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Adam & The Ants
"Kings Of The
Wild Frontier"
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1981 |
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Dog Eat Dog
'Antmusic'
Feed Me to the Lions
Los Rancheros
Ants Invasion
Killer in the Home
Kings of the Wild Frontier
The Magnificent Five
Don't Be Square (Be There)
Jolly Roger
The Human Beings
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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.
That's why it still sounds like nothing else
years after its release. |
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