The Lexicon of Love
(1982) ****.5 (4.5)
Beauty Stab (1983) *** (3)
How to Be a
Zillionaire! (1985) ***.5 (3.5)
Alphabet City (1987) ***
(3)
Up (1989) *** (3)
Absolutely (1990) GH ****
(4)
Abracadabra (1991) **.5
(2.5)
Skyscraping (1997) ***.5
(3.5)
The Lexicon of Live
(1999) ** (2)
The Look of Love –
The Very Best of ABC ****(4)
The Lexicon of Love –
Deluxe (2004) ****(4)
Gold (2006) GH ****(4)
Traffic (2008) **.5 (2.5)
When ABC’s debut album The Lexicon of Love arrived in their
native homeland, the Brits went absolutely nuts over it, proclaiming it a
modern masterpiece. It was so well received in fact, that every subsequent
release was considered a disappointment (some major, some minor) in comparison.
Stateside, ABC’s debut didn’t have quite the same impact and this allowed their
later work to be judged more fairly. Lexicon,
meanwhile, has grown in stature and is now regularly considered one of the
highlights of the early 80s British Invasion. “Poison Arrow” and “The Look of
Love” remain the two best known songs from the album, but they are far from the
only delights as “Date Stamp” “All of My Heart” “Show Me” and “Tears Are Not
Enough” remain favorites. These lads could write a clever lyric or two as well
as “If you judge a book by the cover, then you judge the look by the lover”
ably demonstrates and there are more to be found. “Me? I go from one extreme to
the other” probably describes most adolescents and young person’s emotional
lives as well. And check out the awesome album cover too! These guys knew their way around drama!!
Beauty
Stab was greeted with outright hostility in the UK when it failed to
continue nicely and logically from the debut. The songs aren’t as good or as
catchy but it seems the less-than-precise production is what annoyed everybody.
And what’s with the emphasis on guitars/drums over synths? Whatever. 30 years
on, these are minor quibbles as the album is far from bad, though “That Was
Then, This Is Now” is the only track that really comes close to anything on Lexicon. After the brutal press
treatment, lead singer Martin Fry and guitarist/synthesizer whiz Mark White
shuffled off the band moniker (and the other members) and essentially became a
duo, though there would be occasional other members, who would essentially stop
in for a bit of tea.
The resulting album How To Be A Zillionaire! provided their
biggest US hit to date in “Be Near Me” and an equal classic in the (almost)
title cut (“How to be a Millionaire!”). One suspects that had this album been
the direct follow-up to Lexicon, ABC
might have been spared some of their harshest press notices. The best songs on
here are equal to anything on the debut, but that being said, there’s
considerably more filler in this excursion and this filler sounds fairly dated
too.
Alphabet
City contains their final hit single “When Smokey Sings” which cracked the
Top 5 in the US. Curiously, they’d never crack the Hot 100 Singles chart ever
again. The accompanying album included the superior “The Night You Murdered
Love” but nothing else was particularly memorable. Plenty of artists have gone
on to release incredibly worthwhile albums long after their hit-making days are
over, but it’s unlikely anyone but diehard fans will be particularly interested
in any of ABC’s later work. This is a shame, actually as much of their latter
albums are of essentially equal quality. Up
contains “Where is the Heaven,” one of their best album tracks.
They began the 1990s with the very
necessary hits compilation Absolutely though
if anyone thought this was a “part 1”, they were sadly deluded. When ABC said
goodbye to the 1980s, they also said farewell to their hit-making years. Abracadabra exists almost outside of
time. There are no concessions to the 1990s and this album sounds defiantly 80s
in tone and production. It’s also, unfortunately, unremarkable. Not bad, but
nothing of particular interest either. Abracadabra
was the final album to feature founding member Mark White. Afterwards, lead
singer Martin Fry (who had been the primary leader for a decade) would
essentially be a one-man-band continuing to tour and release albums sporadically.
“Stranger Thing” leads off Skyscraping and it’s easily their best
song since “When Smokey Sings.” In fact, the whole album is surprisingly
strong. “Who Can I Turn To” and the title cut are also of similar quality. Of
course, the entire album sounds nothing like 1997 and seems designed to appeal
to those who still love 1980s music but this is primarily a smoother more
mellow sound. Then “Rolling Sevens” comes along and makes the listener question
that assessment because it’s such an amazing and modern song. The album does lose a bit of steam near the
end but this is probably the best ABC album since 1985.
Unfortunately, lackluster is the
only way to describe the follow up album The
Lexicon of Live. Recorded live, nearly every song is missing the punch of
the studio version and matters aren’t helped by an extraordinarily muddy
recording.
Greatest Hits compilation The Look Of Love – The Very Best of ABC followed
in 2001 and although the track listing is very similar to Absolutely, this is the compilation worth owning. Remastered sound
and a groovy layout make this a winning package. Also, there are no remixes
(like on Absolutely) leaving room for
a few more (including newer) tracks. This was re-issued as Gold in 2004 with a 2nd disc full of remixes and
rarities. Another retrospective released at this time, the deluxe edition of The Lexicon of Love includes a 2nd
disc of live tracks and rarities. Those already in love with the original will
enjoy this, but all newbies are directed to the original release 1st.
Traffic
arrived in 2008, eleven years after ABC’s last new studio album. While one
would expect nostalgia to be the order of the day here (after all, would anyone
who didn’t love ABC’s earlier work even consider owning this album), Martin is
not looking back here. He’s not going to reinvent the wheel and he’s secure
with his spot in 80s history, so he just gets on with another rollicking set of
songs. Not as good as Skyscraping as
no individual songs jump out as readily as the best there. For whatever reason,
this album reminds moi more of Adam Ant than the classic ABC sound (though “Love
is Strong” the only single sounds like vintage ABC.) Was this intentional? No idea.
All in all, if you enjoy 80s music,
there’s a lot more to ABC than “Poison Arrow” or “Be Near Me” so do yourself a
favor and check some of it out. This writer doubts you’ll be sorry.