Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A 1980s Classic And Must-Own, 24 Sep 2001
A graffiti written on the main entrance road to my school (the European School of Luxembourg) back in 1984 read »Welcome To The Pleasuredome«. Back then, I did not quite understand it. Later I learned to, though. For this debut album of Frankie Goes To Hollywood certainly is a Pleasuredome, in an everything but sarcastically meant way. It's a classic, one of the greatest albums (not just of the 1980s but) ever!What a courage it must have demanded to issue a concept album, a long story split into songs, as a debut. Why don't these bands ever last longer? »Welcome To The Pleasuredome« has it all: One of the most beautiful ballads ever performed, »The Power Of Love«; great covers: »Born To Run«, »San José«, »Fury«, »War«; the sexy experimental »The Ballad Of 32«... plus, of course, the outstanding hit classics »Two Tribes« and »Relax«. So... »Welcome To The Pleasuredome«!! Frankie say... no more.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Defining the music of the 80s, 8 Dec 2001
By A Customer
This is the band that said it all about th 80s. Songs like Relax and Two Tribes are classic and defined a whole generation. This their first album was also their best, their second album not reaching up to the same level. If you love the 80s, this is the top album.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seminal 1980s album, 26 May 2006
I for one don't like much of the music of the 1980s, but when it was good, it was very good, like music from any period in history. WttPD is a superb album; it would be churlish of me to fault it.
Lyrically it is frequently amusing, shot through with biting irony. The musicianship is excellent for an album of its type, and it remains one of the best produced albums ever made. Only the likes of Peter Gabriel have surpassed the stunning quality of the recording and mixing of this album (hats off to the inevitable Trevor Horn). Terrific use of the stereo soundstage, clean, staggering dynamics from both performers and the recording. It humiliates most modern recordings, and shows just how good Compact Disk can sound when it's not shackled by over-compression. And that's very good indeed. Who needs DVD-A or SACD when ye olde redbook CD can be done this well?
There are no standout tracks for me, because this album should be listened to just like that -an album. A concept album at that: this was the 1980s doing progressive rock, and it works. OF course, it has the legendary Relax and Two Tribes, and the suitably lengthy title track; the others are not space fillers though, but vital parts to the cohesive whole.
Forget genres. Forget music decades. Buy on an albums merits. This should be in any music-lover's collection. It's not leaving mine.
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