by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Moving away from the guitar histrionics of Beauty Stab, Martin Fry reduced ABC to a duo of himself and Mark White for 1985's danceable How to Be a...Zillionaire! Incorporating light hip-hop rhythms, ABC made sure Zillionaire sounded contemporary for mid-'80s dance clubs, and as a result, some of the record sounds stiff and dated. Still, when Fry's sense of melody is on, as on the catchy single &Be Near Me,& or when he works in his vicious, cynical wit, as on &How to Be a Millionaire& and &So Hip It Hurts,& the record rivals the peaks of Lexicon of Love.