2008 jewel case pressing of the digitally remastered and expanded edition of Adam Ant’s hit album, originally released in 1985, including 10 bonus tracks. Helmed by famed producer Tony Visconti, Vive Le Rock was a return to Adam’s T. Rex-inspired roots, filled with Glam beats and chugging guitars. Features the hit singles ‘Apollo 9′ and ‘Vive Le Rock’. NOTE: Half of the band featured on this album, Marco Pironni and Chris ‘Deniro’ Constantinou, resurfaced in 2008 as The Wolfmen [Read More...]
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Viva Le Rock never got proper recognition for being a return to Adam Ant’s punkier roots. This album was the last of Adam’s ‘classic’ albums and after his appearance on Live Aid that year(1985), he would disappear into acting and only return to making albums very sporadicaly(only two since then). Here, Viva Le Rock is more guitar-heavy, similar to the early/mid-80’s pop-punk of Billy Idol, with Adam and the boys decked out in cucumber-cool tough hombre mode. When Adam disbanded the Ants to ‘go solo’, he dropped the double-drum line-up and punk guitars but retained a lot of his 18th century pirate/highwayman/sexy rogue image. He also incorporated horns and strings on those two post-Ants albums, the smash ‘Friend Or Foe’ and the campy/pop sex-obsessed ‘Strip’. On Viva Le Rock, Adam went back to a ‘band’ format with a four-piece group consisting of Marco(of course), Chris DeNiro(bass) and Count Wiczling(drums). The music(and back photo)certainly does make it seem like there was more of a group thinking here. In my opinion, this album was put out by a new Ants. It could have been credited to Adam & The Ants- Adam certainly had a solid band here. A shame he didn’t keep them long, Viva Le Rock was a return to form and more guitar-oriented than the previous two albums. The title track is one of his best rockers and was a hit(as was ‘Apollo 9). Other great tracks were ‘Miss Thing’, ‘Hell’s 8 Acres’, ‘Rip Down’ and a humorous ‘P.O.E.’ which is about the arms race(Viva Le Rock does have an 80’s theme of nuclear war, Russians and other Reagan-era concerns done in humorous manner). Not the Ants with the make-up and war paint, but clearly an Ants album in everything but in name. Definately a product of the 80’s but worth hearing for much more than the two hits. Try it.
This record blew me away when it first came out, and it’s still one of my favorites. It was supposed to be Adam Ant’s big rock record, and rock it does! (Some writers have described it as rockabilly, but I don’t get that as the dominant feel.) The sound is huge (at least by Adam Ant standards), and almost every song is relentlessly catchy. True, Adam’s vocal overacting, yodeling, and made-up gibberish words (see “Razor Keen”) can be irritating at times, but the band’s nonstop rocking attack simply plows over those shortcomings. I also sense an undercurrent of homoeroticism (check out “Scorpio Rising”) that adds another intriguing dimension. Best of all, though, is Marco’s guitar work; his playing and palette of tones are so astonishingly good on the entire record that it’s difficult to pick standouts–although “Miss Thing,” “Razor Keen,” and “Hell’s Eight Acres” are good places to start. Apparently considered a flop at the time of its release, Vive le Rock is simply a great, grossly underrated record. (Note: I have both the CD and the LP, and the CD sounds, well, compressed; the LP sounds much bigger.)