I was unsure if I would like this album. The big hits have always appealed to me, “Poison Arrow” and “The Look of Love”. But would the rest of The Lexicon of Love stand up? I am pleased to report that yes, the entirety of the record satisfies a craving for excellent early Eighties new wave pop music. My Rating:
David Fricke praised the album in the pages of Rolling Stone:
(T)he hydraulic pump and radiant glitz of the The Lexicon of Love are guaranteed to leave you swooning in spite of yourself. If not in (Martin) Fry's tears, then certainly in your own dance-floor sweat.1
Erik Himmelsbach offered this review for Blender:
Unlike his icy compatriots, Martin Fry was no English cold fish; the ABC singer was a romantic, a smooth operator schooled by Bowie and Ferry. Fry didn’t sing so much as he ached — for affection, glamour and the good life. Steeped in style and turbocharged by Trevor Horn’s champagne-and-caviar production, ABC scored a pair of Top 30 hits (“The Look of Love,” “Poison Arrow”) from this 1982 debut, all the while helping shape the ’80s English pop-soul template. Under an incessant disco thump, replete with cheesy synths, jumpy horns and strings, and cascading drum machines, ABC created a sophisticated, hooky concept album about rapture and despair, all with a cheeky wink. Love never sounded so grand.2
Producer Trever Horn possessed high-level talent. Working with the band he created in The Lexicon of Love “a masterpiece that was hot, high-tech soul with knowing references and radio-ready melodies.”3
Horn had a certain vision for what music might be like in the future. “We had this idea that as some future point there’s be a record label that didn’t really have any artists - just a computer in the basement and some mad Vincent Price-like figure making the records.”4
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 179. The Lexicon Of Love by ABC
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, John Lewis wrote:
Punk-funk demos like “Tears Are Not Enough” and “Poison Arrow” are executed with the most razor-sharp musicianship and dressed in Anne Dudley’s super-lavish orchestrations. These grandiose settings are constantly undercut by (Martin) Fry’s beautifully bleak lyrics, about the impossibility of love and the illusory nature of beauty.
It is this tension that so perfectly embodies the delicious contradictions of the slick, clever, “new pop” agenda of the early 1980s. The genius of The Lexicon of Love is to do so without lapsing into smugness or parody.5
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #246
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart:
> “The Look of Love” (Part One), #18
> “Poison Arrow”, #257
• RIAA certification: Gold | February 15, 19958
Released on June 21, 1982. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder9
• Number one album: Asia by Asia10
• Number one movie: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by Steven Spielberg11
• Most watched TV programs: Dallas, 60 Minutes, The Jeffersons, Three’s Company, Joanie Loves Chachi, Alice, Dukes of Hazzard, Too Close For Comfort, ABC Monday Night Movie, M*A*S*H, One Day at a Time, Monday Night Football, Archie Bunker’s Place12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Jane Fonda’s Workout Book by Jane Fonda14
Some other albums released that month
• Strait from the Heart by George Strait
• Built for Speed by Stray Cats
• Chicago 16 by Chicago
• Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
• All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes by Pete Townshend
• Metal Massacre by Various Artists
• Abracadabra by Steve Miller Band
• Killers by Kiss
• Beat by King Crimson
• Daylight Again by Crosby, Stills & Nash
• Nothing to Fear by Oingo Boingo
• Stink by The Replacements
• Before I Forget by Jon Lord
• Good Trouble by REO Speedwagon
• Live It Up by David Johansen
• Night and Day by Joe Jackson
• No Control by Eddie Money
• Nugent by Ted Nugent
• Somewhere in the Stars by Rosanne Cash
• Sunshine Dream by The Beach Boys
• Unlimited by Reba McEntire15
Sport
• Jun 20 Pete Rose is 5th to appear in 3,000 games (Cobb, Musial, Aaron, Yaz).
• Jun 20 US Open Men's Golf, Pebble Beach GL: Tom Watson wins his only US Open by 2 strokes from Jack Nicklaus.
• Jun 22 Philadelphia Phillies infielder Pete Rose gets his 3,772nd career hit, moves past Hank Aaron into 2nd place.16
Notable Births
• Jun 16 Missy Peregrym, Canadian actress.
• Jun 21 Jussie Smollett, American singer and actor (Empire), born in Santa Rosa, California.
• Jun 21 William, Prince of Wales, son of Prince Charles & Lady Diana and heir to the UK throne, born in London, England.17
Historical Events
• Jun 17 President of Argentina Leopoldo Galtieri resigns as commander in chief of the army and as president after leading Argentina to a disastrous defeat against the British in the Falkland Islands War.
• Jun 17 US President Reagan's 1st UN General Assembly address "We must serve mankind through genuine disarmament.".
• Jun 21 John Hinckley found not guilty of 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by reason of insanity.18
Notable Deaths
• Jun 8 Satchel Paige, Baseball HOF pitcher (6 x Negro League, 2 x MLB All Star; World Series 1948 Cleveland Indians), dies of a heart attack at 75.
• Jun 15 Art Pepper, American jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist, dies of a stroke at 56.
• Jun 18 Curd Jürgens [Curt Jurgens], German-born Austrian actor (Enemy Below, Longest Day), dies of an acute heart attack at 66.19
Stanley, Bob, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, p. 398.
Ibid, p. 399.
Lewis, John, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 484.
Ibid.
Ibid.