Adam Ant Albums (8)
'Kings of the Wild Frontier'
Release Date 10/25/1990
Tracks 13
Label Epic
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Hooking up with Malcolm McLaren was a pivotal moment for Adam Ant, since the manager not only introduced Ant to the thundering, infectious Burundi drum beat that became his signature, he stole his band, too. Adam and the rest of the Ants had just worked up how to exploit the Burundi style when McLaren pirated the boys off to support Annabella Lwin in Bow Wow Wow -- using the very same sound they had developed with Adam Ant. It was now a race to get that sound into the stores first, and Adam lucked out when he joined forces with guitarist Marco Pirroni, who quickly proved to be invaluable. Adam and Marco knocked out a bunch of songs that retained some of the dark artiness of Dirk Wears White Sox, largely anchored by those enormous Burundi beats and given great, irresistible pop hooks -- plus a flash sense of style, as the new Ants dressed up in something that looked like American Indians with a velveteen touch of a dandy fop. It was a brilliant, gonzo move -- something that quickly overshadowed Bow Wow Wow -- and the resulting record, Kings of the Wild Frontier, is one of the great defining albums of its time. There's simply nothing else like it, nothing else that has the same bravado, the same swagger, the same gleeful self-aggrandizement and sense of camp. This walked a brilliant line between campiness and art-house chutzpah, and it arrived at precisely the right time -- at the forefront of new wave, so Adam & the Ants exploded into the British popular consciousness. If image was all that they had, they would've remained a fad, but Kings of the Wild Frontier remains a terrific album because it not only has some tremendous songs -- the title track and "Antmusic" are classic hits, while "Killer in the Home" and "Physical (You're So)" are every bit their equal -- but because it fearlessly, imperceptibly switches gears between giddy and ominous, providing nothing short of a thrill ride in its 13 songs. That's why it still sounds like nothing else years after its release. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For his comeback album and first new release in five years, Adam Ant turned to old Prince crony Andre Cymone, who transformed him into a dance music singer, producing and playing all the instruments on contemporary dance tracks, over which Ant's longtime partner Marco Pirroni played lead guitar and Ant himself contributed appropriately rhythmic vocals. Some of the lyrics had his old flair for mockery, but, like most dance music singers, he came off as only a part of the production, rather than its focus. Nevertheless, the makeover was good for a U.K./U.S. Top 20 hit in "Room at the Top" and respectable chart peaks of number 19 (England) and number 57 (America), a big improvement over 1985, when he looked washed up. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Adam Ant adopted a '50s-style rock & roll sound for his third solo album, achieving a pastiche with some of the effervescence, but none of the definition (or popularity), of Elton John's "Crocodile Rock." Producer Tony Visconti tried to give him some of the plastic rock legitimacy of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, but Ant was even goofier, and especially with his vocals smothered in harmony and echo and buried in the mix, he wasn't so much transformed into a rocker manque as rendered anonymous on his own record. The best track was the year-old U.K. Top 40 hit "Apollo 9," which had some of the manic energy of the Adam and the Ants hits. If the rest of the album had recreated its dizzy spirit, Ant might have made the comeback he needed with Vive Le Rock. Or maybe not--it's possible that his moment simply had passed. In any case, the album flopped on both sides of the Atlantic, Ant was dropped by his record label, and he didn't make another album for more than four years. [Vive Le Rock was reissued in 1996 with the added track "Mohair Locker Room Pin-Up Boys."] ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Upon the release of Strip, Adam Ant was still popular enough in the U.K. to squeeze out one more Top Ten hit with "Puss 'n Boots," but the album stopped at number 20. The mixture of driving, danceable rock with humor on Kings of the Wild Frontier, Prince Charming, and even some of Friend or Foe had given way to a lighter pop approach and outright camp, especially on the title track, a minor singles chart entry produced by Phil Collins. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni ditched the rest of the Ants not long after the release of the widely derided Prince Charming, which provided them with the perfect opportunity for a new statement of purpose in the first Ant-less album, 1982's Friend or Foe. They had already begun moving away from Burundi beats and Indians on Prince Charming, but here they ditch any pretense at the underground, favoring big, glitzy glam pop. There's still residual artiness, of course, since Adam and Marco are post-modernists that love to paste together seemingly incongruous strands of pop culture in an attempt to craft something new. The difference is, they've wrapped this instinct in big, big production and cheerful, unabashed pop hooks, best heard on "Place in the Country" and the hits "Friend or Foe," "Desperate But Not Serious," and "Goody Two Shoes," the latter becoming Adam's biggest hit in the U.S. Since these are deliberate pop trifles, several critics laughed off Ant as a silly lightweight, but that's missing the point -- these are intentionally tongue-in-cheek tunes, delivered with an excess of flair and good humor. Though Friend or Foe does lose momentum on the second side and the cover of the Doors' "Hello, I Love You" falls a little flat, this is good, giddy fun, one of Ant's best records and one of the best new wave albums. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Kings of the Wild Frontier brought Adam & the Ants massive popularity in England and enormous pressure for Adam Ant and guitarist Marco Pirroni to stand and deliver another slice of dynamite. The first single, the punchy, horn-laden "Stand and Deliver," suggested that they were up to the task, but when Prince Charming appeared in late 1981, it was seen as a letdown. With its ridiculous song titles and cover photos, which suggest that the Ants were moving away from Native Americans and toward pirates, it's hard not to view it as a descent into camp, yet Ant claims in the liner notes for Antbox that he believes that Prince Charming is "a very serious record based on very classical, historical themes." That may be true on certain tracks, but it's hard to see where "Mile High Club," "S.E.X.," "Mowhok," and "Ant Rap" fit into that scheme, although he's right about the intent -- this is a markedly different record than Kings, and intentionally so. The group not only moved on in terms of image, but also left behind its signature Burundi beats while upping the cinematic qualities inherent in its music. So, "Five Guns West" and "Mowhok" are given neo-spaghetti Western backdrops, while eerie guitars, mariachi horns, and trilling vocals underpin "That Voodoo." There are a lot of little details like that to dwell on in the production -- "Picasso Visita el Planeta de los Simios" sounds absolutely terrific -- and songs like "Scorpios," "Stand and Deliver," and the cheerfully ludicrous "Ant Rap" are highlights. Kings had style, sound, and songs, while Prince Charming simply has style and sound -- which, in retrospect, isn't all that bad. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The original Ants lineup released only one LP, Dirk Wears White Sox for Do It in 1979. The album finds a young Adam Ant exploring the sometimes-awkward fusion of punk, glam, and minimalist post-punk with bizarre images and disturbing tales of alienation, sex, and brutality. And 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. [At the height of Antmania, Adam acquired the rights to the album, remixing it, dropping a few tracks, and adding a couple of early tracks for reissue in 1983 with a different cover for Epic. In 1995, Sony Music U.K. released a hybrid version for CD, restoring the cover art, original mixes, and the previously dropped tracks but retaining the additions and running order of the reissue. Epic chose to keep the remixed version for CD release in the U.S.] ~ Chris Woodstra, All Music Guide
