Total New Romantic ...

Today`s feature is... ABC new romantic band with many success like: the look of love, poison arrow & how to be a millionaire...

ABC was formed in 1980 in Sheffield,England after Martin Fry, a music journalist, interviewed the band Vice Versa for his fanzine Modern Drugs. They adopted Fry as lead vocalist and changed their name to ABC. The revamped band were pigeon-holed as part of the New Romantic movement of the time, which included the likes of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. The band would offer many stylistic spins within its career and perhaps they are better labelled as Northern Soul, their obvious inspiration and the most universal element to influence all of their offerings. Perhaps the most distinguishing fact is the band's non-ominous use of synthesizers. Ominous, discordant, or minor-keyed synthesizer parts were something that would unite the majority of true New Romantic bands. Also, ABC from the very beginning incorporated a predominate funk and soul sound into their compositions.

ABC is scheduled to tour the U.S. in the summer of 2008 as part of the Regeneration Tour 2008, which also featuresBelinda Carlisle and The Human League.

The Lexicon of Love

In 1982, the band released their debut album The Lexicon of Love. Heavy on rhyming couplets and tales of unrequited love, the album was a big hit, reaching number one in the UK album charts. Produced by Trevor Horn, it often features in UK critics' lists of favourite albums: it ranked 42nd in The observer Music Monthly`s "Top 100 British Albums" (June 2004) and 40th in Q magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums" (June 2000). The album is notable for its uncanny mixture of wit, overall musicality (tightly bound by funk basslines and Palmer's steady drumming), attention to recorded sonics, its magnificent string arrangements by Anne Dudley, and exceptional graphic design.

How To Be A...Zillionaire!

Now a duo of Fry and White, augmented by two non-performing band members, Fiona Russel-Powell (known as Eden) and David Yarritu, ABC's chart fortunes in the UK further dwindled with the 1985 album How To Be A...Zillionaire!. It marked another change of style, in this case toying with mid-1980s dance beats and samples. Keith LeBlanc from Tackhead programmed much of the beatbox work for the album. While the group did score its first American Top 10 hit with the infectious "Be Near Me", at home in the UK it failed to break the Top 20. The album also featured the hits How To Be a Millionaire", "Vanity Kills" and "Ocean Blue".

Here`s the video sample for poison arrow, click on tv icon: ~_~