ABC's debut album combined the talents of the Sheffield, U.K.-based band, particularly lead singer
Martin Fry, a fashion plate of a frontman with a
Bryan Ferry fixation, and the inventive production style of former
Buggles member
Trevor Horn and his team of musicians, several of whom would go on to form
the Art of Noise.
Horn created dense tracks that merged synthesizer sounds, prominent beats, and swaths of strings and horns, their orchestrations courtesy of
Anne Dudley, who would follow her work with
the Art of Noise by becoming a prominent film composer, and who here underscored
Fry's stylized romantic lyrics and dramatic, if affected singing. The production style was dense and noisy, but frequently beautiful, and the group's emotional songs gave it a depth and coherence later
Horn works, such as those of
Yes ("Owner of a Lonely Heart") and
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, would lack. (You can hear
Horn trying out the latter band's style in "Date Stamp.")
Fry and company used the sound to create moving dancefloor epics like "Many Happy Returns," which, like most of the album's tracks, deserved to be a hit single. (In the U.K., four were: "Tears Are Not Enough," "Poison Arrow," "The Look of Love," and "All of My Heart," the last three making the Top Ten; in the U.S., "The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow" charted Top 40.)
ABC, who began fragmenting almost immediately, never equaled their gold-selling first LP commercially or artistically, despite some worthy later songs. Mercury's 2002 reissue is digitally remastered, emphasizing the album's still striking sound, and has been given a midline price. Added as a bonus track is "Theme From 'Mantrap,'" deriving from the band's documentary film chronicling their 1982 U.K. tour. The song is actually a slowed-down and rearranged version of "Poison Arrow." ~ William Ruhlmann