ABC

The Remix Collection | Alphabet City

The Remix Collection (Reviewed by wavemeister):

ABC 'ABC The Remix Collection', released in 1993 on Connoisseur Records, Pop
Tracklist:

Tears Are Not Enough (Extended Version) (7.48)
Alphabet Soup (Extended Version) (8.03)
That Was Then But This Is Now (3.33)
How To Be A Zillionaire (Bond Street Mix) (7.33)
Be Near Me (Munich Disco Mix) (4.58)
Poison Arrow (US Remix) (6.55)
The Look Of Love (US Remix) (7.39)
Ocean Blue (Atlantic Mix) (5.12)
The Night You Murdered Love (Sheer Chic Mix) (6.31)
King Without A Crown (Monarchy Mix) (8.39)
One Better World (Garage Mix) (6.02)
The Real Thing (Frankie Knuckles Mix) (5.15)

ABC is chic, ABC is smart, ABC is style, and ABC created music which is just perfect pop.
The career of this band started in 1980, and they claimed that 'they wanted to do with Funk what The Police did to Reggae'. Admittedly, ABC weren´t as radical as The Police, but what they did to Funk was definetly good, adding electronics and Soul. From the moment ABC released their first single, they became a part of every dancehall backcatalogue in Europe and the US through the 80s.

This compilation gathers most of their 80s 12"-releases from the A- and B-sides on a total length of 78.50 minutes - that´s really value for money. Though the rather 'bootleg' appearance and the sometimes only average sound quality, this seems to be an official album (maybe from a subdivision of Phonogram UK).
Some German retailers sold this album as low-price, and if you can get a copy (no matter the price), it´s a good occasion to stock up your 12" backcatalogue.

Response to this review by Bogie: Great observations Meister. I always thought ABC deserved better than to be passed off as just another pop band. They were more important than that.
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Alphabet City (Reviewed by Flix):

Artist: ABC
Album: Alphabet City
Year: 1987
Genre: Pop
Label: Mercury/Phonogram
Track list:
Avenue A 0:53
When Smokey Sings 4:18
The Night You Murdered Love 4:53
Think Again 3:40
Rage And The Regret 3:33
Ark-Angel 4:55
King Without A Crown 4:40
Bad Blood 3:56
Jealous Lover 3:36
One Day 5:35
Avenue Z 0:42

Fourth album from ABC, who at this point consisted of Martin Fry & Mark White. ABC, as a quartet, had three successful albums in the early eighties. Their success came to an abrupt end when Martin Fry was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-eighties. He did however beat the odds and came back strong with this album. This is by far the smoothest sounding ABC album and it’s heavily inspired by the US R&B scene, but without losing the ABC pop sound. Three singles were released from this album, where of When Smokey Sings – a tribute to legendary soul artist Smokey Robinson – had the most chart success. Other singles were The Night You Murdered Love and the classic ABC ballad King Without A Crown. This is a very underrated ABC album and even though it doesn’t contain any super hits – it’s still one of my favourite 80’s albums.

ABC is still around as a solo project for Martin Fry, who kept the band name.

Response to this review by Recker: They certainly had some good hits. Always loved When Smokey sings. Great song.

Response to this review by Trixter: I agree Recker, "When Smokey Sings" is and will always be a great song!
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