Adam Ant: Physical Five Pack

Who knew the cash my parents gave me for my 13th birthday would change my life so drastically?

There I was at the local Musicland with a brand new twenty burning a hole in my pocket, able to spend it on anything my heart desired. I gazed around the store, overcome by the expanse of albums staring out at me from the bins, all begging to be mine. And that's when I first laid my eyes on Adam & The Ants' Kings Of The Wild Frontier.

I knew within seconds of seeing Adam decked out in native American war paint that we'd be leaving the store together. Truth be told, I also picked up the first two Police albums, but it was Kings that spent the most time on my turntable and helped my musical journey depart from the hard rock and Top 40 that I'd been listening to up until then.

While there were many great songs to choose from on the platter, one in particular quickly became a favorite of mine: "Physical (You're So)".

The great thing about Adam is that "Physical" is one of the first songs he wrote after forming the original line-up (you know, the one that Malcolm McLaren swiped from him and rechristened as Bow Wow Wow with the addition of singer Annabella Lwin). They recorded a version during the Dirk Wears White Sox sessions, as well as performing it live since '78 (thus the appearance of three live versions below).

I thought it would be interesting to compile a handful of different recordings of the song, showing how the song went from being a rather crude punk workout to the seminal version that appeared on the US edition of Kings Of The Wild Frontier.

And, yeah, it would later be covered by Nine Inch Nails, too, but I digress.

So, let's, ahem, get "Physical"!

Physical - Live at The Roundhouse 1978
Physical - Live 1978
Physical - Peel Session
Physical - Dirk Sessions
Physical (You're So) - Kings of The Wild Frontier version