Track Listing

1. Look of Love
2. All of My Heart
3. Poison Arrow
4. When Smokey Sings
5. That Was Then but This Is Now
6. Tears Are Not Enough
7. How to Be a Millionaire
8. Night You Murdered Love
9. Peace and Tranquility
10. One Better World
11. S.O.S.
12. King Without a Crown
13. Be Near Me
14. Ocean Blue
15. Vanity Kills
16. Real Thing
17. Blame

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6055 in Music
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2002-06-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Album Description
UK compilation features nine of the eleven tracks on the closest domestic equivalent (the U.S. features 'Vanity Kills' (The Abigails Party Mix) (the standard version appears here & ' Theme From Mantrap ') but adds seven additional tracks, 'Night You Murdered Love', 'Peace & Tranquility', 'One Better World' (Edit), 'King Without A Crown', 'Ocean Blue', 'Real Thing' & 'Blame'. 17 tracks in all. 2001.

Customer Reviews

Vanity Kills.
Mixing skilled production with sharp lyrics, ABC was one of the more interesting groups of the 1980s. "The Look of Love" features hits starting with the 1982 classic "The Lexicon of Love" right up to 1989's "Up" (strangely enough, this album excludes material from the excellent "Abracadabra" and "Skyscraping"). Of course, their biggest hits were "The Look of Love" and "Poison Arrow," but my personal favorites are the Chic-inspired "The Night You Murdered Love," "King Without a Crown," "Vanity Kills," and the housed-up "One Better World." These songs may not have been huge hits in America, but they're just as good. In addition, we get two previously unreleased tracks: "Peace and Tranquility" and the killer ballad "Blame." This album is certainly an improvement over their previous compilation "Absolutely ABC," which had a rather awful and pointless remix of "The Look of Love." But here, we get all the original singles, digitally remastered with care. If you want to hear a fine example of pop music from the 1980s, then you can't go wrong with this impressive CD.

great collection with 2 new songs!
There have been several ABC Best ofs in recent years, but this one is a must have for any fan of the band and is essential for casual fans as well. All of the bands best known songs are here, "Look of Love," "Be Near Me," "When Smokey Sings," even the US Remix of "Vanity Kills."

But the real reason to get this set is to hear two of the best new songs this year, "Peace and Tranquility" and "Blame." Both songs are classic ABC, strings, finely crafted rhymes and melodies that get stuck in your head. "P&T" is an upbeat pop number that a band like NSYNC would have a smash with. "Blame" sounds is a mix of McCartney melody with Lennon lyrics. Both tracks are some of the best work ABC has done in years.

The definitive ABC Collection
I think ABC is quite an underrated melodic pop group, which I would place among glam-styled new wave groups like Soft Cell, Duran Duran, Human League, and such others, groups that define 80's sound. ABC mostly uses memorable piano and brasswind sound, with a jazzy melodiousness that jibes with with Martin Fry's sarcastically urbanesque vocals. His shiny costume on the insert is just like him.

All of ABC's definitive songs are here: "Look of Love", "When Smokey Sings", "Be Near Me", "Vanity Kills", "Poison Arrow", and other good songs I didn't know they were responsible for. Their other songs, such as "Peace and Tranquility", "One better world" and "The Real Thing", reveal a turn towards activism, and yet they preserve the melodiousness of their music. For a collection on the definitive music groups of the 80's, this is an essential.