Midway through the concert-movie version of 1982’s Three Sides Live, Collins talks to a radio interviewer about the decision to use Earth, Wind & Fire’s funky horn section on the Abacab standout “No Reply At All.” “It’s just one little step toward taking people off automatic pilot,” he says. “They like to think of you over there, and Earth, Wind & Fire over there, and Devo other there. But we’re not any one particular thing.” It’s a nice summation of the entire Abacab’s “try anything once” approach, which ventures from intimate synth-pop (“Man On The Corner”) to shape-shifting art-rock (“Dodo/Lurker”). The experiments weren’t always successful: The ham-fisted punk-funk of “Who Dunnit?” is, without a doubt, the band’s weakest studio song. But in spite of the transitional speed-bumps, every second of Abacab is embedded with freewheeling creative freedom.