ABC Album: “How to Be A...Zillionaire!”

I was a teenager in the late 70's and early 80's and consider myself quite the connoisseur of new wave and early 80's pop. The singles "How To Be A Millionaire" and "Be Near Me" are worth the price of purchase for this CD. In my opinion, "How To Be A Millionaire" is a very underrated pop single from the early 80's and I don't understand why you don't hear it with all of the 80's retro going on now. You often hear "Be Near Me" in the 80's retro radio programming now. And then there is "So Hip It Hurts", a very campy but still very funky dance track that still makes me want to dance.

ABC had a unique sound with the vocals of Martin Fry and Eden. And I think their work on this particular album has stood the test of time pretty well. Much more so than some 80's albums I've been giving a second listening to here of late.

When I bought this album, I was already a fan of ABC from The Lexicon of Love days. Beauty Stab I absolutely thought was great, and so different from their first album that I had to appreciate ABC for just their inventiveness.

Then this album came out, and I remember thinking what the ... is going on here?? Who's Eden? Who's the little dude with the glasses? This isn't ABC is it? Are they serious?

But I loved this album, and I still think its yet ANOTHER departure for another style that Fry and White undertook in a very short space of time. If you think about it, Lexicon / Stab / and Zillionaire are all completely different albums. Zillionaire is amazingly kitsch, quite camp actually, but I realise now thats how its supposed to be. Lexicon was all style, nightclubs, wine, dinner suits, sophistication. Beauty Stab was all leather jackets, working class, street level but with intelligence. Zillionaire is Vegas, tacky, its America in a nutshell. It symbolises alot of the 80's. I really think Fry and White always knew what they were doing.

This album is worth buying. Don't be disappointed by it. It is more synth dominated than previous albums, but the songs are just as good. My particular favourite has always been '15 Storey Halo'. Something about the end of the song is really powerful.

ABC are worth it. Smart, witty, excellently crafted pop.

ABC is one of those rare British New Wave bands of the 80's that managed to become more than just a one (or two) hit wonder. One reason for this is that they were able to evolve and change with the times while not alienating their fans by staying true to their style. They emerged on the scene with the New Romantic sound of "The Lexicon of Love". Their next album, "Beauty Stab", failed to connect and it looked like they would be a two-hit wonder band ("The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow" being the only 2 Top 40 hits from their first album).

Then along came "How to be a Zillionaire". With this album, the group had dropped their stylish suits and precision haircuts for a trippy, club kid look. They also added two new "members" - David Yarritu and Eden - although they were just added as visual oddities. The style and sound of this incarnation of ABC is very similar to what Deee-Lite would do 5 years later. It is funny now, because Deee-Lite were lauded as these dance music visionaries, when really they were doing stuff that ABC had already done 5 years sooner.

"Be Near Me" became the band's first Top 10 single here in the US. The follow-up single, "(How to be A) Millionaire" reached #20 on the charts and featured a very odd cartoon video. The song also heavily featured the use of sound bytes that had been used by dance acts of the time like Paul Hardcastle and The Art of Noise. "Vanity Kills" only peaked at #91, although it should have been a Top 40 hit.

This foray into trippy, club music was short lived, as they returned to blue-eyed soul with their next CD, "Alphabet City" and the tribute to Smokey Robinson, "When Smokey Sings".

If you like ABC, you will love this CD. Recommended.

If you like this kind of music, you will enjoy the entire CD

After the lush sophistication of "Lexicon of Love" (1982) and the misbegotten follow up "Beauty Stab" (1983) ABC were left in a quandary of where to go. Down to the duo of Martin Fry (vocals) and Mark White (guitars) the two elected to go for a fusion of their "Lexicon" era sound with a bit of Motown and Electronic Dance music for a finished product that was pleasing and successful. No doubt smarting from the critical and commercial drubbing they took with "Beauty Stab" "...Zillionaire" was a step in the right direction and would point towards where they would continue with future releases. Produced by Fry and White the band had added David Yarritu and Fiona Russell-Powell who were ostensibly brought on board for reasons unknown and unclear. Neither played any musical instruments or contributed anything other than a few vocals on the track "A to Z." Their presence helped create a strangely cartoonish image of the group that seemed to damage their credibility. Despite these mixed messages "...Zillionaire" succeeded in ways unimaginable.

"Fear of the World" summons up sonic images of "Lexicon" with lush orchestration as ABC proclaims it is going on as fearless as ever amid heavy beats. "Be Near Me" which follows is perhaps their most charming and heartfelt track ever, a simple plaintive plea to a lover over synthesizers and drums; a winning track if there ever was one. "Vanity Kills" seems funny coming from someone perceived to be as vain as Martin Fry, yet he pulls it off with aplomb. Synthesized horns punctuate a very Terry Lewis - Jimmy Jam sounding backing track that sounds straight out of 1980s era Minneapolis. "Ocean Blue" continues in that milieu, a paean to a lover who has left Martin blue that is absolutely stunning in its minimalism and the bridge in the middle where the keyboards, bass, and Martin's falsetto builds to a crescendo is breathtaking; a stunning track. It's an odd segue from there to "50 Story Halo" a bit of syncopated Hi Energy fluff with its heavy synthesized horns. More fluff follows with the aforementioned "A to Z" a bit of rap over a wild backing track; a little harmless camp. Things get back on track with "How to Be a Millionaire" which has some great biting lyrics and great interplay between Martin and the backing vocalists over some very heavy dance beats. A great commentary on 1980s Thatcherite greed and excess; one of my favorite tracks by ABC! The beats keep coming with "Tower of London" a lyrical tour of London punctuated by synthesized horns and a great call and response chorus. More lyrical silliness follows with "So Hip It Hurts" which recounts fashion faux pas past and present. "Between You and Me" closes things out on a sweet intimate note. The release adds four remixes: "Fear of the World (In Cinemascope)" by Julian Mendelsohn (an excellent improvement), "Be Near Me (Munich Mix)" which was the one everyone heard in clubs, "How to be a Millionaire (Bond Street Mix)" another club favorite, and Vanity Kills (Abigail's Party Mix)" another club favorite, all three mixed by Martyn Webster. The remixes are a perfect addition to help round out the release and a huge bonus to have.

"...Zillionaire" pointed the direction ABC would continue, mining sophisticated neo-soul mixed with dance on "Alphabet City," "Up," and "Abracadabra" once pared back down to Fry and White. Fry and White produced "...Zillionaire" and perhaps some outside help may have reshaped the sequencing of the tracks and made a few improvements. Some of the tracks on "...Zillionaire" can be dismissed as fluff or filler but none truly suck and the standout tracks outweigh anything lesser. If you can get past the cartoonish silliness there's some truly great music here.

Beauty Stab, while in retrospect a great album, was a little hard to swallow on the heels of Lexicon of Love. This is why "Be Near Me" (and the b-side instrumental "What's Your Destination?") promised a return to greatness for ABC.

But of course it was a return on ABC's terms. The strings were back, as was the dance beat, but mixed in was a decidedly electro and hip-hop (such as it was in 1984) feel. The title track sounds like a British filtering of the US breakdance beat scene, and it is. Be Near Me was that comeback hit the band needed, and still sounds sweet today. Ocean Blue is perhaps the closest thing to Lexicon of Love we'd get from ABC at that time, while 15 Storey Halo was really the logical successor to Lexicon. It has towering beats, lush strings and a raw funkiness.

Judy's Jewels has been called ahead of its time, a time which has not come yet imho. A blight on an otherwise brilliant re-statement and pushing forward of ABC's efforts in the pop music world.

Everyone should own Lexicon of Love, but to go deeper pick up How To Be... and Up to hear just how good ABC was in the pop wastelands of the mid to late 80s.