REISSUE, REPACKAGE, REPACKAGE....

In these days of instantly accessible music via Youtube, streaming, downloading, and million radio and tv channels, not to mention countless websites, any new artists are easy to discover. A band or solo artist doesn't have to gig endlessly to build a following: a few well placed amateur videos on Youtube and a Facebook page can turn them into an overnight sensation without going through the traditional channels of live venues and record companies - the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Ed Sheeran are testament to that. So it's easy to forget there were times when acts could spend years plying their trade around the toilet circuit, slowly building a following and - if they were lucky - success. Sometimes a band could exist on the fringes for some time before a lucky break. Mott The Hoople were on the verge of calling it quits, having played the college circuit and released three flop albums on Island Records before David Bowie - a fan - wrote "All the Young Dudes" for them and turned them into Glam Rock stars. Sometimes band members leaving prompts a change in fortunes - when Ultravox bought in Midge Ure to replace the departing frontman John Foxx they soon had the hits that had eluded them for nearly 4 years; The Human League released two albums and a handful of singles to cult acclaim before the band split down the middle, with Phil Oakey and projectionist Adrian Wright retaining the name and little else, before his pop instincts kicked in and - with new musicians on board - became one of the biggest bands of the New Romantic era. With a Number 1 hit in "Don't You Want Me" and a top selling album in Dare, the label who had released their groundbreaking debut single "Being Boiled" - independent label Fast - promptly re-released said single which soared into the Top 10, meaning that two different lineups of the band were in the chart at the same time. This repackaging and reissuing of pre-fame records has gone on for years, record labels cashing in on a former signings' new found chart glory. One example from the early 80's is Adam & The Ants. Formed in 1977 by Stuart Goddard (Adam Ant), they went through a few line-up changes before settling on lead vocalist Ant, guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Andy Warren, and drummer Dave Barbe. Playing fast paced Punk with a sideline in S&M and fetishistic imagery and song content, they had a cult following but were seen as a joke amongst the music press and "leaders" of the scene, not helped by the uncharacteristic style of their debut single, and their only on Decca, "Young Parisians". In stark contrast to the more familiar punk of the b-side "Lady" ("I saw a lady and she was naked"), the lead track was a jazzy ballad complete with saxophone and rinky-dink piano. Whether this was released as a joke or not i don't know, but it was a complete flop and the band were dropped from the label. Further releases came when the band signed to independent label Do It, where a more Post-Punk sound began to emerge mixed with Glam, Soul and Funk, but two more singles - "Zerox" and "Cartrouble" -  and the Dirk Wears White Sox album still failed to get them any more than a larger cult following. Annoyed by this continued lack of success, Ant hired Malcolm Mclaren as manager to see if he could help them, but after giving him a few tips and pointers he then poached the rest of the band for his own project, Bow Wow Wow. This gave Ant a kick up the arse and with a new line up, sound, and image Adam & The Ants soon became huge stars with a string of hits including two chart toppers and two huge albums. It didn't take long for their old record labels to cash in, and soon their old flop singles were vying for chart success alongside their new material. For new teenybop fans of the band with no knowledge of their history this must have been confusing: the laidback jazzy "Young Parisians" competing with their new Burundi beat- influenced sound and Native American look, the punky likes of "Deutscher Girls" and "Cartrouble" against the twin drummed might of "Antmusic" and "Dog Eat Dog". There was even an EP of out-takes from the Dirk sessions! That being said, Adam wasn't averse to recycling his older songs: most of the flip sides of the hits are Mk1 Ants songs re-recorded with the new line-up, giving any new fans a glimpse into their S&M inspired past ("Beat My Guest" especially).

Anyhow, what got me thinking about all this was finding a pretty decent copy of "Young Parisians" in my favourite local used records shop Anarchy. It's still an oddity in the Ant back catalogue, but a good one.