Critic's Review
Bret Adams, All Music Guide
ABC combined the best elements of the new romantic and new wave movements of the 1980s to create some terrific R&B/dance-based pop songs. The core of ABC was vocalist Martin Fry and guitarist Mark White, and their elegant, melodramatic songs and dapper image -- heavily influenced by Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry and David Bowie -- made the band perfect for music video. Predictably, ABC's videos became MTV staples. The 1990 video collection Absolutely: The ABC Collection was reissued on DVD in 2002; it's a companion to the greatest-hits collection of the same name. The DVD includes 14 clips, and the early videos are perfect examples of the anything-goes experimentation of the medium's infancy. "Poison Arrow" looks like it was shot on film, and semi-ambiguous scenes at an opera house where Fry pursues a beautiful woman are spliced with ABC performing at a dance. "The Look of Love" is gloriously silly; it's brightly shot on a set of high-school play quality made to resemble a park at the turn of the century. Blink and you will miss a one-second (literally) cameo by producer Trevor Horn. 1984's innovative "How to Be a Millionaire" is completely animated. The simple performance-style video for "Be Near Me" includes short-term bandmembers David Yarritu and Eden, who were on board for their unusual looks, not musical ability. U.K. and U.S. versions of "Vanity Kills" differ completely; the U.K. clip just has the members dancing in front of a plain black background, whereas the U.S. concept clip resembles 1940s film noir. The classy black-and-white video for the ballad "Ocean Blue" is set inside an old mansion. Fry, White, and the various musicians and dancers present are clearly enjoying themselves during the Smokey Robinson tribute "When Smokey Sings." The bizarre "The Night You Murdered Love" depicts a female stalker tracking the band while armed with an ABC slingshot.
