Spring 1993. I’m leaving a THX theatre with my parents and my brother. The mood is indiscernible. We just watched Barry Levinson’s Toys. I’m 100% sure my dad hated it, as he never had patience for Robin Williams. My mum probably disliked it too, since she didn’t mention a single thing on the walk back home. My brother has always been quiet and never breaks that tradition. I’m thinking about two songs in the movie. One had Thomas Dolby, who I loved for his wacky Hyperactive! video and the other was an instrumental song that had a lot of “hoo ah, hoo ah!” chants.

A few weeks later, my brother came back with a CD copy of the soundtrack. I borrowed it for the Thomas Dolby song. The song with the chants? A remix of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

“The guys from Relax?” I thought. Trevor Horn produced the Toys soundtrack, and he always had an ear for crisp production. Figures that he chose one of the better tracks from Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s immense debut.

A couple of years ago I started tackling my “to listen” pile and Welcome to the Pleasuredome was there. Relax was now “that song from Zoolander” and Two Tribes was my fave, with that insane bassline and its usage on the Grand Theft Auto Vice City soundtrack.

I wasn’t ready for Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

From the ambient beginning, with its chirping birds and flute tones, to the dancey bass, this 13 minute (!) mammoth should be Frankie’s calling card. No hate to Relax, which is a great pop song, but Welcome to the Pleasuredome is perfection itself. Nothing in their repertoire reaches the rarefied atmosphere this song takes you to. The running time can raise your eyebrows for sure, but it feels like it breezes through.

I acquired the vinyl at Shuga Records in Chicago, along a Modest Mouse vinyl. Clerk gave me a weird look and I just shrugged with a smirk. A massive storm came down that day after my vinyl record marathon (went to 4 shops in less than 2 hours) and somehow managed to keep them safe and dry.

If you only know Frankie Goes To Hollywood because of Relax, please check this one out. The video has a shorter version as is as bizarre as something only Frankie Goes To Hollywood could imagine and Barry Levinson could imitate in Toys.

-Sam J. Valdés López