The Lexicon Of Love

Product Information

After a performance of ABC's studio album The Lexicon of Love in concert with Anne Dudley, lead singer of the band Martin Fry felt that it was time to develop a proper follow-up to the album.

In a review of the 2004 Deluxe Edition BBC stated that " The Lexicon of Love stands as a landmark album in British pop". In 2004, a two-disc deluxe reissue including previously unreleased outtakes and early demos and a live performance of the album from 1982 was released by Neutron Records. In 2009, ABC member Martin Fry played The Lexicon of Love in its entirety at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Concert Orchestra which was conducted by Anne Dudley. Some of the founding members of the later record label ZTT Records and the band The Art of Noise collaborate in the production of the album.From retrospective reviews, AllMusic wrote: "The production style was dense and noisy, but frequently beautiful, and the group's emotional songs gave it a depth and coherence later Horn works (. Martin Fry and band were once more accompanied by the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra for dates at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Sheffield City Hall, the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, between November 4 and 9, 2015. In 2009, ABC (with Fry as its sole member) performed the entire album at the Royal Albert Hall in London, accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conducted by arranger and composer Anne Dudley.

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and has been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Indeed, most of the production team and session musicians on the album would form the basis for the ZTT label, and their work with Horn meant all concerned would be in constant demand throughout the industry in years to come. The Lexicon of Love was again performed live in its entirety on 18 December 2012 at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

The album was followed by a tour with the band extended to an 11-piece onstage, reaching Europe, USA and Japan. The shows at Hammersmith Odeon in November 1982 were recorded for inclusion in ABC's forthcoming film Mantrap. ABC released the follow-up album ‘The Lexicon Of Love II’ in May 2016 and it entered the Top 5 of the UK album chart.

Including] songs as perfect as 'The Look Of Love' – replete with knowingly absurd talkover – or the jaw-dropping 'All of My Heart,' still one of the '80s most underrated singles.Tears Are Not Enough" (in its initial release produced by Steve Brown), " All of My Heart", " Poison Arrow" and " The Look of Love (Part One)" were all top-20 entries in the UK; the latter two also charted in the US, peaking at No. J. Jeczalik; Horn, Langan, Dudley and Jeczalik would later form the Art of Noise a year after the release of this album. The band had formed a few years earlier as electronic band Vice Versa and released their first single as ABC " Tears Are Not Enough" in 1981. The songs on the album were written collectively by the band, with arranger Anne Dudley given songwriting credits on some tracks.

Don Waller of the Los Angeles Times praised the album, stating that producer Trevor Horn "deserves a share of the applause, but the songs — credited to all four ABC members — are the real deal: apocalyptic, widescreen romances with more hooks than a meat-packing plant.

The Independent gave the album a negative review, stating that "too many of these tracks are slight ideas and punning phrasework over-egged into grotesque wedding-cakes by Dudley's billowing strings, leaving Fry stranded in the position summarised in 'Brighter Than The Sun': 'I'm a man out of time/Looking for a mountain to climb'.