Bryan Ferry’s Taxi (1993) is an album full of covers. While he’s always done cover songs (his take on Sympathy for the Devil is better than the original as far as I’m concerned), at first listen the tracks on Taxi don’t seem to fit him. To be more specific, he forces his style upon the originals. While the lyrics to I Put A Spell On You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins could easily have been written by Ferry, the rest of the songs all tend to blend together. Will You Love Me Tomorrow may as well be Girl of my Best Friend or the title song. It takes some delicate listening to hear the depth behind his interpretations, though his version of Amazing Grace just blows.

The other one, Beauty Stab by ABC (1983) was quite possibly the most hotly anticipated followup album by any of the New Wave groups. 1982′s Lexicon of Love turned out such hits as Poison Arrow, Tears Are Not Enough and, of course, The Look of Love. Beauty Stab, however, sounded nothing like Lexicon, moving away from the synths and New Romantic style. Instead, it was a guitar-bass-drum based album, with very minimal synth use. Only That Was Then But This Is Now and SOS charted in the UK, and only briefly. The album was completely ignored in the US. But now, I think it’s their best album, musically. Martin Fry’s vocals, always the band’s strongest point, really shine while seeming out of place with the rock guitar, but pulling it all together. I seem to remember hating the album when I first heard it, but having it improve as I aged. It feels much more mature than the more popular, “goofy” albums (like How To Be a… Zillionaire!, Lexicon and even Alphabet City, which gave us When Smokey Sings) that they’re remembered for.