Adam Ant - Adam Ant is the BlueBlack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter

When Adam Ant released Cool Zombie I was initially underwhelmed.

Not just slightly, but horribly underwhelmed.

I wanted him to come back and emphatically silence his detractors.

The bar had been set high after some fantastic live dates, but rather than him just missing hitting it I was leaning towards thinking that he had just stayed in bed having an artistic wank leading to him failing to deliver on the promises he had made.

It sounded lazy, random, and unfocussed.

Or that's what I thought.

I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong though.

I'm not even sure what I didn't like about it now, because second time around I'm drawn to it straight away.

The random influences that it has doesn't sound unfocussed now, but rather cleverly stitched together.

As an opening track to the mouthful of an album title that is 'Adam Ant is the BlueBlack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter' it sets the scene well.

Then with each song it just gets better.

By the midway point of the album I was hearing nothing to complain about.

Nothing at all.

As each song opens itself up to the listener it becomes increasingly obvious that what we have here is an album that walks a tightrope above the fans of his Dirk period and his pop icon years.

One slip and he will be in one camp or the other.

No matter where he would land he would leave people in the opposing one disappointed, but there's barely a slip at all, and if he does lean too far towards one fan base or the other he is quick to follow the moment with one that will appease.

Take Darlin Boy for an example.

It would knock your White Sox off, but right in the midst of it is a bit of a twitching nod to the Wild Frontier, and then when it leaves us to make way for Dirty Beast he delivers a track for the fans who have a sneaky admiration for the 'Wonderful' period.

It's all very cleverly done.

The common thread through it all seems to be sex though.

Dirty filthy wonderful sex.

Each song could be an ode to panties, or boxers if that's your thing, hitting the floor.

Even when it's not overtly mentioned the music conveys the rumpled sheets of a liaison where conventional attitudes have been left outside the door.

And this is exactly what we all want from Adam Ant isn't it?

It would be fair to say that with this release Ant Music really is for Sex People.

Horny as fuck, and like it's title, more than a mouthful.