OK, let's readily admit that not all of us were fans of 80's pop music. I, for one, suffered through the 80's latching onto the very rare glimpses of creativity that it managed to spawn. (Thank goodness Ska and Punk saved at least some of it) Syncopated drum beats, bad clothes, REALLY bad hair, over production, "Logo Bands" and throw away dance songs. However, Lexicon of Love is a standout and MAY BE the quintessential 80's pop album. (Not counting "Thriller" which will always be in a league all its own.) Just as other albums define an era or a type of music, such as Led Zeppelin II defining power rock/blues, Dark Side of the Moon defining 70's progressive music and The Allman Bothers first album defining southern rock; (Personal opinion not fact. So lay off any criticism!) Lexicon defines the excesses and pop music dance beat of the 80's. (I am not saying LOL is as good as these albums either. I am just saying it well represents this era of music.)I must readily admit that I thoroughly enjoy every second of the album. Generally, once I put it on I have to listen to it start to finish. I get hooked and simply can't turn it off. This album is no sleeper. There are no slow ballads. ABC wanted to get you moving and keep you moving throughout the entire album.The song arrangement of the album is darn near perfect. Every song on LOL blends seamlessly into the next. Some are bridged with very short orchestral movements only to break into another drum beat to pull you into the next song. Being a fan of progressive music, this could be why I like this album. It is "almost" constructed as one continuous piece of music. Each song is catchy with great hooks, a steady beat and fantastic tongue in cheek lyrics. "Like the phoenix rising up from the ashes, I know what's good but I know what trash is!" "No rhythm in cymbals, no tempo in drums, love on arrival, she comes when she comes." The albums sound is dated; you can tell it is 80's pop within the first 30 seconds so you probably can't put forth the argument that it is "timeless". But for what it is, pure 80's pop/dance, you are not going to get much better.Martin Fry's voice is along the same lines as Bryan Ferry's with a nice smoky quality, good range, and so much feeling. One might even put forth the argument that ABC was Roxie Music wanna be's. Their music is definitely in the same style although a bit more "lush" than RM. Where Roxie Music eventually became known for several stellar musicians (I.e. Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, Eddie Jobson to name but a few) I doubt you could say the same for ABC. (However, Roxie Music's original drummer and bass player did end up on ABC's second album "Beauty Stab".) But, they were good at what they did. They were a good cohesive group. This could be what hurt them. They could never match the success of this LP and just didn't seem to want to stay in this same genre. They tried on their second LP "Beauty Stab" to be more guitar based and it failed miserably. Which really puzzles me because it is a more creative album and showed off a very talented band. It was as equally energetic as LOL but did move away from dance, which may have allienated their fan base a bit too soon. "Beauty Stab" is a solid 4 star album with a much stronger new wave and rock beat. While not quite as good, I think it may hold up a bit better then LOL by not sounding quite as dated some 30 years later.It will be difficult to find a bad review of this album. From its onset it was well received. It went straight to the top of the UK charts and still shows up on the list of the top 100 British albums. Not bad for what many consider throw away 80's dance music.