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Post by Horacewimp on Oct 26, 2014 9:23:07 GMT
ABC - Lexicon of Love We all need a little love and sadness in our lives, so lets head back to 1982 and revisit ABCs debut album Lexicon of Love. This for me is the soundtrack of the 80s, although not classed as a concept album many of the songs segue into each other and are based around love and heartache. Cheesy lyrics aside the album is produced by Trevor Horn and has his stamp all over it. The album reached number one in the UK and 24 in USA, it includes the singles Poison Arrow, Tears are Not Enough, Look of Love and All of My Heart. I saw the band life back in the 80s and had front row seats, they were great but Martin Fry kept wafting his microphone lead around nearly hitting us, as you would expect we gave him some verbal for this. Recently the band toured to celebrate 30 years of the album doing shows with a full orchestra, I missed out on this but my brother attended and said how good the show was. Many of the other album tracks could of being released I think as singles such as Many Happy Returns, Valentines Day and Date Stamp. ABC released a number of albums after Lexicon of Love but none in my opinion were as good as this their debut album. Track List "Show Me" "Poison Arrow" "Many Happy Returns" "Tears Are Not Enough" "Valentine's Day" "The Look of Love" (Part One) "Date Stamp" "All of My Heart" "4 Ever 2 Gether" "The Look of Love" (Part Four) The youtube file includes a bonus track “Overture” ignore this as it was not part of the original album: Grooveshark link also includes a bonus track: grooveshark.com/#!/album/Lexicon+Of+Love+The/3547183 I hope you enjoy the album.
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Post by jrmugz on Oct 26, 2014 11:47:47 GMT
Cool, HW! Looking forward to checking it out and getting more schooling on the eighties pop musical scene to go with my OMD knowledge. Look for some feedback by mid-week, if not sooner! Jim
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Post by queenofthehours on Oct 26, 2014 17:41:35 GMT
Oh Horace! You've just gone and picked one of the albums I was going to choose! I love this album to bits and always put it on when I need a bit of a lift to help me get some work done (ELO is no good for this as I have to give Jeff and co. my full attention). It's gotten me through many difficult essays and low moods. I don't know what I'm going to find to say about it - sometimes the more you know an album the less you notice things about it.
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Post by Horacewimp on Oct 26, 2014 18:23:12 GMT
Oh Horace! You've just gone and picked one of the albums I was going to choose! I love this album to bits and always put it on when I need a bit of a lift to help me get some work done (ELO is no good for this as I have to give Jeff and co. my full attention). It's gotten me through many difficult essays and low moods. I don't know what I'm going to find to say about it - sometimes the more you know an album the less you notice things about it. That's weird QOTH, I chose it a good few weeks ago but when I was doing my write up I saw your name down to do album of the week in a few weeks time and I thought I bet QOTH was going to do ABC, she won't be pleased When I saw you had replied to the thread I thought uh oh, I wonder if I was right
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Post by Chippa on Oct 26, 2014 19:00:31 GMT
"Show Me" – Nice symphonic opening. Funky beat, and very typical 80’s new wave soul. Not bad, at all.
"Poison Arrow" – I’ve heard this one before. Good, catchy chorus. Again, a very funky groove going on.
"Many Happy Returns" – Nothing special. Sounds like filler, to me.
"Tears Are Not Enough" – The beginning reminds me of “Rapper’s Delight”! Very disco, or should I say disco-very…hah.
"Valentine's Day" – Very Nile Rodgers-esque bassline, here. Ok song, overall.
"The Look of Love" (Part One) – I’ve always liked this classic 80’s hit. Very, very much “of the era”. Another great (synth?) bassline.
"Date Stamp" – At first, I thought it was Frankie Goes To Hollywood, but then the vocals kicked in. ‘Eh…not great.
"All of My Heart" – I like the Phil Spector-ish touches, and the chorus is way catchy.
"4 Ever 2 Gether"- Good, atmospheric touches to open the song. Strong chorus, too.
"The Look of Love" (Part Four) –Nice orchestral reprise to “The Look Of Love”. Gotta wonder if they were ELO influenced, at all?
Overall, a lot of this album sounded the same. A couple of the songs broke the mold, but the rest fell into that 80’s new wave/soul thing. Not bad, though. “The Look Of Love” remains one of the great 80’s pop songs.
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Post by Horacewimp on Oct 26, 2014 19:31:04 GMT
Thanks for the review and comments Chippa. I was going to mention in my write up that I thought there might be some ELO influence in the songs, but didn't want to get shot down so thought I would wait to see if anyone else thought this. I remember when I first heard the album many, many moons ago that I thought it had an ELOish sound which was one of the reasons I liked it especially after the change of direction ELO had gone with their Time album. You mention Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the connection would be Trevor Horns producing both artists, Trevor had a trademark production style, as does Jeff.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 26, 2014 20:23:28 GMT
Ooo, good call Horace! Looking forward to a bit of a bop to this one when I give it a spin, love this classic 80's band I remember seeing a film made to promote the LP with Martin Fry and Lisa Vanderpump (no, really, that's her name). It was cheese-tastic
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Post by Horacewimp on Oct 26, 2014 20:36:33 GMT
Ooh er missus, I've just googled her and it says she was in the Poison Arrow video, good name
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Post by unomusette on Oct 26, 2014 21:44:18 GMT
I think she does the spoken bit in Poison Arrow "...I can never love you.."
I've also spotted her listed in some reality programme on an obscure digital channel which I couldn't be bothered to watch. I'm sure it's the pinnacle of her career though. Apart from doing the Poison Arrow vid of course.
Edit: Had a quick look in the Radio Times, it's called Vanderpump Rules. Calm down, I think it's about her running her own hotel. ITVBe (channel 26) Tuesday at 9pm. Don't say I never give you the best TV viewing tips.
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Post by queenofthehours on Oct 27, 2014 14:57:31 GMT
That's weird QOTH, I chose it a good few weeks ago but when I was doing my write up I saw your name down to do album of the week in a few weeks time and I thought I bet QOTH was going to do ABC, she won't be pleased When I saw you had replied to the thread I thought uh oh, I wonder if I was right Well it was actually the first album I thought of when this thread started but I probably wouldn't have chosen it for a long time anyway! I'm very glad you've chosen it instead Horace .
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Post by 88keys on Oct 27, 2014 19:56:16 GMT
This is such a good album. The Look Of Love beats anything Michael Jackson ever did.
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Post by jrmugz on Oct 28, 2014 18:55:23 GMT
OK below is my review, HW.
ABC "The Lexicon of Love" 1. "Show Me" - Nice showtune, majestic, disco-groove introduction to the CD. Feels like surfing on a disco floor; Saturday Night Fever goes to Hawaii. 2. "Poison Arrow" - Nice segue from the last song and good groove. Nice imagery of poison arrows as a way of decribing having a broken heart inflicted on you. 3. "Many Happy Returns" - Nice adventurous track sung with a lot of feeling. The Police meet Duran Duran. 4. "Tears Are Not Enough" - Nice funky feel to this one. Keeps the CD going and interesting. 5. "Valentine's Day" - Kids bicycle bells go electric as singer shouts what sound like what could be veiled references to getting VD. I could be wrong. 6. "The Look of Love (Part One)" - Almost seventies sounding. Would be interesting to play all four parts together. 7. "Date Stamp" - Sound like someone threw a cash register onto a dance floor. Female vocalist adds a nice touch to it. 8. "All of My Heart" - This is a good one. Lots of feel to it. Sounds like the yearning to have a failed relationship rekindled. 9. "4 Ever 2 Gether" - Strong chorus with a lot of feeling, the song throws in some nice curves to keep it interesting. 10. "The Look of Love (Part Four)" - Nice pleasant ending. Keyboard melody reminds me of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time".
Star rating: 3.25 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "All of My Heart", "Poison Arrow", "Tears are Not Enough" Bottom Line: A decent 80s dance-and-relax CD.
Thanks for posting this one HoraceWimp, you're making us experts on pretty-boy bands of the 1980s!
The musical style reminds me of paintings with colorful touches added tastefully, to serve as a nice as a collage with no part overwhelming the other part. Good stuff.
Jim
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Post by Horacewimp on Oct 28, 2014 19:23:39 GMT
The musical style reminds me of paintings with colorful touches added tastefully, to serve as a nice as a collage with no part overwhelming the other part. Good stuff. Thanks for your review Jim, I'm glad you enjoyed most of the album. I love your last sentence summing up the album what a great way to describe it.
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Post by jrmugz on Oct 31, 2014 3:30:47 GMT
Hey guys, let's give HW some more feedback on his CD of the Week as the week is winding down here? Let's not leave anyone who picks out the CD stranded. Jim
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Post by Helmut83 on Oct 31, 2014 3:45:13 GMT
I'm on it!
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