How To Be A Zillionaire (Import) (CD)

ABC was the epitome of the flashy "new pop" sound that dominated the British charts in the first half of the '80s. The band's roots lay in the Sheffield electro-pop group Vice Versa, which shifted gears when singer/songwriter Martin Fry joined, moving towards a glam/soul sound that fit in nicely with the Duran Duran/Spandau Ballet New Romantic school. Fry's Bowie/Roxy Music-influenced image and witty lyrics, along with the band's smashing pop hooks and Trevor Horn's lush production, earned the band a batch of hits straight out of the gate with 1982's THE LEXICON OF LOVE. While ABC never duplicated that album's success, they persevered through stylistic shifts and personnel changes, achieving a longevity few might have predicted.

• Category:  Music  »  Rock & Pop  »  General Rock & Pop
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: November 15, 2005
• Label: Phantom (Import)
• UPC: 602498337813
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106437840
• Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #38180 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #12645 in Rock & Pop (See Top 100 Rock & Pop Bestsellers)
• #7927 in General Rock & Pop (See Top 100 General Rock & Pop Bestsellers)

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ABC: Martin Fry (vocals); Mark White (sythesizer, samples); Don Snow (keyboards); Keith Leblanc (drums, programming); Gary Moberly (samples).

Additional personnel: Skip McDonald, David Williams (guitar); Guy Barker (trumpet); Brad Lang (bass); Chris Whitten (drums); David Palmer (hi-hat); Jackie Challenor, Maye Mackenna, Lorenza Johnson and Alan Carvell (background vocals).

ABC had already transformed once, from the gold-lame-suited romanticists of 1982's THE LEXICON OF LOVE to the politicized Roxy Music-styled rockers of the following year's BEAUTY STAB. But everything about 1985's HOW TO BE A ZILLIONAIRE! was a shock, from the garish sleeve to the human cartoon characters in the band photos, where singer Martin Fry and guitarist Mark White were newly joined by statuesque blonde Eden and bald, diminutive David Yarritu.

Neither Eden nor Yarritu made any apparent contribution to the album beyond spoken bits in the Gary Glitter-esque "A To Z." (Collectors may be interested that Eden's contribution to that song was truncated in deference to delicacy after the album's initial pressing.) Lyrically, ZILLIONAIRE oozes irony and vitriol, most especially on the title track and "Vanity Kills," but the music and production are exemplary state-of-1985 dance pop and the hit "Be Near Me" is one of the band's best.

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