tracks.
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1.StopShow Me – ABC 04:04
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2.StopPoison Arrow – ABC 03:24
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3.StopMany Happy Returns – ABC 03:59
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4.StopTears Are Not Enough – ABC 03:30
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5.StopValentine's Day – ABC 03:42
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6.StopThe Look of Love, Pt. 1 – ABC 03:30
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7.StopDate Stamp – ABC 03:51
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8.StopAll of My Heart – ABC 05:19
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9.Stop4 Ever 2 Gether – ABC 05:33
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10.StopThe Look of Love, Pt. 4 – ABC 01:00
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11.StopOverture – ABC 03:59
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12.StopTears Are No Enough [7"] – ABC 03:36
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13.StopAlphabet Soup [12" Mix] – ABC 08:03
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14.StopTheme from Man Trap – ABC 04:19
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15.StopPoison Arrow [Jazz Mix] – ABC 07:06
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16.StopInto the Valley of the Heathen Go [Outtake] – ABC 02:00
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17.StopAlphabet Soul [BBC Swapshop Version] – ABC 03:13
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18.StopTears Are Not Enough [Demo Version] – ABC 03:32
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19.StopShow Me [Demo Version] – ABC 04:03
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20.StopSurrender [Demo Version] – ABC 03:29
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21.StopOverture [Live] – ABC 03:56
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22.StopShow Me [Live] – ABC 04:21
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23.StopMany Happy Returns [Live] – ABC 07:02
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24.StopTears Are Not Enough [Live] – ABC 05:33
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25.StopDate Stamp [Live] – ABC 07:07
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26.StopThe Look of Love [Live] – ABC 05:59
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27.StopAll of My Heart [Live] – ABC 06:45
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28.StopValentine's Day [Live] – ABC 04:44
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29.Stop4 Ever 2 Gether [Live] – ABC 06:53
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30.StopAlphabet Soup [Live] – ABC 08:26
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31.StopPoison Arrow [Encore][Live] – ABC 05:22
ABC's debut album combined the talents of the Sheffield, U.K.-based band, particularly lead singer Martin Fry, a fashion plate of a frontman with a Bryan Ferry fixation, and the inventive production style of former Buggles member Trevor Horn and his team of musicians, several of whom would go on to form the Art of Noise. Horn created dense tracks that merged synthesizer sounds, prominent beats, and swaths of strings and horns, their orchestrations courtesy of Anne Dudley, who would follow her work with the Art of Noise by becoming a prominent film composer, and who here underscored Fry's stylized romantic lyrics and dramatic, if affected, singing. 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, such as those of Yes ("Owner of a Lonely Heart") and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, would lack. (You can hear Horn trying out the latter band's style in "Date Stamp.") Fry and company used the sound to create moving dancefloor epics like "Many Happy Returns," which, like most of the album's tracks, deserved to be a hit single. (In the U.K., four were: "Tears Are Not Enough," "Poison Arrow," "The Look of Love," and "All of My Heart," the last three making the Top Ten; in the U.S., "The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow" charted Top 40.) ABC, which began fragmenting almost immediately, never equaled its gold-selling first LP commercially or artistically, despite some worthy later songs. [The sprawling, two-disc 2004 reissue includes 11 live tracks, demos for "Tears Are Not Enough," "Show Me," and "Surrender," new mixes of "Poison Arrow" and "Alphabet Soup," an alternate version of "Tears Are Not Enough," and an outtake called "Into the Valley of the Heathen Go."] William Ruhlmann, Rovi
- Genre: Rock
- Category Synth Pop, New Wave, New Romantic, Dance-Rock, Post-Punk, Dance-Pop
- Label: UNIVERSAL UK
- Release Date: December 28, 2004
- Artist: ABC [1]
- Additional Artist: Martin Fry (Vocals), Tessa Webb (Vocals)