Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‎– Welcome To The Pleasuredome

... [I'd like to delete this comment, but can't]

Absolutely essential piece of 80s electronic nu-energy synth-pop/disco produced by ZTT label owner Trevor Horn and those naughty boys Frankie goes to Hollywood. Ultimate FGTH classic Relax is heard here, ok so it’s about gay sex, but that bassline and those keyboard stabs seem still as fresh and exciting as when first heard on ‘80s dancefloors. Title track ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ is a sublime grinding electronic orchestration. Resonating in grandeur, this big room classic creates an ambience, and was used unsubtly by Ron Hardy as the first record of the night at the Muzic Box. The message of the album is love not war, sex as release from strife. Or something.

A very good and profound review by RTW.
"a wonder of a record and worth every bizarre second of its epic play time"
I'd like to add you could call the album "All The Hits & More". The hits (Relax, Two Tribes, War!) come in wonderful mixes and the rest is just surprising (San Jose, Krisco Kisses). The music production is state of the art in 1984/1985 (ZTT - Trevor Horn, who also heavily influenced the blasted sound of The Art Of Noise and Propaganda). Some of the instrumental grooves and breaks were later used as samples in techno/trance tracks. Just bought the 2xLP again today. In July 2010 the music is as fresh and driving as ever. get a good clean copy and enjoy!

This is what "pop" is all about: four million random ideas thrown together into the biggest ball of hype that superstar producer Trevor Horn and the excess of the '80s could possibly produce. This record truly has something for everyone—extended prog workouts with demonic cackling, over-the-top electronic dance tracks, quasi-religious super-ballads, tons of gay jokes, a Ronald Reagan impersonator, a "tag" about orgasms, covers of Gerry + The Pacemakers *and* Bruce Springsteen, and a mellow guitar track trying desperately to cover up the sounds of ecstatic lovemaking. Coupled with the strange cubist artwork of goats and cattle performing fellatio on one another, and dozens of pairs of animals, two by two, marching into the head of a giant penis, not to mention the merchandise order form that features sexy (and he knew it) Paul Rutherford modeling a pinback button on his nipple and a cloaked woman standing at a 90° angle in a drawstring leather bag, and Welcome to the Pleasuredome becomes the sort of modern subversive pop art touchstone that Andy Warhol could only dream about. Truly a wonder of a record and worth every bizarre second of its epic play time, it's no wonder that the record has been re-released dozens of times and that new Frankie compilations seem to come out every other year. The world was their oyster, indeed.