ABC - S.O.S.

[zill]

Back over on the “I Haven't Listened to ...” post, NuWaveRx reminded me that I haven’t listened to ABC’s “Beauty Stab” for quite awhile.

I’m not going to attempt to review the entire album, but rather just one song from the album: “S.O.S.” Why? Well, because on listening to Beauty Stab all these years later, I was struck at how god-awful and out of place it is on the album.

I can’t help but think that a record company executive pressured the band into including a “single” on the record with a sound closer to the “Lexicon of Love” album. But what they ended up with is a classic slice of 80’s cheese that in no way is as good as “Lexicon” and in no way has the sound, power and drive of other “Beauty Stab” tracks. Whereas the lead single “That Was Then But This Is Now” is a powerful and, in my opinion, unusual “hit” of the era, “S.O.S.” is a wimpy, non-ballad, sleeper, which peaked at #39 on the UK charts. “Hey Citizen!” would have been a much better follow-up single.

The song starts off with an “oh, how clever” tapping of the Morse code for S.O.S. I didn’t see that coming. The dated 80’s drum machine starts up followed by typical 1983 gentle synths and a smooth, dreamy Martin Fry vocal “so here we are, drifting on an open sea…” Fry’s vocals are about the only positive thing to note on this track.

The mellowness continues in the first verse, complete with a flute or something piping in before the chorus finally arrives after an excruciating 60 or 70 second lead-in. The chorus features cheesy female backing vocals repeating Fry’s “S.O.S.” Then we’re back to another yawn-filled second verse and the annoying drum machine tapping in the background.

Just when it couldn’t get any worse, the second chorus is followed by a classic early 80’s saxophone solo! And a L-O-N-G one at that. Not the sort of cool instrumentation of the “Lexicon” album, this is fromage-city, seriously dating the song.

And then…WHAT?!? All of a sudden Fry bursts into a total rip off of “Under Pressure”! “Ba, Ba, Ba Da Ba Da” - with an extra “Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba” tacked onto the end to throw us off from detecting the plagiarism. This comes out of nowhere!

Then back to chorus…for about another 45 seconds? Kill me now! When will it end? I can honestly say I hate this song, passionately. Blah.

[schwenko]

[quote]Originally posted by zill
[br]Back over on the �I Haven't Listened to ...� post, NuWaveRx reminded me that I haven�t listened to ABC�s �Beauty Stab� for quite awhile.

I�m not going to attempt to review the entire album, but rather just one song from the album: �S.O.S.� Why? Well, because on listening to Beauty Stab all these years later, I was struck at how god-awful and out of place it is on the album.

I can�t help but think that a record company executive pressured the band into including a �single� on the record with a sound closer to the �Lexicon of Love� album. But what they ended up with is a classic slice of 80�s cheese that in no way is as good as �Lexicon� and in no way has the sound, power and drive of other �Beauty Stab� tracks. Whereas the lead single �That Was Then But This Is Now� is a powerful and, in my opinion, unusual �hit� of the era, �S.O.S.� is a wimpy, non-ballad, sleeper, which peaked at #39 on the UK charts. �Hey Citizen!� would have been a much better follow-up single.

The song starts off with an �oh, how clever� tapping of the Morse code for S.O.S. I didn�t see that coming. The dated 80�s drum machine starts up followed by typical 1983 gentle synths and a smooth, dreamy Martin Fry vocal �so here we are, drifting on an open sea�� Fry�s vocals are about the only positive thing to note on this track.

The mellowness continues in the first verse, complete with a flute or something piping in before the chorus finally arrives after an excruciating 60 or 70 second lead-in. The chorus features cheesy female backing vocals repeating Fry�s �S.O.S.� Then we�re back to another yawn-filled second verse and the annoying drum machine tapping in the background.

Just when it couldn�t get any worse, the second chorus is followed by a classic early 80�s saxophone solo! And a L-O-N-G one at that. Not the sort of cool instrumentation of the �Lexicon� album, this is fromage-city, seriously dating the song.

And then�WHAT?!? All of a sudden Fry bursts into a total rip off of �Under Pressure�! �Ba, Ba, Ba Da Ba Da� - with an extra �Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba� tacked onto the end to throw us off from detecting the plagiarism. This comes out of nowhere!

Then back to chorus�for about another 45 seconds? Kill me now! When will it end? I can honestly say I hate this song, passionately. Blah.

[/quote]

while you are listening to it do you want to kick Martin Fry in the face[?]

[zill]

Well, he deserves a boot to the head for this piece of shit!

[SallyLightfoot]

Whine as you mihgt for "S.O.S", I still think that Beauty Stab is under appreciated. Legend has it that Eurythmics used to crank the album before its live shows to test the sound-system.

[zill]

[quote][i]Originally posted by SallyLightfoot[/i]
<br>Whine as you mihgt for "S.O.S", I still think that Beauty Stab is under appreciated. Legend has it that Eurythmics used to crank the album before its live shows to test the sound-system.
[/quote]

That's sort of my point. There are some great moments on "Beauty Stab"...but this isn't one of them. To me it sounds out of place and ruins the flow of the album.

[humanracer]

Been listening to SOS a lot actually. Sounds like a late Roxy Music track. Probably my favorite from BS but then I like that smooth sound and my favourite ABC album is Alphabet City!

[gnj1958]

LOL SOS is the only track from that album I liked. Just goes to show huh.