ABC
The Lexicon Of Love (reissue, 1982)
MERCURY/UMC
9/10
Slightly belated 40th-anniversary edition of a pristine ’80s pop classic
The early promise of the Sheffield band’s taut, funk-tinged debut hit “Tears Are Not Enough” was given a considerable shot in the arm by Trevor Horn’s lush production techniques on their long-playing debut, resulting in a benchmark of sophisticated, articulate 1980s pop. The instrumentation is tightly arranged and elegantly played, providing a pulsating sonic bed for Martin Fry’s yearning voice to pivot back and forth between bruised romanticism and bitter invective on a succession of pocket portraits dissecting the debris of fiery affairs, the optimism of “The Look Of Love” undone by the rage of “Poison Arrow” and the resignation of “All Of My Heart”. It still sounds as pristine and as potent as ever, with a grit-in-the-oyster edge never far from the surface.
Extras: 8/10. Deluxe 4LP edition includes demos, remixes and a period live show, plus a Blu-ray of promotional clips and a remastered version of the 55-minute Julien Temple-directed film Mantrap.
TERRY STAUNTON
AEROSMITH
Greatest Hits
UME/CAPITOL
6/10
Curate’s-egg collection from one of rock’s patchy greats
Few groups have traded in their original brilliance for a tidy career in rock radio eternity with such brio as Aerosmith. Their legend should, rightly, rest on a run of 1970s albums where they borrowed liberally from the Stones and the blues; albums like Toys In The Attic and Rocks were fierce and tightly disciplined, for all of the group’s legendary excesses. That first phase of Aerosmith is underrepresented by the one-disc Greatest Hits – the classics are here, such as “Mama Kin” and “Back In The Saddle”, but there’s far more gold that could have been included. Instead, their stadia blandishments from the ’90s and beyond outweigh everything that made them great.
There are deluxe editions – an expanded 3CD set or a 4LP edition in slipcase with book and lithographs – that give more space
