ABC - Traffic

Fry: still delighting

Ah, if ifs and ands were pots and pans, this would be high in the UK Top 20. While ABC’s influence can be heard coursing through very 21st Century outfits such as the Guillemots and Late Of The Pier, Traffic will pass quicker than a change of the lights. Recorded between Los Angeles and London with Lexicon Of Love-era drummer David Palmer and multiinstrumentalist Chuck Kentis, the album is snappy, erudite and retains all the widescreen ambitions of ABC at their zenith.

Traffic also demonstrates that leader Martin Fry has not driven down a cul-de-sac and forgotten how to sculpt a melody and a lyric. The bright pop of The Very First Time saw the group back on Radio 2 playlists; Love Is Strong would have been a chart smash in 1987; Validation has all the ingredients to be a sunset anthem, and Never Had A Dream writes large that this is the same man who penned All Of My Heart and SOS.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Borough Music Ltd | BOROCD 01

Reviewed by Daryl Easlea
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