''Abracadabra'' is the sixth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by English band
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. It was originally released in August 1991, on the label
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
. It was the final ABC album to feature founding member
Mark White, who departed the band in 1992.
ABC moved to the EMI label, where they recorded the album ''Abracadabra'', a tightly produced fusion of early 1990s techno sounds and 1970s dance grooves which was met with muted critical approval and appreciation from the band's fan base.
The first single, "
Love Conquers All", peaked at No. 47 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and remixes of "
Say It" (done by
Black Box
In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
) were well received on the US dance charts.
Background
In a 1997 interview, ABC's lead singer
Martin Fry
Martin David Fry (born 9 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, musician, and record producer.
Fry's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the pop band ...
said of the album, "Went round in circles making this. Started in the U.S. in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Scrapped a lot of music to get to the finished record. Finished it at the
Townhouse
A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...
,
Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Although primarily residential in character, i ...
. A low."
In a 2004 appearance on
VH1's ''
Bands Reunited
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
* Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
* Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...
'', Fry said of White's departure: "We signed this big record deal with EMI in Europe and the level of expectation was so high. You felt it every day. And we made a record, and midway through it Mark just says 'I can't do it any more, I've had enough'. And I said to him 'you should persist, you know, let's finish the record'. And at that point he just said 'look I quit, I've had enough, I don't want to do it any more'."
In a 2006 interview, Fry spoke of the album, saying: "We got a massive deal with EMI, but, by then, the group had really burned out .... Some of the record worked. 'Love Conquers All,' and 'Spellbound,' with
Phil Manzanera
Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801, and Quiet Sun. ...
(from
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...
), worked. There's some moments on it. What can I say? I'm very critical, very critical."
In a 2009 interview, Fry summed up each ABC album, and said of ''Abracadabra'' that it was "A hybrid of different genres, it's idealistic really. You can hear the civil war internally as our lucrative opportunity to make the album of our career slithered through our hands. We perfected the music and atmosphere that became the record, yet the process was indirectly intense."
Critical reception
Upon its release, Betty Page of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' noted the album finds ABC "on the mellow tip, producing the sort of smooth, liquid sound that they'd have killed for in those early, faltering days". She noted that "at times it almost touches on the languidity of late
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...
" and there's a "quietly confident maturity about this record that makes it wash over you in warm waves". She concluded, "There's nothing cutting-edge about ABC here, but ''Abracadabra'' has a soothing, reflective quality which oozes contentedness."
Paul Lester
Paul Lester is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster from Elstree, North London.
Career
He began his career as a freelance journalist, for ''Melody Maker'' in the early 1990s, as well as ''City Limits'', ''20/20'', ''Sky Magazine ...
of ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' felt the album "exposes an even deeper love for black American funk and soul" than ABC's previous work, with many of the songs either "borrow
ngliberally from, or are faithful reconstructions of, essential late Seventies/early Eighties dancehall memories". He felt that ABC "lovingly recreate some of the genre's finest moments" on the album and also noted the "lavish production techniques and exquisite details". He warned that some may find Fry's "occasionally hackneyed lyrical devices hard to take" and added, "Certainly the LP's more drippy moon-June couplets and corny elemental imagery rankle, not least because this was the crooner who once subverted every known cliché in ''
The Lexicon Of Love
''The Lexicon of Love'' is the debut studio album by English pop band ABC. It was released on 21 June 1982 by Neutron Records in the United Kingdom, by Mercury Records in the United States and Japan, and by Vertigo Records in Canada and Euro ...
''."
In the US, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' described the "lushly produced" album as one which is focused on "state-of-the-charts dance grooves". They praised Fry's "reliably theatrical vocals" and felt that "Club DJs will heartily devour this delicious set". Richard Riccio of the ''
St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'' felt that ''Abracadabra'' "brings the band full circle, a ride around a six-album arc that has never once been unpleasant and demonstrates why this band is one of the most durable members of the
Second British Invasion
The Second British Invasion consisted of music acts from the United Kingdom that became popular in the U.S. during the early-to-mid 1980s primarily due to the cable music channel MTV. The term derives from the similar British Invasion of the U. ...
". Tom Nixon of ''
The Michigan Daily
''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...
'' believed most of the album was musically similar to "many of the disco hits of the late 1970s". Although he felt that most of the album's songs had "little individuality", and probably used the "same drum machine" and "keyboard arrangement", he noted the "simple, slightly danceable" rhythms and praised the "crisp" production. He concluded, "ABC fans may be disappointed with the band's latest effort".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
retrospectively considered ''Abracadabra'' to be a "disheartening latter-day album from ABC". He felt that they had tried to sound modern by "incorporating both house and smooth Philly soul flourishes to their sound" and, although sometimes the results were "supple and alluring", he felt the album lacked "strong, melodic songs". Peter Buckley, writing in his 2003 book ''The Rough Guide to Rock'', felt that the album was a "half-hearted attempt to reheat the tried and tested formula created and perfected a decade earlier". In the 2003 book ''The Rough Guide to Cult Pop'', author Paul Simpson stated, "Abracadabra probably won't reach out and grab ya".
Track listing
Personnel
ABC
*
Martin Fry
Martin David Fry (born 9 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, musician, and record producer.
Fry's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the pop band ...
– lead vocals
*
Mark White – keyboards, synthesizers, programming, guitars
Additional musicians
*
Marius de Vries
Marius de Vries (born 1961) is an English music producer and composer. He has won a Grammy Award from four nominations, two BAFTA Awards, and an Ivor Novello Award.
Education
Marius de Vries was educated at St Paul's Cathedral School, Bedford ...
– keyboards
* Tony Patler – keyboards
* Matt Rowe – keyboards, programming, backing vocals
*
Don Campbell – guitars, drums, backing vocals
*
Phil Manzanera
Phillip Geoffrey Targett-Adams (born 31 January 1951), known professionally as Phil Manzanera, is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music, and was the lead guitarist with 801, and Quiet Sun. ...
– guitars
*
Gota Yashiki
is a Japanese musician, both an independent acid jazz artist and drum/bass player, as a member of the band Simply Red.
Biography
He was born in Kyoto, Japan, on 26 February 1962, where at a young age he learned how to play traditional Japan ...
– drums, percussion, programming
* Steve Sidelynk – drums, percussion
* Phil Smith – saxophones
* Derek Green – backing vocals
* Gina Foster – backing vocals
* Paul Lee – backing vocals
*
Zeetah Massiah
Zeeteah Silveta Massiah (born December 24, 1956) is a Barbadian-born British singer particularly associated with reggae, jazz and house music.
In a wide-ranging career she has recorded and/or toured with artists including Robbie Williams, To ...
– backing vocals
* Frankë Pharoah – backing vocals
* Beverley Skeete – backing vocals
* Cleveland Watkiss – backing vocals
Production
* Producers – Martin Fry and Mark White (All tracks); David Bascombe (Tracks 1-9 & 11).
* Engineers – David Bascombe (Tracks 1-9 & 11); Andy Falconer (Track 10).
* Mixing – David Bascombe (Tracks 1-9 & 11); Phil Bodger (Track 10).
* Assistant Engineer and Mixing on Tracks 1-9 & 11 – Richard Arnold
* Remix on Track 11 –
Black Box
In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
* Sleeve Design – Area
* Photography – Lewis Mulatero
* Management – Bennett Freed
Charts
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abracadabra (Abc Album)
1991 albums
ABC (band) albums
MCA Records albums
EMI Records albums
Parlophone albums