Strip

Strip is the second solo studio album by Adam Ant, and counting his work with Adam and the Ants, his fifth studio album. It was released in 1983 and a stylistic departure from Ant's previous musical efforts. This record is much less rock-oriented and more grounded in pop and dance. Ant continued his songwriting collaboration with Marco Pirroni for the album. Along with Richard James Burgess and Ant, Pirroni was one of the album’s main producers. The album did not perform as well in Ant's home country as his previous albums and performed modestly in the US. Critics generally reviewed it unfavorably. Production Phil Collins plays drums on "Puss 'n Boots" and "Strip", Collins also aided in production duties for the two tracks he played on, and enlisted Hugh Padgham to assist with the production and engineering of those sessions. Singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, of ABBA fame, also performs the female spoken part on "Strip". Content The cover photograph was fashioned after actress Jane Russell's famous photo from Howard Hughes's 1943 film The Outlaw. Release The lead single from the album in Europe and Australia was "Puss 'n Boots", which continued the pantomime themes and fashions of Ant's earlier work. The single reached number 5 on the UK chart in November 1983, becoming Ant's final UK top 10 hit, although other top 20 hits would follow. The title track, "Strip", was released as a single in December 1983 and reached number 41 on the UK singles chart and number 42 in the U.S. "Puss 'n Boots" was also released as a single in the U.S., but failed to chart. "Playboy" was planned to be the third single.