ABC Whilst the gold lam suits may have been hung up years ago, The Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC proves that ABC or rather Martin Fry still has the ability to dazzle. As any 80s compilation will validate, hits such as the title track "Look of Love", "Poison Arrow" and "All of My Heart" are nowadays viewed as defining musical moments of the 80s. Despite going through an identity crisis during the mid-1980s, the group still managed to produce consistently excellent tunes ("Vanity Kills", "Be Near Me" and "Ocean Blue"). After Martin's successful fight with Hodgkinson's Disease the band reached a new peak with their suave 1987 album Alphabet City, which offered the slick hits "When Smokey Sings" and "The Night You Murdered Love". Fascinated by the emerging Acid House scene, two years later they released Up which was a more up-tempo, dance-orientated album that incorporated "One Better World" and "The Real Thing". Even though the hits dried up during the 1990s, as new tunes "Peace and Tranquillity" and "Blame" demonstrate, Fry still has the ability to pen sophisticated, soulful compositions. -- John Galilee