Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985
Pride month would not be complete without including Frankie Goes To Hollywood known for their leather-clad homoerotic videos and suggestive lyrics. Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ambitious work sought to challenge the status quo of pop, and politics. they were true trailblazers.
“Welcome to the Pleasuredome” is the title track to the 1984 debut album by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The lyrics of the song were inspired by the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
In March 1985, the album track was abridged and remixed for release as the group’s fourth UK single.
While criticized at the time of release and afterward for being a song that glorifies debauchery, the lyrics (and video), just as Coleridge’s poem, were about the dangers of mindless indulgence. This song, along with “Relax”, made Frankie Goes to Hollywood even more controversial than they already were.
Billboard compared it to “Relax,” saying that “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” had “less hook, less controversy, more drama.”
Despite the group’s record label (ZTT) pre-emptively promoting the single as “their fourth number one”, an achievement that would have set a new UK record for consecutive number one singles by a debuting artist, “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, being kept off the top spot by the Phil Collins/Philip Bailey duet “Easy Lover”. The single spent a total of eleven weeks on the UK chart.
It was the first release by the group not to reach number one and, despite representing a creditable success in its own right, it symbolically confirmed the end of the chart invincibility that the group had enjoyed during 1984. Frankie Goes to Hollywood would not release another record for seventeen months, and they would fail to emulate their past chart success upon their return.
The spoken-word introductions to both 12-inch mixes are adapted from Walter Kaufmann’s 1967 translation of Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy. The recitation on the first 12-inch (“Real Altered”) is by Gary Taylor, whilst that on the second 12-inch (“Fruitness”) and the cassette is by actor Geoffrey Palmer. It is unknown whether Palmer’s conclusion “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” was a genuine mistake or a deliberately scripted one.
All releases featured an edited version of “Get It On”, originally recorded for a BBC Radio 1 session in 1983 (a full-length version was included on the cassette release), plus a faded or full-length version of “Happy Hi!”, a non-album track.
The video, by Bernard Rose, features the group stealing a car, going to a carnival, and encountering all manner of deceptively “pleasurable” activities. The audio soundtrack of the video was included as part of the cassette single.
ABOUT THE TRANSFER
On the cassette “Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (The Soundtrack From Bernard Rose’s Video)”, and “Get It On” are sequenced into one track to preserve the integrity of the original cassette release I chose not to split the tracks. DOLBY NR was used for this transfer.
All In The Body
Happy Hi! 1:22
Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (The Soundtrack From Bernard Rose’s Video)/Get It On 9:48
All In The Mind
Welcome To The Pleasure Dome (How To Remake The World) 9:32
Happy Hi 1:12
CASSETTE GRADE:
Cassette: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Welcome To The Pleasuredome | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #48 |
| 1985 | Welcome To The Pleasuredome | U.S. Billboard Dance Club Songs | #31 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: ZTT – CTIS 107
Series: Action Series – 7, Incidental Series – 95
Format: Cassette, Single
Country: UK
Released: Mar 18, 1985
Genre: Electronic, Rock, Pop
Style: Synth-pop
CREDITS:
- Compiled By – Sunday Morning Broken Spirits*
- Composed By – Nash* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5), Johnson* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5), Bolan* (tracks: A3, B3), O’Toole* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5), Gill* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5)
- Design [Cassette Packaged By] – XLZTT
- Performer – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
- Photography By – Anton Corbijn
- Producer – Dale Griffin (tracks: A3, B3), T. C. Horn* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5)
- Producer [Assisted By] – S. J. Lipson* (tracks: A1, A2, A4, A5, B1, B2, B4, B5)
- Voice Actor [Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Played By…] – Geoffrey Palmer
NOTES:
Plays the same tracks on both sides. Issued as a grey cassette with white text on black paper labels. On some copies, it is apparent that there is red/pink print directly on the cassette under the paper labels.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood in the Pleasure Dome, a two-part cassette celebration of their fourth number one. There is, unquestionably, a stringent honesty in all this – but can it be carried too far? Ask your friends.
This singlette is number ninety-five in the imperfect Incidental Series. It is also part of number seven in Zang Tuum Tum’s professional Action Series. Fans of Frankie Goes To Hollywood must also know it is all part of Number One in Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s 1985 Escape Act… ‘from the wasteland to the artificial paradise.’
Friedrich Nietzsche appears as “Friedich Wilhelm Nietzsche” on release
Dolby System
Buy the Cassette at DISCOGS
CASSETTE TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
THE GEAR:
Cassette Deck: Nakamichi BX-300 Discrete 3-Head Cassette Deck
DAC/Phono Pre-amp Line In Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
Cassette transfer was recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at
**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!
Password: burningtheground
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