Two different Frankie Goes To Hollywood "WTTPD" CD's??

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by nashreed, Aug 7, 2006.

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  1. nashreed

    nashreed New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    Hello,

    At work today, I put on a CD copy of Frankie Goes To Hollywood "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" (a fav of mine) and was surprised to hear that it was a different version of the album I have heard all this time. Defintely the biggest changes are the omission of two of my favorite songs- their covers of "Ferry Cross The Mersey" and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", replaced with the song "Honey Hi" (which I always thought wasn't a real song- the "track listing" being very confusing with the titles of things). Also, "Two Tribes" is even longer than before.
    The CD is an early U.S. pressing- similar in look to the first Japan (for U.S.) CD, which I've never heard. I have the later U.S. pressing, but have also heard the latest (lousy) ZTT so-called remaster, and they're the same. What's the story with this alternate version (the original vinyl version perhaps)?
    Thanks,
    James
     
  2. Jeff H.

    Jeff H. Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern, OR
    I wasn't aware that "Ferry Cross The Mersey" was included on the CD version of the album. Wasn't that the B-side of "Two Tribes" in the UK? I don't remember it being included on the original release of the album. There are numerous remixes of "Two Tribes" that have been released over years. The best one IMO was the one released on the US 12" subtitled "Annihilation".
     
  3. Veech

    Veech Space In Sounds

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    yep, it's on my vinyl copy.
     
  4. Cornholio

    Cornholio Are you threatening me?

    Location:
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    yes, two different versions. I can't remember the exact track listings but the two versions of Two Tribes are very different. The 'early' cd version of Two Tribes is just over 9 minutes long. I think the other version is between 4 and 5 minutes long. The early disc also has a track titled "Including The Last Voice" immediately after Two Tribes which is not on the later version cd.

    It drove me nuts in the late 90's trying to find another copy of the 'early version' disc because the jewel case/booklet/ back card looked identical, even the track list. I bought three before I found the 'right' one. :rolleyes:
     
  5. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    The original CD had a different track listing than the album because of the 74 minute limit at the time. I believe they later fit the entire 2LP set on 1 CD later though.
     
  6. Check out this page! Have fun with all the different versions released by ZTT.:D
     
  7. CardinalFang

    CardinalFang New Member

    Location:
    ....
    What page? ;)
     
  8. Nobby

    Nobby Senior Member

    Location:
    France
    I always remember the first CD listed the faults on the master tape and said they were static clicks!
     
  9. red corner

    red corner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Padova, Italy
    Hey, it also happened with Propaganda's "A Secret Wish"! I still have the ZTT/Warner Music (4509-94749-2, Made in Germany) non-remastered compact disc edition, and there's "noise information": "Clicks at 13'05, 13'06, 14'05 - vocal; track five slight vocal & synth clicks evident throughout; track six vocal 'pop' at 31 57 21 and clicks at 32 57 29 and 33 51 26, +20 db peak at 53 05 27. THESE IS NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN!"
     
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  10. johmbolaya

    johmbolaya Active Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Zang Tuum Tumb (ZTT) would often create different "programs" for whatever format someone bought. FGTH's album is no exception, and the initial CD on Island, which came out (if I remember right) in 1986, was done differerently from the program that's on the vinyl and cassette. Some mixes are different, some elements are removed from parts of the song, some songs are removed and replaced by others.

    I believe the remastered CD, which I do not have, is the original way most people heard the album. On the original version, what is known as "snatch of fury" is removed. It's basically Holly Johnson's vocal from "Ferry Cross The Mersey" where he sings "life... goes on day after day after day after day...", which is heard in the intro of "Welcome To The PleasureDone". That excerpt is the "snatch" of fury, and I prefer to hear it that way.

    I'll have to pick up the remaster eventually.,
     
  11. JoelDF

    JoelDF Senior Member

    Location:
    Prairieville, LA


    I have this CD, on the ZTT/Island Records, but it's a Nimbus UK pressed disc. It's the full CD version that is different from the LP version that I also have. The mix is different for many of the songs and the track listing toward the end is a bit different (While the CD ends with the full 10 minute version of "Dr. Mabuse", the LP used a shorter version, moved "The Chase" after it and reprised the ending coda of "Dr. Mabuse" as "The Strength To Dream") and has an added track in the middle of all this called "Frozen Faces". Although, apparently, the US pressed discs used the LP master tape version. I remember when I bought it, it was in the long-box that listed the tracks just like the LP, but the CD itself was different.

    Later, apparently all CD versions you find is the shorter LP version but with the added "Frozen Faces". There is a recent enhanced remaster that is apparently back to the original full CD issue.

    I've always wanted to get that Frankie Goes To Hollywood CD, but just never got around to it.
     
  12. ubsman

    ubsman Active Member

    Location:
    Utah
    I have Ferry Cross The Mersey on a 3" CD single that was made in Japan. The song is in between Relax (Sex Version) and Relax.

    Also some chatter about putting someone on "daily sign". Must be a UK term.
     
  13. Jeff H.

    Jeff H. Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern, OR
    I do remember the US 45's of both "Relax" and "Two Tribes" having interviews with the band on the B-side.
     
  14. Markym

    Markym Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    That chatter - in a thick Scouse (Liverpool) accent - is Holly Johnson being told that he's arrived late again to 'sign on' the register at the unemployment benefits office (claim social security). The clerk says if he's late again she'll put him on 'daily signing' (he'll have to go to there every day to 'sign on'). Unemployment was very high in Liverpool when that record was made so probably explains why it is in there.

    I remember when the first album was released it was said that session musicians did most of the playing on there. Don't know if it's an urban myth
     
  15. johmbolaya

    johmbolaya Active Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    "One September Monday" and "One February Friday" respectively, with instrumental backing that is essentially Art Of Noise songs.
     
  16. johmbolaya

    johmbolaya Active Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    That is true. The musicians in FGTH *could* play, as you can see here in this early performance of "Relax", which showed that they were at least capable.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKnZq3aFbE0

    This performance is the one which lead Trevor Horn to signing them to ZTT.

    However, when it came time to getting them in the studio, most of the sounds were created by the people behind Art Of Noise (Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, J.J. Jeczalik) along with Andrew Richards and Louis Jardim, people who were a part of the SARM East and SARM West Studios. "Two Tribes" has an incredible bass line, but it's definitely not Mark O'Toole playing it. Some of the guitar work did come from Brian Nash, it's definitely him playing in "Relax" and "Two Tribes". Yes' Steve Howe is credited with playing the acoustic guitar solo in "Welcome To The PleasureDome". The bassline in "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" is actually a sample of Chris Squire's bass from Yes' "City Of Love". In terms of sample-based production, Horn was one of the first to take it to new levels. Listen to that holy trinity of albums:

    Yes' 90125
    Art Of Noise's (Who's Afraid Of) The Art Of Noise
    Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Welcome To The PleasureDome

    Many of the sounds are used and re-used. For example, one of Chris Squire's "dum"'s in Yes' "Leave It" is one of the sampled basslines in Art Of Noise's "Close (To The Edit)".

    In concert, FGTH played live with two extra musicians (one of them being the brother of bassist Mark O'Toole) and backing tapes, consisting of various sound effects (i.e. the sound inside the "pleasuredome"), synths and sequencers, basically a lot of the synthesized orchestrated sounds. They had a keyboardist with them on tour, and as the live tapes show he was fully capable of playing, as his solo at the end of "The Power Of Love" demonstrates. But there were a few reports that the tapes would stop playing and the band would stop performing. I don't know if that means that they weren't able to play without it, or they were that reliant on backing tapes. Or that all of the "live" sounds were pre-recorded. I saw them in Portland, Oregon in the summer of 1985, and I know that they were playing things that were very different from what were on live recordings. The backing tapes were used during "Welcome To The PleasureDome", along with the intro ("well...") and outro ("Bang!") music.

    The MTV New Year's Eve Rock'N'Roll Ball for 1984 showed them performing, and that was completely live. I think by the time 1985 came around, they wanted to prove that they could play without error. As a band, they got stronger as time went on, as the television appearances indicated, but their second album was still Horn's baby, or in this case Steven Lipson as Horn gets an "executive producer" credit.

    I think the backing tapes issue, and the fact that the early 80's was heavily dominated by Horn's sound, lead FGTH to be called "producer's puppets". In truth, their studio work was designed by Horn but live they played live and used backing tapes sparingly. However, when you're a group with a dance/club following and are called a trend, very few people treated them as anything more than "the two gay guys and the lads in the back".

    What got me into their music was the music itself, and the media manipulation that Paul Morley was responsible for, the "superhype". I was much more into the overall sound than finding out if they had a message to share with the world, or if they had some agenda, or the fact that they had a gay following. It was not an issue for me, although a few years ago I discovered it was an issue for my mom, who felt I was in my "gay music" phase during this time. I don't know, I liked Kraftwerk, I liked Pink Floyd, I liked FGTH, lots of synths and keyboards and the potential to create interesting sounds and music, THAT was the big appeal. It rubbed off on me big time with my own music, and some of Morley's style rubbed off on my writing.

    All of it was interesting, and sadly in the U.S. FGTH will forever be one hit wonders. However, it had taken them three attempts with the same song ("Relax") to become a one hit wonder. They failed in the summer of 1983, failed in the fall of 1984, but succeeded in early 1985.

    P. Diddy invented the remix? In the words of Holly Johnson, HA!
     
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  17. portisphish

    portisphish Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pasadena, CA
    I only have the cassette version, and I would be really upset if I bought a version without ferry and san jose.....great versions imo, and a great album. I recieved this tape for a christmas present waaaaaaaay back when it was first released. That tape is long gone, but I recently found a copy of it for a quarter, and still listen to it.
     
  18. Maurice

    Maurice Senior Member

    Location:
    North Yarmouth, ME
    So which version would you all say is the "definitive" best version of "Pleasuredome"? Also, I remember having a live version of "Relax" on the b-side of the "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" 45 (the same performance from the live video if I'm not mistaken). Is this available on CD anywhere?
     
  19. Havoc

    Havoc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Poland
    Found this interesting after stumbling on some of the band's live material. I saw them live and thought they were epic as a live band and as good as any that were out there at the time. Mark O Toole nailed those basslines and for all of the orchestral sounds on the albums they were able to reproduce them pretty well. Yes they did have two blokes on keys in back and I think one of them played guitar at times but the sound they pumped out was just superb and Holly Johnson was a fantastic singer. I was watching Trevor Horn's "Producers" play "Two Tribes" and it reminded me what a great bass performance was on that album. I can't say whether Mark O Toole played everything on the album or not but I know he can and could have. The band played The Prince's Trust a few years back and did superbly, even if they had a sub singer who was remarkable in his own right. This band should never have been a one hit wonder, what a crime.
     
  20. Smartin62

    Smartin62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleburne, Tx USA
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