ABC

Hailed by the British music press as "purveyors of perfect pop," ABC was actually a highly self-conscious white neosoul group that articulated singer Martin Fry's grandiloquent vision. His mannered vocals recall "Thin White Duke"-era David Bowie, and his songs of romance revisit the worldly fatalism of Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry.

Fry was writing and editing his own music fanzine, Modern Drugs,...