The Lexicon Of Love

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The same line-up (with Dudley and Southbank Sinfonia) concluded a four-date mini-tour at this same venue on 30 March 2014 performing the album in its entirety. To date, ABC have released nine studio albums: ‘ The Lexicon Of Love’ (1982), ‘ Beauty Stab’ (1983), ‘How To Be A Zillionaire’ (1985), ‘Alphabet City’ (1987), ‘ Up’ (1989), ‘ Abracadabra’ (1991), ‘Skyscraping’ (1997) , ‘Traffic’ (2008) and ‘ The Lexicon of Love II’ (2016). The Guardian gave the album a positive review, stating that it was "the sound of an old master falling not far short of a standard that his youthful self set very high indeed. 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. 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.

Trevor Horn, who had produced The Lexicon of Love, was not available for the new album which led to Fry and producer Gary Stevenson to produce it. Martin Fry said that the band's ambition was to fuse punk and disco, music that was more sophisticated but still had some attitude. ABC will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their seminal debut album ‘The Lexicon of Love’ with a very special UK orchestral tour in June 2022. This marked the 30th anniversary of the album's release and once again featured Dudley as conductor, performing with the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra. Dave Simpson ( The Guardian) expanded on this noting "lush orchestrations, hurtling brass and synth stabs.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. The shows at Hammersmith Odeon in November 1982 were recorded for inclusion in ABC's forthcoming film Mantrap. From contemporary reviews, Mitchell Cohen of Creem declared the album to be a "piece of sumptuous kitsch" and that "the whole shebang is so florid, so exaggerated, so damned catchy – you want to hear "The Look of Love" a second time before it's even half over; it's a casserole of about forty different pop hits and advertising jingles – that you may feel guilty for falling for it. Tickets to ABC’s The Lexicon of Love UK Tour go on sale from Absolute Radio Tickets at 10am on Friday 17th September 2021.

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 was followed by a tour with the band extended to an 11-piece onstage, reaching Europe, USA and Japan. 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.This Trevor Horn-produced album remains a benchmark of 80s pop, and a formidable collection of melodramatic love songs assembled in one neat package. With the concept album, singer Martin Fry processed a separation, which the often critical to cynical lyrics make clear. 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. 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. Widely hailed as a new wave masterpiece and one of the greatest albums of the 1980s, ‘The Lexicon of Love’ shot straight to Number 1 upon its release in June 1982 and it spawned the hit singles ‘Poison Arrow’, ‘The Look Of Love’ ‘Tears Are Not Enough’, and ‘All Of My Heart’.

The majority of the album was recorded at Sarm East Studios in London, as well as at Abbey Road Studios, Townhouse Studios, RAK Studios and Good Earth Studios. The 10-date headline tour will see Martin Fry and his band perform ‘The Lexicon of Love’ in its glorious entirety together with other hits from ABC’s back catalogue. surround sound Blu-ray remixes by Steven Wilson, as well as a remastered vinyl edition of the original mix, was announced for release on 4 August 2023. 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. Rob Webb wrote: "It underpins just what a sharp band ABC were: witty, lyrical and very, very funky (.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 (. It features four UK top 20 singles; " Tears Are Not Enough", " Poison Arrow", " The Look of Love" and " All of My Heart". The wit and rigour of ABC’s first album make it a standard-bearer for the opulent strain of '80s pop known as New Romanticism. 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. Versions of "Viva Love" and "Kiss Me Goodbye" had previously appeared on a 2005 download version of Abracadabra.

Colin Larkin awarded the album 5 stars (outstanding) in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music stating: "Their pristine pop songs were nowhere better showcased than on the superb The Lexicon of Love. Opening at Oxford New Theatre on Friday 17th June 2022 and closing at Southend Cliffs Pavilion on Thursday 30th June 2022, the tour includes a very special homecoming show at Sheffield City Hall on Tuesday 17th 21st June – exactly 40 years to the day since the release of ‘The Lexicon of Love. The Guardian opined that the cover, which shows Martin Fry watching two young models from the wings of a theatre, represented "Fry’s younger self and the sort of unattainable, irresistible woman that he used to pursue in song.The album was produced by Trevor Horn, engineered by Gary Langan and features orchestrations by Anne Dudley and Fairlight CMI programming by J.