Although Liverpool quintet Frankie Goes To Hollywood (named after an American newspaper headline referring to Frank Sinatra) are best remembered for the singles "Relax" and "Two Tribes", listeners who took the time to explore the expansive Welcome To The Pleasuredome found that there was more to this unusual bunch of chancers than risqué costumes and Reagan fighting Chernenko. Although . . . Pleasuredome included four covers and a clutch of spoken-word/ ambient between- track sections, the record as a whole statement is a powerful one.
Much of this can be attributed to the masterful production of Trevor Horn, who inspired an entire generation of precision-engineered, super-crisp albums in the 1980s: the searing clarity of the background birdsong and jungle noises in the title track, plus the layered beauty of Frankie's version of Bacharach and David's "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" are still miraculous to the ear.
But the thrill of the record is also down to those amazing singles: "Relax," a filthy anthem for a generation; "Two Tribes", the perfect Cold War paean; "The Power Of Love", an exquisite Christmas hit; and "Welcome ..."itself, an underrated anthem released as Frankie-mania began to subside.
The paranoia, the sexual nastiness (the "Relax" 12-inch single sleeve bore a paragraph mentioning coprophagia), and the sheer, twisted glamor of Welcome ... made it seem, for a brief moment, as if a whole new movement had been spawned.
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