"...Victims Of Ravishment..."
Ah
the Frankies - Going To Hollywood in the Eighties with a Zang Tuum Tumb Remix in their hearts and a set of Mongolian Moose horns in their codpieces - and thereafter feeling the need to Relax and not
do it (nor even suck it to it).
In
March 2022 - Frankie Goes To Hollywood's October 1984 wake-up-call debut double-album "Welcome
To The Pleasuredome" is for sure showing its excessive age. But then you
crank Track 2 - the staggering over-the-top who-ha 13:40 minutes of its title
track and suddenly you think (nay even tumb tang admit) - there's never been
anything this brilliant anywhere else - evah!
Half
toss, half genius - Liverpool's Frankie Goes To Hollywood practically invented
80ts cult with their extraordinary launching pad - aided by the stellar
Production talent of TREVOR HORN who realized their mad Mongolian Kublai Khan
bad-boys of Rock Music vision.
We
heard giggles, distorted vocals, a Ronald Reagan pisstake during
"War", the British Royal Family's Prince Charles in the
"(Tag)" bit starting Side 3 before the Gerry & The Pacemakers "Ferry
Across The Mersey" cover version (often miscredited on original LPs as
'Furry') - and the Supervisor warning before launching into the Boss's
"Born To Run" - and so much more.
And
of course, the artwork, my god the artwork; those two inner sleeves with all
those eclectic indecipherable liner notes, secret gay shagging references and
adverts for product. Hell, if you looked closely enough, you could even see
that each side of ZTT IQ1 had a subliminal title of sorts - Pray Frankie Pray,
Say, Sing and Play Frankie Play. And the crafty covers incorporated into
absolutely everything too.
But
FGTH had those searing original songs and that squeaky clean so-80ts sound too.
Just dig that acoustic moment (around eight minutes in) by Lead Guitarist Steve
Howe of Yes - something they'd employ themselves with the stunning "Owner
Of A Lonely Heart" (also produced by TH) or that delicate Electric Guitar
solo by Steve Lipson. WOW!
But
the initial sonic-assault of "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" has had a
very marred audio history when it comes to reissues - the constraints of vinyl
and earlier half-assed CD versions. Well, at last this 2020 ZTT/UMC CD Remaster
does that animal beast a solid. Let's get to the moving at one million miles an
hour details...
UK
released 12 December 2020 - "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" by FRANKIE
GOES TO HOLLYWOOD on ZTT/UMC 8242199 (Barcode 602508242199) offers the full
1984 double-album remastered onto 1CD (Definition Series No. 32, ZTDS32)
and plays out as follows (64:37 minutes):
Side
1 - Pray Frankie Pray
1.
The World Is My Order (including 'Well' and 'Snatch of Fury') - 1:39 minutes
2.
Welcome To The Pleasuredome - 13:40 minutes
Side
2 - Say Frankie Say
3.
Relax (Come Fighting) - 3:56 minutes
4.
War (And Hide) - 6:13 minutes
5.
Two Tribes (For The Victims Of Ravishment) - 3:28 minutes
Side
3 - Sing Frankie Sing
6.
(Tag) - 0:35 minutes
7.
Ferry (Go) - 1:49 minutes
8.
Born To Run - 3:58 minutes
9.
San Jose (The Way)
10.
Wish (The Lads Were Here) - 2:48 minutes
11.
Including The Ballad of 32 - 4:49 minutes
Side
4 - Play Frankie Play
12.
Krisko Kisses - 2:59 minutes
13.
Black Night White Light - 4:08 minutes
14.
The Only Star In Heaven - 4:16 minutes
15.
The Power Of Love - 5:32 minutes
16.
Bang... - 1:09 minutes
Tracks
1 to 16 are the debut 2LP-set "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" -
released 29 October 1984 on ZTT Records IQ 1. Produced by TREVOR HORN - it
peaked at No. 1.
The
8-page booklet is unfortunately the usual deflating effort that covers the
inner gatefold artwork of the 2LP set, the band photos and each member
discussed and those original liner notes. But apart from a credit to Philip
Marshall for the 2020 rejiggered artwork layout, there is bugger all else - no
history.
What
is not in contention is the very clear and clear Remastered Audio that somehow
manages to retain the integrity of the 'Trevor Horn' production sound that was
such a part of WTTP, but give it muscle in places where it has always screamed
out for power. If you give some welly on your stereo to the gorgeous
guitar-work in the half-instrumental/half-porn soundtrack "Including The
Ballad of 32" – the audio is incredible - so damn good.
While
it was fun back in the big-hair-do days to hear Bacharach and David’s "Do
You Know The Way To San Jose?" (done by Dionne Warwick originally on
Scepter Records in 1968) or Springsteen’s "Born To Run" (Columbia
Records, 1975), they feel like alien limpets now. Better is those lesser heralded
album cuts like "Krisko Kisses" or the devil may take you there of
"Black Night White Light" with its internal WTTP guitar bits. And
those huge strangely touching string-arrangements by Anne Dudley on the No. 1
single "The Power Of Love" that ends the opus in a suitably epic
manner.
You
can’t help thinking that the 12” Alternate Remix of “Pleasuredome” would have
made the perfect Bonus Track (and there is room) or their cover of T. Rex’s
“Get It On” – but alas (Frankie Say No More).
The
second and last album by FGTH "Liverpool" would finally arrive in
October 1986 again on ZTT Records with all the accompanying paraphernalia and
plethora of versions - but it felt like an anti-climax because it just couldn't
compete with the sheer bombast of such a debut (produced three No. 1 singles).
But
you have to smile at FGTH for taking their name off a Frank Sinatra poster and
getting the BBC to ban "Relax" and therefore send it up to No. 1. For
that alone and the Xanadu dingbat "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" - I
stand erect for Frankie Goes To Hollywood (probably not a good thing really at
my age)...
