Liverpool (album)

Liverpool
Studio album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Released 20 October 1986
Recorded 1986
Genre Dance, new wave, pop, rock
Length 44:03
Label ZTT
Producer Stephen Lipson
Frankie Goes to Hollywood chronology
Bang! (Japan-only LP)
(1985)
Liverpool
(1986)
Bang!
(1993)

Liverpool is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second and last studio album, released in October 1986 (see 1986 in music). It would be the band's final album of all-new material, and lead singer Holly Johnson would leave the band following the corresponding world tour, followed by a flurry of lawsuits from ZTT. The album's production was handled by Trevor Horn's engineer Stephen Lipson, who urged the band to play their own instruments on this album (Horn having replaced the band's performances and arrangements with his session musicians or his own performances on Welcome to the Pleasuredome.) Liverpool is generally regarded as a heavier rock sound than Welcome to the Pleasuredome, but in reality only the first three tracks, "Rage Hard", "Warriors of the Wasteland" and "Kill the Pain" could be described as such. In fact, Welcome to the Pleasuredome itself contained two of the bands "hardest" tracks, the aggressive and powerful Two Tribes, and the cover version of War, with Born to Run not far behind. Nevertheless, lead singer Holly Johnson expressed his displeasure with the album in his autobiography "A Bone In My Flute" in particular the title itself "Liverpool". His own suggestion for the albums title "From the Diamond Mine to the Factory" (lyric from Warriors Of the Wasteland) was rejected in favour of "Liverpool".

Reception

After releasing nothing for almost 18 months, and being conspicuous by their absence at Live Aid in July 1985, it was perhaps inevitable that the new album (containing just 8 songs) would find a smaller market waiting for it, and chart performance of both the album and its singles proved that to be the case. However, it remains a popular effort amongst fans and collectors, and the unreleased mixes of certain tracks which have recently found their way onto Compact Disc compilations and so called Deluxe editions have been generally well received.

The album was a commercial disappointment compared to the band's previous effort, though it charted generally high at #5 in the United Kingdom, #7 on the Austrian and Swiss music charts and #8 in Norway. The cover photo was different depending on what format was purchased (LP, cassette, or compact disc).

Track listing

All songs Gill/Johnson/Nash/O'Toole unless otherwise stated.

  1. "Warriors of the Wasteland" - 4:58
  2. "Rage Hard" - 5:03
  3. "Kill the Pain" - 6:16
  4. "Maximum Joy" - 5:32
  5. "Watching the Wildlife" - 4:18
  6. "Lunar Bay" - 5:42
  7. "For Heaven's Sake" - 4:29
  8. "Is Anybody Out There?" - 7:25

A later release includes two bonus tracks:

  1. "(Don't Lose What's Left) of Your Mind"
  2. "Suffragette City" (David Bowie)

Singles

  1. "Rage Hard"
  2. "Warriors of the Wasteland"
  3. "Watching the Wildlife"

2-CD Deluxe Edition

In 2011, a remastered Deluxe Edition of Liverpool was released, featuring a second disc containing rare and previously unreleased material. The first CD contains the LP version of the original album with extra tracks and the second CD rare and unreleased tracks. This release was quickly withdrawn and replaced by a version which omitted certain tracks, notably Pocket Vibrator, Drum Loop and Fuck Off. The withdrawn release is now highly prized by collectors.

CD1

  1. Warriors of the Wasteland 04:54
  2. Rage Hard 05:08
  3. Kill the Pain 06:16
  4. Maximum Joy 05:30
  5. Watching the Wildlife 04:19
  6. Lunar Bay 05:42
  7. For Heaven's Sake 04:30
  8. Is Anybody Out There? 07:28
  9. The Waves 02:44
  10. Pamela 00:22 (Spoken)
  11. Pocket Vibrator (Monitor mix Sarm sessions October 1986) 03:32
  12. Suffragette City 03:35
  13. Roadhouse Blues 04:06
  14. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Monitor mix Sarm sessions May 1986, Voiceless) 04:50
  15. (Don't Lose What's Left) Of Your Little Mind 06:14
  16. Rage Hard (Voiceless) 05:07

CD2

  1. Rage Hard (Montreux mix) 05:34
  2. Warriors of the Wasteland (Montreux mix) 03:19
  3. Warriors Cassetted 19:58
  4. Drum Loop (Monitor Mix Wisseloord Sessions November 1985) 03:20
  5. Fuck Off (Monitor Mix Wisseloord Sessions November 1985) 04:01
  6. Wildlife Cassetted 24:26
  7. Our Silver Turns to Gold 03:44 (Monitor mix Ibiza sessions May 1985) 03:44
  8. Delirious 03:12 (Monitor Mix Ibiza Sessions October 1985) 03:12
  9. Stan (Spoken) 00:42
  10. For Heaven's Sake (Monitor Mix Wisseloord Sessions March 1986) 07:54

Chart performance

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[1] 72
Austrian Albums Chart[2] 7
Canadian Albums Chart[3] 72
French Albums Chart[4] 9
German Albums Chart[5] 5
New Zealand Albums Chart[6] 12
Norwegian Albums Chart[7] 8
Swedish Albums Chart[8] 13
Swiss Albums Chart[9] 7
UK Albums Chart[10] 5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[11] 88

Personnel

Additional personnel

References

  1. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 118. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid 1983 and 19 June 1988.
  2. Steffen Hung. "Austria Top 40 - Hitparade Österreich". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  3. "Welcome to the LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA website | Bienvenue au site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  4. http://www.infodisc.fr/Album_F.php
  5. "Charts-Surfer". Charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  6. Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  7. Steffen Hung (15 June 2006). "Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  8. Steffen Hung. "Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  9. Steffen Hung. "Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade und Music Community". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  10. "UK Singles & Albums Chart Archive". Chart Stats. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
  11. "AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-01-07.
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