ZANG TUMMM TUMB ARTICLES “the first draft of history”

TUMBOMETER 11 — INSIDE THE PLEASUREDOME

In the words of one of WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME’S many voice-over artists, “hello, good evening, and welcome…”

Or rather “welcome inside.” This is the 30th anniversary of what is generally regarded as one of the most important albums of the classic pop era, so we wanted to make it bigger, more luxurious and more detailed than ever before. To quote the album’s original call-to-action:

THEY CAME
THEY FOUGHT
THEY SAID

They made it to the Pleasuredome. Follow them. Find out all that goes on. After all they’ve been through it’s the least that you can do. And bring your imagination. And your love.

The THEY, it has to be said, were the five musicians and songwriters who dreamed up what Frankie Goes To Hollywood were and would sound like in the first place. It was Peter GILL, Holly JOHNSON, Brian NASH, Mark O’TOOLE and Paul RUTHERFORD who came, fought and said. We just brought our imagination, and our love.

You’ve lifted the lid, so what’s inside?

Part One — play with this part first! — the Frankie flickbook, an animated entry-point into the Pleasuredome.

Part Two — the 2014 Vinyl Edition of “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” sounding the best it ever has on 180g audiophile vinyl and re-visualised from white to black, with a die cut sleeve designed to frame one of three accompanying prints by original Pleasuredome sleeve artist, Lo Cole.

Part Three — “Cowboys and Indians”, “Lovers and Haters” and “Doctors and Nurses” — dive in and gorge yourself on the unreleased mixes and alternate takes which I’ve been itching to unleash on the world for years. They might make you listen to Frankie in a different light. “War” will even make you listen to Art of Noise in a different light. (And “Pleasuredome II” might make you even listen to Propaganda in a different light.)

Part Four — “And Suddenly There Game A Zang!” — with the three 1O”s spinning, take your first look through this incredible book: the book we’ve had all had in our heads for years, and which has finally been published

as part of this box set.

Now, take a break. Make this last!

Part Five — “Suck It Up” — The “Relax” Cassette. The track that started it all. The track that, it’s becoming apparent, means that the Frankie story will never end.

(cont.)
Just about every mix of “Relax”, and various others I’ve been dying to unleash. Joined up by various hidden tracks, or at least they would have remained hidden if we hadn’t decided to add an accompanying FLAC download meaning each hidden track had to be named and listed publicly. Oh well.

And, the grand finale…

Part Six — the large-scale Lo Cole artwork (on no accounts a “poster”) — to be framed while listening to Part Seven — “Brothers and Sisters” — the music of Frankie Goes To Hollywood in 5.1 surround sound.

These mixes were first released in 2001, possibly a few years ahead of their time, and Frankie Fans have been asking for them again ever since. So some long overdue recognition is due for 5.1 remixers Dan Vickers (who also worked on Art of Noise’s “The Seduction of Claude Debussy,” incidentally) and Iain Robertson (who recently worked on William Orbit’s Strange Cargo 5").

“Brothers and Sisters” also recaps the Frankie video story, courtesy of directors Bernard Rose, Godley & Creme and David Mallet. Look behind the slipcase of the DVD and you’ll find another touch-point from the Frankie experience, each and every one unique… Maybe one day every Inside The Pleasuredome owner will get together for a reunion and connect up their frames from the Pleasuredome filmstrip and project Bernard Rose’s original once more?

Who has put this all together? “Inside The Pleasuredome” is a Union Square Production dreamed up, visualised, compiled, curated and designed by myself, Philip Marshall and Kevin Foakes. We were the slaves to the rhythm.

We were backed up by a team, of course, all of whom went above-and-beyond in their own particular way and so, in alphabetical order, thank you to Peter Ashworth, AJ Barratt, Sarah Bradley, Tom Burgess, Lo Cole, Sue Cole, Paul Dando, Carlo Dinardo, Stephen Flannery, Anne Yvonne Gilbert, Darren Hemmings, James Hobbs, Aaron Horn, Ally Horn, Trevor Horn, Julian Huntly, Karen Jolly, Robert Marston, Paul Morley, Dean Murphy, Andrew Poppelwell, Clive Robins, Steve Rumney, John Service, Jill Sinclair, David Smart, John Stoddart, Dave Turner and Jeff Young. And the companies of Advance Music Research, CSV, Let It Beep, MediaDisc, Meedja, Motive Unknown, Perfect Songs, PIAS, PledgeMusic and ZTT Records.

To say nothing of the original studio team who, for the previously unreleased tracks, are credited as follows (where records remain):

“Lovers and Haters” — A1 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 2, engineered by Greg, assisted by Dave Meegan on 04/09/83. A2 compiled in the Sarm West Copy Room, engineered by Julian Mendelsohn on 10/09/83. B1 and B2 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 2, engineered by Gary Langan, assisted by Steve Reece on 29/08/84.

“Cowboys and Indians” — A1 recorded on 04/10/84. B1 and B2 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 1, engineered by Stephen Lipson on 31/05/84 and 01/06/84.

“Doctors and Nurses” — A1 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 1, engineered by Stephen Lipson, assisted by Roger Howorth on 17/05/84. B1 recorded on 10/08/84.

“Suck It Up” — A1 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 1, engineered by Julian Mendelsohn, assisted by Mike Drake on 06/12/84. A5 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 2, engineered by Greg, assisted by Dave Meegan on 05/09/83.

“Soap It Up” — B1 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 1, engineered by Julian Mendelsohn, assisted by Mike Drake on 06/12/84. B4 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 1, engineered by Stephen Lipson, assisted by Renny Hill on 23/01/85.

B5 recorded at Sarm West, Studio 2, engineered by Greg, assisted by Dave Meegan on 05/09/83. B9 recorded at Manor Studios, engineered by Nick Froome/Steve Chase on 24/08/83.

“Voiceless” — 2 recorded at Sarm East, engineered by Nick Ryan, assisted by Dave Meegan on 14/03/84.

(cont.)
3 and 4 edited at Eden Studios by Bob Kraushaar on 16/10/84.

Until next time… welcome inside the Pleasuredome. What next?

Ian Peel,
Forum Studios,
08 August 2014