"Inside the Pleasuredome" is an "Ultra-Deluxe box set" released by ZTT Records and Union Square Music in October 2014 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's debut album, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome". Spread across a double album on 180g vinyl, three 10" singles, a cassingle, a 5 track download-only instrumental EP and a DVD, the boxset contains 20 previously unreleased mixes of tracks from the Pleasuredome album. Limited to 2000 boxes.
Strip away all the hype, controversy, and attendant craziness surrounding Frankie – most of which never reached American shores, though the equally bombastic "Relax" and "Two Tribes" both charted well – and Welcome to the Pleasuredome holds up as an outrageously over-the-top, bizarre, but fun release. Less well known but worthwhile cuts include by-definition-camp "Krisco Kisses" and "The Only Star in Heaven," while U.K. smash "The Power of Love" is a gloriously insincere but still great hyper-ballad with strings from Anne Dudley. In truth, the album's more a testament to Trevor Horn's production skills than anything else. To help out, he roped in a slew of Ian Dury's backing musicians to provide the music, along with a guest appearance from his fellow Yes veteran Steve Howe on acoustic guitar that probably had prog rock fanatics collapsing in apoplexy. The end result was catchy, consciously modern – almost to a fault – arena-level synth rock of the early '80s that holds up just fine today, as much an endlessly listenable product of its times as the Chinn/Chapman string of glam rock hits from the early '70s.
Strip away all the hype, controversy, and attendant craziness surrounding Frankie – most of which never reached American shores, though the equally bombastic "Relax" and "Two Tribes" both charted well – and Welcome to the Pleasuredome holds up as an outrageously over-the-top, bizarre, but fun release. Less well known but worthwhile cuts include by-definition-camp "Krisco Kisses" and "The Only Star in Heaven," while U.K. smash "The Power of Love" is a gloriously insincere but still great hyper-ballad with strings from Anne Dudley. In truth, the album's more a testament to Trevor Horn's production skills than anything else.
Club Mixes 2000 is a remix album from '80s one-album wonder Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Wisely, only two songs out of the 16 here are not from Welcome to the Pleasuredome. Otherwise, this takes the biggest hits from that album and tries to twist them into techno anthems. And, for the most part, the songs translate fairly easily into that genre. Because of the songs' over the top nature and charismatic arrangements, it's possible to pick and choose some outrageous material from the originals and plaster it onto these techno tracks. Those unfamiliar with the material may find this to be rather boring, as many of the songs are featured several times under different remixers. But unlike the Disco albums that the Pet Shop Boys released to a harsh public, these songs are more well-rounded and tend to play out more naturally than those collections. Overall, this is a decent album that does get repetitive, but contains enough good remixes to make it recommendable to fans of the band.
With a discography that includes a classic debut album (1984's Welcome to the Pleasuredome), a misguided sophomore effort (1986's Liverpool), and very few B-sides but plenty (like tons) of remixes, compiling Frankie Goes to Hollywood in a one-disc set (with Japanese bonus CD) is easy if you don't over-think it. Knocking the new wave circus act's career with ease, Frankie Said certainly avoids just that. The rarities it offers are on the edge of even a rabid fan's interest ("Born to Run" "live" on the Tube is just the studio version but louder, and that Anne Dudley mix of "Two Tribes" is nothing but the piano intro, now isolated), plus all the hits ("Relax," "Two Tribes," "Power of Love") are present in both representative mixes and worthy alternates…
As with the other volumes in Blank & Jones' 12"-oriented So80s series, the selections here are mostly from the first half of the '80s, and they balance major pop hits with relatively deeper cuts as a way to catch the interest of a wide listening base. This fourth volume includes extended mixes of Gang of Four's "Is It Love," the Cure's "Close to Me," and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "Telegraph," as well as alternate mixes of ABC's "King Without a Crown," Propaganda's "Dr. Mabuse," and Act's "Snobbery and Decay." The CD edition contains a DJ mix from the German duo, while tracks are provided unmixed on discs two and three.