release date: Nov. 3, 1980
format: vinyl (CBS 84549) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]
producer: Chris Hughes
label: CBS Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: A) 1. "Dog Eat Dog" - 2. " 'Antmusic' " (4 / 5) (live) - 5. "Ants Invasion" (live) - - B) 1. "Kings of the Wild Frontier" - 2. "The Magnificent Five" (live) - 5. "Making History"
2nd album by Adam and the Ants released 11 months after the debut but having changed the band line-up completely since then. In Jan. 1980 guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Leigh Gorman and drummer Dave Barbe left to form the band Bow Wow Wow with vocalist Annabella Lwin leaving Adam Ant with no other members than himself. He soon teamed up with guitarist Marco Pirroni (aka Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni, who had played with Siouxsie and the Banshees), bassist Kevin Mooney and two new drummers: Terry Lee Miall and Merrick (aka Chris Hughes, who would later be a rather well-known music producer, and who also produced this album). Instead of writing all songs on his own, Ant has written all songs with guitarist Pirroni as main musical composer and the end result is quite different from the songs on the debut.
This was the album that brought the band its fame and it's also my first acquisition of the band. New guitarist Marco Pirroni, who came into the band after releasing the debut, is put in front with his surf rock inspired guitar sound and then the band utilises two drummers to enable a characteristic Indian chants sound. At the time, Adam and the Ants were most likely seen as making post-punk and new wave music, but in retrospect, it's also evident that they were one of the first bands to initiate the new romantic era despite their slightly "off topic" style. Musically, it doesn't hold very well today, but in music history, there aren't that many popular albums with such an original and defining sound as this. It simply sounds like nothing else.
The album ended up topping the UK albums chart list and was preceded with two hit singles: Kings of the Wild Frontier charting at number #2 on the singles charts, and just prior to the album release, "Dog Eat Dog" peaked at number #4. Following the album release, " 'Antmusic' " peaked at number #2, so Adam and the Ants were really on everyone's lips, and the album was met by critical acclaim. Kings of the Wild Frontier is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Here Before You Die".
Back in the day, it was a great, wild, and a startling album - nowadays, I find it interesting but also a bit of an anachronism.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
