aaamusic | On 22, Dec 2010

Salvo – Union Square Music’s collector’s label – announces the definitive, deluxe edition of Frankie Goes To Hollywood‘s second and final album, Liverpool, on the eve of it’s 25th anniversary.

100 minutes of bonus material have been added, including the 20-minute (previously cassette-only) remix expansions of Watching The Wildlife and Warriors of the Wasteland, and a 36-page booklet with detailed liner notes. To say nothing of Frankie’s bombastic ’86 comeback special, Rage Hard in standard and previously-unreleased Montreux and Voiceless variants.

By the time Liverpool was released, Frankie had ruled the world with three number ones (Relax, Two Tribes, The Power of Love) and the definitive double album of the 80s (Welcome To The Pleasuredome). So what happened next?

The band went back to basics, took control of their own songwriting, performance and production, and rebuilt the Frankie legend from the ground up. Liverpool (Deluxe) explodes media myths of the band’s live abilities with previously-unheard studio jams. And sends a wake-up call to those who thought they might soon run out of ideas, with a host of previously unreleased titles.

Disc One includes the original album plus seven B-sides and B-side out-takes: The Waves, Pocket Vibrator, The Doors‘ Roadhouse Blues, The Stones‘ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, sample collage (Don’t Lose What’s Left) Of Your Little Mind, and Rage Hard (Voiceless). Plus out-takes from Pamela Stephenson‘s saucy narration for the Rage Hard 12″.

Disc Two includes the 20-minute cassette single mixes of Watching The Wildlife and Warriors of the Wasteland singles, plus previously unreleased works-in-progress recorded around the world in 1985 and 1986, as well as the soundtrack to Frankie’s infamous instrument-smashing comeback performance at the 1986 Montreux Pop Festival.