- Audio CD (23 Jun 2008)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Vibrant
- ASIN: B001AIRUQ8
- Other Editions: Audio CD | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 112,462 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Review
Well I never. 11 years after their last album, Skyscraping, ABC return with a playlisted single on BBC's Radio 2 (The Very First Time) and a confident 12 track album, Traffic, that frankly shouldn't be as good as it is. That said, Martin Fry was always one step ahead of the new romantics with whom he's erroneously associated. There was only a small club of turns from that period who genuinely delivered on album, and their 1982 debut, The Lexicon Of Love is, along with Dare by the Human League, up there as a bona fide classic of its day. Their special blend of Earth Wind & Fire, Chic and the Sex Pistols was served potently. The outfit's desire to move on signed their commercial death-note, but for those who remained loyal, a cornucopia of pleasure beckoned.
Recording between Los Angeles and London, the album retains all the widescreen aspirations of the outfit. Reunited with drummer David Palmer, Fry has enlisted Palmer's Rod Stewart band cohort Chuck Kentis as co-writer and producer. The three have crafted something that sounds just like an ABC record, full of swooning strings, big beats and Fry's lyrical puns and conceits. Sixteen Seconds To Choose opens the album in grandiose ABC style, ('you're hanging around for your standing ovation, plugging your crap at the radio station'), before we hear the out and out irresistibility of The Very First Time, a tune that sounds like a relative of 1985's Be Near Me. Even when you think we're off clutching at straws in search of a melody (Caroline, Validation) along comes a bespoke chorus to die for.
Whether the album gives Martin Fry a commercial renaissance is
another matter - but Traffic is an exceptionally credible record and in the track Love Is Strong, Fry has recorded something equalling his all-time best. --Daryl Easlea
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Album Description
ABC, one of the most original and enduring bands of the last three decades, are back with a brand new album. Following the re-release of a Special Edition of the iconic album `Lexicon of Love' in 2004, lead singer Martin Fry is delighted with the new material. "TRAFFIC is 12 brand new songs, and in 2008 it's a real privilege to be able to compete after 25 years of making music," he says. "These days there has to be a good reason to release an ABC record. It's a real labour of love. There's no point in writing a song unless you are inspired."
`The Very First Time' is one of a number of tracks written whilst touring America last year, while `16 Seconds' was written on a tour bus in Europe and reflects on how fast life is in the 21st century. Fry says of the new album "It's a cosmopolitan record and it's about today - about the journeys people are making today, country to country, internet traffic, human traffic, moving from the past to the present to the future."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It's incredibly frustrating being an ABC fan to say the least -having to wait 11 years for a new album is a long time- but unsurprisingly,the wait has certainly been well worth it.
Traffic has a little bit of everything from ABC's past but also a lot of new avenues are explored especially on the funk track "one way traffic" which reminds me of Duran Duran's skin Trade.
Opening song "16 seconds to choose" wouldn't sound out of place on ABC's second album Beauty Stab and radio hit "The Very First Time" is right up there with The Look of Love,Poison Arrow and When Smokey Sings in the catchiness stakes.
"Love is strong" and "Way back when" are reminiscent of How to be a Zillionaire's 'Be near me', while stand out track "Life shapes you" is surely a future hit?
Summing up ,Martin Fry's voice is as pure and strong as ever before and a major plus point sees a welcome return for Lexicon of Love drummer David Palmer (probably the best drummer on this or any other planet),co writing/producing.
Traffic is easily ABC's best album since Alphabet City ,every song has a perfect little hook that keeps you going back for more and more ,all wrapped up in a very stylish white digipack.
Welcome back Mr Fry- just don't leave it another 11 years 'til the next album.
Traffic has a little bit of everything from ABC's past but also a lot of new avenues are explored especially on the funk track "one way traffic" which reminds me of Duran Duran's skin Trade.
Opening song "16 seconds to choose" wouldn't sound out of place on ABC's second album Beauty Stab and radio hit "The Very First Time" is right up there with The Look of Love,Poison Arrow and When Smokey Sings in the catchiness stakes.
"Love is strong" and "Way back when" are reminiscent of How to be a Zillionaire's 'Be near me', while stand out track "Life shapes you" is surely a future hit?
Summing up ,Martin Fry's voice is as pure and strong as ever before and a major plus point sees a welcome return for Lexicon of Love drummer David Palmer (probably the best drummer on this or any other planet),co writing/producing.
Traffic is easily ABC's best album since Alphabet City ,every song has a perfect little hook that keeps you going back for more and more ,all wrapped up in a very stylish white digipack.
Welcome back Mr Fry- just don't leave it another 11 years 'til the next album.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I remember the revered pop-journalist Paul Lester remarking in 1990 how he was often mocked by his peers for suggesting that ABC (and the Pet Shop Boys) were the future of pop. I never think for a moment Paul was referring to sales or suggesting they would ever recreate the impact they had in 82, however I do believe he was recognising Martin Fry's ability to pen great, classic pop material - and this should be a blueprint, perhaps a Platonic "Form" by which all future pop should model itself against.
Traffic is an exceptional album and for my money Martin Fry's most mature work - long gone is the melodrama of Lexicon or eccentricity of Zillionaire. Traffic is tempered by the priceless wisdom of age, and is all the more uplifting for it. "Caroline" is playing in the background as I write, and I can't help but salute Martin's renaissance. The melody blossoms from nowhere, sounds so organic, sophisticated and is the very antithesis of much of the contrived radio fodder we're fed with these days!
Martin was always a closet rocker - and as he did with "Rolling Sevens" and "Love Is It's Own Reward" on Skyscraping, he shows us once again he can hold his own with this genre with the opening track "16 Seconds To Choose". If the fates had been kinder to Beauty Stab, there's no doubting ABC would've have been packing arenas with guitar bombast. Martin is an extremely versatile writer, but the public have shallow perceptions - the lamé suit, for all it's benefits has been as much a shackle too.
In my opinion, Martin excels himself with "Validation" and "Lose Yourself". Perfect radio material - and as a fledgling music publisher myself, I can assure you these tracks can be perfectly placed for licensing to ad agencies! There's little profit to be made from sales, but if we want to hear more ABC in the future Martin must exploit these avenues. This by no means denigrates the tracks, they're "fantastic compositions" (nod) - but to ensure we don't have to wait another 11 years, PLEASE make the most of these 2 wonderful tunes. I notice Martin has no publisher attached to the album either...not for long I suspect!
Love Is Strong appears to be a fan favourite in the early feedback, and rightly so - the song embraces the cinematic elements of ABC earlier material and has an emotional power that resonates. Not a single, but certainly an album defining tune.
"Minus Love" reminds me of "One Day"(Alphabet City) with it's romantic 80's R&B styling, "Life Shapes You" - exhilarating, life affirming. The combined production skills of Fry, Kentis and Palmer must also be congratulated - it's a very accomplished sound, a high quality recording that will sound gorgeous through your Wharfedales! (I must say how nice it is to hear Dave Palmer's signature "closed-hat" rolls throughout the album...)
Martin, this is a brilliant work. I wish you all the recognition and success you deserve - now take the album out live, and leave behind everything pre-1990. You've done the cabaret circuit, now let's see the real ABC...That Was Then, This is NOW!
M.
Traffic is an exceptional album and for my money Martin Fry's most mature work - long gone is the melodrama of Lexicon or eccentricity of Zillionaire. Traffic is tempered by the priceless wisdom of age, and is all the more uplifting for it. "Caroline" is playing in the background as I write, and I can't help but salute Martin's renaissance. The melody blossoms from nowhere, sounds so organic, sophisticated and is the very antithesis of much of the contrived radio fodder we're fed with these days!
Martin was always a closet rocker - and as he did with "Rolling Sevens" and "Love Is It's Own Reward" on Skyscraping, he shows us once again he can hold his own with this genre with the opening track "16 Seconds To Choose". If the fates had been kinder to Beauty Stab, there's no doubting ABC would've have been packing arenas with guitar bombast. Martin is an extremely versatile writer, but the public have shallow perceptions - the lamé suit, for all it's benefits has been as much a shackle too.
In my opinion, Martin excels himself with "Validation" and "Lose Yourself". Perfect radio material - and as a fledgling music publisher myself, I can assure you these tracks can be perfectly placed for licensing to ad agencies! There's little profit to be made from sales, but if we want to hear more ABC in the future Martin must exploit these avenues. This by no means denigrates the tracks, they're "fantastic compositions" (nod) - but to ensure we don't have to wait another 11 years, PLEASE make the most of these 2 wonderful tunes. I notice Martin has no publisher attached to the album either...not for long I suspect!
Love Is Strong appears to be a fan favourite in the early feedback, and rightly so - the song embraces the cinematic elements of ABC earlier material and has an emotional power that resonates. Not a single, but certainly an album defining tune.
"Minus Love" reminds me of "One Day"(Alphabet City) with it's romantic 80's R&B styling, "Life Shapes You" - exhilarating, life affirming. The combined production skills of Fry, Kentis and Palmer must also be congratulated - it's a very accomplished sound, a high quality recording that will sound gorgeous through your Wharfedales! (I must say how nice it is to hear Dave Palmer's signature "closed-hat" rolls throughout the album...)
Martin, this is a brilliant work. I wish you all the recognition and success you deserve - now take the album out live, and leave behind everything pre-1990. You've done the cabaret circuit, now let's see the real ABC...That Was Then, This is NOW!
M.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
ABC were one of those 80's bands that had it all and threw it all away. A number on classic album in The Lexicon of Love and then Martin Fry hit the self destruction button from thereonin. Well, for the masses that is. For those of us that have stuck with ABC over the last 27 years, it's been a roller coaster ride. We've seen the highs of 'Alphabet City' (the nearest you'll get to Lexicon pt 2) and the lows of 'Up'. So, after all this time what should we expect from Traffic? What we get are 10 fantastic songs and a couple of fillers (Fugitives and Minus love). 'The very first time' received loads of Radio 2 airplay in April to much aclaim and there are several other songs that should find their way onto the radio. That said, this won't be a commercially successful album, Martin knows that. It is though, a worthy addition to the remarkable ABC catalogue and will be played to death by devoted ABC fans for many years to come.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not all that great
I had lost track of ABC back in the 90s and living in the U.S. I didn't know newer material was available. So, 3-4 years late, I jumped at the chance to buy Traffic. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jim Ayres
STUCK IN TRAFFIC
The first thing to say is that this is an excellent 'come back' album from Martin Fry's ABC. Martin is still in great voice and his delivery is just as punchy and enjoyable as it... Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. McCarraher
Perfect pop that takes many listens but when it hits home...
It's taken me months and month of hearing this, leaving it, returning, leaving and so on. Now, finally, I see what a masterful piece of work this is. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Simon Turner
Lexicon of Love Part II
I increasingly lost interest in ABC following the heady heights of 'Lexicon of Love'. I found 'Beauty Stab' a bit of a disappointing follow-up, and although I liked the quirky... Read more
Published 20 months ago by SAM
There is no traffic in Alphabet Heaven!!
I have been waiting eons for a new ABC*** album and I think Traffic is a worthy addition to ABC***'s delectable back catalogue. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2008 by Tony Merchant
Inspiring album
I quite agree with the rest of the reviewer's. I hummed and harred over getting this at first. It's kind of refreshing to hear such quality pop once more with Martin Fry's... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2008 by Ian
Pedestrian: approach with caution....
From gold lamé suits to cod rock guitars to cartoon super heroes, ABC were fabulous. ABC's brand of imagination and innovation - hand in hand in musicland! Read more
Published on 14 July 2008 by Soundfile
wow!
This cd has been a sweet surprise for me, after all these years. Great songs and arrengements. The shadow of Beauty Stab is still there!
Published on 1 July 2008 by Jose I. Lopez Freire
Definately not a hit album!
Like everyone else, I have waited patiently for this album. Now its here, I'm totally disappointed. I, like most others, have followed ABC from Lexicon of Love, and have all the... Read more
Published on 1 July 2008 by Bruce Young
ABC....
As an avid ABC fan from the 80's I bought Lexicon of Love and try as i might apart from 1 or 2 tracks on Beauty Stab try as i might for me ABC had started to loose their appeal... Read more
Published on 22 May 2008 by K. Hunter
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