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┌────────┐
────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | ABC
Title | The Lexicon Of Love II
Genre | New Wave Format | Album
Source | CDDA Time | 45:21
Label | Virgin EMI Store | 2016
Catalog | CDV3150 Rip | 2016
Bitrate | 247 kbps Size | 84.83 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. The Flames Of Desire 4:27
02. Viva Love 4:14
03. Ten Below Zero 3:58
04. Confessions Of A Fool 3:55
05. Singer Not The Song 4:11
06. The Ship Of The Seasick Sailor 4:41
07. Kiss Me Goodbye 4:53
08. I Believe In Love 4:42
09. The Love Inside The Love 4:12
10. Brighter Than The Sun 5:13
11. Viva Love Reprise 0:55
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
One of the most popular new wave bands of the early 80s, the British group
ABC built upon the detached, synthesized R&B pop of David Bowie and Roxy
Music, adding a self-conscious, campy sense of theatrics and style. Under
the direction of vocalist Martin Fry, the group scored several catchy,
synth-driven dance-pop hits in the early 80s, including "Poison Arrow",
"The Look Of Love", and "Be Near Me". During the late 70s, Fry ran his own
fanzine, Modern Drugs, while he attended Sheffield University. ABC formed
in 1980, after Fry interviewed Vice Versa members Mark White (guitar) and
Stephen Singleton (saxophone) for his fanzine. The two musicians asked Fry
to join their band as a vocalist, and he soon became part of the group; the
lineup also featured drummer David Robinson and bassist Mark Lickley.
While on-stage at a show commemorating the 30th anniversary of ABC's
undeniably classic album "The Lexicon Of Love", Fry had an epiphany. Why
not make a sequel? Something that captured the sweeping vision of the
original, but also added the wisdom of three decades gained by living
through the endless ups and downs of love. Working with Anne Dudley, who
arranged the strings on the original Lexicon, producer Gary Stevenson, and
a few songwriters, Fry did exactly what he set out to do on 2016's "The
Lexicon Of Love II".
The album gets the majestic, cinematic scope of the original down
perfectly, with Dudley's epic string arrangements embellished with grand
pianos, some fluid fretless bass playing, impassioned backing vocals, and
the occasional moment that, if you close your eyes, almost sounds like 1982
- not only because of the musical backing, but also because Fry's voice is
relatively untouched by age. While he can't hit the same falsetto notes
that he could 30 years earlier, he does still sing with the same urgency
and power that he used to, and that's very impressive. Of course, there are
no tracks here as perfect as "The Look Of Love" or "Poison Arrow", but
there aren't any weak links either, and the album holds together
unexpectedly well.
And some of the tracks do come pretty close to the heights reached on the
original "Lexicon", like the swaggering disco-funk workout "Viva Love", the
nautically romantic "The Ship Of The Seasick Sailor", and the most
1982-like of the lot, "The Flames Of Desire". There are even a couple that
might have fit in on "Beauty Stab" (the guitar-heavy 'Singer Not The Song')
or "Zillionaire" (the slickly danceable 'Confessions Of A Fool).
Throughout, Fry's lyrics cast a wryly practiced eye on the travails of
being a failed lover, the difficulty of making a living playing music, and
the inevitable march of time. It's a melancholy journey, made even sadder
by the strings that permeate everything, but it's also inspiring and always
stylishly delivered.
Fry and his crew of accomplices could have failed miserably trying to
re-create the sound of "Lexicon" exactly, making it a stale nostalgic
exercise that would have tarnished the original by association. Instead,
they got at what makes it great - the over the top romanticism, the
audacious vocals, and the widescreen melodies - and gave it a wiser, more
thoughtful update. "The Lexicon Of Love II" isn't exactly a return to form,
since their 2008 album "Traffic" is a hidden gem in their catalog, but it
does serve as a reminder that Martin Fry and ABC created one of the best
albums of the 80s, if not ever, and they still have what it takes to come
within shouting distance of those ridiculously lofty heights.
┌────────┐
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└────────┘