Sony Music/Legacy Recordings releases newly remastered Kings Of The Wild Frontier on stunning super deluxe boxset edition, 2CD deluxe edition, LP and digital formats containing a wealth of unreleased and exclusive content on Friday May 20th.
Curated and remastered by Adam Ant, this new Legacy edition includes the original 12 track UK album, B sides, previously unreleased studio demos and rough cuts, a previously unissued live recording and rarities all fully remastered from original tape by Adam Ant.
The special super deluxe golden boxset edition also includes a DVD of promo videos, live performances, the first DVD release of Adam & The Ants Live In Tokyo 1981 in its entirety and a short promotional video ‘Ant Invasion’ a mini documentary of the first Adam & The Ants US tour in 1981. In addition, a 36 page 12X12” full colour book including detailed liner notes and track annotations by Adam Ant, gold vinyl LP, gold CDs, replica original release Ant Catalogue, fan memorabilia, recreated artwork, poster, photos and much more.
In extensive liner notes Adam Ant tells us in his own words the story behind the record and the “band of brothers in musical arms, who came together in the studio in 1980 to create a bit of magic”.
The demise of the original Ants line up following the release of Dirk Wears White Sox in 1979 is well documented. What came next for Adam & The Ants Mark 2 was an altogether new approach that would result in one of the most important British records of all time.
Kings Of The Wild Frontier was the result of a fierce, determined and ultimately realised ambition to turn the music scene on its head, in Adam’s own words, “to be the best, in tune with and in line with no one”.
By 1980, the aftermath of the glory days of punk loomed large and grey over Britain and popular culture. As Bowie and Bolan had done a decade earlier for the kids trying to shake off the disappointing hangover of their parents’ Swinging Sixties, Adam & The Ants threw off the old guard of black and grey and safety pins and sneer and remerged on to the music scene with an undefinable brand and sound all of their own. Ant music! ‘a new flavour’…‘a golden new royalty’…’music for a future age’.
The loss of his Ants and fan requests to ‘play the old stuff’ proved the catalyst for change. Adam Ant says “everything till then had been black and white…from now on there had to be colour, dash and fire … heroism’…‘we felt like heroes and here was the soundtrack to make others feel the same”.
Three decades on and the heroic Kings Of The Wild Frontier remains as bold and magnificent as ever.
ADAM & THE ANTS ‘KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER’ UK TOUR DATES:
Monday May 23rd Ipswich Regent Hall
Tuesday May 24th De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Wednesday May 25th Colston Hall, Bristol
Friday May 27th Portsmouth, Guildhall
Saturday May 28th Brighton Centre
Sunday May 29th Hull City Hall
Tuesday May 31st York Barbican
Wednesday June 1st Sage 1, Sage Gateshead
Thursday June 2nd Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Saturday June 4th Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Sunday June 5th Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
Tuesday June 7th Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday June 8th New Theatre, Oxford
Friday June 10th London Brixton O2 Academy
