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...

AC/DC: Back In Black

AC/DC: Back in Black

1980

Atlantic Records

Format I Own it On: Vinyl

Track Listing:  1. Hell's Bells  2. Shoot to Thrill  3. What Do You Do for Money Honey  4.  Given the Dog a Bone  5. Let Me Put My Love Into You  6. Back in Black  7. You Shook Me All Night Long  8. Have a Drink On Me  9. Shake a Leg  10. Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

I've had this record my whole life, know it by heart, heard it ten million times and actually haven't listened to it since the late 90's....To tell you the truth, due to every single track on the album being played to death on classic rock radio, I  kind of take it for granted...I haven't even listened  to classic rock radio for about 10 years and I still hear "Back in Black, Hells Bells, & You Shook Me All Night Long" ALL-THE-TIME!

But let's face it...They became overplayed classics because...well...they're pretty great!

After playing it for the first time in years, it turns out I  I totally forgot about  "Let Me Put my Love Into You."  But it was for a pretty good reason...it's not that memorable. Still,  I'll defend its inclusion to the death based on that hilarious title alone.

This is their second record with Mutt Lange and these guys really had it down to a science at this point. The music reminds you of nothing so much as a well-oiled machine cranking out highly- polished Rock N' Roll. The attention to the space in between the notes is very effective, There's empty space all over this thing and it brings a satisfying weight to every riff.

 I can only imagine what it was like at the time, pulling the record out of that foreboding black cover, putting the needle down only to hear an ominous clanging church bell and that spine-tingling "Hell's Bells" riff ...and then finally getting to hear Brian Johnson's voice for the first time, screeching "I'm Rolling Thunder...Pouring Rain!" like he'd spent his whole life drinking gasoline and swallowing rusty nails, and was finally let loose upon this world to raise hell add scare the shit out of us. Sure, he's lacking Bon Scott's playful grasp of irony, but the guy's great in his own right.

One memory I have as a kid, riding the school bus, there was this girl listening to this on her old-school 80's boombox...you know the type...

...anyway she was playing the cassette tape of this album and I remember her singing along to "You Shook Me All Night Long," but she had the lyrics kind of wrong...not wrong, so much as, she kind of added a word...

"She was a fast machine, kept her motor lean, best GOD damn woman that I ever seen..."

For some reason, it seemed so right, To this day I still find myself singing it that way...

...and you can sing it along with me as we check out the original video of "You Shook Me All Night Long." But probably not the version you're thinking of with the one with the girl with the big...hair....

For some reason (like I don't know...some silly little thing called copyright infringement,maybe...) I can't find a video for that version so you're gonna have to make due with this one...