Adam & The Ants - The Singles [2LP UK Import]

Adam & The Ants' The Singles gathers twenty hits from one of pop's most theatrical careers, pressed as a double LP UK import.

The set runs in order, starting with the band's first single, Young Parisians, in 1978 and ending with Wonderful from 1995. The first disc covers the Ants years, when Adam and guitarist Marco Pirroni reinvented post-punk with pirate costumes, war paint and twin thundering drummers. The second follows Adam Ant's solo career, which kept the hits and the swagger coming well into the decade.

Antmusic is a manifesto set to a stomping, tribal beat, and Stand and Deliver turns highwayman romance into a gloriously ridiculous pop anthem. Prince Charming slows the pace for a dramatic, chant-along ballad of self-respect, while Goody Two Shoes, his first solo single, struts along on brassy energy and a cheeky lyric about his clean-living image.

The sound is bold and colourful, built on drums that thunder like a marching army, twangy guitars borrowed from spaghetti westerns and hooks that refuse to leave your head. Adam's voice moves from yelping punk energy to playful crooning with total confidence.

Anyone who wore eyeliner to the school disco, or wished they had, will find twenty reasons to do it again here.