#30 Adamski (+ Adam Sandler, Adam Snyder, and Dick Allen)

Adamski is back with the second of his two cards in the 1991 ProSet SuperStars MusiCards set at card #30. I think this is the tightest headshot we've seen in the set so far, with his face taking up about half the card.

Ha, and that's probably the weirdest back write-up in the set so far. I think the bit with Pro Set claiming Adamski is a extraterrestrial would be known as "kayfabe" in wrestling-- going along with the made-up storyline for the benefit of the fans.

The comments on the previous post pretty much confirmed my suspicions that the vast majority of North Americans aren't familiar with him, but he was big in the European rave scene in 1990. "Killer", a collaboration with then-unknown Seal, went to #1 in the UK and Belgium, #2 in the Netherlands and Germany, and #5 in Ireland and Sweden.

But before we go labeling him a one-hit wonder, well, the follow-up single "The Space Jungle" went to #7 in the UK and broke into the top 30 in a few other countries, so I guess technically there's another Adamski hit. Despite the title, the song is effectively a modernized cover of the old Elvis Presley tune "All Shook Up" (written by Otis Blackwell in 1956).

CUSTOM CORNER

I was thinking maybe Otis Blackwell for today's custom, but instead let's pencil him in at #237, pairing him with The Smithereens, a band Otis toured with in his later years.

Adamski's real name is Adam Tinley, so I thought I might try to think of other Adams in popular music. Musicians with that first name popping to mind for me are Adam Ant, Adam Yauch and Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys, and U2 bassist Adam Clayton... all of whom are featured on MusiCards already.

I took a look in my iTunes library and found songs from a couple Adams in my music collection.

Adam Sandler has had quite the career, getting his start as a popular cast member on Saturday Night Live in the early 90s and going on to a successful string of comedy films. His lowbrow humor might have worn thin for many by this point, but he still cranks out projects on a regular basis, and received universal praise for his dramatic turn in 2019's Uncut Gems. 

It's easy to forget Sandler sold millions of CDs in the 90s. They're All Gonna Laugh at You! (1993) and What the Hell Happened to Me? (1996) were both huge, while What's Your Name? (1997) and Stan and Judy's Kid (1999) also went gold. His albums are a mix of comedy skits and humorous songs.

At some point I ended up with his first 3 albums. I may have bought one of them, but the rest were hand-me-downs from friends who stopped listening to them.

"The Chanukah Song" is probably his best-known song, debuting on SNL's "Weekend Update" and later featured via in-concert recording on What the Hell Happened to Me?

Another song off that album, "Ode to My Car", got some censored radio play on the main station I listened to back then, San Diego's 91X, and I liked it well enough to buy the CD. Or maybe a friend of mine bought it and I just borrowed it.. hard to remember at this point. Another favorite song is "The Goat Song" from What's Your Name? which is kind of a rock opera callback to an earlier skit ("The Goat" from What the Hell Happened to Me?).

Switching from a very well-known Adam S. to an obscure one, Adam Snyder is the other Adam to feature today. Not to be confused with the football player with the same name, this Adam Snyder was the keyboardist in Mercury Rev for a stint and helped create their most successful record, 1998's Deserter Songs. That's how I'm familiar with him, but my curiosity lead me to check out some of his solo demos, which I think I got on CDR from a guy who was friends with him. Turns out when left to his own devices, Adam comes up with Americana folk songs. Don't sound much like Mercury Rev (one of my all-time favorite bands), but some quality ditties none the less. He went on to release a couple records, Across The Pond (2001) and This Town Will Get Its Due (2006). The albums feature a full band, though honestly I think I prefer the earlier versions I first heard where it was just him singing while playing acoustic guitar. Those recordings sound super intimate, perfect music for when you're not 100% awake, like late at night or early in the morning. My favorite songs of his are "Leaves of Grass", "Until it Comes", and "Thru Til Morning" off that early demo CDR titled Until it Comes. But the finished versions aren't bad either. If you're into mellow folk music, might be worth giving a listen.

Not sure what Adam Snyder is up to these days, though in his career he's worked with luminaries such as New Order and The Waterboys. Looks like he had a band called The Red Cars in recent years, though I can't find much about them.

That'll do it for today. I'm excited for the next post... where we sound The Alarm.

Last minute addition...

I was heartbroken to hear of Dick Allen's passing today. He's one of my favorite baseball players to collect, as has been documented over the years on my main blog, Baseball Card Breakdown. Hurts to lose him. Man, what a rough year. :(

This above MusiCard custom isn't as far-fetched as you might think. One thing I learned about Dick Allen recently is that he had a brief recording career. Yep, in the 60s he sang lead with a doo-wop group called The Ebonistics. They performed in the Philadelphia nightclub scene and occasionally had a high-profile gig, such as halftime at a 76ers game.

"Echo's of November" was the group's biggest hit. 

The guy won NL Rookie of the Year, AL MVP, and had a successful recording career on the side. That's pretty impressive. Rest in peace, Mr. Allen.

#29 Adamski

 
Card #29 in the 1991 ProSet MusiCards SuperStars set features the first unfamiliar name for me so far. I can say as I type this opening paragraph that I don't recall ever hearing of Adamski (beyond perusing the checklist for this set) and if my ears ever came in contact with an Adamski song in the past, well I have zero recollection of it. 

My first impression based on this photo is he looks like the missing link between Vanilla Ice and Eminem, though a little more "glam" with his fashion sense. But is that what he sounds like? We'll find out soon enough.

The back gives us a good introduction. There's an odd "Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy" picture and a write-up of how this performer got his career started. Perhaps he was bigger in the UK and that's why I never heard of him? He has 2 MusiCards: this one and another one immediately after it. He's not in the UK version of the set, funny enough. I'm still not sure what to expect when I press play on his music, but based on what I know from this card, I'm expecting something along the lines of Jesus Jones and EMF.. other UK electro-pop from that time that I'm familiar with.

Here's the point where I go to Spotify and listen to what they've got as the most popular few songs of his available.

[...]

Oh wow, looks like he's still active, with a release out just this year. Good for him!

Looks like his biggest hit by a wide margin was "Killer" off the Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy album (1990) [that explains the card's weird back picture.. it's the album cover]. The song's got over 10 million plays! I was thinking, "Wow, he sounds a lot like Seal." But no, it actually is Seal providing guest vocals on an Adaminski track.

The 2020 release is called Free to Kill Again and looks to be an album of remixes of that "Killer" song. Hmm, that's kinda sad.

His second most popular song on Spotify is a modern remix of "Killer". I like this "re-dub" version a little more than the LP version, but honestly neither are really grabbing me.

Seal, by the way, has no cards in the standard MusiCards set, but has four cards in the UK edition. I hope I live long enough to eventually cover those on the blog-- let's be real, at the pace I'm going, it'll be several years from now-- because I really like a few Seal songs (and get chagrined whenever anyone refers to him as a one-hit wonder... I remember a few of his songs getting lots of radio play when I was younger, not just "Kiss From a Rose".)

So (over) half of the top 10 songs on Adamski's Spotify page are versions of "Killer".. I guess it must've been a big hit overseas, but I don't recall ever hearing it before. It's getting a "meh" from me today, but maybe if my local radio station was playing it regularly back in the day, it would have won me over eventually. I mean, I love me some Paula Abdul songs, as we've covered over the previous three posts, but if I was hearing them for the first time today, I doubt they'd do much for me. Timing is everything. He just didn't seem to hit in the US. (Again, funny he got a US MusiCard, but not a UK one.)

I'm trying to go into it with an open mind, but yeah, not really feeling the Adamski songs I'm listening to right now as I draft this post. Not terrible, but nothing I see myself ever wanting to give a second listen. If any big Adamski fans are reading this, I feel like I should apologize to you, but hey, nothing personal. I'm also not really familiar with any of the artists in the "Fans Also Like" (pictured above, far right), so maybe this just isn't my scene. Never been much of a raver.

According to his Wikipedia entry, as of early 2020, Adamski "has been spending time in the studio writing and producing songs for the next highly anticipated Kylie Minogue album." That's cool. (Like Seal, Kylie isn't in the US MusiCards set, but has 4 cards in the UK edition.)

I think my initial assumption of him sounding something like Jesus Jones and EMF was pretty close, honestly.. but with less guitars. And by the way, those are a couple more artists not in the US set but in the UK set. Really adds to my feeling that Adamski is out of place in the US checklist and would have made a lot more sense in the UK edition. Kids opening packs of the stuff in England at the time would have likely been much more familiar with him than American kids were, I'm sure.

I think I'm just going to end this post here with no Custom Corner, but seeing as I've run out of things to say about Adamski, I should come up with a good accompanying Custom Corner for the next card-- Adamski again-- or else it'll be a very short post, lol.

What do you say, readers.. Are any of you Adamski addicts? If so, any favorite tracks besides "Killer" (or the other few songs in the above top ten) that I should check out? Or are you like me and are only now learning about him for the first time thanks to this card?