Love Conquers All (ABC song)

"Love Conquers All" is a single by new wave group ABC, released as the lead single from their sixth studio album Abracadabra in July 1991.

"Love Conquers All"
Single by ABC
from the album Abracadabra
B-side"What's Good About Goodbye?"
Released15 July 1991
Recorded1991
GenreSynth-pop
LabelEMI, Parlophone
Songwriter(s)Martin Fry, Mark White
Producer(s)Martin Fry, Mark White
ABC singles chronology
"The Look of Love '90"
(1990)
"Love Conquers All"
(1991)
"Say It"
(1991)

The song's music video, shot mostly in black-and-white, features scenes of various people doing random actions, intercut with footage of Martin Fry and Mark White performing the song and the seahorse from the Abracadabra album cover.

Critical reception

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Upon its release, Paul Lester of Melody Maker praised the song as a "sparkling addition to the ABC oeuvre" and described it as "disco as in 'Southern Freeez' or an old Whispers love-thing". He noted the band "continue to face tomorrow with their best foot dancefloorward" and added that the B-side, "What's Good About Goodbye?", "makes me long for that pre-Pixies/Roses, pre-postantirockist time when bands yearned to sound modern and technologically advanced".[1] Sally Margaret Joy of Melody Maker was less enthusiastic in her review, calling the song "merely vapid", with the "only clue to a former glory [being] the upward bubbling of a watery whistle during the verses". She also noted the "pick 'n' mix chocolate box lyrics" that "passed muster" on The Lexicon of Love, but "sound all wrong now".[2] Andrew Collins of NME commented that the song "sounds like ABC would've sounded in 1982 if it had been 1991, if you see what I mean". He added, "It's so slick it just slid off my turntable and then slimed off down the road. No great loss, really."[3]

Track listing

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CD/12" single[4]
No.TitleLength
1."Love Conquers All" (7" version)4:02
2."Love Conquers All" (extended version)6:15
3."What's Good About Goodbye?"4:48
4."Love Conquers All" (percapella mix)4:24
2020 digital download[5]
No.TitleLength
1."Love Conquers All" (7" edit)4:02
2."Love Conquers All" (The Morales "Eclipse" Mix)5:45
3."Love Conquers All" (the Morales mix)4:42
4."Love Conquers All" (Boilerhouse Mix)4:51
5."Love Conquers All" (percapella mix)4:24
6."Love Conquers All" (extended version)6:17

Charts

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Chart (1991) Peak
position
German Singles Chart[6] 36
Swiss Singles Chart[7] 22
UK Singles Chart[8] 47

References

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  1. ^ Lester, Paul (6 July 1991). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 29.
  2. ^ Joy, Sally Margaret (20 July 1991). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 32.
  3. ^ Collins, Andrew (27 July 1991). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 22.
  4. ^ "Love Conquers All" at Discogs (list of releases)
  5. ^ Love Conquers All (Remixes) on iTunes
  6. ^ "charts.de". charts.de. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  7. ^ Steffen Hung. "ABC - Love Conquers All". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  8. ^ "The Official Charts Company - Love Conquers All by ABC Search". The Official Charts Company. 6 May 2013.