Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier

And now hopefully for a little bit of fun, from an era when looking like a cross between a native Red Indian, a pirate, a highwayman and a dandy prince splashed with some face painting was fashionable. Throw in a combination of Burundi Beat drumming, twangy guitars, swaggering bravado, a sense of camp and at times nursery school lyrics and you have the receipe for Adam And The Ants, and their brief period of pop dominance in the early 80s.

A flatmate at college ( the same person who sneered at ABC ! ) was heavily influenced at the time, and tried to dress like Adam Ant for a brief period. I never bothered, as even then I knew, at best, I would end up looking like the guitarist !

Whilst "Ant Music" is the song that clinched the band's fame and fortune and encouraged everyone to unplug the jukebox, the earlier "Dog Eat Dog" is a much more interesting piece of music. The title track sunk without trace when first released but did much better when re-released during the height of their popularity. At this time, Adam And The Ants were trying to be taken seriously so it pre-dates the pantomime of "Prince Charming" and "Stand And Deliver", which were still to come

I remember with fondness the silliness of "Los Rancheros" and "Jolly Roger" but the rest of the album is a blank. I'm not sure how well this will have aged !

Not very well as it happens.......

There are still some highs, but there are also plenty of lows. "Dog Eat Dog" remains a great song, and "Ant Music" still sounds good. The fun songs have pop melodies that still make you smile, catchy hooks to sing along to, there's some great guitar play that Hank Marvin would be proud of, and clever backing vocals. "Human Beings" has a good bass line and a good chant ( Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Crow, Apache, Arapho ! ) even if the lyrics are nonsense.

However, it is easy to see why the track "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" wasn't a hit first time around as although the drumming is innovative and there is an effective guitar riff, it is mostly noise and shouting.
 
Unfortunately though, when Adam And The Ants try to be meaningful or threatening they struggle to maintain the attention, such as  "Ants Invasion", "Killer In The Home", "Don't Be Square", with just the guitar as a saving grace. "Physical" is virtually unlistenable and whilst "Press Darlings" might have been biting at the time, now it just sounds petty.

I read that Kings Of The Wild Frontier was voted Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards. It wouldn't win that award now......

I'm not sure how, but my copy of Kings of The Wild Frontier is the version released in the US, so has a slightly different track listing to the album released in the UK. It also explains the stick stating "Contains the three English top ten hits" rather than British or UK !


Track Listing :

1. Dog Eat Dog
2. Ant Music
3. Los Rancheros
4. Feed Me To The Lions
5. Press Darlings
6. Ant 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

Released 1981
UK Chart Position : 1

Singles :

Dog Eat Dog ( No 4 - 1980 )
Ant Music ( No 2 - 1980 )
Kings Of The Wild Frontier ( No 2 - 1981 )