Beauty Stab

by

ABC

Edit

The whole new pop deal when ditch bound a year or so after the heights of 'The Lexicon of Love', 'Pelican West', 'New Gold Dream' & 'Sulk' - music became dominated by the Duran/Spandau axis and things like FGTH was newer pop. ABC had been feted with the classic 'Lexicon', but in the process of touring it had lost drummer Dave Palmer (to Yellow Magic Orchestra then The The). Trevor Horn & Anne Dudley went onto other climes & the notion that they were the driving force behind 'Lexicon' became accepted and people believed that ABC's debut was as good as they got.

Which is a dis-service for the three albums that immediatly followed it - 'Beauty Stab' (1983), 'How to Be a Zillionaire' (1984) & 'Alphabet City' (1987) - which all have great moments worthy of 'Lexicon' (only final LP 'Up' seemed a bit lightweight). 'Beauty Stab' found ABC rocking out (...to a degree) and like Depeche Mode circa 'Construction Time Again' (also 1983) writing work with a political theme ('King Money', 'Hey Citizen!', 'United Kingdom'). Truth be told, this LP is better than the last two Gang of Four albums - where they failed to fuse politics and pop (though I always have time for 'I Love a Man in Uniform'). A listen to the "ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh" vocal refrain at the end of single 'That Was Then But This is Now' demonstrates where Damon Albarn got the "ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh" vocal refrain for 'Girls & Boys' (though Albarn's Gorillaz owe even more to the next LP 'Zillionaire'). Not an album that gets feted much, though the lead singer of Dandy Warhols Courtney Courtney Taylor (or whatever) once big upped it as a prime Brit influence (alongside Slowdive & Ride!!!).

This definitive reissue comes with a few bonus tracks which at this budget price warrants investigation - though 'Lexicon' & 'How to Be...' come above this in the scheme of things ABC. The notion that this album has no decent pop songs is a shower of...when you note 'That Was Then...' or fellow single 'S.O.S.' An under-valued album for sure, though many have found it slightly over-estimated by the knowing few. Which side aren't you on?

The real problem with 'Beauty Stab' is and always has been that it sounded nothing like the bands debut album 'The Lexicon Of Love'. Sure, first single 'That Was Then, This Is Now' had some of that ABC quirkyness but a harder, more rocky edge was definitely audible and unlike the band, the groups fans wanted more of the same.

The rock tinge that can be detected on 'That Was Then' really comes out on most of the other tracks here. Only 'S.O.S' and 'Unzip' have a softer side to them and while Gary langan's production is excellent, we all thought of ABC as pop stars and not rock stars. Even lyrically the songs come across with a harder edge to them and the playfulness and romance of songs like 'Poision Arrow' and 'The Look Of Love' is sadly absent. Worse than the lack of a pop sensibility though is the fact that few of the songs remain for long in the memory and that all makes this record a tough one to love.

In fairness, all this said, 'Beauty Stab' is not a bad album its just not the album Martin Fry's fans wanted him to make at the time and thus was too much of a departure too soon.