Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unprecedented, but not the first!, December 11, 2004
Before I even knew what a "trevor horn" was, i was in awe of this album and Frankie's "Pleasuredome" within the same year. "Lexicon" set the standard for my pop/rock ears. It was truly the very first album i would obsessively listen to over and over without skipping a single track and all the while wondering "Why aren't all albums made this way??". Later, I would discover "Avalon" by Roxy Music (which actually came first, but not to my ears). ABC's original killer lineup (Fry, White, Singleton, Lickley, and, most of all, Palmer) had hammered out (with Horn) the ulitmate distillation of what HAD been great 70*s music to form the pinnacle of New Romanticism for the 80*s.
The songs are an endless stream of witty couplets, like Satan himself had possesed your average dictionary of qoutations and was using it to sing the evils of love! The lowbrow take on highbrow lyricism all the while laughs at it's own haughty pretension, and Fry's ever-straining (though succeeding!) vocal delivery is emotive and leavening all at once! Tessa Niles (then Webb) made her mark as the angel of the New Romantic bands with her cameo parts here. Duran Duran would allude to her spots on Lexicon with their "Come Undone" single (that record seeming to mourn a bygone era).
Trevor Horn (I know what one is now!) assembled the core army that would march forth as ZTT (and the before-mentioned Frankie) around this effort, and the collective genius of all concerned, coupled with an exacting attention to recorded sonics (predicting the digital era to come...) would rise to heights unimagined. This record is every bit as engaging and lofty as any classical symphony or suite. Horn even managed to "tart up' and incorporate a track produced by someone else (Steve Brown on "Tears Are Not Enough") seemlessly. Fortunately for listeners, the original 7 inch single version is here for comparison. Also of note is the FABULOUS jazz mix of "Poison Arrow" (which i long treasured on vinyl) that proves Trevor's chops as an ombudsman arranger and mixer! Some of you may like to know that a "scratch" mix of 'Look of Love" is out there (part 5), it has it's moments, really, but I can see why it missed the cut here...
ABC's graphic sensibility PRE dated Pet Shop Boys and was in no small measure responsible for their success first time out. The Deluxe version exquistitely re-tailors the original graphics (Universal/Polygram in-house art has long been a leader in tasteful treatments, even when assigning such work to outside firms). Lots of Goodies for the eyeballs here, as well. The Live and Demo cuts are great, academically speaking. I only wish disc one had incorporated "overture" and "look parts 2 and 3" and left all else to disc two, it would have been less jarring. The sound has a certain "punched and compressed" quality in the percussion parts that was (like vintage Motown singles) a big part of it's vinyl success. It has obviously been decided to not mess with perfection in the audio approach, and the oddness of this approach is preserved (wise choice in my book!).
I sincerely hope this album is one day given the 5.1 surround mix it so desperately deserves. It would definitely pose a challenge to Mr. Horn, and he may well feel it is too risky to mess with perfection. This album deserves that extra detail every bit as much as Roxy's "Avalon" did, and "Avalon" succeeded as such, so please Trevor, give a try for the old guard! THANK GOD THIS ALBUM HAS GOTTEN IT'S DUE HONOR AT LAST! You will proudly own the very best if you buy it, even the original vanity "Neutron" label is used! Purveyors of Supa-Fine Product, indeed!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
REMASTERED AGAIN another happy return, November 27, 2004
When I found out the Deluxe Edition series was adding The Lexicon Of Love to their catalog, I was very excited. Since there was already a remaster, I was more interested in the bonus tracks. Well, both discs are brilliant. This time, The Lexicon Of Love was truly remastered - it sounds better than the first round - you can tell immediately on Show Me. It was a much better job from the master.
The bonus stuff is worth it's weight in gold. The demos are my favorite as the songs are stripped down an a little undeveloped. It's cool to hear the genesis of song without the added production
I have a live show from Germany (same tour) which is excellent. This one is from the Hammersmith 1982. If you have not heard the full live set from this tour - you are in for complete treat. Very classy.
OH - pretty important if you want to save some cash. I bought mine from Amazon UK. For everything, the price was under $30.00. For some reason, our Amazon could not get the price lower. So, go there and save $10.00
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You can never go over-the-top enough!, July 6, 2009
The New Romantic movement gave us many memorable artists, but perhaps none left as stylish and indelible a mark as Sheffield's ABC. The band first hit the U.K. charts with "Tears Are Not Enough" on their own Neutron label. Interest in the single lands them a deal with a major label and Trevor Horn (Yes, Art of Noise) agrees to produce their first full length recording. The end result "Lexicon of Love" is one of the quintessential New Romantic recordings. A lush paean to love it summons echoes of Roxy Music, but at the same was very original and unique. Fronted by vocalist extraordinaire Martin Fry the crack four man group was ably augmented by Horn's studio wizardry. Equal parts intelligence, flamboyance and swagger Fry commands the show and his lyrics reflect a mixture of ecstasy and agony, treachery and regret, irony and sorrow. Hearing the original demo of "Tears..." you can hear the genesis of what would evolve under the benevolent tutelage of Trevor Horn. Who made who is obvious.
The curtain lifts on with the dramatic opener "Show Me" with Fry soaring to a wonderful falsetto at points amid a lush orchestrated backdrop, the perfect set up for "Poison Arrow," perhaps one of their best tracks. The video of "Poison Arrow" is perhaps most indelibly etched in people's memories for the band in white ties and Martin cavorting in the infamous gold lamé suit with an 80s beauty. On the pulsating track the wonderful Tessa Niles plays vocal foil to Martin who posits "I thought you loved me, but it seems you don't care" to which Tessa counters "I care enough to know I can never love you" to a crescendo of drums. The song is absolute ecstasy and my all-time favorite. "Many Happy Returns" starts off with a spoken into and then rapidly picks up tempo and actually points the direction ABC would go with the following release "Beauty Stab." Fry's lyrics and the raw emotionalism of the song is quite striking and it gives yet another chance to show off his astonishing falsetto. "Many Happy Returns" glides into the rambunctious "Tears Are Not Enough" which kicks off with Martin's highest falsetto. The track crackles with life recalling Haircut 100 (a contemporary New Romantic band) with its lively horns and prominent bass line. While it bears a passing resemblance to the demo version it's clear that Trevor Horn is the mastermind pumping life and energy into the recording. Heavy strings and glockenspiel (or is it fairlight?) open "Valentines Day" with Martin pushing his vocals to their very limits building to a crescendo where Martin implies "I'd be a Millionaire; I'd be a Fred Astaire." There's nowhere to go but the first single that broke ABC in the USA, "Look of Love (Part One)" which summons up images of the dapper band from their music video. Vocally this is a showcase for Martin's full range, from low spoken asides and growls up to his falsetto. Musically its ABCs absolute zenith with full orchestration and once its over its hard to imagine where you could go from such ecstasy, but there's more cards up Martin's sleeve. "Date Stamp" is pure Trevor at the intro pointing at things to come for Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Propaganda, and others. Martin and Tessa heat things up in what is practically a duet against a thumping bass line. What follows is perhaps one of my favorite track "All of My Heart" a profoundly felt song on love, loss, and regret reflected in Martin's vulnerable and heartfelt vocals. For me the recording could and should have ended here as there's no way you could top the sentiments and raw emotionality in "All of My Heart." Recalling not so much "Manifesto" or "Flesh and Blood" era Roxy Music as it does "Avalon" it would be the obvious direction for ABC to continue. Instead things resume with "4 Ever 2 Gether" a slight tune with a rather creepy intro and eerie backing track that hints somewhat at where they would go with "Beauty Stab." The rather fitting coda to it all is the closing blast of "Look of Love (Part Two)."
This particular collection adds a number of live tracks recorded around the same era this was initially released that give you a sense of how good a live band ABC was at the time. ABC epitomized everything great about the New Romantics and this recording perfectly encapsulates 1982 and that era. ABC were on the cutting edge with sumptuous videos and sterling production. From "Lexicon..." they moved to the perceived misstep of "Beauty Stab" from which they would recover. "Lexicon..." has nary a dull track and will have you enthralled from start to finish. A must for any fan of 80s or New Romantic music!
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