FEATURE:
Second Spin
ABC - How to Be a ... Zillionaire!
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I want to feature an album in Second Spin…
that turned thirty-five a couple of months ago. ABC’s How to Be a ... Zillionaire! is the third studio album from the Sheffield band who, at their peak, comprised lead singer Martin Fry, guitarist and keyboardist Mark White, saxophonist Stephen Singleton and drummer David Palmer. I guess ABC set themselves an impossible standard when they released their classic debut, The Lexicon of Love, in 1982. Not to say that everything after 1982 was diminishing returns, but that debut remains a classic and is one of the best albums of the 1980s! How to Be a ... Zillionaire! was released in October 1985, and I think it is an album that warrants new attention and some fresh appreciation. There have been some mixed reviews for the album through the years. I feel that it is a lot stronger than many have given it credit for. Perhaps the chart positions of the album and its four singles have not helped when it comes to How to Be a ... Zillionaire! and its value. The album peaked at number-twenty-eight on the U.K. chart and at number-thirty on the Billboard 200. Four singles were released from the album: (How to Be a) Millionaire (U.K. position: number-forty-nine); Be Near Me (number twenty-six); Vanity Kills (number-seventy-four), and Ocean Blue (number-fifty-four). It is the group's first and only album to feature founder members Martin Fry and Mark White alongside by new members Eden and David Yarritu.
Maybe that sense of dislocation and change meant that ABC were unable to soar high and sound as extraordinary on How to Be a ... Zillionaire! as they did on The Lexicon of Love. Despite the fact that the band had this changing line-up and, shortly after How to Be a ... Zillionaire! was released, Martin Fry was being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma, it sounds a remarkably appealing work and contains some great material. I feel that the singles should have done better but, in 1985 especially, so many huge singles and albums were released. We saw these stunning albums from Kate Bush, Tears for Fears, Dire Straits, Tom Waits, and The Jesus and Mary Chain…so I can understand why it might have been hard for ABC to get a foothold and perform as well as they did in 1982. It is unfair for people to compare How to Be a ... Zillionaire! with ABC’s very best, but I think that the album is a lot stronger than its reputation. I want to bring in an article that was published to mark How to Be a ... Zillionaire! at thirty-five. It looks back at the poor singles sales, but also how strong the album is as a whole:
“It didn’t help that Vanity Kills is a terrible record (by ABC’s lofty standards), with the normally loquacious Fry reduced to rhyming “vanity kills” with “it don’t pay bills” while the kitschy sink is thrown at the arrangement, mock explosions and all. Then, just as before with Millionaire, Live Aid came along less than a month later and further demonstrated how out of step ABC had become in the dawning age of the Global Jukebox. The single stiffed at #70.
For whatever reason, four months on from the failure of its third single, How To Be A Zillionaire was released into the wild, on one of the year’s busiest weeks for new albums. The band’s label, Phonogram/Mercury, were still reeling from the humbling debacle of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ Don’t Stand Me Down, and now their other big act from the summer of 1982 were about to fare just as badly. The main difference was, with so many delays and false starts, expectations for (and interest in) the Zillionaire campaign had already been lowered.
Well, imagine my surprise when the album revealed itself to be a bit of a gem. Opener Fear Of The World is top-tier ABC; how this was never given the chance as a single beggars belief. Three of the other tracks on Side One were already familiar, including the other should-have-been-a-single 15 Storey Halo with its stunning coda, which left the gorgeous Ocean Blue as the second big discovery of the album’s first half. Listening to all these tracks, raised the baffling question of just what on earth had the band (and/or label) been thinking of with their promotional strategy up until now?”.
I will end with a positive review for How to Be a ... Zillionaire!, but a lot of people are sort of mixed and feel that ABC were incomplete and unfocused on their third album. It is an album that I have warmed to and played a bit lately. I would recommend people check it out.
I want to introduce a review that hints at some positives on How to Be a ... Zillionaire!, in addition to some constructive criticism:
“On the good-foot, though, are classic ABC cuts like "Be Near Me" and "(How To Be A) Millionaire." The former is rivals their other techno-soul heavyweights such as "Poison Arrow" and "Look Of Love." "Millionaire," on the other hand is a wonderful soul-dance tune that oozes vibe and presence. The beats are first-rate dance tracks, and the band uses samples effectively and tastefully. The biting sarcasm in Fry's lyrics almost becomes obscured by the rollicking disco beats. "Fear Of The World" builds on the re-occurring ABC foundation of dance inspired soul. Fry puts a heap of energy into his delivery bringing a thicker and more authoritative tone to the arrangement. The same could be said for "Vanity Kills," another strong and timely number with another fine balance of lyric and music. But for each strong point there are a couple of tunes that just don't come together as we would expect them to. Although Fry does his best to make pointed statements, tunes like "15 Storey Halo" and "So Hip It Hurts" are banal techno exercises that fail to go anywhere, lyrically and musically. Attempting to blend a "hip-hop soul" sound into the equation, the songs are built on solid foundations, but the excesses of the songs weigh them down.
The silly backing vocals and Fry's wry delivery make them laughable and downright skippable. Then there is the utterly silly introduction tune "A To Z." It's a hard tune to sit still for as its danceability beckons you to move. The cutesy introductions are smile worthy for a few spins, but becomes annoying with repeated listenings. This is the music from the eighties that people slag on today.
How To Be A Millionaire was a transitional record for ABC. Following the guitar based Beauty Stab and before the break-through Alphabet City, this record finds ABC still looking for a sound. It obvious that the guitar based sound wasn't quite their thing, and this record showed mild success with the dance genres. The "British soul" influence shines, when it is allowed to, and proved to be the successful angle of this band. We can forgive ABC for some of the shallower tracks on this record, since two classics of their cannon do come from this record. As a whole, though, there are enough less-than-perfect numbers that prevent this from being a true eighties classic. For other bands, this record would be nearly perfect, but for ABC, it's not completely together”.
In a more positive review, AllMusic gave their impressions of How to Be a...Zillionaire! and why it shines:
“Moving away from the guitar histrionics of Beauty Stab, Martin Fry reduced ABC to a duo of himself and Mark White for 1985's danceable How to Be a...Zillionaire! Incorporating light hip-hop rhythms, ABC made sure Zillionaire sounded contemporary for mid-'80s dance clubs, and as a result, some of the record sounds stiff and dated. Still, when Fry's sense of melody is on, as on the catchy single "Be Near Me," or when he works in his vicious, cynical wit, as on "How to Be a Millionaire" and "So Hip It Hurts," the record rivals the peaks of Lexicon of Love”.
I guess we all sort of associate ABC’s best moments with The Lexicon of Love, but albums like How to Be a ... Zillionaire! have treasures on them. The 1985-released album has some weak spots for sure; dig deep and you will hear a great album with some very bright and compelling songs. Take a listen to the album today to…
SEE what I mean.