Search - Frankie Goes To Hollywood :: Liverpool

He's not dead, he's only resting

Ernie Longmire | Oakland, CA USA | 07/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"VH-1 tried to get FGTH back together in the first series of "Bands Reunited" in early 2004. Holly is not only alive and well, but he's as snitty as he ever was -- after leading everyone on for a week or two he declined to perform in the reunion at literally the last minute, leaving Mark, Paul, Nasher and Ped standing around in the studio.

I've always felt that Liverpool was unjustly overshadowed by the chaos in the band around the time of its release. There's nowhere near as much fluff as on Pleasuredome and some of the non-single tracks are just brilliant. Steve Lipson produced the hell out of this album and as a result it rewards deep listening by fans of the all-out ZTT production sound."

Worth Another Look

J. Merritt | 11/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album got short shrift once upon a long ago. FGTH made much more of a splash and had most of their commercial success with 1984's "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome," but the band came apart so quickly that many people didn't notice this 1986 effort. That's a shame, because this is a very good album. It's far more straightforward then "Pleasure Dome;" there's none of the extra-long or extra-short tracks or crazy intros and interludes that laced the first album together. The concept here focuses in from the hedonistic and apocalyptic overtones of "Dome" to the nature of man in the modern world. And `focus' is a key word; whereas the first album was all over the place stylistically, this is just eight tight, well-crafted songs with an alternative-pop sheen provided by producers Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn. If you enjoyed "Relax" and "Two Tribes" but never gave this album a chance, you might want to reconsider. This price is a bit steep, but the Bowie cover that's been added as a bonus track just about makes it worth it."