"ADAMSKI'S THING" ZTT: 114 CD Release date: 27 Oct 98

Prior to listening to this album I had had no experience of Adamski, but had him mentally tagged as a dance artist. To put it politely, I have a very dim opinion of dance music, so, when I heard this album, I was as surprised as the time I found a giant squid and the Crankies discussing existentialism in my shed.

This is a highly original and entertaining album that I certainly would not define as 'dance'. Actually, it's quite hard to define. the nearest I can manage is a 1920's jazz musical hybridised with a sedated version of the band They Might be Giants. Tracks range from the 'get up and shake your booties' "Memories of the Future" to the weirdly haunting "Existential Boredom" - my personal favourite track, sounding like a ghostly version of incidental music from an early Tom & Jerry cartoon.

Thoroughly recommended.
*****
- Sigsworthy Crags

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This strikes me as, basically, rhythmic ambient dance with touches of funky pop-soul and techno, but it's ambience with balls - both in the arrangement and in the guitaring, sampling or other instruments (eg, harp) that pop up from time to time.

Written, arranged and produced by Adamski, this CD is nicely programmed, with melodic arrangement and vocals. It's possibly one to space out to when you're near the end of a hectic rave or Saturday night party, and you're winding down, perhaps beginning to get a headache (especially if you're over 35), and you're the sort of person who likes listening to Tangerine Dream before crashing out. (Waddaya mean, fuck off you sad old git?)

Adamski's said that "there's more to life than doing drugs and getting drunk," - but this album's quite OK for either pursuit.
***
- Slutto

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BACKGROUND

Adamski's first taste of stardom at the tender age of eleven when his first band Stupid Babies recorded a single 'Baby Sitters' for Fast Product Records (home of such punk luminaries as the Dead Kennedys), featuring Adamski on guitar and his five year old brother Dominic on vocals. Stupid Babies hit number 3 in the British indie charts.

In the mid-80s Adamski started getting into house music and was amongst the first to perform house music live at clubs and raves such as Dungeons in East London. ‘Initially it was just a way of getting into clubs and parties without paying,’ says Adamski. ‘I couldn’t DJ and so would turn up with my keyboard and a bunch of friends and tell the bouncers, ‘We’re the band’ - and then tell the DJ to stop playing, and then I'd go on and perform...’

His first album, ‘Live & Direct’ (1989) reached the charts and included the top 20 hit 'NRC'. On his 1990 album 'Musical Pharmacy' he collaborated with Seal on the track 'Killer' and Seal and Adamsk started hanging out together, even doing gigs together.

Adamski then took time out - to "concentrate on being a good father". I "began to realise that there was more to life than doing drugs and getting drunk. Now I'm far more influenced by doing things like laundry and going to Safeway's. Bringing up my daughter is so much more fulfilling than being a pop star."

And now, afer a break of almost six years, Adamski returns...

Adamski's Thing is a product of Adamski’s travelling, especially in Italy where, Excess Press tell us, "he spent a year eating pizaa in a medieval way and drinking flagons of wine..."

Excess Press describe his 'Thing' album thus:

ADAMSKI'S THING carries on from l992's 'Naughty', although it is more focused than its multi-vocalist predecessor. Many of the vocal duties are taken by New York house singer Gerideau, another contact facilitated by Jimi Polo.

"I hadn't spoken to Jimi for about three years, and then one day I was walking out of the tube station [London's subway] when I had this really strong thought of Jimi. I got back home and there was a message from Jimi, left at exactly the same moment as he had entered my head so strongly."

Jimi was calling to put Adamski in touch with Gerideau, and Adamski produced a few tracks for him and then asked him to sing on his new album...

Another guest on this album is Bluebell, Adamski's six year old daughter. - Slutto.

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