Welcome to the Pleasuredome | ||||
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![]() Illustration by Lo Cole [1] | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 29 October 1984 | |||
Recorded | July 1983–1984 | |||
Studio | ||||
Genre | Pop [2] [3] | |||
Length | 64:06 | |||
Label | ZTT | |||
Producer | Trevor Horn | |||
Frankie Goes to Hollywood chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() The original CD cover, which was taken from one of the vinyl record's dust jackets. Cover photography by Peter Ashworth [4] | ||||
Singles from Welcome to the Pleasuredome | ||||
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Welcome to the Pleasuredome is the debut studio album by English synth-pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood,first released on 29 October 1984 by ZTT Records. [6] Originally issued as a vinyl double album,it was assured of a UK chart entry at number one due to reported advance sales of over one million. [6] It actually sold around a quarter of a million copies in its first week. [7] The album was also a top-10 seller internationally in countries such as Switzerland,Sweden,Australia and New Zealand.
While commercially successful,the album also drew criticism [ by whom? ] for containing new versions of all of the songs from the group's (already much-remixed) singles from the same year ("Relax" and "Two Tribes",plus B-side "War"),as well as a surfeit of cover versions in lieu of much new original material. It was later revealed that Trevor Horn's production dominated the record so thoroughly that the band's own instrumental performances were often replaced by session musicians or Horn himself. [8] Frankie's second album, Liverpool ,actively featured the full band.
However,the album's evergreen ballad "The Power of Love" subsequently provided the group with their third consecutive UK number one single.
To celebrate the album's 30th anniversary,in October 2014,ZTT through Union Square Music released a limited edition (2,000 copies only) box set entitled Inside the Pleasuredome ,available exclusively from the website pledgemusic.com. The box set contains rarities on 10" vinyl,as well as a book,a DVD,a cassette (featuring 13 mixes of "Relax" and its B-side "One September Monday") as well as a new 2014 remastered version of Welcome to the Pleasuredome on 180g vinyl.
The cover art was conceived by ZTT owner Paul Morley and illustrated by graphic artist Lo Cole. The front cover featured an illustration of the Frankie Goes to Hollywood band members; on the back of the album was an illustration of a large animal orgy; and the inner gatefold artwork was an image of a procession of animals entering the head of a very large phallus. The sleeve art proved controversial, and the printing company refused to print the album covers. Cole was forced to alter the orgy image by adding green fig leaves to cover the offending animal genitalia. [1]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Los Angeles Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork | 8.7/10 [12] |
Record Collector | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Record Mirror | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Smash Hits | 7/10 [16] |
Sounds | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Village Voice | C [18] |
Reviewing Welcome to the Pleasuredome for Sounds , Carole Linfield praised Frankie Goes to Hollywood for merging "the hip with the witless" on an album of "overkill, overjoy and overcompensation", summarising it as "pretentious rubbish for which we're rewarded with almost illicit ecstasy ... Frankie makes gullibility fashionable." [17] "By next week I'll be tired of it," commented Richard Cook in NME , "but today this 'play' is funny, sharp, gorgeous." [3] Jim Reid of Record Mirror felt that while the album "would have made a brilliant single LP", it is still "superbly produced and head and shoulders above the rest", observing "intelligence, real sexual glamour and a sense of fun" distinguishing the band from other contemporary pop acts. [14]
In the United States, Rolling Stone critic David Fricke found that the album's songs are "too often ... merely alluring fragments", while concluding that it "revels in its own subversiveness with such audacious glee that it is impossible not to be captivated, if not entirely convinced". [15] The Village Voice 's Robert Christgau was less impressed, calling the group "a truly great hype" but ultimately only "a marginally competent arena-rock band who don't know how to distinguish between effeminacy and pretension". [18]
Retrospectively, AllMusic reviewer Ned Raggett said that Welcome to the Pleasuredome, divorced from "the hype, controversy, and attendant craziness surrounding Frankie", "holds up as an outrageously over-the-top, bizarre, but fun release", as well as "more a testament to Trevor Horn's production skills than anything else." [9] For Pitchfork , Sasha Geffen wrote that the album's impact "rang out into the years that followed, emblematizing the '80s and loosening the way for bands like Erasure, who would carry a similar torch into the rave years." [12]
All songs written and composed by Peter Gill, Holly Johnson, Brian Nash and Mark O'Toole except where noted. [19] [20]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "The World Is My Oyster (Including Well, Snatch of Fury)" | Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Andy Richards | 1:57 |
2. | "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" | 13:40 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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3. | "Relax (Come Fighting)" | 3:56 | |
4. | "War (...and Hide)" | Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield | 6:12 |
5. | "Two Tribes (For the Victims of Ravishment)" | 3:23 | |
6. | "(Tag)" (unlisted track) | 0:35 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Ferry (Go)" | Gerry Marsden | 1:49 |
8. | "Born to Run" | Bruce Springsteen | 3:56 |
9. | "San Jose (The Way)" | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | 3:09 |
10. | "Wish (The Lads Were Here)" | 2:48 | |
11. | "The Ballad of 32" | 4:47 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "Krisco Kisses" | 2:57 |
13. | "Black Night White Light" | 4:05 |
14. | "The Only Star in Heaven" | 4:16 |
15. | "The Power of Love" | 5:28 |
16. | "...Bang" | 1:08 |
Total length: | 64:00 |
Additional personnel
Production
Technical
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Austria (IFPI Austria) [46] | Gold | 25,000* |
Canada (Music Canada) [47] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
Germany (BVMI) [48] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
Netherlands (NVPI) [49] | Gold | 50,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [50] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
Norway (IFPI Norway) [51] | Gold | 25,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [52] | 3× Platinum | 1,100,000 [53] |
United States (RIAA) [54] | Gold | 500,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprise Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford, Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). They were among the first openly gay pop acts and made gay rights and sexuality a theme of their music and performances.
"Relax" is the debut single by English synth-pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom by ZTT Records in 1983.
"Two Tribes" is an anti-war song by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records on 4 June 1984. The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Presenting a nihilistic, gleeful lyric expressing enthusiasm for nuclear war, it juxtaposes a relentless pounding bass line and guitar riff inspired by American funk and R&B pop with influences of Russian classical music, in an opulent arrangement produced by Trevor Horn.
"Welcome to the Pleasuredome" is the title track to the 1984 debut album by English pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The lyrics of the song were inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Liverpool is the second and final studio album by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in October 1986. Produced by Stephen Lipson and mixed by Trevor Horn, the album showcases a heavy rock sound in contrast to the synth dance tone found in its predecessor, Welcome to the Pleasuredome. The recording sessions would be marred by the radical change in musical direction creating tension within the band.
ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by the record producer Trevor Horn, the businesswoman Jill Sinclair and the NME journalist Paul Morley. They released music by acts including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Grace Jones, the Art of Noise and Seal.
William Holly Johnson is an English artist, musician, and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan. In 1989, Johnson's debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK albums chart. Two singles from the album – "Love Train" and "Americanos" – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. In the 1990s, he also embarked on writing, painting, and printmaking careers.
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"The Power of Love" is a song originally recorded and released by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was written by Holly Johnson, Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash, four of the five members of the band. It was released by the group as their third single.
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Slave to the Rhythm is the seventh studio album by Jamaican singer and songwriter Grace Jones, released on 28 October 1985 by Island Records. Subtitled a biography in the liner notes, Slave to the Rhythm is a concept album, produced by ZTT Records founder and producer Trevor Horn, that went on to become one of Jones' most commercially successful albums and spawned her biggest hit, "Slave to the Rhythm".
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Tom Watkins was an English pop impresario, music manager, songwriter, producer, designer and fine art collector. With a background in art and design, Watkins set up the XL Design agency in the early 1980s and was responsible for designing record sleeves and music graphics of the period. Watkins moved into music management by the mid-1980s and managed Pet Shop Boys, Bros and East 17 among others. Watkins has been described by Neil Tennant as "a big man with a loud voice" and by David Munns as "an unstoppable creative powerhouse."
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British band who released two studio albums and seven singles before disbanding in 1987. Since then, almost all of their tracks have been rereleased on compact disc, including various compilation albums and CD singles. In recent years, their record company has also released original material that was not released during the band's heyday.
Hard On is a 14-track music video compilation by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It was released by ZTT Records in 2000. The compilation contains all main music videos and includes interviews with Paul Rutherford, Trevor Horn, Paul Morley, Paul Lester and Gary Farrow. It also includes The story of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and ZTT Records as well as a picture gallery of record sleeves, photographs, press articles and magazine covers. In 2009, a new CD compilation was released titled Frankie Say Greatest which was also released as a DVD. The DVD is an exact replica of Hard On except the cover work is different.
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