15. Quartet - Ultravox

Acquired : 23 December 1982







Tracks : Reap The Wild Wind / Serenade / Mine For Life / Hymn / Visions In Blue / When The Scream Subsides / We Came To Dance / Cut And Run / The Song







We're back to synthpop with this year's 18th birthday/Christmas gift from Helen. It would be churlish to say that playing this was the highlight of the day since an old friend from the Travelling Society (in fact the co-founder) did drop by unexpectedly on his motorbike. However the halting conversation just emphasised how much our worlds had grown apart in the 18 months since I'd last seen him and the rest of the day was just a mooch at reaching this landmark at a time when I'd no friends with whom to celebrate it.



This was the Midge Ure-led version of Ultravox's third LP and the most determinedly commercial after the icy, challenging "Rage In Eden" had stalled their post-Vienna momentum. To that end they teamed up with George Martin and the album's title might be a sly reference to their producer's most illustrious clients. It is in fact the only Ultravox LP to sport four Top 20 singles so in that respect it was mission accomplished.



There are no obvious George Martin signifiers on the record. There is a very clean, pin - sharp quality to the sound in contrast to the murky sonics of its predecessor which was overseen by Conny Plank. This doesn't always serve the songs well ; the more epic tracks sound rather brittle and you start thinking of what Trevor Horn could have done with them.




We kick off with the recent single "Reap The Wild Wind" which I was never particularly fond of and is a good example of Ultravox's recurring tendency to pick a weak track as the lead off single. This may partly explain their perennial struggle to breach the Top 10 of the singles chart.

It starts with a chatter of electronic cymbals then Warren Cann hits a real drum and Billy Currie plays the main melody on a string synthesiser shortly followed by Midge Ure intoning the titular mantra. Chris Cross prods the others along with an insistent bassline and Currie also chips in some piano lines. The song itself borrows its lyrical ideas from Abba's "Knowing Me Knowing You" with Ure returning to a scene from his past "A footprint haunts an empty floor". The verses are fine ; it's just that bland chorus that fails to satisfy me.




"Serenade" is a paean to the power of song though unlike, say , Abba's "Thank You For The Music" there's a recognition of the potentially sinister forces at work. The chorus , prefiguring Donna Tartt, alludes to "The Bacchae" - "youth runs wild with the beat in their heart. Dance a wild dance, be torn apart". It starts with a phased keyboard effect resembling an oncoming train on sleepers before Ure barks the title as a command then a bass synth pulse drives the song forward Cross adding some deep bass splurges for emphasis while Currie plays classical piano lines.



"Mine For Life" is darker still starting as a rock song with Ure's guitar at the forefront and a pounding bass line from Cross. The song itself concerns the "forbidden desires" of a guilt-ridden priest in his "stained glass shelter". This leads nicely into "Hymn" one of Ure's best vocal performances. The chorus melody was apparently recycled from The Zones's "Mourning Star". It starts with the chorus lines sung as a hymn before the band kick in. The lyrics express the agnostic's desire for a sign as proof of "all the storybook told me" . Currie compliments the crunchy bassline and wailing guitar with a two-note motif reminiscent of "Enola Gay" before unleashing his big chords in the final chorus. It's here where Martin holds them back a bit; it doesn't quite soar as it should.

"Visions In Blue" is the track that most recalls "Vienna" with its portentous piano lines. spartan drums and speeded up section. The song covers similar territory to Talk Talk's "The Party's Over " though seemingly resigned rather than desperate about the ageing process. Like many of their songs there's a reference to "youth" ; it seems like they were very conscious that as thirtysomethings they were older than their peers. There's a long instrumental passage giving Currie a chance to show his chops with multi-layered synth lines.

"When The Scream Subsides " reasserts the rock element of their sound with its power chords and hard flat drumming from Cann (who also chips in with backing vocals). The song seems to cover similar territory to "Love Will Tear Us Apart" reviewing a relationship in the past tense. The middle eight, dominated by Currie's synths seems to offer an elegy for the good times.

The final single from the album was "We Came To Dance" interpreted by many as being a comment on the New Romantic scene but I think it covers darker matters, the lengths people will go to under the influence of a charismatic leader. One thinks of the girls of Biskupia (which of course gives the title a macabre resonance) particularly when Cann's sombre tones warn that "The penalty fits the crime and it deals no softened blow". There's also a line about "The piper" which recalls Abba's most sinister song. There's a nice irony that the sequencer chugging away like an outboard motor throughout the song makes it thoroughly undanceable.

"Cut And Run " brings all the dark themes to a head with its tale of a man preparing to commit suicide. The second verse sees it as an act not just of desperation but of vengeance - "Something spiteful and true" as he commits his last words to tape. Currie and Ure share the honours here as synths and guitar intertwine as the song descends to its inevitable end.

"The Song (We Go)" is ironically titled since it is less a song than a contrived soundtrack for their end of gig routine when the three standing members would start playing small drums at the front of stage. The slight verses revisit the idea of "Serenade" before the track is given over to Cann for an extended drum solo. As light relief it's a surprisingly effective way to end the album but not one for the ipod.

Listening to it again I'm surprised I haven't played this consistently good album more. I suppose their subsequent decline and negligible afterlife (radio effectively treats them as one hit wonders ) played their part. This exercise helps remedy such things.

14. Sound Affects - The Jam

Purchased : December 1982

Tracks : Pretty Green / Monday / But I'm Different Now / Set The House Ablaze / Start / That's Entertainment / Dream Time / Man In The Corner Shop / Music For The Last Couple / Boy About Town / Scrape Away

This one too was purchased in Leeds on the way back from an entrance interview, this time for the University. And that's where I ended up so this LP was both a shield from the past (see previous post) and a herald of the future. Which is quite fitting given that the contents see the band looking both forwards in the shape of post-punk and backwards to the sixties for inspiration.

After successive number one singles The Jam were at the peak of their popularity in 1980, a position which often spells danger for the next album. Around the same time as this came out, The Police released the stunningly mediocre "Zenyatta Mondatta" which trod water in such uninspiring fashion that you can always find a copy in charity shops to this day. (I'll be interested to read what Marcello makes of that one).

The Jam, in contrast, released their most experimental and potentially challenging LP. There was another imperative for this. 1979 had witnessed a full blown mod revival and The Jam had become the rather reluctant figureheads for the movement. To avoid being washed away when the tide of fashion inevitably went out again and to pull away from a new legion of imitators , The Chords, The Vapors, Purple Hearts et al it was necessary to take a few risks with the sound.

So you get an opening track "Pretty Green" which, musically, is heavily influenced by Joy Division with the bass and drums upfront and Weller adding icy guitar squalls in the manner of Bernard Albrecht. Weller's lyrics concern the evils of money, the oppression - "you can't do nothing unless it's in the pocket" underlined by Foxton's relentless riff.

"Monday" subverts the usual pop trope of longing for the weekend (already explored on their previous LP's "Saturday's Kids") . Weller instead looks forward to seeing his love on a monday suggesting a workplace romance though the lyrics are poetic rather than prosaic. Resting on Foxton's highly melodic bassline and coloured in with piano and trumpet it's an affecting piece of Beatle-y pop.

"But I'm Different Now" is more traditional Jam fare recalling "Art School" from "All Mod Cons" but the playing is more controlled, with echoes of "Last Train To Clarksville " in the guitar, than their initial punk thrash. As the title suggests Weller is in repentant mode but the song is too frenetic to really hit home.

"Set The House Ablaze" starts off with an ominous riff similar to the Pistol's "Pretty Vacant " then Buckler comes in with sledgehammer drums that pound away relentlessly through the rest of the song. A burst of harmonised whistling adds to the sense of menace before Weller starts singing of an acquaintance seduced by the far right. As you would expect the lyric is condemnatory possibly inspired by the New Cross fire. The message concludes with a mixed down Weller muttering that indoctrination robs you of your humanity followed by a despairing la la la refrain and Buckler (who really deserves a writing credit on this one ) playing a military tattoo. Although it goes on a touch too long it's the most exciting track.

After that it's straight on to "Start" their recent number one single here dressed up with mariachi trumpets. The rhythm of course was lifted wholesale from The Beatles' "Taxman" and put to the service of an icy song about a casual sexual encounter and one recalls from Foxton and Buckler's book that Weller wasn't averse to sleeping with fans.

It's therefore something of a relief to cut from that to "That's Entertainment" one of Weller's most compassionate songs and many people's favourite Jam song. Weller strings together a random sequence of sights and sounds of the suburbs such as "feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away" in six verses over an acoustic strum. Foxton holds the track together with an accomplished bassline with Buckler just adding the odd crack for punctuation. In the latter two verses a backwards guitar adds to the mournful air; is Weller lamenting a world he's about to leave behind or is that world itself to be lost to eighties consumerism and individual aspiration ?

The rather weaker Side Two opens with "Dream Time" which sounds like an inferior re-write of "Dreams of Children" the little played and underrated double A side to "Going Underground". Like the earlier song it emerges from an intro of backwards Eastern -tinged guitars before covering similar territory to "Strange Town" Weller becoming alarmed by people whose "love comes in frozen packs bought in the supermarket."

Rescue is at hand with the excellent "Man In The Corner Shop" which conjures up a Frost Report scenario where the petit bourgeois shop owner envies the man who owns the factory and is in turn envied by a worker in the factory. The tension is resolved by Weller's reclamation of Christianity as a force for equality, an idea he's never pushed since and may owe a lot to his recent reading of William Blake. Musically it's perfect with Weller's chiming Rickenbackers riding a springy bassline and Buckler's punchy drums.

However we then get to the low point "Music For The Last Couple" a very rare group credit for what is a near-instrumental studio jam. It begins in a very Floyd fashion throwing the clicking sound from "Astronomy Domine" amongst its random sound effects such as a buzzing fly. Then a strident guitar line and purposeful bass hint at a proper song before we suddenly get a switch to Andy Summers-like guitar skanking, then a brief bass solo and Weller sings what sounds like a travel jingle. Then it all happens again and that's it. Just a tiresome space filler.

"Boy About Town " follows , a brief and rather regressive song. Five albums in Weller really can't get away with describing himself as a boy and the jaunty melody and optimistic tone of the lyrics seem out of kilter with what's gone before and what follows.

The final song "Scrape Away" is one of Weller's grimmest lyrics, again addressing someone who's been corrupted - "you're talking like some fucking hardened MP" and rejects Weller's own idealism. It all sounds a bit like the sort of harangue you'd get from a Trot selling "Socialist Worker" to a student who just wants to get on with their education and Weller can't sustain the attack over the full four minutes. The last minute is given over to some guy called Laurent who mumbles in French. Please use the comments box if you know who he is and what he's saying. Musically the track belongs to Foxton from the threatening five note riff that opens the song to the shuddering that leads into the chorus and the run that takes us out again. Without his dexterity it would be quite painful.

So it's the most interesting Jam LP and did what was expected of it but is it the best ?

I think another (which I'll reveal when we get to it) just shades it on consistency.

13. The Gift -The Jam

Purchased : November 1982

Tracks : Happy Together / Ghosts / Precious /Just Who Is The Five O Clock Hero ? / Trans-Global Express / Running On The Spot / Circus / Carnation / The Planner's Dream Goes Wrong / Town Called Malice / The Gift

You may wonder why this band suddenly feature heavily in the next few entries, rearing their trad head amongst the synth popsters. Well, for one I never stopped liking the more tuneful bands from the New Wave era. those that managed to marry punk’s energy and attitude to a melodic sensibility. For another, this was just after the band had announced their dramatic split so, very usefully for me, the stores started discounting their back catalogue to take advantage of the renewed interest it generated. But there was also a personal reason which goes back to the matters discussed in the previous post.



In the latter half of the Travelling Society’s four-year lifespan, my friend Michael had got his younger neighbour Sean ( who I knew from school but wasn’t as close to) , involved to some degree. When Michael announced his resignation in November 1981 ( in, perhaps , similar circumstances to Weller telling the other two now I think about it) I assumed Sean would be leaving too but no, we had already promised him he could be chairman (after Michael) the following year and he wanted to take up his position. That was the main reason why the Society limped on for another 6 months. I had no doubt that Sean’s enthusiasm would quickly wane and it duly did. When he admitted to not turning up for a walk because he “couldn’t be bothered” instead of the usual excuse I was secretly relieved but acted annoyed and abused him to provoke his resignation. I think he understood the ritual and obliged without us having to seriously fall out.



Nevertheless, for the next year- and - a - term that we were still at the same school , our relationship became more and more awkward. Michael’s leaving the Travelling Society made no difference to their friendship ; they were still knocking about together. Sean had seen at close quarters how much emotional investment I had bound up in the society and would have known how much I wanted what he still had. It gave him a terrible power to wound me and even though he was never a vindictive person I was terrified he might use it. His “interest” in walking having evaporated, the only thing we had in common was music and The Jam were his favourite band. So this LP and the others that followed functioned as a radiation shield, a protection from the gamma rays of Sean’s perception that he could emotionally rape me any time he chose. He wouldn’t do that to a fellow fan would he ?





This was bought in Leeds on the way back from an interview for entrance to Trinity and All Saints College. Life still goes on even if the quality's not what it once was.

I'm coming back to it after a long absence. The curtains closed on The Jam remarkably quickly. It seems we all obeyed Weller in consigning them to history even if, like me , you thought the Style Council were utter cack. I remember some time in the early 90s asking Sean (all tensions long since evaporated) if he still played his Jam LPs and he didn't either. Received Wisdom says that this, their final LP is a patchy effort which proves that Weller was musically outgrowing his partners.

The LP was trailblazed by portentous advertisments thanking their fans for their belief (implicitly recognising that their 1981 output was generally thought uninspiring) and now "The Gift" was coming. It came wrapped in a candy bag (which I've still got somewhere ). It begins with Weller aping a BBC announcement that for those watching in black and white "this one is in technicolour " a heavy hint that Weller was trying to broaden the group's sound and appeal.

The first track is one of the strongest. "Happy Together" is a fairly straight love song but there is a hint of uncertainty in the melody which subverts the message. One is reminded that Weller's relationship with a girl called Gill didn't survive the split either. It follows the typical Jam template of galloping bass, crisp drumming and slashing Pete Townsend guitar chords but the urgency in the performance makes it exciting.

"Ghosts" is something different with Foxton switching to fretless bass (not an experience he enjoyed) and Buckler keeping time on rimshots, cymbals and handclaps. There is no chorus, the song remaining in stasis as Weller exhorts people to positive action rather than passivity. Throughout the album Weller is taking more care with his vocals, the old angry bark is gone; he wants these lyrics to be heard rather than read. This track also sees the entrance of the hired brass to give colour to the later verses.

Next up is the long version of the recent No 1 hit (albeit the less played of a double A side) "Precious" . Based on a bassline suspiciously similar to "Papa's Got A Brand New Pig Bag" this is an extended white funk workout with wah-wah guitar, percussion flourishes and a free jazz saxophone solo that recalls Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Rick Buckler's lumpen drumming has been criticised but he does contribute some nifty cymbal work. The sound is the whole point here , there's not much melody and lyrically it's the same love song as track one.

"Just Who Is The Five O Clock Hero" a tribute to the working classes is a much warmer song which bounces along on Buckler's tumbling drums and Foxton's teasing bass. Weller's in a much more compassionate frame of mind compared to vituperative songs like "Mr Clean " or "Scrape Away" on the earlier LPs. The jaunty brass interludes echo this more mellow frame of mind.

Unfortunately it's followed by a real clunker. "Trans-Global Express" is given one side of the lyric sheet to itself as if it's the centrepiece song but it's awful. Weller's trying to write an international socialist clarion call but his message is neutered by a terrible production job which makes him sound like he's ranting from inside a fridge. Musically it hinges on Buckler's pounding drums which recall XTC's "Life Begins At The Hop" around which producer Pete Wilson arranges brass parts, football hooligan backing vocals and dub effects , the ending being a straight cop from XTC's "Living Through Another Cuba". Frankly it's just a mess.

Side Two opens with "Running On The Spot" which continues with the same pounding beat but thankfully on a more conventional song. Weller expresses his frustration at lack of progress in society (and maybe the band as well) , complaining that "You can't see further than the bottom of your glass" a theme he'd return to in the Style Council with all that Capuccino Kid nonsense. There's some neat ba-ba -ba backing vocals reminicent of the Turtles but musically they're treading water here.

Then comes "Circus" an instrumental and Bruce Foxton's first solo composition for three years. It's basically a punky update of Jet Harris and Tony Meehan's "Diamonds" a pleasant enough time filler with a drum solo and an interesting break where Weller approximates the John McGeoch guitar sound from Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Spellbound".

"The Planner's Dream Goes Wrong" is another dud, a less than topical diatribe about high rise flats set to a calypso rhythm complete with steel drums. Even in contemporary interviews Weller admitted that they hadn't got it right. On the plus side Weller's careful vocal is impressive and there's a neat echo of "Lazy Sunday" in the background harridan heard on the line "Coitus interruptus cause of next door's rows".

It's a relief then that "Carnation" is very good indeed. Kickstarted by Buckler's drums Weller delivers a lyric of bleak cynicism - "I trample down all life in my wake" at first using only acoustic guitar. Then the electric guitar comes in with "World In Action " organ filling the sound until Weller's bleakest line "Hold my hand and be doomed forever" heralds a hiatus in the song. Buckler retreats to his cymbals during an acoustic middle eight that owes a lot to the one in "California Dreaming" before crashing back in to introduce a piano reprise of the main melody. Then Weller reveals the final twist in the song-"if you're wondering by now who I am". He is the voice of the "Greed and Fear and every ounce of hate in you " perhaps inspired by the killer scene in the final episode of "The Prisoner" where McGoohan spins round Number One and encounters his own leering face. The long la la la coda recycles their own "Man In The Corner Shop" but never mind.

Then we have "Town Called Malice" the Motown pastiche that gave them their penultimate number one and is still one of their most enduring songs. Foxton's buoyant bassline leading into Weller's Hammond chords is one of the great intros. Weller's vignette of Woking contains some of his most affecting lines so one can forgive the weak pun of the title.

It's a shame that the concluding title track is another disappointment. Musically it's little more than a re-hash of their ramshackle cover of "Heatwave" over which Weller barks a series of second hand slogans from his favourite soul records.

And so after little more than 32 minutes the final Jam LP concludes. There were a handful of singles to come in 1982 but the story ended that year. I go with the consensus that it's uneven -the qualty span between "Carnation" and "Trans-Global Express" must be one of the widest on any LP. I don't think it tells you much about the band's internal dynamics. A bad or uninspired idea is still bad whatever the rhythm section is playing. And it's still much better than any Style Council LP, none of which you'll be reading about here.

12. The Party's Over - Talk Talk

Purchased : September 1982





Tracks : Talk Talk / It's So Serious / Today / The Party's Over / Hate / Have You Heard The News / Mirror Man / Another Word / Candy





Marcello advises avoiding Received Opinion and I'm certainly doing that here when I declare this to be one of my favourite LPs of all time. Not even the band themselves seemed very fond of it. The main sculptor of its sound, keyboard player Simon Brenner was ejected from the band when they finished touring it. When I saw them in Leeds in 1986 they didn't play a single song from it.





But no matter, it was the perfect LP for me at the time it was released. I wrapped myself up in its melodramatic gloom and despair, singing it over and over again to myself in all too frequent moments of solitude. I'll use the italics button to distinguish my contemporary interpretations from what I discern now with my head in a different place.





It actually took me a while to tune in to Talk Talk amid the howls of derision directed at EMI's "next big thing". Their first single "Mirror Man" got little airplay and didn't stand out for me; I was more impressed with the next one "Talk Talk" though still inclined to listen to those dismissing them as Duran wannabes. It was their appearance on the little lamented "David Essex Showcase" with third single "Today" that made me sit up and take notice. OK, it's not hard to stand out from the likes of Philip Jap and Toto Coelo but I thought "Today" was a great song, full of atmosphere and drama. Then Jim Reid in Record Mirror (not a writer I normally had much time for ) did a piece on the band which really sold the album (contrary to the review by Simon Ludgate which was a hatchet job).





It starts with the original single version of "Talk Talk" (it was re-mixed for a second more successful crack at the charts in the autumn of 1982). Like "Enola Gay" it starts with a few seconds of electronic percussion then Brenner comes in with a mighty chord closely followed by Lee Harris's crashing drums and Paul Webb's questioning, somewhat elusive , fretless bass. Then Mark Hollis enters with his protesting "Heys" He's got something to say and Brenner backs out to give him some space. For all the accusations of plaigiarism aimed at the band no one before or since has sounded like Hollis, his adenoidal angst laced with punk aggression. The lyric puts us back in Martin Fry territory with Hollis being given the runaround by a girl who can talk her way out of trouble but you suspect that he won't be able to break away. His denunciation "All you do to me is talk talk" as Brenner returns to the fray is desperate. Brenner switches to piano for the third verse and he and Harris build up a storm behind Hollis's accusations until once again we break into the chorus and this time it never stops until the song fades out. The cycle continues ; there is no escape.





For me it was about the shallow ,fragile relationships that had to pass for friendship in those last two years at school. You'll talk to me but won't go on a walk with me or let me influence your lives in any meaningful way.





The second track "It's So Serious" is the only one I found a bit disappointing, I think
because the melodrama is in the lyrics rather than the music. Brenner keeps to the same arpeggio throughout the verse then switches to synth washes for the chorus and middle eight but eschews the big blocking chords used elsewhere on the LP. The lyrics are full of images of depression "a child without a toy" " a cloud before my eyes" but the chorus melody is actually quite uplifting.





I didn't like the song enough to project myself into it





Then it's "Today" with that cold wind of synth leading into a sparse soundscape of chattering syndrums, a buzzsaw synth pulse, unyielding mellotron phrases and Webb's bass apparently struggling to hold the melody line. I think we've gone a stage further here and Hollis is singing about full-blown mental illness and being incarcerated for it. The video with its long corridors of doors gives another clue. Harris's manic crashes at the end of the song could signify someone thrashing around in a straitjacket as Hollis's final "a dream away " becomes an echo.





The "it" of "Today, it's a dream away" is the Travelling Society, now defunct and unrevivable. The world turns; you've got to "move about as values change".And if the new world is unappealing or unfriendly to you then you must retreat to your cell and brood.



Then we come to the title track, still one of my all time favourite recordings. It starts in sprightly fashion with Brenner's restless arpeggios sitting on top of Harris's jazzy drum patterns (we start to hear the fruits of Hollis's infatuation with jazz) and the occasional bass note from Webb to move things along. Hollis sings a couple of verses seemingly resigned to the march of time. Then it moves up a gear, Brenner turns on the mellotron and Hollis demands "Take a look at the kids !" and speaks of a crime. This person has done something as a result of their despair; this could soundtrack one of those melodramas about plastic surgery gone wrong. One more verse and chorus then things get really Gothic. Harris shifts the song into rock mode and Brenner plays some big minor chords. Hollis wails for relief from "this punishment" and demands to know what his crime is. Eventually he disappears into the mix and we're left with a simple glockenspiel melody underneath the unrelenting mellotron chords.



Not much re-interpretation needed here. The party had ended for me. One factor in the destruction of the Travelling Society was my insecure prodding and poking of my friend Michael to test the limits of our friendship - "this crime of being uncertain of your love". The punishment was this aching sense of loss and isolation and the fear that at 17, my best days were already behind me.



Side Two starts with the uncompromising "Hate" which is Harris's chance to shine. It starts with Brenner's doomy chords and Webb's singsong bass then Harris comes in first with cymbals then with two overlapping drum patterns in the midst of which Hollis screams "Hate". Here the despairing man is preparing to lash out "My foes beware, I'm tired of losing grace" though by the end of the song there is a sense of pulling back from the brink "I've found out I don't need hate". Harris never lets up and the middle eight begins with a drum solo a rarity in eighties pop and a reminder that these guys always went their own way.



My "hate" was focussed on the group of friends surrounding my love rival at school blaming them for distracting me from the necessary maintenance of my own friendship base. This song is my raging at them but the resolution is true too. He was actually a decent guy and some part of me was still capable of recognising that.



"Have You Heard The News" is a guilt-ridden song about causing some unspecified harm in an accident perhaps caused by reckless behaviour. One thinks of Lee Hughes or Amanda Knox here. Webb's fretless bass is the star here reflecting the restless torment of the narrator though Brenner is also impressive on the piano.



A less comfortable fit here as I patently didn't do Michael any harm. He just shrugged me off when he started work and perceived me as an irritant that his life would be better off without-"I'm so disposable you can throw me away " It was necessary to cast him as the true keeper of the flame of the Travelling Society and me as the sinner who'd wandered from the path but in reality we both did. Unfortunately I went up a blind alley - "What a fool I've been " and wanted to retreat but that wasn't possible.



"Mirror Man" next and it makes more sense in the context of the album rather than as a lead off single. Hollis's Mirror Man is a conforming narcissist who secretly admires a bohemian girl "the star of the road " (which grounds it nicely in suburban Southend) though after a middle eight full of dread some nasty fate (drugs ? ) seems to have befallen her -"See the state she's in". One of the more synth-y tracks, Brenner here deploys synthetic string sounds that are the equal of anything on "The Lexicon Of Love".



Shortly after I bought this my love rival started going out with the object of our mutual affections and she became less prissy, perming her hair and drinking the odd pint. Although that change actually preceded her going out with him this song became about her being corrupted by him.

"Another Word" is unique in the Talk Talk canon in not having Hollis's name in the songwriting credits. It was written solely by Paul Webb and with its references to "soldiers" "graffitied walls" and "the riot" seems to have been inspired by the Troubles , the title perhaps suggesting that a different Word of God operates in Belfast. The vocals on the track remind me slightly of The Jam with Webb sharing the first line of the verses in the manner of Bruce Foxton. His backing vocals also sound very similar to his fellow bassist. Musically it's the most simplistic track based on Brenner's sequencer pulses with little ornamentation and surprisingly no bass guitar at all.

I was getting into dodgy territory with this one imagining that it painted some post-apocalyptic scenario. To the hurt and excluded this becomes attractive, have a cataclysm to shake up the natural order of things and hope to come out on top like Will Patton's photocopier salesman turned military dictator in "The Postman". It's the desire the Jehovah's Witnesses have exploited for decades. I was very prone to this way of thinking for the next couple of years , starting a novel on those lines until a good fairy at university compared it to Adrian Mole and thereby punctured the bubble.

The final track "Candy" is the one which most hints at their future direction with its slow dragging beat, Webb's fretless bass squalls and Brenner's jazzy piano fills (which make his sacking seem unjust). There are also points in the song where Hollis adopts the slurring vocal style also being employed by David Sylvian and Gary Numan at this time and which would predominate on their last two albums. Until now I've assumed Candy was an adulterous lover being chastised but listening to it again it may actually be a drug "When I tried to turn away, to feel new again", "surround myself with excuses" et al.

As a stranger to both girlfriends and drugs I couldn't do much with this one.

Today it tends to be damned with faint praise, interesting because of what they went on to rather than on its own merits. I don't care. I love it !

11. The Lexicon of Love - ABC

Purchased : July 1982



Tracks : Show Me / Poison Arrow / Many Happy Returns / Tears Are Not Enough / Valentine's Day / The Look of Love / Date Stamp / All Of My Heart / 4 Ever 2 Gether / The Look Of Love (Part Four)



I've long regarded this purchase as the real start of my album collection. It took place while the record was still at number one in the charts (a rare occurrence in this story) and was bought with regular pocket money. No longer dependent on gifts and windfalls , the collection grew steadily over my last year at school and, barring the odd financial hiatus, has done so ever since. But that's the silver lining. The money was freed up by the demise of the Littleborough Travelling Society in which was bound up the last of my childhood friendships (a tale told in more detail on sister blog clarkechroniclerswalks.blogspot.com ). The last ever LTS event took place just a month before this album arrived. So it was born out of pain and the next few entries (especially the one immediately following) reflect that.



But back to ABC. I already know that this is one of Marcello's favourites but it will take him some time to get to it on his own blog. For this is the "New Pop" album par excellence, lush, stylish, technologically advanced, knowing and of course a major commercial success to a degree that, say, Scritti Politti and the Associates rever quite managed. To its detractors and there are some; it is cynical and ugly, the sound of clever white boys repackaging the best of Motown and Philly without the soul.

Although they are often tagged wrongly as New Romantics, ABC came out of the Brit-funk movement of 1981 hitting the charts at the end of the year with the rather raw "Tears Are Not Enough". The leap from that to the next single "Poison Arrow" was quite astonishing, the vital new ingredient being the input of producer Trevor Horn and his team who had impressed with their work on a couple of singles by Dollar but this is the work which would seal their reputation.

Now Dollar were just the two pretty faces that The Buggles lacked so the question arises, how much of ABC is there on this record ? Well the words and vocals are indisputably Martin Fry's, his pale approximation of Tony Hadley's vocal style being one of the easier points to attack on the record. David Palmer has been much in demand as a drummer since leaving the band after this LP and there's no other credited so one presumes it's all him. Mark White is credited with guitar and keyboards but there isn't that much of the former and after J J Jeczalik on the Fairlight and Anne Dudley on the piano have done their stuff it's unlikely much of the keyboard work is White's. Steve Singleton, the archetypal underemployed sax player is barely heard throughout. On the other hand bassist Mark Lickley's work is retained on the first three singles despite being sacked for commitment issues after "Poison Arrow" and being clearly inferior to session man Brad Lang who appears on the other tracks.

This is a very homogenous album. Despite boasting three top 10 singles plus a buffed-up version of "Tears Are Not Enough" it is best heard as a whole. While not a concept album in the "Tommy" sense, there is a unifying theme as Fry explores the nature of love as both participant and observer using customary tropes in both language and music to express himself. Horn uses serious musicianship in the shape of Dudley and advanced synthesiser technology in the form of Jeczalik's Fairlight (there are no real strings on the LP at all ) to bring the vision to life.

Jeczalik is heard straightaway with a little overture before "Show Me" begins in earnest with a bendy Bernard Edwards bass line from Lang and solid drumming from Palmer. It owes a lot to Chic. The verses are two part- the first being urgent and personal, the second laid back and observational with "strings" swelling in the background. The chorus sees Fry demanding some sign of love from his girl while referencing the Motown classic "I Second That Emotion" which goes to the heart of people's objections to this record. Can you make "authentic" pop music if you're that self-conscious about the process ? The line "She might look pretty but there's make up on her face" seems provocative in this context.

"Poison Arrow" follows next, a perfect pop single that left the world of Beggar & Co and Funkapolitan far behind. This is an entirely personal song with Fry in the same boat as Joe Jackson on "It's Different For Girls" , humiliated when he sought commitment. Even so the Stupid /Cupid rhyme has of course been used before on a Brill Building classic. The climax of the song is the devastating "I care enough to know I could never love you " delivered in appropriately deadpan tones by one Karen Clayton (unfortunately forgotten in the sleeve credits).

"Many Happy Returns" belies its greeting card title. It seems to be about an office romance gone wrong though the lyrics become less focussed as the song progresses. There's maybe a sly nod to fellow Sheffield act Heaven 17 in the "axis /fascist" rhyme. It begins with White's teasing guitar riff and Fry's introductory verse before Palmer's drums and White's power chords turn it into a rock song. Fry sings the middle eight in a weak falsetto before giving way to Tessa Webb (soon to become session royalty as Tessa Niles ) for the final chorus. There's then a jazzy organ solo to round things off before four crashing chords from Dudley signify the end.

Then we're into the re-worked "Tears Are Not Enough" where the roles are reversed and it's Fry who's doing the rejecting. The sound has been considerably filled out with extra horns and Dudley's elegant piano and the striking percussion only break on the single has been replaced with a dainty harpsichord line possibly influenced by The Stranglers' recent success with "Golden Brown".

The mighty "Valentine's Day" follows with its huge drums and blaring Fairlight intro. A short interlude of xylophone and piano underscored by Lang's fretless bass precedes Fry's entrance with the line "When the postman don't call on Valentine's Day" as the synthetic strings swell up to meet him. Musically this is the most dramatic track of all with Jeczalik using the same Fairlight sound used to such heart-stopping effect in the outro to Dollar's "Videotheque" but I don't think Fry's lyric matches up to it. "That umbrella won't work on a rainy day" is unnervingly reminiscent of Alanis Morrisette's "Ironic". But worse than that is ending each verse with the nonsensical "Don't ask me I already know". And the last couplet which includes the words dancing lessons in order to rhyme "millionaire" with "Fred Astaire" is both clumsy and corny.

Side Two begins with "The Look Of Love" , the biggest hit and probably their signature song. Fry has once again been abandoned but still has faith in the ideal of love. The track is dominated by syrupy strings although White's Nile Rodgers choppy guitar is prominent in the chorus. There's a spoken middle eight where Fry actually namechecks himself, perhaps picked up from another Sheffield singer Phil Oakey with his "This is Phil talking" line in "Love Action" . In some ways this LP is the successor to "Dare" , taking the idea of putting state of the art technology to pure pop one step further.

The next track "Date Stamp" is probably my favourite with Fry successfully nailing his all too topical metaphor of love as commerce for the whole song and Horn finding the crunching bass sound that would give him his biggest hit of all 18 months later. It also boasts the most effective use of a cash till as instrument since Floyd's "Money". Another reason to cherish this song is the prominent part given to Tessa Webb whose warm-hearted rebuke of "Love has no guarantee" cuts right through Fry's carping and when he joins in with her on the last chorus it seems like she has won the argument.

"All Of My Heart" is many people's favourite but not mine. For me it lacks drama in its medium-paced stateliness. Essentially Fry is mourning a lost love though the second verse suggests a more casual compensatory hook-up which doesn't work out because "skip the hearts and flowers, skip the ivory towers " and sex is lacking something.

"4 Ever 2 Gether" which pre-dates Prince's use of numbers as shorthand is a strange song which points to the way they would go on their next LP with its big rock chords , thunderous Padgham-esque drum break and preference for analogue synth rather than Fairlight string sounds. It begins with the slowed down vocal phrase "Speak. No. Evil" and a keyboard alarm that recalls the intro to "Echo Beach". The lyric is somewhat scizophrenic with the verses talking of rejected marriage proposals and the chorus proclaiming the strength of the bond.

Then we're just left with the "The Look of Love Part 4" a short instrumental reprise featuring harpist Gaynor Sadler which had the misfortune to be adopted as the sign off tune for Gary Davies' "Bit in The Middle" Radio One show for the rest of the decade. Still I don't suppose they minded the royalties.

I have to come down on Marcello's side on this one. It is a great LP even if you don't buy into the whole "New Pop" concept. ABC never managed to follow it up though the speedy fragmentation of the band can't have helped. We will eventually come to its flawed and fascinating successor but I lost interest when they became a cartoon band. When they re-emerged with "When Smokey Sings" in 1987 a facsimile of the "Lexicon" sound they conceded the point themselves.