Beauty Stab

Released by Neutron, Mercury and Vertigo, the album was recorded over three months between August and September 1983. The band produced it with Gary Langan, who had engineered the debut, and used the rhythm section of Andy Newmark and Alan Spenner, both lately with Roxy Music. It moved away from the polish of The Lexicon of Love towards a guitar-oriented sound. Fry later said the band were eager to go in a totally different direction and did not want to make a sequel, and that perhaps in retrospect that is exactly what they should have done.

Most critics received it badly. Dave Rimmer of Smash Hits wrote that it was either a radical mixture of styles or a complete and utter mess. In 1995 Simon Reynolds counted it among the great career-sabotage LPs in pop history. It peaked at 12 on the UK chart and was certified gold. That Was Then but This Is Now briefly entered the UK top 20, and S.O.S. reached the top 40. The 12-inch of the first single carried the line that the record was exactly the same as the 7-inch version and that the choice was yours. A remastered CD with three bonus tracks followed in 2005.