A Man Called Adam

A Man Called Adam (sometimes abbreviated to AMCA) are British electronic music artists Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones.

Recording with a ten piece latin/jazz band for DJ, Gilles Peterson’s fledgling Acid Jazz Records label, A Man Called Adam found that it was the remixed B-sides, "APB", "Techno Powers" and "Amoeba" - electronic versions of the A-side tracks, that became cult records, bridging the divide between the jazz, rare groove and acid house scenes.fact|date=August 2008

By 1990 AMCA had moved to Big Life Records and released "Barefoot In the Head". Produced by Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones with Paul Daley and sound engineer Mat Clark, the track features choral pads and strings coupled with bouncing rhythm tracks created with Roland 909 and 727 drum machines and lyricist Rodgers cribbed the Pagan poetry translations of Robert Graves and explored her own experiments with ecstacy.fact|date=August 2008

The 1990, Channel 4 documentary, "A Short film about Chillin' " featured the band along with The Farm, DJs Andrew Weatherall, Danny Rampling, Terry Farley and Rocky and Diesel, and charted their journey to Ibiza with club promoter Charlie Chester, and a couple of humdred British ravers on the first organized clubbing holiday of its kind. The vocal sample, of American actor Rod McKuen intoning 'I put a seashell to my ear' to the sound of waves lapping the shore, meant the track would ever be associated with sun-drenched beaches and the term 'Balearic House' came into use.fact|date=August 2008

Althoughchart success eluded the band, they are regarded as pivotal in the development of the electronic music genres, acid jazz and Balearic House. Paul Daley left the band to form Leftfield and the harder edged sound he developed with collaborator Neil Barnes defined what became known as 'Progressive House' while Rodgers and Jones’ contributions to The Café del Mar series of compilation albums, helped shape a new genre, ‘Chill Out’.fact|date=August 2008 Releasing three albums, "The Apple" (Big Life, 1991), "Duende" (Other Records, 1998) and "All My Favourite..." (Southern Fried Records, 2004) in their career, it is via their singles and contributions to many compilation albums that their popularity has spread.fact|date=August 2008

Apart from "Barefoot In The Head" (which takes its title from a novel by Brian Aldiss) their most famous singles include "Easter Song" and U.S. release "Que Tal America?". Another popular track, "Estelle" has appeared on many compilations though it was never released as a single.

Unusually for a group known for electronic dance music, they released an acoustic version of their most popular track "Barefoot In The Head" as a single in 2004 and have also performed acoustic sets as a live band. They have also produced a number of remixes for other artists and, with Steve Gribbin, founded the specialist dance label Other Records. They are currently working as sound designers on museum commissions, notably the forthcoming BME (British Music Experience) - a museum charting the history of British music from the end of World War II.

External links

* [http://www.amancalledadam.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.myspace/amancalledadam.com/ myspace site]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wcfuxq95ld6e~T1 AllMusicGuide: A Man Called Adam]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/A+Man+Called+Adam A Man Called Adam] on Discogs.com