ABC – The Lexicon of Love I & II – From 1982 to 2016
The Lexicon of Love, ABC’s career-making 1982 album has been described as ‘slick and suave’ and even a “disco” album, merged with the New Wave/New Romanticism synth-pop of the day, and not necessarily by those offering it praise. This very ‘slick and suave’ designation also earned it quite a bit of criticism during its initial release, but seeing how it featured four Top 20 UK singles, Tears Are Not Enough, Poison Arrow, The Look of Love (Part One), and All of My Heart (several of which charted better in the U.S. and Canada), and has become an iconic album of the ‘80s, I am sure lead singer/lyricist Martin Fry, and his original bandmates, Mark White (keyboards and guitar), Stephen Singleton (saxophonist), and David Palmer (drummer) really do not care. Success has a way of taking the sting out of criticism; there is that and the fact that based on the music, the album cover, and the videos that accompanied the single releases, ‘slick and suave’ were what the band was going for and all about.
The New Romanticism movement (as it was known in Great Britain), known as New Wave in North America, was a product of the decline of the late 1970’s Punk movement in England, and it’s raw, ugly aesthetic. Punk came on strong, but fizzled out just as quickly, leaving a void to be filled, and in London, and elsewhere in England, the disenfranchised youth took to a form of self-expression that led towards a more fashionable, but eccentric look (Boy George of Culture Club is a perfect example of this). The main inspiration of many of those embracing this new approach were David Bowie and Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry. When it comes to fashionable, Bryan Ferry was a true inspiration, so the ‘slick and suave’ Fry and the other members of ABC adopted was not unheard of, and worked brilliantly for them, although some found it a little too much (you cannot appeal to everyone, no matter how hard you try).
“Disco was a dirty word by 1982. But I loved the strings on Chic records, and the whole soundscape of Earth, Wind & Fire,” recalled Martin Fry in an article on Theguardian.com, recalling the making of The Lexicon of Love. “Fusing that with the likes of The Cure and Joy Division was what we were after – while Mark White, our guitarist, was keen to give the album the feel of a film soundtrack. The highly theatrical sleeve even had a touch of that old movie classic The Red Shoes to it: that was a pretty bonkers film, more intense and emotional than factual. The Lexicon of Love is a bit like that. I used a lot of falsetto, partly to convey the rollercoaster ride – the elation and despair – of being in love.”
In the same article, Fry went on to talk more about the inspiration behind the songs of The Lexicon of Love, an album many consider to be a concept record focused on love and relationships – or more surprisingly, the failure of relationships.
“Lyrically, while I loved the likes of Gary Numan and OMD (Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark), I wanted to take my songs to a more emotional level, along the lines of Rodgers and Hammerstein or Cole Porter. At that time, there were few songs about really loving or hating someone; and, whereas punk had been quite blokey, women make their presence felt in Lexicon. It was unusual to feature strings so prominently, too, unless you were Cilla Black or Cliff Richard. The Look of Love, which got to No. 4, had all these pizzicato arrangements over a moog bassline, while All of My Heart (No. 5) was very Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
ABC was born out of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England, where Stephen Singleton and Mark White had formed the synth-pop band, Vice Versa. Fry, a Manchester native, who was attending Sheffield University, and writing his own music fanzine, Modern Days, interviewed the group, and soon after joined them on synthesizer. By 1980, the band had been renamed ABC and Fry became its lead singer, leading the way for their first single release, 1981’s Tears Are Not Enough (that would eventually appear on The Lexicon of Love), with the ‘B’-side, Alphabet Soup, on their own label, Neutron Records. The single reached Number 19 on the UK charts, inspiring the need for an album, and the creation of The Lexicon of Love.
The concept of The Lexicon of Love sounding a bit like a film soundtrack, leads off the album with a quiet string intro to Show Me, a song that quickly evolves into a bit of a rocker and defines the album’s approach to the vocabulary, language, and knowledge (lexicon) of love, in that love is a challenge. Once I needed your love/But that was just one thing left on my mind/then I needed to feel you near me/You said: “Don’t have the time.
Poison Arrow, written by the band, quickly confirms this outlook on love: If I were to say to you, “Can you keep a secret?”/Would you know just what to do or where to keep it?/Then I say, “I love you”, foul the situation/Hey girl, I thought we were the right combination/Who broke my heart, you did, you did/Bow to the target, blame Cupid, Cupid/You think you’re smart, stupid, stupid. Further along in the song, Fry asks, I thought you loved me, but it seems you don’t care, followed by a woman replying, I care enough to know, I can never love you.
Poison Arrow is an infectious, beautifully orchestrated song, and it is easy to see why it was a hit, although for those looking for love, or love songs, it certainly does not fit the bill, however, I will suspect many young lovers embraced and danced to it at school dances around the World in 1982.
Many Happy Returns follow, continuing the consistency of the album’s music and theme, followed the Top Ten single, Tears Are Not Enough. Slam that door, slap my face/I don’t love you anymore/Dry your eyes sing or swim/You surmise you can’t win/We all make great mistakes/ Would I lie/Should I lie/Could I lie to you?/Excuses had their uses/But now they’re all used up, all used up. Like the other songs, Fry’s voice ranges from its regular tone to a falsetto, with part of the song seeming to be a chant; ABC use a bit of the call and response approach on songs on The Lexicon of Love, and it works – their own personal song writing style.
While love has not faired so well on The Lexicon of Love so far, with a song entitled, Valentine’s Day, you have a little hope that Fry and his bandmates have some belief in the power of love – they do not. When the postman doesn’t call on Valentine’s Day/And Santa Claus don’t come on Christmas Day/That umbrella won’t work on a rainy day/Don’t ask me, I already know, or the more cynical, With your heart on parade and your heart on parole/I hope you find a sucker to buy that mink stole/School for scandal, guess who’s enrolled/So ask me, I already know.
The music behind all these cynical songs, is upbeat and invigorating, counter to the negative feelings expressed lyrically.
For those listening to vinyl, Valentine’s Day finishes side one. Side two kicks off with the Top Ten hit song, Look of Love (Part One), and what is the look of love? When your girl has left you out on the pavement (goodbye)/Then your dreams fall apart at the seams/Your reason for living’s your reason for leaving/Don’t ask me what it means. Fry, who surprisingly has had one of the music world’s most successful marriages, obviously had not found love when he penned the lyrics to Looking for Love (Part One) and even addresses himself in the song: And all my friends just might ask me/They say, “Martin, maybe one day you’ll find true love”/And I say, “Maybe there must be a solution to/The one thing, the one thing we can’t find/That the look, that the look/Sisters and brothers.
Date Stamp has Fry trading off vocals with Tessa Niles in a song where saxophonist, Stephen Singleton finally gets a chance to shine a little. It is quickly followed by the Top Ten single, All of My Heart, another satisfying anti-love song. What it’s like to have loved and to lose her touch?/What’s it like to have loved and to lose that much?/Well, I hope and I pray that maybe some day/You’ll walk in the room with my heart/Add and subtract but as a matter of fact/Now that you’re gone I still want you back. The passion in Fry’s voice is noticeable on this single, and the long-orchestrated conclusion to the song is as beautiful as anything on the album.
4 Ever 2 Gether follows, again beautifully orchestrated, and an almost funky song that only suffers in that if follows All of My Heart on the album. To close off The Lexicon of Love, ABC present the instrumental, The Look of Love (Part Four), a beautiful piece that only adds to the overall drama that defines the entire album.
The Lexicon of Love was produced by Trevor Horn, who had hits with Yes, Dollar, and The Buggles, who understood what the band wanted to achieve and pushed them to strive to achieve it. He brought in Anne Dudley to play keyboards and act as arranger for the string and brass section he knew he wanted to add to ABC’s music – adding that lush, cinematic tone. The fact ABC’s The Lexicon of Love is not a schmaltzy album singing the praises of love is what I believe has made it so enduring. Everything about it and the band’s image would make this predictable, but the cynicism saves the day.
The Lexicon of Love is a great debut album that is ‘slick and suave’ and should be unapologetically so. In my research and just general reading on music, it seems being too ‘polished’ is often considered a crime. One of it’s main criminals in this regard is, Jeff Lynne, the founder, guitarist, and main creative force behind the 1970’s and ‘80’s rock band, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). His albums, many of them brilliant in my opinion, have been accused of being too ‘polished’ as if that is a bad thing – it is not. Lynne has also served as a producer for Tom Petty (Full Moon Fever), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Into the Great Wide Open), Paul McCartney (Flaming Pie), George Harrison (Cloud Nine), and Joe Walsh (Analog Man), to name a few. All these albums have been accused of being to ‘slick’ and ‘polished’. So, if that is a crime – who says music must be always raw? – ABC are in good company.
After August 1, 1981 and the launch of MTV (Music Television), a medium that is credited with breaking various New Wave bands such as Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Spandau Ballet, who did not have to go the traditional route of recording an album, and touring and fighting for radio play, to make it, it was imperative that ABC create music videos for their single releases, and in doing so, they did not help that ‘slick and suave’ reputation. The video for Poison Arrow starts off with Fry and the band in tuxedos, Fry using Opera glasses watching a stage play where a scantily clad nymphet is pointing an arrow at a Shakespearian-like character, and morphs into him and the band, in a club singing, Fry in a gold lame suit, no doubt a tribute to Elvis Presley and the album cover for 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong.
All of My Heart sees Fry decked out in another tuxedo, a trench coat and fedora, in what appears to be a Film Noir inspired video – a very classy presentation. The Look Of Love (Part One) appears to be a tongue-in-cheek parody of musicals (think Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins), with the band sporting straw boater hats, white suits with black stripes, and canes, as they dance, and move around a set full of bizarre activities, like a ballerina dancing in a gazebo, a man both hungrily eating and wearing a bowl of spaghetti, and a puppet show (the gold lame suit even makes a brief appearance). While the first two videos demonstrate the bands sophisticated and classy attitude, The Look of Love video confirms they have a sense of humour, whereas all their videos enforce their ‘slick and suave’ reputation.
The Lexicon of Love was a very distinctive album, and a tough act to follow. In late 1983, ABC released their second studio album, Beauty Stab, which upon listening to today, is not all that bad, but at the time, it was a complete departure from how ABC presented themselves and is considered an album that “sabotaged” their momentum moving forward. Gone were the lushy orchestral arrangements, replaced by a more stripped down, guitar-oriented album. I like Beauty Stab, and would highly recommend it, however I can see if you fell in love with The Lexicon of Love, it might prove a little disturbing. The desire for bands not to replicate themselves and move in a new direction can often spell trouble; while some like David Bowie, and even Bruce Springsteen (think Nebraska) can get away with it, it is not an easy transition and often backfires as ABC discovered. Their third album, 1985’s, How to Be a…Zillionaire! did not help their cause either, driving fans further away, and annoying their record company.
It took 34 years for ABC to provide a proper follow-up to their now iconic first album, with Martin Fry teaming up with producer Gary Stevenson (Trevor Horn was not available), and once again with Anne Dudley, who provided orchestration, as well as playing piano and keyboards, for 2016’s The Lexicon of Love II.
“It’s a kind of Godfather Part II,” said Martin Fry in a Theguardian.com interview with Kate Mossman during the album’s release. “What has happened to these characters? Are they older, wiser, stupider, happier? I genuinely wanted to make a sequel with me as I am now, as a 57-year-old man.”
The desire to revisit The Lexicon of Love and provide a sequel came about in 2009 when Fry was given the opportunity to play the original album in its entirety at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra, being conducted by Dudley. Revisiting this work, inspired Fry, who wrote over 40 songs and wrangled himself a meeting with Virgin EMI records who, despite the time that had passed from the first album, and the fact a sequel, to a record, was not common, and despite the fact ABC had not released an album in eight years following 2006’s Traffic, and that came eleven years after 1997’s Skyscraping, were surprising enthusiastic.
The Lexicon of Love II, put on the turntable following the original, will seamlessly continue ABC’s look at love, although it now turns from a young man’s perspective to a middle-aged man’s outlook. In Theguardiancom interview with Kate Mossman, Fray stated, “Men over 50 gradually become invisible. No one really listens to what they are saying. I’ve done my midlife crisis. Some of the people who’ve come to my shows, they’ve been through some crazy shit. Divorces, health issues, the failed companies they set up. I figured that was more interesting – that stuff is the real roller coaster of life.”
You came you saw you conquered me/Right then I knew you wanted me/Burning in flames of desire/Burning in flames of desire/You came you say, you taunted me/High Priestess powers anointed me/This is the torch, this is the flame/This is the passion wild and untamed/Burning in flames of desire.
Following an expected orchestral lead-in, The Flames of Desire kicks in, with Fry’s voice losing none of its power, it almost seems as if you have been transported back to 1982 – the good ole days, as far as I am concerned. And, surprisingly, upon listening to this song, and Viva Love, the second song on the album, there is a false sense that The Lexicon of Love II may not be as cynical a look at love and relationships as the original, but that is an illusion, because the theme of love’s troubles resounds throughout the sequel as well, surprisingly so.
Why surprisingly so?
As of The Lexicon of Love II’s release in 2016, Fry had been married to his wife Julie for 30 years. In an interview with bigmouthmag.wordpress.com, in 2016, Fry said, “I’ve been married 30 years now. That’s the best thing in my life. We’ve been through cancer together. We’ve been through the mill, like our audience has. So why not write songs that are emotional, but not sentimental, about that life story? I can’t pretend I’m chasing young women down the street. That would be preposterous.”
The truly beautiful ballad-like Ten Below Zero follows as well as the self-critical Confessions of a Fool. Kept my mouth shut/When I should’ve spoken up/Talked too much/When I should’ve stayed silent/Acted like a fool, acting like a tyrant/Should’ve stayed serene/Instead of getting violent and All my ego games/And all my machinations/All those crazy ideas/Way above my station/And all those stupid/Pseudo secret revelations/Pile me up and let em burn.
Singer Not the Song has a driving beat and continues the albums tradition of overblown orchestration (it works here, where the orchestration seems a little more over-the-top than on the original album).
The Ship of the Sea Sick Sailor tones things down, for an excellent song, followed by Kiss Me Goodbye that continues that theme, featuring a truly memorable piano intro. Kiss Me Goodbye seems to be a song in which a lover is challenged to walk away, if they can. I never promised you infinity/I never swore on oath for you/Did you expect the Holy Trinity/In all I say and all that I do?/If you can live your life without me/Turn and walk away.
I Believe in Love is another stripped down song, at least initially. I run across rooftops/I skate on thin ice/Just doing my best/To ignore good advice every time/Hey, that’s me every time/I’ll stand in the path/Of an oncoming train/Play Russian roulette/In the eye of the hurricane/Time and time again/I believe in love/I believe in love. There is orchestration, but the song works best as a cry of purpose, with Fry sounding as earnest as possible, as if he is determined to convince us he does believe in love, especially when you consider the cynical outlook on The Lexicon of Love and this sequel.
The Love Inside the Love is another quiet offering, reaffirming Fry’s belief in love, and not necessarily young love. Life keeps revealing/A deeper deeper feeling/Between you and me/Through the years we get to see. As with a lot of the songs on the second half of The Lexicon of Love II, Fry brings a rather dramatic approach to his vocals that only seems appropriate.
Brighter Than the Sun is another brilliantly reflective song, Fry looking at the world today, as “a man out of time”. I’m amazed and a little fazed/By what passes for wit these days/I’m not crazy about the trash they praise/Or the flags they wave these days/I’m amazed and a little fazed/By the drugs they crave these days/That’s just the way it plays/It’s a masquerade these days. As someone who is a peer of Fry’s, this song is highly relatable; for the younger generation, just give it time – one day you will relate, and if The Lexicon of Love, the original has proven anything, in time it only gets better, as I imagine The Lexicon of Love II will also. It would have been great if Brighter Than the Sun finished off The Lexicon of Love II, but in keeping with the orchestral theme, the album closes with an almost one-minute orchestration entitled Viva Love Reprise.
The Lexicon of Love II was a gamble, but a gamble that paid off, and does not embarrass the memory of the original. While I would state it is a bit more overblown in places via the orchestration, and Fry does not resort too much to the falsetto in his voice that appears more on the original, close your eyes when listening to it, especially if you are a fan of the original, and he once again transports you back in time and wonderfully so.
In Great Britain, The Lexicon of Love II reached Number Five on the Official Albums Chart, returning ABC to the Top Ten after decades. In an interview with UKMusicReviews.co.uk with Kevin Cooper, Fry was asked if he was pleased with how well the album was received. “I was overjoyed really,” he said. “The response to the album was phenomenal. I have to say that making the record was a challenge because I hadn’t made anything for a very long time. I didn’t really know how people would respond to new material and in particular The Lexicon of Love II in 2016 when it came out. But the response has been fantastic.”
I am not overly familiar with ABC’s discography, so cannot comment on the evolution of their music, and was not following them in the 1980’s, when the change in style from The Lexicon of Love and Beauty Stab may have been more jolting and disturbing, but from a standpoint of their debut album, and listening to its sequel, they are two excellent albums that work beautifully together. Based on that alone, I will seek out their other albums, and give them a shot. I do know their hit single, When Smokey Sings on 1987’s Alphabet City. The song, a tribute to Motown’s Smokey Robinson reached Number 11 on the UK’s Single Charts, and is a beautiful song, and hopefully one that encouraged some to seek out the music of the song’s inspiration, Smokey Robinson himself. If ABC achieved anything, turning people onto Robinson would be a significant contribution to the world of music. ♥