Customer Reviews

Look of Love: Very Best of

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mixing skilled production with sharp lyrics, ABC was one of the more interesting groups of the 1980s. "The Look of Love" features hits starting with the 1982 classic "The Lexicon of Love" right up to 1989's "Up" (strangely enough, this album excludes material from the excellent "Abracadabra" and "Skyscraping"). Of course, their biggest hits were "The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow," but my personal favorites are the Chic-inspired "The Night You Murdered Love," "King Without a Crown," "Vanity Kills," and the housed-up "One Better World." These songs may not have been huge hits in America, but they're just as good. In addition, we get two previously unreleased tracks: "Peace and Tranquility" and the killer ballad "Blame." This album is certainly an improvement over their previous compilation "Absolutely ABC," which had a rather awful and pointless remix of "The Look of Love." But here, we get all the original singles, digitally remastered with care. If you want to hear a fine example of pop music from the 1980s, then you can't go wrong with this impressive CD.

There have been several ABC Best ofs in recent years, but this one is a must have for any fan of the band and is essential for casual fans as well. All of the bands best known songs are here, "Look of Love," "Be Near Me," "When Smokey Sings," even the US Remix of "Vanity Kills."

But the real reason to get this set is to hear two of the best new songs this year, "Peace and Tranquility" and "Blame." Both songs are classic ABC, strings, finely crafted rhymes and melodies that get stuck in your head. "P&T" is an upbeat pop number that a band like NSYNC would have a smash with. "Blame" sounds is a mix of McCartney melody with Lennon lyrics. Both tracks are some of the best work ABC has done in years.

I think ABC is quite an underrated melodic pop group, which I would place among glam-styled new wave groups like Soft Cell, Duran Duran, Human League, and such others, groups that define 80's sound. ABC mostly uses memorable piano and brasswind sound, with a jazzy melodiousness that jibes with with Martin Fry's sarcastically urbanesque vocals. His shiny costume on the insert is just like him.

All of ABC's definitive songs are here: "Look of Love", "When Smokey Sings", "Be Near Me", "Vanity Kills", "Poison Arrow", and other good songs I didn't know they were responsible for. Their other songs, such as "Peace and Tranquility", "One better world" and "The Real Thing", reveal a turn towards activism, and yet they preserve the melodiousness of their music. For a collection on the definitive music groups of the 80's, this is an essential.

This is possibly one of the most enjoyable CDs that I've purchased in a long time! Back in the early '80's when they hit the charts, ABC was among my favorite groups. I loved (and *still* love!) their glamorous dance sound! Naturally, the tracks that stand out in my mind from the "old days" are "The Look of Love" and my absolute favorite from "way back then" has always been "Poison Arrow". Even though I prefer the uptempo tracks, "All of My Heart" remains a pleasant memory. I'm especially pleased that I chose this UK release as it has songs that I don't remember (from the description, these were apparently UK releases which got very little, if any, airplay in the US). The two very pleasant surprises that I found are "The Night You Murdered Love" (which in my opinion is the perfect ABC-style dance track . . . Perfect tempo, sound [note the clear strings!] and vocals) and "King Without A Crown". Also, as I've stated in a round about way that I like a lot of glamour in my dance music, you can't beat the sax on "S.O.S." or the trumpet interlude on "Vanity Kills"! If you are an oldster such as myself and liked the music from ABC's first LP "Lexicon of Love", buy this CD!! You will *not* be disappointed!!!!

From 1981, ABC were one of the biggest selling groups of the decade in their native UK, and flooded the charts with slik, bubbly, snappy 80's pop. Their hits included "Tears are not enough" (1981), "Poison arrow", "Look of love" (1982), "All of my heart", "That was then but this is now" (1983", "How to be a zillionaire" (1984), "Vanity kills" (1985), "When smokey sings", "The night you murdered love" (1987), and "King without a crown" (1988).

If you love this group, DON'T GET THIS ALBUM. I received it for a promo, but upon playing the disc, thought I was playing a worn out cassette tape, from my car's glove-box. It sound hissy, hollow, and for some odd reason, all the high ends have been killed through a tainted remastering job. I don't know what they've done, but as weird as it is, this CD sounds the same as a cheap audio cassette.

Instead, see if you can pick up their albums second hand. They were originally re-issued by Mercury in the early 1990's.

Almost no one gets it.These guys,are a band! So when they did what great bands do ,nobody cared.This record Rocks, it swoons, pokes fun at thr governmet,Makes you cry, laugh,think,in all, is just perfect.The production, vocals and tightness of the band is as good as anything done in the 80's bar none. BUY IT! listen close and get in on the joke..

To cop from Elvis Costello, the debut album from ABC was the dance floor equivalent of "a chainsaw running through a dictionary," albeit one that you could cut a serious rug by. "The Lexicon of Love" was, quite simply, one of the best albums from the MTV British Invasion of the 80's that brought forth the likes of Culture Club, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Songs like "Poison Arrow" and "Look Of Love" were lyrically literate, lushly produced disco-popera's with more than a hint of David Bowie and Roxy Music.

Of course, after a perfect debut, ABC had a heck of a time ever bettering their first act. The second album was a turn towards rock, best shown by the single "That Was Then But This Is Now," which tried to pair the lushness of the debut with a solid rock guitar. More representative of the band is "SOS," but the sharp turn in style - and the less than enthusiastic response to "Beauty Stab" - sent Martin Fry and Mark White into a genre hopping tailspin for "How To Be A Zillionaire." Although "Be Near Me" maintained the stellar quality of the band's earlier singles, the synths became top-heavy and made songs like "Vanity Kills" and the album's title track more novelty than classic.

A near fatal brush with Lymphoma brought Fry back into focus for "Alphabet City," a solid and coherent album that yielded ABC's biggest chart single, "When Smokey Sings." Matching the Motown worship of the debut with a new sense of reserve, "Smokey" and the other singles, "King Without A Crown" and "The Night You Murdered Love" found Fry and White living up to those early Roxy comparisons. Unfortunately, whatever straightforwardness ABC gained on "Alphabet City" evaporated on the glib "Up!," trading in solid popcraft for uninspired sounding pseudo-soul, although "One Better World" at least has its heart in the right place. Their slick and lush sound was also rapidly falling from favor (Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails happened to release their debuts the same year "Up!" came out), and ABC went on hiatus soon after.

With two new songs ("Blame" is killer) and Fry back on the road, ABC has a solid legacy of singles to draw from. So while their albums after the debut were often spotty affairs, "Look Of Love" holds its quality better than many of the video here-today, gone-later-today sorts that populated the MTV Airwaves in the 80's. This collection also neatly supplants "Absolutely ABC" by adding the new songs plus two others, and nixing any worthless remixes. After this, recommended listening is "The Lexicon of Love," a five star album in its own rite.

a seminal collection of wonderfully remastered gems by one of the best acts to come out of the eighties.

ABC crafted a sound and an image that was akin to crossing Bowie with electronica/dance: smooth, hip, stylistic and enduring. The songs are really ageless, offering those of us around in that decade the pleasure of looking forward to re-discovering the brilliance; and those perhaps born in that decade the chance to look back with wonder. Hopefully both of us can expect future creative output by the band!

Long live ABC! (I'm going to see their show in Dallas tonight!)
Gotta see them live on this tour!

This is going to be short & to the point. This 17 track CD represents some of the finest Rock music of the 1980's bar none. My only critique being I wished the liner notes contained the lyrics to those tracks. I don't think their style would register with the kids today but for those older it will bring you back to a special time. How can you not play ABC over & over again, that's a given, 5 stars.

I love 80's music. This is a great taste of the 80's. ABC was a much underrated group. The lyrics are lovely, the execution is superb. Easy to fall in love with this music. This CD is a great sample of their work.