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Published on Apr 20, 2016 Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‎– Relax (Maxi Extended Rework When U Wanna Come Edit) [1983 HQ] Follow LNTG : English group, formed in Liverpool, UK in 1980; comprised William "Holly" Johnson (vocals - b.February 19, 1960), Paul Rutherford (vocals, keyboards - b.December 8, 1959), Brian Nash (guitar - b.May 20, 1963), Peter Gill (drums - b.March 8, 1964) and Mark O'Toole (bass - b.January 6, 1964). Following an appearance on Channel 4 TV show "The Tube" performing "Relax", the group were signed up by Trevor Horn and Paul Morley's new ZTT record label. With the benefit of Horn's production skills and Morley's off-the-wall marketing ideas, "Relax" came out in October 1983 and slowly but surely took off.

It was already a top ten hit when, in January 1984, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read suddenly realised what the song was actually about, leading to a total BBC ban on the disc. From this moment on, Frankie Goes To Hollywood became not just a pop group but a phenomenon. The record went to number one in the UK, and was a smash hit across Europe and even in the USA. "Frankie Says" T-shirts (some dreamt up by Morley, but far more the creations of small-time bootleggers) became the fashion statement of the year, and anticipation was at such a fever pitch that every subsequent FGTH release that year - two singles and a double-LP - went straight in at number one in their home country, an unprecedented achievement and a triumph for ZTT. Now established as huge stars in the UK and Europe (though like so many other "British invasion" acts they were doomed to One-hit Wonder status in the US), Frankie spent much of 1985 on tour before starting work on their second album, the Stephen Lipson-produced "Liverpool". Trailed by the popular single "Rage Hard", the album came out in October 1986... and flopped.

It was the beginning of the end for Frankie Goes To Hollywood - six months later, Johnson announced he was leaving the band for a solo contract with MCA. In the subsequent high-profile legal battle, ZTT lost their claim of contract-breaking against Johnson, a ruling which effectively brought the curtain down on the label's golden age. Rutherford quit too, leaving a diminished group who subsequently disbanded without releasing anything. Category Frankie Goes to Hollywood on Apple Music To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music. Biography On the back of an enormous publicity campaign, Frankie Goes to Hollywood dominated British music in 1984. Frankie's dance-pop borrowed heavily from the then-current Hi-NRG movement, adding a slick pop sensibility and production. What really distinguished the group was not their music, but their marketing campaign. With a series of slogans, T-shirts, and homoerotic videos, the band caused enormous controversy in England and managed to create some sensations in the United States. However, the Frankie sensation was finished as soon as it was started; by the release of their second album, Liverpool, in 1986, the group's audience had virtually disappeared.

Based in Liverpool, Frankie Goes to Hollywood formed in 1980, comprising ex-Big in Japan vocalist Holly Johnson, vocalist Paul Rutherford, guitarist Nasher Nash, bassist Mark O'Toole, and drummer Peter Gill. Originally, the group was called Hollycaust, but they changed their name to Frankie Goes to Hollywood -- taken from an old headline about Frank Sinatra's acting career -- by the end of the year. The band didn't make anything of note until 1982, when they appeared on the British television program The Tube with a rough version of the video for "Relax." The appearance attracted attention from several record labels as well as record producer Trevor Horn. Horn contacted the band and signed them to his label, ZTT. Late in 1983, Frankie's first single, the Horn-produced "Relax"/"Ferry Cross the Mersey," was released. A driving dance number, "Relax" featured sexually suggestive lyrics that would soon lead to great controversy. Around the time of the release of "Relax," Frankie's promotional director, Paul Morley, a former music journalist, orchestrated a massive, intricate marketing campaign that soon paid off in spades.

Morley designed T-shirts that read "Relax" and "Frankie Says...," which eventually appeared across the country. The group began playing up their stylish, campy homosexual imagery, especially in the first video for "Relax." The video was banned by British TV and a new version was shot. Similarly, Radio 1 banned the single and the rest of the BBC radio and television networks quickly banned the record as well. Consequently, "Relax" shot to number one in January of 1984 and soon sold over a million copies. Frankie's second single, the political "Two Tribes," was released in June of 1984. The single, which was also produced by Trevor Horn, entered the charts at number one; it went gold in seven days. "Two Tribes" stayed at number one for nine weeks and eventually sold over a million copies. While it was on the top of the charts, "Relax" went back up the charts, peaking at number two. Frankie mania had taken England by storm, yet it took a while to catch on in America.

"Relax" peaked at number 67 in the spring of 1984, while "Two Tribes" just missed the Top 40 in the fall. Welcome to the Pleasuredome, the band's Trevor Horn-produced debut double album, entered the U.K. charts at number one and their third single, the ballad "The Power of Love," also reached number one. Welcome to the Pleasuredome reached number 33 in early 1985 in the U.S., prompting the re-release of "Relax"; this time around, it made it into the American Top Ten. "Rage Hard," the first single from their second album, peaked at number four in the U.K. during the summer of 1986. It was followed by the release of Liverpool, which reached number five on the British charts. Frankie Goes to Hollywood began their final tour in early 1987; by April, the band had broken up. Holly Johnson went on to pursue a solo career, which began in earnest in 1989, after a long legal battle with ZTT.

Rutherford also launched a solo career, enlisting the members of ABC to produce his 1989 album Oh World. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Top Albums Frankie Goes To Hollywood Discography at Discogs Frankie Goes To Hollywood Profile: English group, formed in Liverpool, UK in 1980; comprised William "Holly" Johnson (vocals - b.February 19, 1960), Paul Rutherford (vocals, keyboards - b.December 8, 1959), Brian Nash (guitar - b.May 20, 1963), Peter Gill (drums - b.March 8, 1964) and Mark O'Toole (bass - b.January 6, 1964). Following an appearance on Channel 4 TV show "The Tube" performing "Relax", the group were signed up by Trevor Horn and Paul Morley 's new ZTT record label. With the benefit of Horn's production skills and Morley's off-the-wall marketing ideas, "Relax" came out in October 1983 and slowly but surely took off.

It was already a top ten hit when, in January 1984, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read suddenly realised what the song was actually about, leading to a total BBC ban on the disc. From this moment on, Frankie Goes To Hollywood became not just a pop group but a phenomenon. The record went to number one in the UK, and was a smash hit across Europe and even in the USA. "Frankie Says" T-shirts (some dreamt up by Morley, but far more the creations of small-time bootleggers) became the fashion statement of the year, and anticipation was at such a fever pitch that every subsequent FGTH release that year - two singles and a double-LP - went straight in at number one in their home country, an unprecedented achievement and a triumph for ZTT. Now established as huge stars in the UK and Europe (though like so many other "British invasion" acts they were doomed to One-hit Wonder status in the US), Frankie spent much of 1985 on tour before starting work on their second album, the Stephen Lipson -produced "Liverpool". Trailed by the popular single "Rage Hard", the album came out in October 1986... and flopped.

It was the beginning of the end for Frankie Goes To Hollywood - six months later, Johnson announced he was leaving the band for a solo contract with MCA. In the subsequent high-profile legal battle, ZTT lost their claim of contract-breaking against Johnson, a ruling which effectively brought the curtain down on the label's golden age. Rutherford quit too, leaving a diminished group who subsequently disbanded without releasing anything. Sites: Frankie Goes to Hollywood | New Music And Songs | Frankie Goes to Hollywood About Frankie Goes to Hollywood On the back of an enormous publicity campaign, Frankie Goes to Hollywood dominated British music in 1984. Frankie's dance-pop borrowed heavily from the then-current Hi-NRG movement, adding a slick pop sensibility and production. What really distinguished the group was not their music, but their marketing campaign. With a series of slogans, T-shirts, and homoerotic videos, the band caused enormous controversy in England and managed to create some sensations in the United States. However, the Frankie sensation was finished as soon as it was started; by the release of their second album, Liverpool, in 1986, the group's audience had virtually disappeared.

Based in Liverpool, Frankie Goes to Hollywood formed in 1980, comprising ex-Big in Japan vocalist Holly Johnson, vocalist Paul Rutherford, guitarist Nasher Nash, bassist Mark O'Toole, and drummer Peter Gill. Originally, the group was called Hollycaust, but they changed their name to Frankie Goes to Hollywood -- taken from an old headline about Frank Sinatra's acting career -- by the end of the year. The band didn't make anything of note until 1982, when they appeared on the British television program The Tube with a rough version of the video for "Relax." The appearance attracted attention from several record labels as well as record producer Trevor Horn. Horn contacted the band and signed them to his label, ZTT. Late in 1983, Frankie's first single, the Horn-produced "Relax"/"Ferry Cross the Mersey," was released. A driving dance number, "Relax" featured sexually suggestive lyrics that would soon lead to great controversy. Around the time of the release of "Relax," Frankie's promotional director, Paul Morley, a former music journalist, orchestrated a massive, intricate marketing campaign that soon paid off in spades.

Morley designed T-shirts that read "Relax" and "Frankie Says...," which eventually appeared across the country. The group began playing up their stylish, campy homosexual imagery, especially in the first video for "Relax." The video was banned by British TV and a new version was shot. Similarly, Radio 1 banned the single and the rest of the BBC radio and television networks quickly banned the record as well. Consequently, "Relax" shot to number one in January of 1984 and soon sold over a million copies. Frankie's second single, the political "Two Tribes," was released in June of 1984. The single, which was also produced by Trevor Horn, entered the charts at number one; it went gold in seven days. "Two Tribes" stayed at number one for nine weeks and eventually sold over a million copies. While it was on the top of the charts, "Relax" went back up the charts, peaking at number two. Frankie mania had taken England by storm, yet it took a while to catch on in America.

"Relax" peaked at number 67 in the spring of 1984, while "Two Tribes" just missed the Top 40 in the fall. Welcome to the Pleasuredome, the band's Trevor Horn-produced debut double album, entered the U.K. charts at number one and their third single, the ballad "The Power of Love," also reached number one. Welcome to the Pleasuredome reached number 33 in early 1985 in the U.S., prompting the re-release of "Relax"; this time around, it made it into the American Top Ten. "Rage Hard," the first single from their second album, peaked at number four in the U.K. during the summer of 1986. It was followed by the release of Liverpool, which reached number five on the British charts. Frankie Goes to Hollywood began their final tour in early 1987; by April, the band had broken up. Holly Johnson went on to pursue a solo career, which began in earnest in 1989, after a long legal battle with ZTT.

Rutherford also launched a solo career, enlisting the members of ABC to produce his 1989 album Oh World. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine., Rovi Hear more of Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax at Discogs 1983 Notes: "Relax" was Frankie Goes To Hollywood's first single. It was originally released in October 1983 and managed to dominate the upper chart positions across Europe and elsewhere in early 1984. The song was made available in several different mixes, all created by the original production team. The UK and German 12" editions were repressed multiple times in the 1980s, sometimes with variations in the sleeves, mastering speeds, and A-side content, but not always with corresponding changes to the track titles printed on the labels. Careful attention to matrix numbers and every other detail of the records, no matter how small, is crucial to distinguishing between the different editions, some of which probably have yet to be submitted to Discogs.

The 1980s 12" A-side content is usually one of three versions: Trevor Horn's original 16:24 "Sex Mix" version — which has many samples and ad-lib vocals by Holly Johnson, but never transforms into the actual song — or the 8:20 edit of that mix (often listed with a longer duration), or the more traditional "U.S. Mix" which is an extended version running 7:23 but sometimes faded out a few seconds early. The mix titles are frequently listed on releases incorrectly; it's common to see both of the shorter versions labeled "Sex Mix" or, less commonly, "New York Remix". ZTT's own stance on the proper titles has been inconsistent, although a 1994 magazine interview with Horn agrees with original-era print ads on the longest version being the actual "Sex Mix". The different versions of the UK 12" with catalogue number 12 ZTAS 1 are particularely hard to spot since many have identical labels. Here are some hints: • The 1st press.

Has "12 ZTAS 1 A - 1U" stamped and "F.F ANYTIME WATER SPORTS" hand etched in the run-out area of side A. Plays the 16 minute Sex Mix at 33 ⅓ RPM despite the labels stating 45 r.p.m. • The 2nd press. Has "12 ZTAS 1 A -2U" stamped in the run-out area of side A. Plays the 8 minute Sex Mix Edit. Some sleeves carry a "Special U.S. Remix" sticker. • The 3rd press. Has "12 ZTAS 1 A - 4U" stamped in the run-out area of side A. Plays the 7 minute U.S. Remix.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood 'Relax' | Classic Tracks | Sound On Sound Introducing The Band Having honed his studio skills with Geoff Downes, when they wrote, performed and produced as synth-based band the Buggles (of 'Video Killed The Radio Star' fame), before also replacing Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman in prog-rock band Yes, Trevor Horn became a full-time producer in 1981 and enjoyed considerable chart success with pop outfits Dollar and ABC. During the next two years he also co-composed several hits with Malcolm McLaren and Anne Dudley, at around the same time that he and wife Jill Sinclair acquired Chris Blackwell's Basing Street Studio complex. Renamed Sarm West, this also housed their new publishing company, Perfect Songs, and the ZTT record label that they founded with NME journalist Paul Morley and producer/engineer Gary Langan. In May 1983, having seen Frankie Goes to Hollywood perform 'Relax' on Channel Four's The Tube music programme, Horn signed the band to ZTT.

Fronted by singer Holly Johnson, with Paul Rutherford on vocals and keyboards, Brian Nash on guitar, Mark O'Toole on bass and Peter Gill on drums, Frankie had gone through various line-up changes between their formation in 1980 and the John Peel session they recorded for BBC Radio One in October '82. After accepting an invitation from The Tube to perform 'Relax' at the Liverpool State Ballroom in February of the following year, Frankie then included this song in a new BBC Radio session, along with 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' and 'The Only Star In Heaven', and it was these broadcasts that caught Trevor Horn's attention. From the outset, Horn focused on 'Relax' as the first single (as well as, interestingly, a cover of Gerry & The Pacemakers' 'Ferry 'Cross The Mersey' which would end up on the B-side of the 12-inch mix). However, initial attempts to record the chant-like 'Relax' with the band members and Ian Dury's backing group, the Blockheads, proved unsatisfactory.

"When I first heard the track, it was a lot funkier than the finished version," says Steve Lipson, whose engineering of the song represented his first collaboration with Trevor Horn. "Trevor's brilliance was to then take it in a different direction and to a whole other level. He really went at it. Frankie were his first signing to ZTT, and he wasn't going to give up until he had a hit." Learning The Ropes The producer and/or engineer of artists ranging from Annie Lennox, Grace Jones and Cher to Paul McCartney, Simple Minds, the Pet Shop Boys and Boyzone, Lipson started out as a guitarist and songwriter in a number of different bands around his native London, "nearly getting deals, always blowing it." It was in 1975 that, fed up with his "terrible" guitar sound, he told a friend named Duncan Bruce that he'd like to become an engineer and learn how to record it himself. Bruce, who recorded jingles, had just purchased a building, and he asked Lipson if he was interested in constructing a studio. Lipson was, and over the course of the next year he put together the Regents Park Recording Company.

Photo: Retna/Michael Putland"I didn't have a clue what I was doing," Lipson now admits. "I read a few books, talked with different people, bought £15,000 worth of gear, did a bit of building work — with no acoustic treatment — and we opened for business. I obtained a 16-track Unicol tape machine from Command Studios, and the very first session featured a band that had to record a jingle in three hours. I had never recorded anything in my entire life, so I set up however I could, basically imagining what to do, and encountered a problem with the tape machine. When the pinch wheel went in, the tape rode up and down, and half the time it went over the top of the heads. I didn't have a remote, the machine was about 15 feet away from the console, and so I'd go in to 'record', stand by the machine to see if it settled and, if it did, I'd run over to the console, hit the talkback and say, 'Go'. It was a baptism by fire.

"For some bizarre reason, the studio started doing really well, and within six months a band named Sniff 'n' the Tears came in to record an album, Fickle Heart, and I ended up co-producing it just because I discovered this amazing thing called the mute switch. They were really good musicians and they'd play everything right through each song. Well, when I was mixing a track called 'Driver's Seat', I realised that if I muted the guitars while the guy was singing, and then opened the channels, it sounded great. Stuff like that was revelatory to me. "Another time, when Dave Robinson of Stiff Records asked me to engineer an album by a German singer named Inga Rumpf, he told me, 'I'm getting this guy to come down to start you off.' I was disgusted but there was nothing I could do, and the guy turned out to be Phill Brown, who had been a house engineer at Island Records' Basing Street Studios. He was unbelievable. Phill was only at Regents Park for two days, but his way of doing things floored me completely. The band sounded absolutely great, and he told me this had everything to do with the musicians and nothing to do with him.

He'd get them to do things like change the inversion on the piano, or try a different guitar amp, or tune the snare differently, and in the process he showed me that, in a way, the less you do as an engineer, the better it is. You have to be invisible. You should make it look as if you're not doing anything. "That idea absolutely fascinated me, and from then on I was up and running. I'd got the plot. Because I was a musician, I understood what he was saying, which was don't hold anyone up. Just get them going. I learned that from Paul McCartney as well. A few years later, when he was producing Ringo Starr at a French studio called Superbear, near Nice, Peter Henderson was the engineer and I was assisting him. Well, Ringo saw one of those old Shure mics that Elvis Presley had used early in his career and he told Paul that he'd love to sing into it. Macca said, 'Great, sing into it.' So that's what happened, and afterwards I asked Macca, 'How come you let him use that?

It's a terrible mic.' His answer was that if Ringo wanted to sing into it, he wasn't bothered. So long as he got Ringo into the place where he was happy to be singing, that's all that mattered. "The job of the engineer, surely, is to facilitate whatever's going on, to make it as easy as possible for whoever you're recording. We're not talking about computers here, we're talking about people, and taking three days to get a drum sound is not conducive to great results. Anyway, what Phill Brown told me was a huge lesson. And by the way, I also discovered that my guitar playing still sounded like crap. Having gone into this whole thing, I realised that the problem lay with me, not anyone else." Regents Park To Basing Street Although the Regents Park Recording Company was thriving and Lipson was gaining invaluable on-the-job experience, when Sniff 'n' the Tears asked him to produce their second album in Paris and Duncan Bruce demanded an 80 percent cut of the payment, Lipson walked. It was 1978 and, now freelance, he took engineering work wherever he could get it.

This included producing and engineering Lindisfarne's Sleepless Nights album at Chipping Norton in Oxford, as well as numerous assignments at both Ridge Farm in Surrey and the aforementioned French studio, Superbear. "One time, I was at Ridge Farm recording Sally Oldfield, and Herbie Flowers was playing the double bass," Lipson recalls. "I had the microphone where I thought it should go, and as I was walking back towards the control room he pulled it up, nearer his mouth. I therefore went back and repositioned the mic to where I had put it, smiling at him as if I knew what I was doing, and he smiled back. But then as soon as I walked away he moved it back nearer his mouth. I thought, 'You know what, he's Herbie Flowers. I'll just go with it.' Trevor Horn in the control room of Sarm West, 1984. He was apparently on his way to a tennis game. To the right of the picture is the Synclavier that played such a big part in the Frankie Goes To Hollywood sound.Photo: Retna/Michael Putland"When we did the take, he was humming with the bass, and he was humming a bit out of tune.

Then he came up to the control room and said, 'Before you play it, put a harmoniser on me.' When I did that, it sounded unbelievable. Again, another huge lesson. And so was a session for Gerry Rafferty's Snakes & Ladders album at Air Montserrat in 1980. The band was recording a song called 'Welcome To Hollywood', and Richard Brunton was the guitar player. He and I got along pretty well, and after a take, when everyone was in the control room, he asked me, 'What do you think?' "Remembering what Phill Brown had told me, I said, 'It's good, but I think you're playing the wrong inversion. You should be up an octave.' Richard said, 'That's a great idea. I'll do that on the next take.' Meanwhile, Gerry Rafferty saw us talking, and so he turned to Richard and asked what this was about. Richard said, 'Oh, Steve just suggested that I try a different inversion.' Gerry Rafferty looked at me, and in a really horrible way he said, 'You just get on with the engineering.' I never forgot that. It was a huge moment.

Then and there I realised I should never ignore anyone. Everyone's got an opinion, and when I became a producer I should check them out." It was in 1983, while producing at a small studio named the Producer's Workshop on London's Fulham Road, that Steve Lipson received a call asking him to spend a couple of days engineering for Trevor Horn. This would be at Sarm West, where an SSL E-Series console was supplemented by a couple of Studer A80 tape machines. "I knew who he was," Lipson remarks, "but I just didn't want to do it. By then I wanted to be a record producer, and so engineering, for me, seemed like a black hole. At the same time, I also wanted to achieve success on my own terms, not through anybody else, and I was therefore anti the whole idea. Still, the job was for just two days, so I took it even though I had no interest in being there. I basically adopted a couldn't-care-less attitude, but what transpired was that Trevor is the kind of producer who loves the people around him to get on with their jobs. That meant I was inadvertently doing exactly what he wanted me to do — it was weird.

And after two days, without either of us saying a thing, we just kept going." Having already tried to record 'Relax' with Frankie and the Blockheads, as well as with Frankie alone, Horn was now attempting to give the song some fresh impetus, and to that end he'd recruited the engineering talents of Lipson, along with keyboard player Andy Richards and Fairlight programmer JJ Jeczalik. Initially, three weeks were spent on trying to re-fashion the track, while also working on 'Ferry 'Cross the Mersey' and editing The Art Of Noise. Yet it wasn't until he took a dinner break during a 'Ferry' session that Horn came to appreciate Lipson's musical abilities. "That song didn't have a guitar part yet," Lipson recalls, "so I plugged in my guitar and began playing something for the middle eight. All of a sudden, Trevor ran into the control room and asked whose sound he was hearing. I said, 'Oh, it's me.' He said, 'You never told me you could play the guitar,' and I said, 'Sure, I did, but you didn't appear interested.' Now he was.

And this brings us back to 'Relax', which at that time bore no comparison to the finished record, even though the song itself was similar. Trevor had obviously gleaned its essence from the band, but he'd also incorporated some ideas from the Blockheads, along with a few sounds that were in the Fairlight." These included bass hooks recorded by the Blockheads' Norman Watt-Roy, and a bass pulse sampled on a Fairlight CMI at Battery Studios a couple of years earlier by session musician Mark Cunningham. But Trevor Horn still had an ace up his sleeve. Rip It Up... "About three weeks into working on 'Relax', Trevor came in after dinner one night and said, 'We're going to start again.' I couldn't believe it. This 'start again' thing was new to me. I'd always thought that you started and then you finished, and that was the record. Starting again was alien.

However, Trevor looked at me and said, 'I've got a rhythm in my Linn 2 that I've had for ages, and I want to work around it." As Horn himself described it to me in a 1994 interview for SOS, "It was like my pet drum pattern which I fiddled about with. I thought it was more like an English square dance than anything else, but when I saw the effect that this had on the guys in the band, I realised that it was probably going to be a very good dance record." Steve Lipson in the studio in the mid-'80s.Photo: Retna/Michael Putland"He had three patterns and he wanted to do it live," Lipson continues. "He told me, 'The bass needs to be programmed, and I want you to play guitar, Andy to play keyboards, and JJ to get a whole load of shit going on the Fairlight.' That's precisely what happened. Trevor had this rhythm and we just recorded it live, probably in one take. He heard the bass with this drum pattern and went, 'That's unbelievable. Let's go.' The rhythm track is what did it. We flipped out.

It didn't exist, and then suddenly it did. The three patterns consisted of one that was the entire thing — hi-hat, bass drum, possibly a snare, and a little conga pattern — plus another without the congas, and then there was the fill: the 16's part where it goes mad. I think this was all done on the fly to a blank pattern, and we put it down with me playing guitar, JJ creating funny noises, Andy playing the chords and Trevor stepping through the presets. Then he called Holly and got him in to sing it there and then, that night, right in the middle of Studio One. I can't remember how many takes, but it was really quick. "All of the effects on that song were overdubbed. The pissing sound, for instance, was Andy playing his [Roland] JP8, as were the explosions. He had a JP8 and [Roland] MC4, and he sequenced stuff as well.

I myself added some guitar synth with a Roland GR300 — I think it was the second one they ever made — and Paul Rutherford did a whole load of stuff, such as the backing vocals, while JJ programmed all of the weirdness." The fact that none of the other members of FGTH contributed to the track, along with their unavailability for touring throughout their halcyon year of 1984, would fuel 'Frankie can't play' rumours. And meanwhile, Trevor Horn initially adopted an attitude of 'Stevie can't mix'. "I did mix 'Relax'," Lipson says, "but because Trevor didn't know me very well he wanted to get someone else in, and so Julian Mendelsohn ended up doing the mix. The same was true for 'Two Tribes', and also for 'War', which was mixed by Nick Ryan, the Sarm chief engineer, who did a mix at Sarm East. For some bizarre reason, he turned the toms up really loud and compressed the mix, and it sounded brilliant. Anyway, I think those are the only tracks that I did with Trevor that I didn't mix.

He was just a bit unsure, so it was a comfort-zone thing and I think he was probably right. It really didn't matter to me. We were working on the album, and we just kept going, and there was also 'Ferry 'Cross The Mersey', which we were all really excited about because of the start — we thought the sounds and the whole atmosphere were magnificent." Two Tribes Upon its initial US release, 'Relax' only peaked at number 67 in the spring of 1984. Yet in the UK, where Frankiemania was in full cry, it remained on the charts for 42 consecutive weeks, including a revival in the summer of that year when it climbed back to number two while the band's follow-up single occupied the top spot for nine weeks, having entered the chart at number one. Not that the aforementioned follow-up had been very easy to find. "Sarm was a busy and expensive studio, so rather than mess around there trying to come up with a new song, Trevor asked me if I knew a cheaper place where we could go with the band," Lipson recalls. "I told him about the Producer's Workshop in Fulham, and so we all decamped for there.

Even though he'd already figured out what the next single should be, it was a real long shot. The song was 'Two Tribes', and I remember when we first heard it we all looked at him like he was mad, but he said, 'It's all about the bass line.' He completely got it. He was firing on all cylinders, whereas the rest of us were completely in the dark. "For one thing, there wasn't much to the song, and for another, the demo wasn't any good. However, out of all the material it was the only track that he could envision being the follow-up single — it wasn't a positive choice, but one made out of necessity. The thing about the bass part on the finished record is that it drops an octave, whereas the original bass part didn't do that. It sounded like kids were playing the song, and they were. What Trevor loved about it was the beat, and so after we went down to the Producer's Workshop and the band members did their thing, they then left and again it was down to the four of us — Trevor, Andy, JJ and me — all feeling depressed as anything because it just sounded terrible.

We therefore set up and played it ourselves, and interestingly the only part that ended up being retained from the Producer's Workshop was my guitar. "I played a sort of harmony, and that, together with dropping the bass down on those notes and sequencing it, as well as Andy then coming in with the chord movement — a minor chord to a fourth and back to the minor — were the key elements. Once these were all in place, we then moved back to Sarm to work on the track, and while we were in Studio Two, figuring out how to make the bass sound good, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley were mixing an album in Studio One, and they then went away to record another album, came back to mix it, and we were still working on the bass. We were looking for sounds, trying to get the articulation right. "During the recording of 'Relax', having become more familiar with Trevor and his wife Jill, I had suggested that they buy this digital tape machine called a Sony F1. It was a Betamax two-track recorder and it wasn't that expensive, so they went for it, and that was a revelation because we could now record loads of stuff and it was pristine quality.

At around the same time, digital multitracks happened, with Sony producing the 3324 and Mitsubishi the 32-track [X850]. We were in Studio Two, and I asked Trevor, 'Why don't we look at these machines?' He was always up for trying things, and so a Mitsubishi was wheeled in for us to try out, but it didn't work. A short time later, a Sony was wheeled in and it worked perfectly, so he bought one and we recorded 'Two Tribes' on that machine. In fact, 'Relax' was the only one of the songs on analogue." In Xanadu... According to Lipson, Horn panicked at the last moment and embellished 'Two Tribes' with a Linn pattern that would link it to 'Relax'. Then it was on to 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome'. "That song was quite interesting because I had the idea of getting another tape machine in," says Lipson. "It suddenly occurred to me, if you could make digital copies, you could offset.

I had no idea what I was talking about, but I did an offset so that, where the song ended, I had it start again, and when I demonstrated this to Trevor he absolutely flipped out. It was a remarkable thing. The concept of offsets freaked us out. Nobody had ever considered doing anything like this, and all of a sudden we were sort of inventing a recording equivalent of the wheel. It was like a super-sampler." Steve and Trevor's 'pub' band, the Producers. From left to right; Lol Creme, Trevor Horn, Ash Soan, Chris Braide and Steve Lipson.Photo: Retna/Michael PutlandThe producer had a similar recollection: "Steve had copied a multitrack and offset it eight bars, and it was like 'Wow!

Let's use this on 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome'!' So he and I were basically upstairs for three months doing that track, which had started out as three minutes long, and we just kept overlapping it on itself, lengthening it and doing all sorts of stuff." At one point, working in Studio One on the Monday morning after the surrounding Notting Hill carnival had taken place, Horn suggested hanging a microphone out of the window to record the general hubbub of the big clean-up — no one talking, just the sounds of bottles and cans as they were being swept and collected behind the studio along Lancaster Road. "I literally hung a Neumann U87 out the window, went to the point in the song where the first round ended and the rhythm dropped out, hit 'record' and captured the noise of cleaning up the carnival," Lipson recalls. "It was a remarkable thing. It gave that moment in the song an amazing atmosphere. "Steve Howe also played some acoustic guitar on 'Pleasuredome', a few funny chords that no one else could get their heads around.

That song had so many vast expanses of music where nobody knew what was going on — one time, I was around the other side of the desk in Studio One, nowhere near the console, and I plugged in my old Strat, which was the only guitar I had in those days, and began figuring out a solo. I was telling Trevor how it could work, and he said, 'Show me what you mean.' Unbeknown to me, he went into record, and all the while I was talking to him, saying, 'Here it could go up, and then it could stop.' He said, 'OK, let's hear that back,' and what he played turned out to be the solo." While it's a common engineering ploy to keep the tape running, it isn't often that you hear about the engineer being recorded without even knowing about this. "That happened all the time," Lipson says. "It happened a lot on Slave To The Rhythm.

Trevor was brilliant, but he also let me do whatever I wanted, and I think that's part of what's so great about him." Talking in 1994, Horn described the aforementioned 1985 Grace Jones album as "probably the last really exciting thing" that he and Lipson did together. "I was acting almost like the artist and he was almost like the producer. I was having all of the mad ideas and he was executing them." As soon as they began working together they were already embarked on that course. And in the case of 'Welcome To The Pleasuredome' the result was a three-minute song that eventually clocked in at 13:38 and, as mixed by Steve Lipson, became the title track for Frankie Goes To Hollywood's debut double album. "Interestingly, I screwed up with one thing that I didn't know at the time," he now says. "When you do this stuff, your time code needs to be word-clock locked. But because I didn't know that, by the time it got towards the end of the song it had somehow drifted to the offsets that I'd done.

In other words, whatever we were sync'ing up after the event, by the time it got to the end of the song everything was slightly out of time. On the one hand, that really pissed us off, but on the other hand it gave the track a certain kind of freedom and energy at the point where it needed it. So it was fortuitous, but it was also a big lesson." Moving On Including such tracks as 'Krisco Kisses', 'The Only Star In Heaven', an explosive cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born To Run', and the group's third consecutive chart-topping UK single, 'The Power Of Love' (featuring a band performance and string arrangement by Anne Dudley), ' Welcome To The Pleasuredome ' entered the British album chart at number one. It reached number 33 in America, where 'Relax' was re-released and this time peaked at number 10. Not surprisingly, when the title track, prematurely touted as "their fourth number one" upon its March 1985 UK release, only made it to number two, cynics asserted — accurately, as it turned out — that the group's popularity was on the wane.

"The whole thing was unbelievable," Steve Lipson remarks. "Yet what was even more unbelievable was how, being so entrenched in the studio, Trevor and I weren't really affected by all of the success. We just kept going." And so they did, through co-production assignments with the Pet Shop Boys, Paul McCartney and Simple Minds, after which Lipson opted to branch out on his own. "Working with Trevor was brilliant," Lipson says, "and actually there was no down side, apart from the fact that I could lean on him. I could say whatever I wanted in the knowledge that he'd get the grief if anything went wrong. If a project went over budget, I could leave that to him. It's easy to talk when you know the buck doesn't stop with you. Well, that was all fine, but now I needed to see if I could do this myself." That was in 1991.

And now, after numerous production and engineering projects with the likes of Annie Lennox, Geri Halliwell, Natalie Imbruglia and Will Young, as well as a 10-year stint running his own facility, The Aquarium, in northwest London, Steve Lipson is not only back in his own room at Sarm, but also collaborating with Trevor Horn again, as a member of Stiff Records' band the Producers, alongside Chris Braide, Lol Creme and Ash Soan. "That's taking quite a bite out of our time, because we absolutely love it," says Lipson. "For years, Trevor and I had been saying, 'Oh, wouldn't it be great if we had a pub band,' because we weren't playing enough. Then I mentioned it to Chris, and he was up for it, and he brought in Ash, who's a fantastic drummer, while Trevor brought in his pal Lol. We went to Hook End for two weeks and it was mind-blowing. Because of our commitments we still have another week of recording to do, but hopefully we'll put the album out somehow. "My time's taken.

I'm working with Will Young again, which is really exciting, and also with Boyzone, as well as with an extraordinary Russian lady who I'm developing, a classical pianist called Oksana Grigorieva. So there's enough to be getting on with, and I'm still flying..." For more info on the Producers, visit .

Question: Who produced the 1983 hit record Relax, by Frankie Goes To Hollywood?
Answer: Trevor Horn