How's ABC's : 'The Lexicon of Love' reissue?

it's only 10.99 at cdwow.com, and they have free shipping.

by LAW it should have david stubbs's 1995 essay about it in the cd booklet. u know the one from 'unknown pleasures'?

Or must I resort to tracking down old 7"s or begging for mp3s?

i know right? what the fuck.

i'm generally against these Don't Look Back type things but this looks tempting

Eighties synthpop new wave band ABC have announced that they will be performing their debut album 'The Lexicon of Love' in its entirety. The album which features 'Poison Arrow' and 'The Look of Love' will be backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and will be conducted by musician and composer Anne Dudley (who was the keyboard player and arranger on The Lexicon of Love).

Trevor Horn will introduce the show which will be held at London's Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 8th April.

The only thing needed now is for Eagle Vision to make a Classic Albums feature about this album.

FFS ABC were NOT a "synthpop new wave band"!

Financial reasons notwithstanding, I don't understand why musicians agree to this form of necrophilia.

I'd much rather they performed their excellent recent album Traffic in full, but sadly that wouldn't attract many punters to the Albert Hall.

Does the new album sound like ABC? I mean, I bought "Skyscraping" when it was new because it was supposed to be such a return to form and all. And it wasn't.

oldest trick in the book, mate.

More than anything else, it sounds like Beauty Stab 2 - more guitars, a little rockier than their norm, but quite a bit of Simple Minds circa Sons And Fascination influence too. Great songs and tremendous vocals from Martin.

OK. Sounds like my least favourite ABC album then.

Actually, the actual return to form was already on "Alphabet City". Listening to that album, it strikes me just how much it sounds like "Lexicon Of Love". Julian Mendelsohn couldn't quite compete with Trevor Horn as a producer, but it still is a marvellous album in every way.

their excellent recent album Traffic in full

gosh !
i listened to that online via their website at the time of its release, and thought it sounded dreadful (clunky second rate rock production)
will have to go back and give it another go.
guess i'm the onluy one who really liked the cartoon pop of Millionaire.. then ?

Nope, Millionaire was an absolute lost classic - far too good for the dismal year that was 1984 UK - and hello Deee-Lite while we're at it!

Where is Fiona Russell Powell band?

I like part of "Millionaire", but I think "Alphabet City" was more solid throughout. "Vanity Kills" and "Be Near Me" are wonderful tracks though.

so .. did any ILM'rs check out the Royal Albert gig then ?
some grump on the guardian is slating it, but i suspect sour grapes due to not getting posh seats.
encore :
makes it look like it was great.
c'mon Marcello surely you went - tell us the truth.

doh.
apologies for the bad formatting of the post.

I just learned that Steven Wilson did a new 5.1/stereo mix of this due this February. I'm psyched, any means of listening to this masterpiece with fresh ears is always welcome.

Ooh, is it coming with any other rarities or enticing bits?

I didn't see anything about that, but I'm excited nonetheless!

I want no rarities. What could possibly improve it?

More jazz?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24yp4B05hZs

for science!

More Metal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TFoPeWEg3Y

Have Part 2 & 3 made it onto CD at all?
Or must I resort to tracking down old 7"s or begging for mp3s?

― Edward Bax (EdBax),

https://www.discogs.com/release/5163500-Various-The-Art-Of-The-12-Volume-Three-A-Soundtrack-For-Living

opening track on the second cd.

The Steven Wilson mixes...

(faints)

I really like Wilson's Yes remixes, but I think his M.O. - make everything more muscular - hasn't served Lexicon too well. "Many Happy Returns" and "Tears Are Not Enough" do sound better than ever. But I think he butchered my favourite, "Date Stamp". The rhythm section has been foregrounded and the Fairlight washes have been dialed back, and it doesn't work at all. The magic is gone. Trevor Horn knew what he was doing! The big singles simply sound a bit different, not really better or worse.

I'd been looking forward to this, but I think I may feel the same way. There are aspects of this remix that are of course revelatory in the most literal sense, instruments and stuff that I've never heard this clearly, but at the same time, something has kind of been lost. In fact, I kind of feel it's maybe a tad *less* muscular. Anyway, it's not a disaster, and a lot of it sounds great, but I'll have to give it a few more listens to determine how much the tweaking adds or detracts.

It certainly sounds more upfront in many respects. The dynamics are wonderful and I think hearing so much that was tucked way back in the mix is exciting for me. I don't think the songs themselves have suffered, though. Still, I get where you're both coming from.

I look forward to hearing this, if only because it will be a different version of something I am very familiar with. I guess I look at all remix projects this way.

Any Eighties record that exhibited the types of mix choices that Lexicon of Love has, probably means that a fair amount of ambience would be provided from whatever reverb units were to hand.

Larger reverbs often tend to make elements more recessive in the mix. Taking that away and using more modest and modern ambience will bring things closer and make them much easier to identify.

I've actually only heard All Of My Heart, but it is quite a bit drier than the 1982 version, it's certainly not as bold or theatrical sounding and seems quieter (on Spotify at least) and less pumped up in the mastering.

One thing SW is always at pains to point out is that the stereo mixes are a byproduct of the 5.1/Atmos versions, they are 'fold-down' mixes that were originally bounced out and used as a simple reference for the clients that didn't have access to a 5.1 system. So they were never high priority. I wonder however, if that has changed and he spends more time on the stereo versions.

I've actually only heard All Of My Heart, but it is quite a bit drier than the 1982 version, it's certainly not as bold or theatrical sounding and seems quieter (on Spotify at least) and less pumped up in the mastering.

This. Plus halo's comment about a bit of the magic being gone. Certainly not bad, but it does feel much less grand and a bit lacking in mystery... and those are two elements I really don't want to miss out on here.

Wilson starts talking a about Trevor Horn for a few minutes around the 16-minute mark, pretty interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03vThmG46A8

The too long, didn't listen is that Horn's recording prowess is impeccable, with every instrument basically captured as well as any instrument can be captured. But Wilson notes that Horn rarely did the mixing himself on the albums he produced.

Yeah, he's a producer who surrounded himself with great mix engineers, like Brown and Lipson

Thanks for that link!

Lipson is brilliant. There are quite a few recent interviews with him on YT and all are pretty much worthwhile and entertaining listens/watches.

OMG. For reasons, I have a box that goes between my DAC and my speakers, and it has a little "collapse to mono" button that I've just realised I inadvertently activated at some point in the recent past. After returning the signal to stereo, the Wilson remix sounds vastly better. Sorry Steven!

I think I know the answer to this, but is it too much to ask that the Steven Wilson remix gets issued as a standalone CD?

Can anyone help out here? Re-reading Marcello's Lexicon review and there's this para

While “The Look Of Love” was being recorded, at London’s Good Earth studios, David Bowie and Tony Visconti dropped in to say hello. Hugely impressed by ABC’s work, and by “The Look Of Love” in particular, Bowie made various suggestions to Fry about what could be done with the song, including possibly the talkover section (“They say, hey Martin, maybe one day you’ll find true love…”) and an idea for a montage of telephone answering machine messages which wasn’t taken up but is used on another important album later in 1982.

What is the important album later in 1982 that does that? Spent too long thinking about it (is it Avalon? Been years since I heard it last).

The Dreaming

Not Avalon.

I must have been too quick to rule The Dreaming out. It's "All the Love" right?

I couldn't get the intro of Einstein a Go-Go out of my head and was too stuck thinking about cacophonies like so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP3onVPI4sU

Wow i've still never seen this.

Wow... just a couple of days ago I was reading about Julian Temple and discovered that he made this, which I had only ever heard of.

hosting friends and i think I'll play this in its entirety later and tango in the night
seem like solid nye albums

I always thought the "from Mantrap" thing on the tracklisting was a conceit. wild