Customer Reviews

How to Be a Zillionaire

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As far as ABC goes, How To Be A Zillionaire (HTBAZ)is one of their best albums. The other two to seek out would be 1981's The Lexicon of Love and 1991's Abracadabra. HTBAZ is a collection of 10 spritely sarcastic pop songs. Martin Fry's delivery is less over-the-top on this album and his lyrics are right on the mark. The music is essential 80's with synths and synths and synths. It has the hit "Be Near Me" with Euro-hits "Vanity Kills", "How To Be A Millionaire" and "Ocean Blue." HTBAZ has a frenetic, upbeat and almost zany feel to it, but so few artists can achieve that brand of pop giddiness. This is a must have for any ABC fan and also a great addition to any music collection.

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.

Nice reissue package from ABC - sadly, this is only on import, but worth every penny. Very nice to have the unreleased "Harijuku Remix" of the title track, as well as hard to find B-sides like "Judy's Jewels" and the sought-after US Remix of "Vanity Kills" in one package - plus original sleeve graphics, new liner notes, etc. If you're an ABC fan, you should really pick up ALL the new 2005 reissues which contain BONUS tracks/mixes!

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

Arguably the most underrated pop band of the 1980's, ABC cooked up the gem, How To Be A...A Zillionaire!, in 1985. This was considered a comeback album of sorts for those that were soured on the experimental and commercial failure of the misunderstood Beauty Stab. While most ABC fans will agree that you cannot top the classic The Lexicon of Love (and ABC was smart to never attempt it!), this album is a strong contender for their second best work to date. Martin Fry and Mark White added the artists and/or characters of the bubbly and zany, Eden, and the tiny Texan, David Yarritu, to the fold. While their contributions are, well, mysterious or even absent, in some ways, they do add a fun element to this album, which "Beauty Stab" sorely missed. Zillionaire kicks off with the aggressive "Fear Of The World" -- "There's so much panic in this world, but we are living in the best of all possible worlds." Hardly fluff, as dismissed by some critics. The use of heavy keyboards and drum programming hardly makes music lightweight and ABC typically proves this. In fact, this is evidenced throughout the album. "Ocean Blue" and "Between You And Me" are some of the most beautiful songs ABC has ever done. Incidentally, the single mix of the more orchestrial "Ocean Blue" is included as a bonus track here. You be the judge of which version you prefer. They both work, but I suppose I am partial to the posh mix. But, what about the dance tracks? Well, you get plenty. Obviously, you should have heard the enormous smash single "Be Near Me" or you should turn in your 1980's Membership Card now. It is a perfectly polished single which deserved its place in the Top 10, peaking at #9 in the US. The sometimes forgotten other Top 40 single "(How To Be A) Millionaire" is a dynamic track and an obvious commentary on greed, something we all know too well. Sadly, I have always preferred the remixed video edited version of this song, with the female back up singers jumping in with the "Tell Me!!!, Tell Me!!!, Tell Me!!!" chorus. I am still trying to find that version to this day, but to no avail. "Vanity Kills" continues the greed theme here, and does it well. But do not despair, ABC never loses it sense of humor. The PG-rated (depending on how you view Eden's line) "A To Z" is a riot. "So Hip It Hurts" is such an easy dance number that it is hard to resist. I have always been more partial, though, to "Tower Of London". In fact, I once made a point to visit Trafalgar Square just based on this danceable postcard to one of the world's greatest cities. I even find my way to forgiving Martin Fry for dissing my favorite city on the planet at the very end of the track with the line "New York! - Don't make me laugh, I've seen photographs". That's okay, Marty, we know that deep down you probably love both London and New York! Speaking of Marty, his voice is as rich and dependable as always. I use the word "always" because I strongly recommend 2008's Traffic to prove this point. As for the bonus tracks, they are all strong remixes of most of the dance numbers from Zillionaire. I am not sure why the remix of "Be Near Me" is not here, but remastered bonus tracks are typically hit or miss for any artist. ABC obviously moves on to the sophisticated pop of Alphabet City next. But, don't miss this brilliant snapshot of 1985 pop at its best.

Absolutely awesome! Every track is creative, edgy, hooky, and complete with the comforting yet informative vocals of Martin Fry. In 1985, I was 16, and "Be Near Me" was the biggie from them at that time. I remember hearing it and then their follow-up from the album, "How to Be A Millionaire." I had to have it! I wore out my cassette copy listening to every song! Just this year I came across this album on CD with the extra tracks...well, it did not take long for that to become a part of my collection. If you like 80's retro-Brit-pop, this album is for you. The CD production is an awesome one as well. Good sound!

..but this is a great album! I have had this CD for many years and remember being a child dancing around to this and their older sigles (on LP, 45 and 12"). I still enjoy the production quality and over all great sound. I think a good addition to this would be to get their greatest hits (Definitley ABC). The remix of Be Near Me is worth the purchase alone. As my partner said upon playing me the greatest hits, "I forgot they did all these fun songs".

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.

The sort of dance-pop music featured on this album had yet to become mainstream in either the UK or the US. Yet there is a sense of "I'm dancing as fast as I can" fun to this ABC outing. The cartoon marketing may have been a bit high-brow for most... but it must be remembered that ABC were spoofing 80's culture and money obsession, especially when Fry sings in "Millionaire," "I've seen the future/I can't afford it." Here ABC pull off that most difficult of tasks, a fast ballad. "Be Near Me" is one of their (and the decade's) best songs. "Ocean Blue" and "Between You and Me" are both pretty and evocative of their earlier work. "Vanity Kills," "15 Storey Halo" and "So Hip it Hurts" find ABC mining a funny dance-vein of social satire. And the remixes are among the best of the mid-eighties. This remains my favorite album from that era.