A Man Called Adam are the British electronic band founded by Sally Rodgers, Steve Jones and Paul Daley. Although chart success eluded the band, they are regarded as pivotal in the development of the electronic music genres, acid jazz and Balearic house. Test Pressing magazine described them as "Britain’s unsung pop heroes."
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 and sound engineer Mat Clark, the track features choral pads and strings coupled with bouncing Roland 909 and 727 rhythm tracks.
Around the same time, Paul Daley left the band to form Leftfield. Rodgers and Jones, went on to release their debut album The Apple in 1991. Following the release of several singles from the LP (I Want To Know, The Chrono Psionic Interface and Bread, Love And Dreams), AMCA left Big Life to set up their own label, Other Records.
Through the mid-1990s, AMCA released several singles and contributed to Café del Mar series of compilation albums, as well as creating a side project, Beachflea, and their Planet Jazz and Other Stuff compilations on Other Records. Rodgers also compiled High In a Basement for Heavenly Records, a selection of works from notable British artists and labels such as Faze Action and Reel Houze.
The second AMCA album, Duende, was released in 1998 and included the singles Easter Song, ¿Que Tal America? and All My Favourite People. It also featured the song Estelle, which though never released as a single, continues to be included on numerous chill out compilations.
A third AMCA compilation All My Favourite… was released in 2004 on Norman Cooke's Southern Fried label, and featured a selection of songs from the two previous albums alongside several new songs. It also included an acoustic version of their signature song, Barefoot In The Head, which was released as a single.
In March 2019, A Man Called Adam bounced back into the scene with their album Farmarama.
Releases
Audio
Automatic / Sexomatic
Duende
Porcupine
When You Think About Me
All artists