Kings Of The Wild Frontier

This is fucking horrible - I love it. I'm not sure why I actually like this. The lyrics are stupid, the music is stupid, the name and album art are stupid.. there's even a completely random pirate song for absolutely no reason. The band's not even "Adam & The Ants", there's one guy named "Adam Ant". It makes no sense - that's like The Beatles calling themselves "John & The Lennons". This is what the kids like to call "penis music" and I'm here for it. Yeah I gave this a 4/5 and The White Album a 2/5, what are you going to do about it. I am aware that my brain is completely rotten and that I have tiny goblins building aqueducts in my cerebral cortex.

Why does the album generator hate me?

The range of influences in this album is impressive. I hear Beach Boys, Beatles, punk, African music (particularly Burundi), and glam rock. Adam and the Ants are clearly not overly concerned with mixing these influences or writing idiosyncratic songs, such as 'Jolly Roger,' yet there is a unity to this album that makes it all work. There's a lot to love here. The more I dive into New Wave, the more I'm convinced that it is one of the most forward thinking movements in popular music history.

An album I've never heard of from an artist I've never heard of, nice! After reviewing the Belle & Sebastian album, a band formed by two Stuarts, I'm surprised to find that Adam Ant is in fact also named Stuart. There's some sort of British Stuart invasion that needs to be investigated. I appreciate this album's weirdness. It's got a touch of that '80s new wave feel, but it's mostly dwarfed by a more experimental edge. I wish I could say I liked this, but I didn't. Of course, I liked a few songs, and I can tell why someone would like it (I'm guessing Andrew and/or Alden will love this one), but as experimental as it is, it didn't really grab or hold my interest. The '80s pop/droning rock combo is lost on me. I wouldn't say it's a bad album, but I wouldn't say it's good either. Also, did Death Grips sample "Killer in the Home" on "Spread Eagle Cross the Block"? Maybe not, but the three-chord riff sounds similar. Favorite tracks: Dog Eat Dog, Ants Invasion Album art: really cool picture, very menacing. Giving off some Buffalo Bill, "Goodbye Horses" vibes. I like the inexplicably backwards D in "ADAM," especially because the D in "WILD" is not backwards. Watch out folks, this guy's wacky! 2.5/5

I really like this one. It's like the Animals meets the Talking Heads, but with a little something special mixed in there. Honestly, I can't iterate why I dug this so much. I just did.

Behind the idiosyncratic sounds of early 80s post punk/new wave--which have aged quite well given the revival surge of these sounds occuring in the British scene these days--, behind the experimental drive borrowing a lot of disparate elements here and there, from Glam Rock and Surf Rock to traditional Burundi rythms and Tex Mex / Western Country twangs, behind all those endearing and/or hypnotic details, there's one thing that this record displays that's cruelly missing in a lot of the more obscure cuts sometimes suggested by Dimery's list among well-known landmarks: infectious pop melodies. They're here played with an undeniable sense of fun, and the end result is here a record which is anything but pretentious, and yet manages to impress you from the get-go with its manifold stylistic twists and turns. I was barely aware of who Adam Ant was before his name popped up on this app. From what I hear, his overall discography will be quite hit or miss for me. But it only took one exhilarated spin of this particluar record to make the latter a new late-70s/early-80s favorite of mine, along with the greatest albums of Siouxsie And The Banshees, Wire, The Cure, Bauhaus, Gang Of Four, The Clash, The Damned, This Heat and the likes. An awesome discovery. Whoever in Dimery's team was in charge of that specific scene has great taste. I will thank him forever, along with the creator of this app. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 853 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory: 81 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 36 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 31

Big cowboys and Indians/Western meets glam rock vibes here! Really fun with lots of catchy songs and always gotta appreciate anyone trying to be a bit different!

Met a guy in a bar once who told me he was a famous popstar in the 80s. I didn't really believe him, but he was Adamant...... I only knew Prince charming and stand and deliver prior to this, but this album wasn't what I expected. Was a bit glam rock, which surprised me, that opening track sounded like Hanoi rocks. Probably didn't enjoy it enough to go back but it was far more interesting than I expected. 3.5

I always liked Adam Ant without really knowing his music that well. This is a fine display of why I like it and possibly also explains why i never got to know it that well. It is a major thump-a- thon - high energy right at yeah. The easiest to hear lyrics are often amusing. Not too much drama; just good fun. Adam has a way to grab hold of you without being arrogant or obnoxious It's a great party vibe and a band meant to be seen live or heard at parties where you're so fucked up you can't hold a normal conversation anyway so why not spin the Ants.  The last half of the album did seem to start to fade. 

Definitely music

nice, downloaded it

Love this album, busted out the vinyl for this listen

Loved it! Serious Oingo Boingo vibes!

Bonkers in the best way possible. A heady mixture of African drumbeats, pop culture references and giddy yelps that helped herald the birth of new wave.

Overrated album from an overrated band

Dog Eat Dog has some excellent beat and bass work. This sounds like the sound track for the lost boys in Peter Pan.

I've been a fan of Adam Ant's pop music since I was a kid, but I hadn't listened to Kings of the Wild Frontier until a few years ago. Ant was one of my first crushes, but I learned to deeply appreciate his work after rewatching Sofia Coppola's film, Marie Antoinette & taking a deep dive during the pandemic. He & his band were tired of the gritty punk scene & wanted to do something colorful and "heoric." In the book, Mad World - An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s, he says he tapped into and studied the Regency dandy, military history, pirates & Native Americans. He grew to deeply appreciate Native Americans and even got a tribe's blessing to wear the Apache war stripe. For him, the stripe represented war against the record companies. He also felt a kinship to the Native Americans & adopted some of their philosophies. (Having a Romani Gypsy grandfather born in a caravan, he understood to be culturally mindful & respectful). It's evident in the lyrics, "I feel beneath the white, there is a redskin suffering from centuries of taming." What a brazen political statement made by an English band. I can't recall any American bands taking these types of stances in their music at the time. The album is interestingly a bit of everything: spaghetti western, pirates, and Burundian drum music. Let's not forget those twangy guitars. It's very entertaining, and his style was like no other. It turns out Michael Jackson asked Ant where he got his jacket, so Ant directed him to Bermans in London. It's a hussar jacket - a theatrical costume. Michael said, "I want an Adam Ant jacket." And that's how his famous red military jacket look was born. Adam Ant deserves FAR more credit than he gets. He & his band are the forefathers of post-punk, and they were incredibly creative & bold. Personally, I love this album. I had hoped to dress as Ant for Halloween (I enjoy gender bending, so a female as Ant would've been rad), but I don't have the time. Maybe next year. And I hope to see him live next year since he canceled Cruel World 2023. If I never see him live, I'll always have his music. 5 fucking stars.

Catching up on last 3 days - Hendrix made me appreciate why people bang on about him so much (he's on another level), Hookworms transported me to a cool electronic plane of smooth, but damned if this isn't the album of the 3 that I'll be playing again and again on repeat. Banging.

SEX MUSIC FOR ANT PEOPLE! ANT MUSIC FOR SEX PEOPLE!

I’ve definitely heard some Adam and the Ants before (Staaaaand and deliver!!) which I’ve enjoyed. Beyond that, I certainly wouldn’t say I’m over familiar, but I like what I’ve heard, and this album led to me liking more. I really enjoyed the tribal sound that came across a lot of the time. The sound is undeniably pop, but the drums would frequently stay on the toms making more of a marching beat than I expected. There are a lot of catchy moments here, making for a fun album.

For this review, I'm sticking to the original LP tracklisting, and not factoring in the B-side tracks and second disc of the super deluxe edition. I hadn't heard of Adam and the Ants before, and that album artwork already gives me quite the impression. This group went through a near complete lineup change before this album, along with a style shift from post-punk to new wave, with the sole consistent member being frontman Adam Ant. Kings of the Wild Frontier gave me similar vibes to The Stranglers concerning the manic energy that Adam and the rest of this group exerted in their songs. From the get-go on "Dog Eat Dog", the Burundi drums kick in as Adam howls and belts his way through, complemented by catchy guitar hooks. It doesn't take long before lyrical themes go off the rails, from talking about the uprising of ant-people to pirates and Native American tribes. It's fun in its lack of cohesion with good riffs and percussion, though this band kept at 100% chaos and doesn't give a break to change up the style, so be aware of that. Give it a spin.

Swept up in the silliness 7/10

Meh. Nothing standout at all here except for a few, very stupid lyrics.

Very 80's. A vibe that reminds me of Bowie just in the slightest I think. 3.5

Kind of stupid but also kind of fun

Bit boring ennit

What is this even? I'm not even sure if this still counts as music or if it's just a weirdo sing-songing whatever happens to be going through his head at that moment, supported by an unquestioning backup band. This is just really bad in every way. It's not even weird in an interesting way. Just weird and off-putting.

One notable item about this album is the "Jolly Roger" song. A pirate song by a punk/new wave group? Ok... Other than that, not much else to say about this. Should not be on a "must listen" album list for anyone. A final note is making mention of the odd "Lawrence of Arabia Theme" musical quote in song "Feed MeTo The Lions"; not sure if it is intentional or not...

Bloody Adam and his bloody ants annoyed me at the time and still do. That might be a bit unfair due to my ex-wife liking them. But as I say I disliked them then when things were rosy between me and my ex (her liking this shit should have been a massive neon lit warning sign) Where my hatred lies is hard to define because I suppose the tracks on this album are up to standard reasonable toe tapping pop songs. Everywhere you went in 1980 you had to endure these songs which came a bit exhausting. That and of course all the “ants” stood in an upright pose with two fingers across their brows looking menacing (not that was possible due to hilarious application of make up) And don’t get me started on those ubiquitous videos on MTV and the like. It was impossible to avoid them. Crashing through glass windows is really dangerous but Adam or should I say Stuart managed to do it regularly and still came back to give us more of his stinking music. There is a happy ending in that they broke up in 1982 so my misery was short lived. That is until today when this album arrived on my list. 1/5 25/8/24

Awful, random sounds that vaguely remind me of riffs off other oddly random crappy sounds. The fact that this guy ever had a music career makes me hurt.

Punky, upbeat glam pop, definitely an influence on Supergrass and Franz Ferdinand. Irresistible.

So catchy and filled with raw energy and rambunctious vocals p, absolutely love it! I’d give it a 9.5 out of 10!

really interesting new-wave hard-rock had a lot of really great stuff in there 9/10

loved it!

New wave, pop punk

9/10 - All round great album, bit strange at points but i liked it

Kooky, fun, unique - well paced and just right in length. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea but purely subjectively to me - this is an awesome perfect album.

New wave, pop punk

4++

This music always resonates with me. I love Adam Ant on all of good band configurations. This isn’t his best album in my mind, but damn good.

Good energy!

This album SLAPS

Pop used to be this mad. Why do we now worship such mediocrity. Pirate afrodrum pop punk. What's not to love?

Drums have never sounded better than on this record. The production on them is so good that Michael Jackson himself phoned up Adam Ant to ask how he recorded the drums. The rest of the music is really catchy and unique, nothing else really sounds quite like this record, especially in 1980

Leapfrog the dog.

Loved this. It was so much better than I thought it would be. I hope I won’t regret later saying it is five stars but I think this is on a pedestal above the previous 4 I gave which was the Stevie wonder one. Highlights included antmusic, los rancheros, ants invasion and the title track. This album will be on the rotation from now on - great fun and encapsulates the sounds of the 80s very well and I’m surprised people don’t talk about this album more. This is exactly the reason why I’ve started this project is to discover gems like this

I bought Kings of The Wild Frontier as soon as it came out. I was a fan then and still am. The mixture of the musical themes was fresh, original, and fascinating. There was this heroic and adventurous touch to it. Pirates, gunman, native Americans, the Wild West, and other references in lyrics, music, and appearance of the group placed them in the time after punk and before New Wave in a unique spot. Remember, at that time there was no MTV, just Top of the Pops on BBC. The double drums were a centerpiece of the music, as were the sailor choir like backing vocals. The production was astonishingly good, so no wonder that this got number one in the UK.

New wave, pop punk.

had a lot of fun listening to this, unexpectedly

Great A&Ants album from the early 80s: 5 stars obviously, not a single weak song. Dirk Wears White Sox (probably the best Adam Ant album) and Friend or Foe should also have been on the list.

I've never heard of this group or album, but I loved it.

An undeniable new wave masterpiece. It's chock full of quirky nuggets of gold and oddball swagger. Adam Ant is like the non-inflammatory version of Morrissey. This album is just a solid good time from end to end. Landmark for the genre.

Didn't know what to expect coming into this knowing only 'Prince Charming' and 'Stand and Deliver' which are both on the next album. 'Dog Eat Dog' opens fast. 'Antmusic' has the catchiest chorus on the whole record. 'Ants Invasion' has a great riff. I absolutely love Adam Ant's voice and random almost yodels and noises he makes. The guitar can get quite heavy at times which was a surprise. Always a fan of music that makes you headbang even though it's not all out rock or heavy metal. Difficult to say why I love this so much. Glam rock meets punk meets pop meets Burundi Beat (Google it). Just 40 mins of really fun, very catchy, a bit over the top and silly music. Absolutely loved it.

Yes ...I liked this album

Truely awesome punk album.

Lots of good tracks - Los Rancheros and Making History are keepers.

A&A were my first intro to punk - still as fun today

- catchy - SWAG

A little uneven, but good and rockin', nice start to the day.

Fun! Loved the horns!

I thought this was a cool album. It was interesting getting two post-punk albums in a row. I really like the production on this album, it always feels like there's a lot going on

I really really dug this

Super fun new wave album. If you haven’t heard Adam and the Ants you definitely should

Welch großartige Pop Collage und vielseitige eklektische Sause. Grandios gealtert auch was den Sound betrifft. Of Montreal verblassen vor Neid und geben sicher nicht mehr als 4.2

Expected the usual 80s synth that seems to dominate anything from the 80s in this list but was pleasantly surprised. Almost verging in talking heads early Post Punk. Lots of kind of fat riffs in there too. Doesn't sound like anyone's taking them too seriously either which I love.

oh dit is een leuke, geeft me een beetje frankie goes to hollywood vibes en die vond ik ook zeer leuk. ik zou dit nog wel eens luisteren.

Unexpectedly gleeful! Always took Adam Ant to be a punk-Shakey Stevens, bit of a joke band. But he's not - this is some seriously good pop-punk. Not surprised was the Brit Award Best Album.

Quite weird.

Weird, loud, and at times nonsensical, this album was actually a fun, interesting, wild listen! A good album filled with wonderful glam rock that reminds me of David Bowie. I want to listen to more, however, unfortunately it's just missing that little something special to push it up to five stars.

yeah quite cool

A standout album of the 80s for me

Surprisingly varied. Some corking tracks on here, with few (if any) that were a chore. The twee nonsense of Adam Ant's theatrics distract from a very talented musician.

Some dated parts, but I'm a sucker for new wave. Quite good for the most part

This was the first album I bought, on cassette, aged 10. Loved it at the time and it’s still a classic. Favourites then and now are Ant Invasion, Killer In The Home and The Human Beings

Really enjoyed this one - definitely a cool new discovery. Dog eat dog is the fav but has a great new wave feel but not so out there that it wouldn't be attractive to a wider audience. Preferred A side to B side.

That was a surprisingly rocky and fun album, which takes itself just the right amount of seriously - not as glam and hammed up as the live act seemed to be. Enjoyed that.

I generally like the approach to percussion throughout the record, as well as all the chanting. It's charm wears off a bit by the end, particularly on "Jolly Roger," but I'll forgive that one since he developed a fairly unique sort of hybrid sound. At times reminds me of Brian Eno's early solo albums. Also, I loved the era when shooting album cover photos off of TV screens was en vogue. Particularly when they paired it with a bright red font.

Cultural appropriation aside, this was peak Adam & The Ants. They descended into a pantomime act after this album.

Nice and wild and fun

They created a very distinctive sound - twin drummers. The range of material is a bit limited but it shook things up a bit. The singles are great but the other tracks aren't quite so good.

Pop-punk. Curioso. Un 4, venga.

"Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming" were decade-defining hits in the UK, so it's pretty weird the album they were on isn't the one on this list, eh? Not having heard any Adam and the Ants apart from those singles, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was quite a fun listen! A little punky edge to the poppy new wave, plenty of variety, yeah, I can get behind this. Gonna check out the "Prince Charming" album off the back of this too! Fave track - "Feed Me to the Lions", perhaps? "Jolly Roger" was fun too. Also liked "The Omlette From Outer Space" if we're including bonus tracks...

What lovely Burundi Beat glory we have here! I thought of Bow Wow Wow as I heard this (insofar as similarity) and was surprised to read that Malcolm McClaren had pinched Ant’s original backing band for BWW prior to this record. Amazing stuff then, this record. I wanted to give it a 3.5 but I cannot, but then I listened to the additions to the US version of this and realised that it needed the full 4 star rating. I love me some New Wave!

1981 Rural midwestern kid with access to only one top 40 radio station - then our town got cable, MTV and also an introduction to Adam and the Ants. My friends and I loved the attitude, camp and revolutionary beats and fashion. Fun stuff for all the boys and girls. Nostalgia aside, this album holds up pretty well. A lot of great 90 second songs that stretch to 3+ minutes. ‘Dog Eat Dog’ is the highlight for me and has been a song I’ve gone back to regularly over the years. ‘Ants Invasion’ is another standout I had not listened to for decades - great lyrics, and I’m glad to hear it again. This is a strong 3.5, and rounding up for the Antpeople.

I still have this one on vinyl (sadly, I don't have my entire collection any more). I didn't know anyone else who listened to it at the time and thought I had stumbled on some rare gem. I guess the album was more popular than all that. On this listen, I had a moment or two of PC concern about appropriation — the notion of "redskin" being a slur has settled into my core — but really, I was just enjoying the drum beats and yelps and campy swagger of Adam and his Ants. I can't think of other artists that quite sounds like this, the band has staked its ground and created something it can claim as its own. Thankfully, it's fun to listen to and entertaining from start to finish. I remember always wanting to get to "Ants Invasion," that was the standout track for me, and I totally enjoyed it on this listen. What the hell any of it is actually about is irrelevant, this sets a mood and sticks to it, and that's what it was all about then and now.

Rockabilly pirate post-punk music. I like it a lot!

Adam and the Ants announce themselves in style. With the Heavy drum attack of Dog Eat Dog. Wow! I know that Dirk Wears White Socks is the debut album but this is my introduction to the Buccaneers of ant music. The recurring themes of pirates, ants and American Indian tribes is a little bit sophomoic at times but damn its fun. And that double drum attack gives the music a power that was unique at the time, at least as far as I know. It's not a GREAT or a Classic album but its really good and still makes me smile 40 years later. 4 stars

Not knowing much about Adam and the Ants beyond the later rockstar image of Adam himself, I was surprised with how layered, creative, and altogether competent this album is. A welcome mixture of post-punk a la Magazine, new wave, and pop rock.

What a surprise. After all the other new wave inclusions, I expected the generic but got something quite original. A mix of the Clash and Talking Heads, packed with duel guitar work and cool songwriting. Maybe lacking a big big hit, but definitely a cool listen.

Очень хороший рок 80х с кучей интересных заимствований из различных жанров и панковской натурой. Вокал здесь ранжируется от детского и беззаботного до буквально абсурдного, пафосного и дерзкого. На этом альбоме всё отлично справились со своей работой и вывели просто хороший и весёлый альбом. (8)

you can really tell bestie was influenced by bowie more than you can tell i went to art school by my dyed hair. really great album even if it did feel a lil like i was listening to bowie 2: electric boogaloo - especially on feed me to the lions. very groovy + boogie 🕺🕺🕺

Gloriously 80s. Nice range of tunes. Brilliant to listen to on a rainy Tuesday

Had only heard a few of their songs before, but really enjoyed this!

Fun early 80’s sound. Last I heard he was still touring.

I'm reading all these negative reviews here and am thinking I've been listening to an entire different album than the majority here. It's an upbeat album that makes perfect use of these double burundi drums. Adam Ant when he was still good.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Dog eat dog, Antmusic, Feed me to the lions, King of the wild frontier, Don’t be square, The human beings

This album is all over the freaking place and I loved that about it. So many absurd songs. Sounded like something King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could have come up with 4/5

Post Punk at its finest.

Great album!

So much better than expected, only Adam and the ants song I know is price charming and it's not my thing. Thought this would be art-rock that was weird for the sake of it but it was weird in the way I like! Reminded me of gang of four and other off-kilter indieish bands sometimes. The pirate song didn't do it for me but otherwise good stuff.