Celebrate Classic '80s New Wave Pop With the Hit Debut Album From ABC THE LEXICON OF LOVE Featuring 'Poison Arrow' and 'The Look of Love'.

LOS ANGELES -- In 2001, ABC supported superstar Robbie Williams on a massive U.K. stadium tour. In spring 2002, ABC will be part of the Here And Now tour of the U.K. also featuring Howard Jones, Adam Ant, Belinda Carlisle and Spandau Ballet. Now, 20 years after its original release, ABC's 1982 debut, and the group's glossy pop masterpiece, is being reissued. THE LEXICON OF LOVE (Mercury/UME), released February 5, 2002, has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and expanded with a bonus track. The new packaging also features a deluxe booklet including a forward by ABC frontman Martin Fry.

In the '80s, America was flooded by a new wave of bands from the U.K., from Duran Duran to Tears For Fears to Soft Cell to ABC. More adventurous than most, and with a tongue-in-cheek self-consciousness, Sheffield, England's ABC was one of the more popular purveyors of perfect pop. ABC formed in 1980 after Fry interviewed Vice Versa guitarist Mark White and saxophonist Stephen Singleton for his fanzine. The two then asked Fry to join their band as a vocalist. Fry was not shy and soon steered the five-piece synthesizer-based band toward pop, renaming it ABC. Its first single, "Tears Are Not Enough," was U.K. Top 20 and led to the lavish THE LEXICON OF LOVE, produced by superstar '80s producer Trevor Horn (The Buggles, Frankie Goes To Hollywood).

Along with THE LEXICON OF LOVE being one of the great sonic achievements of the decade, a major factor in its success was the stylish music videos the album spun off in the early days of MTV. The clips for "The Look Of Love" and "Poison Arrow" became MTV staples, catapulting "The Look Of Love (Part One)" into the pop Top 20, "Poison Arrow" into the Top 30 ("All Of My Heart" was U.K. Top 10) and the album to U.S. gold and a Top 30 chart ranking (#1 U.K.). The reissued THE LEXICON OF LOVE adds a contemporaneous bonus track -- the theme from ABC's 1982 music video collection MANTRAP.

ABC (soon the duo of Fry and White) would enjoy higher-charting pop hits in the late '80s, from "Be Near Me" to "When Smokey Sings" (its fourth U.S. #1 dance hit). White exited in 1992. In 1997, ABC released its first album in six years and embarked on its first U.K. tour since 1983. New songs, albums and tours have followed. But "The Look Of Love" and "Poison Arrow" remain MTV flashbacks, the songs most closely identified with the band, and THE LEXICON OF LOVE remains one of the essential albums of the '80s.