Alphabet City
The fourth album, made by Fry and White with Bernard Edwards of Chic, and home to When Smokey Sings.
ABC, 1987
- Released
- 1987
- Studio
- Marcus Recording Studios, London
- Label
- Neutron
- Producer
- Martin Fry, Mark White and Bernard Edwards
Released two years after Zillionaire on Mercury, Phonogram and Neutron, it came after a hiatus in which Fry was being treated for Hodgkin's disease. It was recorded over nine months at Marcus Recording Studios in London, with Bernard Edwards, best known for his work with Chic, assisting. The title and several track titles came from the Alphabet City district of Manhattan, where Fry and White had lived for a time before the album. Fry told Record Mirror in 1987 that they had caught up with themselves, and had thought it might be the last record they ever made.
It peaked at seven in the UK, the first ABC album to reach the top 10 since the debut. Three singles charted in Britain: When Smokey Sings at 11, The Night You Murdered Love at 31 and King Without a Crown at 44. Richard Niles arranged the strings on the first two, and Anne Dudley those on One Day and Bad Blood. A 2005 remaster added six bonus tracks.
Track listing
- Avenue A0:53
- When Smokey Sings4:18
- The Night You Murdered Love4:53
- Think Again3:40
- Rage and Then Regret3:33
- Ark-Angel4:55
- King Without a Crown4:40
- Bad Blood3:56
- Jealous Lover3:36
- One Day5:35
- Avenue Z0:42
Personnel
- Martin Fry lead and backing vocals, producer
- Mark White keyboards, programming, guitars, producer
- Bernard Edwards producer
- David Clayton keyboards
- Brad Lang bass guitar
- Danny Thompson double bass
- Graham Broad drums
- Pandit Dinesh percussion, tabla
- Luis Jardim percussion
- Howie Casey saxophones
- Judd Lander harmonica
- Richard Niles string arrangements on When Smokey Sings and The Night You Murdered Love
- Anne Dudley string arrangements on One Day and Bad Blood
- Martyn Webber engineer
- Julian Mendelsohn mixing
More from ABC
The Lexicon of Love (1982), Beauty Stab (1983), How to Be a ... Zillionaire! (1985), The Lexicon of Love II (2016)
Sources
- Alphabet City (album), Wikipedia
- ABC (band), Wikipedia
- When Smokey Sings, Wikipedia