ABC are an English pop band formed in Sheffield in 1980. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Martin Fry, guitarist and keyboardist Mark White, saxophonist Stephen Singleton and drummer David Palmer.
10. How To Be A Millionaire (1985)
9. Tears Are Not Enough (1982)
8. When Smokey Sings (1986)
We found an issue of the British music magazine Melody Maker from 1972 that appears to be an influence on this song. Critiquing the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles song "I Don't Blame You At All," it states: "The words themselves are flat and clichéd. But when Smokey sings them in that high, ululating countertenor, he invests them with a tortured, feverish agony without equal in pop." - Songfacts
You need to read beyond the title on this one - it's not a chirpy love song, but about how to deal with it when love goes away. ABC lead singer Martin Fry told Uncut that this song is "genuinely about the moment you get your teeth kicked in by somebody you love f--king off. You feel like s--t but you have to search for some sort of meaning in your life."
In 2005, Jess Harvell of Pitchfork listed "All of My Heart" as his favorite UK song of the post-punk "new pop" era, describing it as "ABC's slickest and most gorgeous single, and yet also possibly their most bitter." Harvell wrote: "Martin Fry alternates between open hearted and suspicious, warm and resentful with the turn of a phrase. The outro–a swirl of soundtrack strings, plucked bass, and cascading piano–is the most purely beautiful music of the era.
7. The Look Of Love (1982)
6. All Of My Heart (1982)
5. Ocean Blue (1985)
Ocean Blue was the only single off the album How To Be Zillionare not to chart inside the Billboard Top 100 in either the UK or the USA. That being said, the track is a masterpiece of emotion an heartbreak that deserves another deeper look.
4. That Was Then But This Is Now (1983)
3. Viva Love (2016)
Now, 34 years since the release of Lexicon, Fry is delivering a sequel to his great opening gambit. The Lexicon of Love II examines affairs of the heart from the perspective of an older, maybe wiser, but no less romantic individual. Horn is not on board but Dudley is, which could be preferable given that her rich, considered arrangements were as essential to the original Lexicon as Fry’s own voice. If the record is not the game-changer that the original was, the same values of style and scale are in play. There is the declamatory opening single Viva Love, there are callbacks to Poison Arrow (“I care enough to know I could never leave you”) and, naturally, there is an orchestral reprise at the end.
2. Be Near Me (1985)
This is a song of heartbreak, but it's a bit deceptive if you're not paying attention. Over a rising keyboard riff, lead singer Martin Fry sings, "All my dreams came true last night," but then adds: "In tears," as the dream was not real. He's left begging the girl to come back to him.
1. Poison Arrow (1982)
"I've found a band who're perfect for you," producer Trevor Horn was told by his wife in late 1981. "They're intelligent, the songwriting's really good, but they need something more." The Sheffield-based group had already met over a dozen producers looking for that "something more". When they were introduced to Horn, who had already achieved notable success producing pop duo Dollar, they told him with breath-taking swagger: "If you get to produce us you'll be the most fashionable producer in the world because we're the most fashionable band in the world."
Check Out:
No comments:
Post a Comment