On the Turntable: "The Lexicon of Love" by ABC (1983)

On the Turntable: “The Lexicon of Love” by ABC, Mercury Records, 1983. Rating 10/10.

An ageless new wave masterpiece - 40 years on, it’s just as stylish and exciting as it ever was. The big hits were “Poison Arrow” and “The Look of Love”; my 45 of the latter was never far from the record player when I was a kid and I loved “performing” the song in my bedroom. But my favorite song here is “All of My Heart”, a dramatic number full of Anne Dudley strings and a chorus that finds lead singer Martin Fry in full emotional meltdown, his voice sometimes cracking as he attacks each line: “NOW that you’re gone, I STILL WANT YOU BACK!”

My oldest son got a hold of my CD of the band’s singles compilation ABSOLUTELY, and became a huge fan of the band. He and I went to see them play a show at Taste of Waukesha (Wisconsin) in 2008, at 3:30 in the afternoon on a stage sponsored by a country radio station (Lonestar was headlining the stage that night). Martin Fry wearing gold lame in a livestock pavilion, leading a six piece band through ABC’s greatest hits for an audience of maybe 40 people is one of my favorite live music experiences. They closed their main set with “All of My Heart” before delivering “The Look of Love” as an encore.

But this album is more than even its four stellar singles. Virtually everything here is wonderful: debonair dance-pop production with synths, guitars, jittery horns and shimmery strings. Songs like “Show Me”, “Tears Are Not Enough”, and “Many Happy Returns” mix up a potent cocktail of post-punk energy and disco glamour with lyrics informed by classic Hollywood.