The album was made with an early line-up of Adam and the Ants, which disbanded after the album was released. Guitarist Matthew Ashman and drummer David Barbarossa went on to form Bow Wow Wow with then-Ants bassist Leigh Gorman. Original bassist Andy Warren had departed shortly after recording the album to join former Ants guitarist Lester Square in The Monochrome Set. Many of the songs, notably "Cleopatra" and "Never Trust a Man ", remained a part of Adam Ant's live repertoire throughout his career, both with the Ants and later as a solo artist. The album title refers to classic British film icon Dirk Bogarde.
Releases
Dirk Wears White Sox was released on 30 November 1979. The album was re-released in 1983, featuring a different album cover taken from a December 1979 video for the song "Zerox". "Catholic Day" and "Day I Met God" were dropped and "Cartrouble" appears in its single version. This edition also adds three songs from the same era not on the original LP: a re-recording of "Kick!", which contained completely different lyrics and featured Jon Moss on drums, "Zerox", and "Whip in My Valise". It was re-issued again in 1995 by Sony, featuring the original black-and-white album art in somewhat cropped form. The lettering on the sleeve was recreated in the style of the original and does not feature the stroke through the letter O in the word "Sox"; it also substitutes a letter "Z" in place of the zig-zagged "S" in the word "Ants". The album was remastered and reissued in 2004 with several bonus tracks. A white vinyl edition was released by Ant's own label Blueblack Hussar Records in spring 2014. To tie in with this, on 19 April, Ant performed the full album at the Hammersmith Apollo with a band including former Ants Dave Barbe and Lee Gorman, preceding this with several UK tour dates. A launch party gig for the white vinyl album was held at the 100 Club. Both London concerts were filmed and later released as the DVD album Dirk Live at the Apollo. Ant would subsequently perform the full album again with his regular band for four nights at the Islington Assembly Hall in November 2014 and a full UK tour in spring 2015.
Reception
In his retrospective review, Chris Woodstra of AllMusic wrote "while the somewhat pretentious, overly arty lyrics and inexperienced playing are a drawback, the album offers a fascinating look at the Ants' formative years, capturing a raw energy that would be sacrificed for more polish on subsequent releases."
Musical style
Chris Woodstra of AllMusic described the album's style as a "sometimes-awkward fusion of punk, glam and minimalist post-punk with bizarre images and disturbing tales of alienation, sex and brutality." Peter Parrish of Stylus wrote that "Dirk slips somewhere betweenThe Banshee'sScream and Gang of Four's Entertainment; all stark, angular and brittle."
