' Zerox '.^[2] "Catholic Day" and "Day I Met God" have been dropped, and "Cartrouble" appears in its single version. This edition also adds three songs from the same era not on the original LP, "Kick!", "Zerox" and "Whip In My Valise".

Original vinyl editions of the album came with recent sleeve notes on the inner jacket by Adam, explaining how he and Marco had decided to "do justice to the work by incorporating the first two singles and making the album widely available to our audience".

Despite claims to the contrary in various reference works,^[3] all songs were featured in what were audibly the original mixes as featured on Do It releases from 1979-80.

1. "Cartrouble"
2. "Kick!"
3. "Digital Tenderness"
4. "Nine Plan Failed"
5. "Family Of Noise"
6. "Tabletalk"
7. "Zerox"
8. "Cleopatra"
9. "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)"
10. "Animals And Men"
11. "The Idea"
12. "Whip In My Valise"

Remastered 1995 re-release track listing

This 1995 Sony UK version featured the original black and white album art in somewhat cropped form. The lettering on the sleeve was recreated in the style of the original and does not feature the stroke through the letter O in the word "Sox". It also substitutes a letter Z in the place the zig-zagged S in the word "Ants" (previously a common practice among unofficial merchandisers around the time of the album's original release).

This edition retains the running order of the 1983 version - the dropped tracks are appended. The initial batch of copies feature the March 1980 single version of Cartrouble - later versions feature a remix of the original 1979 album version, prepared by Chris Hughes in early 1980 and later released on the 1982 12" Antmusic EP.

1. "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)" – 6.51
2. "Digital Tenderness" – 3.03
3. "Nine Plan Failed" – 5.18
4. "Tabletalk" – 5.34
5. "Cleopatra" – 3.15
6. "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)" – 3.13
7. "Animals And Men" – 3.20
8. "Family Of Noise" – 2.36
9. "The Idea" – 3.26
10. "Catholic Day" – 3.08
11. "Day I Met God" - 2:58

Remastered 2004 version track listing

This Epic release is the 1979 version of the album, with a substantial amount of bonus tracks. The opening version of Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2) was the first time the original album mix of this track had appeared on CD.

1. "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)" – 6.51
2. "Digital Tenderness" – 3.03
3. "Nine Plan Failed" – 5.18
4. "Day I Met God" - 2:58
5. "Tabletalk" – 5.34
6. "Cleopatra" – 3.15
7. "Catholic Day" – 3.08
8. "Never Trust a Man (With Egg on His Face)" – 3.13
9. "Animals and Men" – 3.20
10. "Family of Noise" – 2.36
11. "The Idea" – 3.26
12. "Zerøx" – 3.48"
13. "Whip in My Valise" – 4.00
14. "Kick!" – 1.36
15. "Physical" – 3.59
16. "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2) (Hughes Mix)" – 6.36
17. "Friends" – 2.40
18. "Cartrouble (Single Version)" – 3.24
19. "Kick! (Single Version)" – 2.06

Tracks 12–13 from original "Zerøx" 7" single release (July 1979, Do-It Dun 8)
Tracks 14–17 from original "The Antmusic EP" 12" EP release (March 1982, Do-It Dun 20. (Tracks 14,15 and 17 are all alternate mixes from those originally released. The featured mix of 15 had appeared on 2000 copies of the Zerøx single in July 1980)
Tracks 18–19 from original "Cartrouble" 7" single release (March 1980, Do-It Dun 10)

Personnel

• Adam Ant – all voices, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica
• David Barbe – percussion
• Matthew Ashman – guitar, piano
• Andrew Warren – bass
• Marco Pirroni – guitars on tracks 18–19
• Jon Moss – drums on tracks 18–19

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Woodstra, Chris. Dirk Wears White Sox [Bonus Tracks - Adam & the Ants] at Allmusic. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
2. ^ ' Stand and Deliver ' DVD, Sony 2006
3. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/dirk-wears-white-sox-bonus-tracks-r743876/review