New Wave Outpost Forum

I grew up on both sides of the Atlantic. My parents crisscrossed the from London to NYC like crazy.

ABC were one my favs in the 80's. They were huge in London, but didn't do much after the "Zillionaire" album stateside.

Still a great band and Martin Fry was a great song writer and I still listen upto the "UP" album.

Didn't I read you right, between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Great band.

I should add that they did have stateside success after Zillionaire; "When Smokey Sings" was all over the radio around '87 or so.

Yes, WSS was/is the jam...I love ABC's sound. They were pretty big here in the states.

"Keepin the '80s alive!"

Hit and miss band for me. I think Spandau Ballet produced stronger stuff.

Pretty sure it all went tits up after The Lexicon of Love everywhere...even in the UK.


[b]"Can't you see I'm burnin?"[/b]

[quote]

Pretty sure it all went tits up after The Lexicon of Love everywhere...even in the UK.


[b]"Can't you see I'm burnin?"[/b]
[/quote]

Actually, if you are referring to chart placement, When Smokey Sings and Be Near Me were both hits in the U.S.

As far as quality, there's no denying that The Lexicon of Love is their best album (and, IMO, one of the best LPs of the 80s period), but I quite like at least some songs from their whole catalog (even Skyscraping had a couple of good songs on it).

And I've always found Beauty Stab to be a criminally neglected album by the critics at the time and the public who, I'm sure, where expecting "Poison Arrow V 2.0" and got one hell of a latter day Roxy Music tribute instead.

As always just my $0.02

That's what I love about that band - every album sounded different, yet you always knew it was them.

Lexicon = Sweeping, orchestral pop
Beauty Stab = Rock (particularly the great "Love's A Dangerous Language")
Zillionaire = Electronic pop
Alphabet City = Polished, R&B-influenced pop
Up = Dance music

Abracadabra followed in a similar vein as Up, and after that, it was no longer the same band. But while I consider Up to be their weakest album, all of their other '80s records are solid.

"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"

King Without a Crown and All of My Heart are my favorite... though I am not a big fan of theirs, they're allright