ABC have announced the release of a new live album - ‘The Lexicon of Love Live’ - recorded last year at a hometown show in Sheffield to mark the 40th anniversary of the seminal album’s release.

‘The Lexicon of Love’ defined a decade. A widescreen pop classic that gave ABC their international breakthrough, the album was originally produced by Trevor Horn and provided the band no less than five hit singles.

In June last year, ABC toured ‘The Lexicon of Love’ with a full symphonic orchestra to celebrate 40 years since its original release. The magic was captured at their hometown gig in Sheffield and the recording has formed the new release, ‘The Lexicon of Love Live’. As Martin Fry explains:

“A lot happens in four decades. A lot changes . Forty years is a long journey in a lifetime. To be able to return to Sheffield and to the City Hall felt magical and the best place to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of The Lexicon of Love.

Sheffield is where it all started. Where these songs were born. Walking up and down West Street in the rain. In the basement at Bowood Road. On Barber Crescent. In Mr Kite’s Wine Bar. In the Beehive. In the Raven. In the graffiti written on the walls of the lift at Hyde Park Flats. In countless places, in countless conversations.

Around ten years ago we started playing these songs with Anne Dudley conducting the orchestra, with the band alongside. I’m standing centre stage, a microphone in my hand. Performing in front of an audience is the greatest feeling. The chance to look out into the crowd and see that even though the years have rolled on by, the songs still seem to mean so much. The spirit is still alive.

For the audience there’s been good times , there’s been bad times, yet everything seems to evaporate in these moments. People sometimes talk to me about nostalgia but a show is never about the past. For it to mean anything it lives in the here and now, no place else. In a special night at The Sheffield City Hall. June 21st. 2022”.

Set for release on 19 May 2023 via Live Here Now Recordings, the new live album will be available in the following formats: 2 x CD / 3 x sparkly purple Vinyl & as a collector’s edition book & 3 CD.

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