Adam & The Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

Excited - but slightly saddened

One of my all-time favorite Ant music releases. This is where it all started for me, so this CD has a truly historical place in my mind. This is the exciting era for Ant music, and this CD remaster brings it all to life even more. I too am VERY taken back by the ommission of two of the tracks. It just doesn't make sense at all. Who has ever heard of reissueing a CD with bonus tracks, yet removing two original tracks? Tsk, tsk, bad call on Sony's part. So, I had to keep my original issue of the CD which is lame. February 1, 2008

I love this CD!!!!

I bought this as a replacement for a record album (vinyl LP) and I am very pleased with it. The sound quality is excellent. Don't buy this for the extras (demo stuff), they really aren't worthwhile. Get the Stand and Deliver DVD with all the music videos from amazon.uk I am not expecting a US release of that DVD. March 11, 2007

Beautiful issue with it's share of short-comings...

This could have been the definitive issue - in fact it probably is. It is THE definitive Adam And The Ants record (although my personal fave is still Dirk Wears White Sox). The U.S. Epic issue of the original CBS version added two B-Sides ("Press Darlings" and "Physical (You're So)"). They were the U.K. B-Sides to "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" and "Dog Eat Dog", respectively (the B-Side to "Antmusic" was "Fall In"). So in fact, those songs don't have much business being on the original issue considering Epic stuck them on there after the album was already issued (in the U.K.).

This remastered issue is incredible. The drums have never sounded as rightfully booming as they do on this CD. I highly recommend any Ant fan to pick this up. And if you have never heard this CD - it's easily one of the most original New-Wave records ever released. Quite a feat considering the general variety and diversity of most New-Wave records (in my humble opinion).

Sony has to get it together an release a definitive B-Side collection which includes "Press Darlings" (1994's B-Side Babies included "Physical" and "Fall In yet stupidly overlooked "Press Dalings" thus negating any "definitive" aspect to it.


"Dirk Wears White Sox!!" April 23, 2006

That music's lost its taste, try another flavor.

Better than "Dirk Wears White Sox", but not quite the sensational album fans or others might have you believe. This is a good album, but the remastering is probably the weakest of the remastered series. It still sounds rather quiet to me. There are more memorable songs here like "Antmusic", "Los Rancheros", "Dog Eat Dog", "Jolly Roger", "Kings Of The Wild Frontier", but the album as a whole is still uneven.

It was remarkable how he changed his sound and image though, and even more amazing that it all worked. Something like that could not be achieved in today's fickle market. The graphic design of the remastered package is great and ties into all the other remasters. The packaging is digipak, and the information booklet has all the lyrics. While I understand that fans would have liked Adam's memoirs on the album, I really didn't mind.

There are six bonus tracks, and I couldn't tell the difference between the original "Antmusic" and the alternate take. The rest are demo versions of songs on the album. I think this is the weakest album for bonus tracks. They do nothing to add to the pleasure of the listening experience and I agree with others that they should have included "Press Darlings" and "Physical" from the American release.

Overall, a good album. January 28, 2006

Amazon.com's tracklisting is wrong!

Hopefully Amazon will post a correction soon, but as of 11 March '05, the tracklisting here is incorrect. The correct tracklisting is:

1. Dog Eat Dog
2. 'Antmusic'
3. Feed Me To The Lions
4. Los Rancheros
5. Ants Invasion
6. Killer In The Home
7. Kings Of The Wild Frontier
8. The Magnificent Five
9. Don't Be Square (Be There)
10. Jolly Roger
11. Making History
12. The Human Beings
13. Antmusic (Demo)
14. Antmusic (Demo)
15. Feed Me To The Lions (Demo)
16. The Human Beings (Demo)
17. S.E.X. (Demo)
18. The Omlette From Outerspace (Early Version Of Ants Invasion - Unreleased Song Demo)

Amazon's UK site has the correct info.

Note that the alternate tracks from the original US release are not included on this CD (?!): Press Darlings and Physical. (The version of Physical on the Dirk remaster is the earlier Do It version.) Seems like a really weird decision, especially since the 1998 Sony remaster includes both of these tracks... March 12, 2005

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