ABC Album: “Alphabet City”

What is it about ABC? If you're familiar with their albums, you know what I mean... there's something about them that seems so wonderfully starry-eyed, from the twinkly styles that decorate their music to their love of filling both their lyrics and their album covers with references to beautiful clouds, starry nights, stars (LOTS of those!) and lovely cityscapes at midnight. That's part of the reason I love them so, of course. There's no denying that their work, as catchy and funky as it is, is part of the great "starry-eyed disco" tradition, if you know what I mean, music created that seems to be dropped from the same edge of heaven that gave us Saturday Night Fever's gorgeous Bee Gee tunes and The Electric Light Orchestra--music which is not only dazzlingly fun to dance to but is also beathtakingly beautiful at the same time. And WOW, WHAT A VOICE that Martin Fry has (in elegance and range, it can top George Michael's)! The only thing that amazes me is how this album can be out of print in the USA when it had so many hits on it in this country--deservedly so. "When Smokey Sings", their tribute to Smokey Robinson, still shines on and the entire album continues from there in the same note. A masterpiece--and be sure to also check out "How To Be A Zillionaire" and "Abracadabra", if you can! CHEERS!

Another very nice ABC reissue CD package - this one contains many 80s PWL remixes and BONUS tracks, including the cool B-sides "Minneapolis" (paying homage to Jam & Lewis) and "Chicago" (paying homage to Marshall Jefferson and the early house scene), but the real gem here is the previously unreleased "24 CARAT PLASTIC," which sounds like "When Smokey Sings - Part Deux" - a really amazing "lost" ABC track I have never heard before - and I'm a big fan, so that's worth the price of admission alone, but new liner notes/original sleeve graphics are nice, too!

Officially this was not ABC's final album of the 1980's. At the same time it did a lot to some up these survivors of the 1980's. In many ways the 80's had a few different pop cultural periods. And when each one was over,it was over. There was new-wave/synth pop early on,then it evolved into a more dance/pop sound and by decades end it was getting into different house/DJ dance music variations. ABC had seen themselves through the first two of those movements very cleanly. Even surviving a bit of a near miss with their second (and under appreciated) sophomore album

. They came back with vigor to spare on their follow up

and stayed on track. Even if as the decade wore on pop music was becoming less and less fashionable,especially with more adult listeners ABC remained on a roll after this. Even as pop music listeners found other things to listen to. But creatively and commercially they were very much in their peak when they made this,their fourth album. And it shows.

Basically this album features songs that,both musically and lyrically are more balanced than anything since their debut

. Presented almost as a loose follow up with bluish cover art and a movie poster like liner not presentation the songs here very much stick out as well oiled...80's pop basically,bringing in all their elements from the Motown inspired "When Smokey Sings",with a similar rhythm to the Smokey/Steve Wonder track "Tears Of A Clown",praising Smokey and (seemingly) Marvin Gaye as influences to the band. Excellent artists to be inspired by musically anyway,especially for pop/soul oriented people. "The Night You Murdered Love","Think Again,"Rage And Regret" and "Ark Angel" all have a more down to Earth pop/funk-dance sound without a lot of the heavy sound attack of the proceeding album. Rhythm and catchy melody are the kye to these songs. "King Without A Crown","Rage And Regret" and "One Day" showcase a heavy contemporary (for 1987) sophistifunk influence and a somewhat more philosophical lyrical bent than the more direct musings of the past.

The album closes with one of it's finest cuts "Minneapolis". Needless to say,it's totally a Jam-Lewis/SOS Band styled number musically,not dissimilar to what you might hear on a record such as

. To be honest it's kind of too bad Jam/Lewis didn't produce ABC as they did Human League and Robert Palmer. Their style of polished,electronic sophistifunk would've been ideal for ABC's stylized sound,probing melodies and lyrics. Over the years I've heard ABC's singles and always been on the cusp of picking up a compilation of them. But being an album listener I had this feeling it might be the best way to deal with their particular musical bent. And it was an excellent choice too. ABC craft these wonderful little mini synth/pop/dance/funk symphonies,complete with strong arrangements and harmonies on their singles. But they definitely carry that over into album length concepts as well. All of ABC's first four albums are very strong musical affairs. Full of liveliness,energy and some extremely celer buts of writing. And to hear them all back to back..well at least on my end I know what I've been missing all this time.

I have yet to allow this album to soak in. The most memorable track is the first single, When Smokey Sings. I recently (re)discovered this band ABC, and love them to the fullest extent. Their cool rhythms and funky overlays create a totally unique experience for the listener. Funny, brash and cool as a blade; their lyrics inspire and recreate an era gone by, pairing the gay sensibility of the early 90's to perhaps the savoir fair of early film. This album, however, has only one stand out track, and most of the album fades into the background, catching them at an era wrought dry of the inspiration found on their preceding opus, "How to be a...Zillionaire". Fans who love Martin Fry's crooning voice need to get all their albums, casual officionados of the 80's looking for a party album to add their stack need stick by 'Zillionaire'.

Been looking for a copy of this CD for years after the tape player in the car ate my original. Absolutely worth the time it took to track down a copy just to hear some of the other songs on it. Love ABC and this is their best album.