Kings of the Wild Frontier

Background & recording

After having his previous backing band wooed away by producer Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier with guitarist Marco Pirroni as his new writing partner.

Release

Kings of the Wild Frontier was released on 3 November 1980 by CBS Records in the UK and Epic records internationally. It reached No. 1 in the UK Album Chart, and spawned three hit singles: "Kings of the Wild Frontier", which was released in July and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart; "Dog Eat Dog", which reached No. 4; and 'Antmusic', released in December and reaching No. 2, as well as No. 1 in Australia for five weeks. The album was the UK number 1 selling album in 1981 (and the 48th best seller in 1980) and won Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards.

The US version of the album dropped "Making History" in favour of two tracks penned by Ant prior to teaming up with Marco Pirroni, "(You're So) Physical" and "Press Darlings".

The album was remastered and reissued in 2004 with several bonus tracks.

A multi-disc "Super Deluxe Edition" was released 20 May 2016. It include a DVD of the long out-of-print "Ants in Japan" concert video and a CD of a 1981 concert from Chicago.

Reception

In his retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "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". Trouser Press cites it as the album where Adam Ant "found his groove".

Legacy

Kings of the Wild Frontier is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It is also one of twenty CDs in the Great British Albums box set released by Sony Records in 2012.

Track listing

All tracks written by Adam Ant and Marco Pirroni.

US version

Super Deluxe Edition

On 20 May 2016, Sony Music/Legacy Recordings issued a lavish four disc super deluxe box set of Kings Of The Wild Frontier. The box included two CDs, a DVD & a 180g gold newly remastered vinyl LP.

CD 2, Adam & The Ants Live in Chicago, 1981

All tracks mastered by Adam Ant & Walter Coelho. Tracks 1-17 previously unissued on CD. Tracks 19 & 20 previously unreleased.

Personnel

Chart positions

Singles