Track listing
- "Show Me" – 4:02
- "Poison Arrow" – 3:24
- "Many Happy Returns" – 3:56
- "Tears Are Not Enough" – 3:31
- "Valentine's Day" – 3:42
- "The Look of Love" (Part One) – 3:26
- "Date Stamp" – 3:51
- "All of My Heart" – 5:12
- "4 Ever 2 Gether" – 5:30 [co-written by Anne Dudley]
- "The Look of Love" (Part Four) – 1:02
- "Theme from Man Trap" – 4:19*
Frequently debut albums are tricky things. Usually one of three things happen. You are lauded as the next best thing and you then hit the tricky second album (e.g. Rage Against The Machine). Alternatively it is a flop and you disappear into oblivion or it has some success but turns out to be the best thing you ever did. Rarely do bands have hit album after hit album. ABC came in towards the end of the New Romantics and at the start of electronic music.
The thing that sets this album apart is that it doesn't really feel like it is either. ABC hailed from Sheffield along with bands like Human League and Heaven 17. The album opens strongly and the musical quality oozes from every pore. For me, a closet bassist ( I taught myself how to play bass as an intellectual exercise once), it is the bass lines which stand out. If to this you add the vocals of Martin Fry and the orchestration of Anne Dudley you have a work of immense quality. Anne Dudley can also be seen in Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra. The four singles - Poison Arrow, Tears Are Not Enough, The Look of Love (Part One) and All of My Heart are packed with quality. For me Tears is the weakest of the bunch. That being said I once met somebody who played on the demo version which can be found on the 2004 version of the album.
There isn't really a weak track on this album the combination of Fry, Dudley and the bassline make this an outstanding debut. My personal favourite is the Theme from Man Trap which is a reworking of Poison Arrow on piano and vocals.
Track recommendation: Theme from Man Trap
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