A Man Called Adam (sometimes abbreviated to AMCA) are the British electronic music artists Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones.
Recording for DJ Gilles Peterson’s fledgling Acid Jazz Records label, A Man Called Adam found that it was the remixed B-sides, “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.
AMCA later moved to Big Life Records and released “Barefoot In the Head”. Produced by Sally Rodgers, Steve Jones, Paul Daley and sound engineer Mat Clark, the track features choral pads and strings coupled with bouncing Roland 909 and 727 rhythm tracks. For the lyrics Rodgers cribbed the pagan poetry translations of Robert Graves, and explored her own experiments with ecstasy.[citation needed] The track peaked at #60 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1990.
The 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 hundred 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.
Although chart success eluded the band, they are regarded[by whom?] as pivotal in the development of the electronic music genres, acid jazz and Balearic House. Paul Daley left the band to form Leftfield, while Rodgers and Jones contributed to The Café del Mar series of compilation albums.
A Man Called Adam released two albums, The Apple (Big Life, 1991) and Duende (Other Records, 1998).
Apart from “Barefoot In The Head” (which took its title from a novel by Brian Aldiss), their other singles included “Easter Song” and the US release “Que Tal America?”. Another track, “Estelle”, appeared on many compilation albums, although it was never released as a single.
These days Rodgers is conducting doctoral research in modern poetics at the University of St Andrews and Jones recently gained an MSc in sound design from the University of Edinburgh. Together they continue to work as sound designers on museum, film and theatrical commissions, notably the BME (British Music Experience) – a museum charting the history of British music from the end of World War II, and The British Museum’s major new exhibition Journey to the afterlife: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Their music continues to be licensed all over the world for film, television and release.
