A good pop band from the early 80's.

 

With the No. 1 hit LP "Lexicon of love", they released the singles Tears are not enough, Poison Arrow, The look of love, All of my heart. They were the first band in the 80's to have 4 top 20 hits from their debut LP.

 

Other hits included That was then but this is now,Ocean blue,Be near me, When Smokey sings.

 

Lead singer Martin Fry becomes seriously ill in 86/87 but recovers.

 

I thought they were pretty good and brought a happyness to pop in an age of cold synthesizer music.

i think 'all of my heart' was a contemporary love classic... superb lovesong.

I liked them. Have to say All Of My Heart was my fave.

I liked them too.

 

Lexican of Love is a superb album.

Alphabet City was ok too, especially 'When Smokey Sings'.

 

My favourite track by the Sheffield synth pop act was a much bigger hit in the USA than in the UK:

 

ABC - Be Near Me (1985)

 

However Lexicon of Love is a fantastic debut album especially for album tracks like Show Me, Date Stamp & Valentines Day.

 

 

That Was Then But This Is Now was one of the most underrated songs of the 80s. Remember seeing it on TOTP and it was fantastic!

 

Because it was too different to Lexicon it led to general public indifference. Think it only made #19.

My favourite track by the Sheffield synth pop act was a much bigger hit in the USA than in the UK:

 

ABC - Be Near Me (1985)

 

However Lexicon of Love is a fantastic debut album especially for album tracks like Show Me, Date Stamp & Valentines Day.

 

So T.I.P. you're not alone!!! :down: now you are 2!!!

 

Is anybody else a fan of the act ABC?

 

If so what is everybody's fave period of the band?

 

I suppose everybody will say the Trevor Horn period when the Lexicon of Love was out, but is there anyone else who liked them when the band became an American hip-hop influenced band with all the members styled like cartoon characters (Martin Fry, girl drummer Eden, Mark White and the bald dwarf guitarist bloke David Yarritu) with songs like Be Near Me?

 

 

No, in short. Ive never met anybody who likes anything later than 1983 by them except as a one off 'When Smokie Sings'.

 

How To Be A Zillionaire was a terrible album and the best bits merely sounded like b-sides from Lexicon era

 

Well I suppose if you liked Lexicon you won't like How To Be A Zillionaire as they had turned into a cartoon hip-hop dance group (a good few years before Deee-lite).

 

anything like the Cartoons??? :lol:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0f/Cartoonsimageforsite.jpg/250px-Cartoonsimageforsite.jpg

 

Aisy Waisy let's go crazy!!!!

 

and while eveyone is talking about ABC here's whats some of ABC's backing band are up to now:

 

Honeyroot

 

 

honeyroot say

 

The Sun Will Come, the new album on Just Music from electronica pioneers Honeyroot (Glenn Gregory & Keith Lowndes) is fresh, original, diverse and a complete listening experience, one of those special albums that makes you want to listen to it again and again and again...

 

From the very first to the very last note, The Sun Will Come is a classic summer album - to sit alongside Air's Moon Safari, Moby's Play and Royksopp's Melody AM but with a sound that is uniquely Honeyroot. With its range of styles from the delicate to the immense, combining an intense energy with a calming ambience - how to say it in words! It is destined to become a modern masterpiece and THE summer soundtrack for 2007 - a must for beach parties, dance floors and back gardens across the globe. Or, if you can't be there - then sit back, listen, and just imagine……

 

Release date is 6th August 2007.

Pre-order The Sun Will Come on CD from the Just Music store for just £9.99 before 9th July and tell us the title of the only song not written by Honeyroot on the album and who wrote it for your chance to win one of 100 free full-length DVDs of the first Honeyroot album - Vision Echo Location.

 

this is supposed to be quite a cool chill out type of thing

 

and while we are on the subject of Heaven 17 here is the best ever Moloko video...

 

 

and Sarah Nixey (of black box recorder***) version of The Black Hit of Space

 

 

so what do you think of it? I'm wondering whether alternative electronica fiends Client would have done a better more deadpan alternative electronica reading of this post-punk electronic classic.

 

i dont know what to think of it as the originals such a great industrial* soundscape of great post-punk alternative electronic noise by those four dudes at the bottom (listening to that album its a pity that this band split up in about 1980 as it would have been good to have them on a fest with Kraftwerk, Client , Rammstein and the Aphex Twin**)

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/EnglandMadeMeAlbumCover.jpg

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Human_leaguemk1.jpg

 

*not as in the metal genre more as in people clunking things in sheffield in the 1970s

**with Scooter in the Tony Bennett/Dame Shirley Bassy slot :lol:

***Black Box Recorder are Sarah Nixey, Luke Haines (of The Auteurs), and John Moore (formerly of The Jesus and Mary Chain).