Big time appreciation! This is a pop gem which there could be no duplicate. I like a lot of this band's work and Beauty Stab is no slouch. I think from Lexicon to Beauty, the fan drop off was huge because of the complaint of ABC trying to sound like Roxy Music. They did both share the drum talents of Andy Newmark but for me it worked well.
I discovered this album while working as a college DJ back in the fall of '82 and from that point on never stopped listening to it. It really was the perfect album for the time and quite sophisticated - music, lyrics, production. I remember they had a film based on this album too, Man Trap I believe it was called. They also had endless remixes and instrumental versions of this album that were fantastic too. Unfortunately I was disappointed with all subsequent ABC albums after this one, nothing could compare.
I used to worship this album, thinking it had the best eight-song run of any pop record. Like jsayers, I would have dropped "4Ever2Gether". In hindsight, I don't think many of these songs would have worked without Horn's production and the superlative arrangements (especially the bass playing), which masked some of the shortcomings in the compositions (many of the choruses sound rather forced to me these days). "All Of My Heart" is easily my favourite. As flawed as "Beauty Stab" and "Zillionaire" may be, I'm glad the band didn't repeat the formula until "Alphabet City", which despite some good tracks, felt a tad desperate.
Just read this on the new wave outpost forum : Lost ABC Master Tapes Found by ApolloZero » 13 Jun 2014 02:53 Does this mean a new round of remasters on the horizon? http://www.classicpopmag.com/2014/06/ex ... pes-found/ This week we can exclusively reveal that a dozen tapes from the early days of ABC have come to light containing rare mixes and unheard songs from the sessions for their first three albums: The Lexicon of Love, Beauty Stab and How To Be A Zillionaire. From Zillionaire, there’s unheard remixes including a “That’s It Folks!” mix of So Hip It Hurts. From Beauty Stab, reams of early studio takes have come to light including one song, You And Me, that never made the final album. From the Lexicon of Love era, the group’s own, pre-Trevor Horn demos of All Of My Heart have come to light and – most bizarrely of all – a reel entitled “4 Ever 2 Gether – The Outtake, Starring Martin Fry as Ken Dodd”. Look for the full story of how, when and where these tapes where found – and comments from a delighted Martin Fry – in issue 12 of Classic Pop, out 17 July.
I would love it if Audio Fidelity would tackle this album and Beauty Stab (the latter I know is a pipe dream, but Lexicon was HUGE in its day). C'mon, Steve, Marshall and Kevin, how about it? For fans of Lexicon of Love, this was quite an interesting essay on the greatness of the album: http://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2013/09/abc-lexicon-of-love.html
I recently found this CD packaged as a Japanese 32PD-90. Which is just the early German CD with an additional fold-out sheet with Japanese liner notes and English lyrics. Probably also an OBI, but I didn't get that. Although its a very dynamic CD, on my system it has no "depth". I hardly get a left-right sound stage and there's no front to back depth. The sounds is sticking between the speakers. The sound also has a distinctive artificial, 80's feel. I think that Alphabet City sounds much more natural, but can't find my copy now. Also, other Trevor Horn productions I have sound less "boxed", although they're all from 1984 and up. Edit: I want to add that I only knew the singles before, and that listening to the complete album left me in awe. Almost every track sounds like a single. Great songwriting, certainly better than Alphabet City which was already very good (IMHO). It would really be nice to have an Audio Fidelity master of this material.
This "Green Arrow" might be the same mastering as the "Atomic Design" discs, but it's the first European CD pressing from 1983. The Atomic Design discs are from late 1985 and 1986 mostly.
Trevor Horn's finest moment as far as I'm concerned. Muuuuuch better than his efforts to turn Yes into a pop band for me, though I know that era has it's fans...
I love this album too. Great from start to end. Btw, just checked the DR numbers for the 1998 remaster I have (the one with one bonus track) and it's an 8.
His best moment was for Dollar IMO. They launched his production career, which caught ABC's eye, and they promptly stole him and cost Dollar their producer. This clip of Videotheque from 1982 shows how fast Trevor was developing as a producer. There's been little like it since. Also has a UK chart countdown preceding it with several popular SHF acts on the charts like Macca, AC/DC. Interesting to see.
I think the four Dollar singles easily beat the four ABC/Lexicon singles in terms of tune and composition, with the exception of "All Of My Heart", which is a fantastic song. With hindsight, some of the choruses seemed a bit forced and attention-grabbing. ABC's strong point were Fry's lyrics and the arrangements. At the time, Horn was over-generous with reverb and clashing instrumentation, hence the frequent lack of clarity and boxed-in feel of his productions, plus he hadn't quite sussed out how to make electric guitars sound great, an instrument which is not present on any of the more synthetic Dollar singles. Mind you, "Videotheque" is Horn's crowning achievement for me as well. As for ABC "stealing" Dollar's producer, once could level the same criticism at Malcolm McLaren, who also started recording his album "Duck Rock" in early 1982. I'm guessing Horn didn't predict much longevity and development for Dollar as artists, so it was an easy choice to make.
Probably agree with that, but given he was basically washed up (even his publisher had dropped him) by mid 1981 I think he could have been a bit more loyal to them for having the vision to throw him a lifeline.
ABC's music has a certain atmosphere-it sounds like the big city at night. Very classy and elegant music. The album cover of Alphabet City is so appropriate.
Doing some research on this forum I was hoping that my disc contains the "wrong" mastering. But sadly it has the "correct" one, so no hope for an improvement anymore.
That is a great early 80's TOTP performance, but what are those red marks on Theresa's arm? They don't look like a tattoo, at least not on my iPad anyway.
Great album, enjoyed an original CD for a while but recently dropped a needle.....the vinyl is superb.
