Adam and the Ants: Kings of the Wild Frontier (U.S. Version)

1980

Epic Records 

Version I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1.Dog Eat Dog  2. Antmusic  3. Los Rancheros  4. Feed Me to the Lions  5. Press Darlings  6. Ants Invasion  7. Killer in the Home  8 .Kings of the Wild Frontier  9. The Magnificent Five  10. Don't Be Square (Be There)  11. Jolly Roger  12. Physical (You're So)  13. The Human Beings

YES! One of my favorite record ever! I don't know why this isn't more highly regarded. Any time I've ever let anyone borrow this record, I never get it back, since it usually ends up becoming one of their favorites too. The version I have now is a little different than the original cassette version I grew up listening to...




As I've covered before, I  like the cool red lettering on the sides. I should hate the shrunken cover art that shares equal billing with the bar code, but dammit., this is how I remember it and I love it despite its faults! It also has a slightly different track listing due to it including the "Stand and Deliver/Beat My Guest" single that originally came with the LP...



God, that cover of the 45 really sums up the song perfectly, if you've somehow  never heard it, that picture is exactly what it sounds like. It's not on the vinyl copy I have but I'm somewhat grateful for that. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" has so many great songs on it that when it was included on the cassette, it just kind of seemed like, "Oh yea. This song's great too." But its inclusion on the follow up LP, "Prince Charming" really raises that album up a notch. "Prince Charming" needs the song more than "Kings of the Wild Frontier" does. It's also worth noting that the running order of the cassette is wildly different than the LP and compact disc.  Both versions are missing the track "Making History,"(which is a pretty cool track, featuring the Ants take on the Bo Diddley beat) originally included on international versions of the record. But I'm not too bitter cos we get "Physical(You're So)" and "Press Darlings," which more than make up for the loss.

"Kings of the Wild Frontier" really is the highpoint of Adam's career. He introduces his new Ants  and  they're a huge improvement. The addition of Marco Pirroni's guitar playing (which alternates between twanging and snarling)  combined with the double "Burundi" drumming on "Dog Eat Dog"  really gets the blood pumping. . A brilliant mix of Cowboy and Indian stomp ("Los Rancheros," "Magnificent Five," "Dog Eat Dog"), dark pop ("Feeding me to the Lions," "The Human Beings," "Ants Invasion") and just incredibly bouncy new wave ("Antmusic," "Press Darlings," "Don't Be Square (Be There.)") Wow, I got a double parenthesis out of that one! How many points is that?

Oh yea, and I mentioned the "Burundi" drumming. Whenever you talk about Adam Ant you always have to throw in "Burundi" drumming. Burundi is a country in Africa. Let us contemplate its flag....



Adam's vocal performance on this record is one of the most memorable performances in pop history; He's constantly self-aggrandizing, yet wants us all to take part in his Ants invasion. You know that  he knows he's on a high here. And mark my words, once you spin this thing a few times you'll constantly find yourself chanting "Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, CROW! Apache, Arapaho."  At least once a week since the early 90's I've found myself walking around singing that to myself. Unshakable.

Oh yea, and there's some pirate punk too. Check out "Jolly Roger," which I would put up there with other pirate-tinged new/wave punk tracks such as the Sex Pistols' "Friggin in the Riggin',"  Tenpole Tudor's "Swords of a Thousand Men" and  Devo's "Speed Racer." The record also includes "Killer in the Home," which is basically a cover of Link Wray's "Rumble" with vocals...

To me, "Kings of the Wild Frontier" represents everything good about the 80's.

 Forget New Coke...



Forget the Atari 2600 version of Pacman...

All that was just a bad dream...Check out this video of Adam and the Ants performing "Antmusic" and it's alright to love the '80's. 



...to be honest I kind of liked New Coke and Pacman 2600...