ZTT ELEMENTAL SERIES

With the release of the revisited Liverpool Deluxe Edition, Zang Tumb Tumms Elemental series hits Element 19. Well Doesn't it?
Infact the truth is there have been 20 Elements in this series so far, That is if you go by the Catalogue Numbers of each release to date, when infact there have benn only 17 physical releases! But how can that be?
Below is a list of all the titles released in the series upto this latest Frankie offering.....
01.(Element 00)Various Artists - The ZTT Box Set (Features FGTH)
02.(Element 01)808 State - 808:90
03.(Element 02)808 State - ex:el
04.(Element 03)808 State - Gorgeous
05.(Element 04)808 State - Don Solaris
06.(Element 05)The Buggles - Adventures in Modern Recording
07.(Element 06)Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The PleasureDome
08.(Element 07)The Frames - Another Love Song
09.(Element 08)The Frames - Fitzcarraldo
10.(Element 09)The Frames - Dance The Devil
11.(Element 10)Art of Noise - Influence
12.(Element 11)Propaganda - A Secret Wish
13.(Element 12)Various Artists - The Art Of The 12" (Features FGTH)
14.(Element 13)Claudia Brucken - Combined (Features Paul Rutherford)
15.(Element 14)Shades of Rhythm - Extacy Edition
16.(Element 15)Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Liverpool WITHDRAWN
17.(Element 16)Art of Noise - Into Battle
18.(Element 17)?????
19.(Element 18)?????
20.(Element 19)Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Liverpool REVISED
So THE question has to be what are elemnts 17 & 18?
Of course this is not the first time in this series that ZTT have skipped a release and come back to it soon after, on the spine of the latest Frankie release is the teaser Coming next: Blue, Azura, Lemon and Orange.....which leaves us wondering at what the next Elemental Series release will be from thoses Puppet Masters at ZTT.

Liverpool Deluxe finally in the shops

So after months of no clear answers as to what would happen with this Elemental release, ZTT and FGTH finally get Liverpool Deluxe Edition into the shops
below is a review of the set that is in my opinion a true feeling of the album in its revised form.
For all the sprawl that was “Welcome To The Pleasuredome”, it was an impeccable sonic journey that would inevitably be tough to top. With “Liverpool”, Frankie Goes To Hollywood chose to make it a much briefer and more focused affair. Eight tracks deep, it was un-questionably a grower. Aside from “Warriors Of The Wasteland”, “Rage Hard” and to some extent “Kill The Pain”, it’s a mellower affair. There’s a cohesive quality about the album as a whole which makes it feel a bit like a concept album, without an intellectual concept. More of a sonic concept.

“Liverpool” opens rather mysteriously with a little build up to the sonic wallop that “Warriors Of The Wasteland” ultimately delivers. At the time, WOTW was a surprise with it’s very guitar oriented sound. “Rage Hard” carries on with it’s own powerful sonic palette, though with less of an emphasis on guitar. As the album moves along, each track mellows a bit more than the previous. By the time you get to the last track, “Is Anybody Out There?”, things have mellowed considerably. Perhaps that was the concept? Probably not the best way to structure a very anticipated album.

With hindsight it’s obvious why this album never was a hit. For fans of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, there was a lot of baggage that came with being so attached to “Welcome To The Pleasuredome”. “Liverpool” was structurally and sonically (at least seemingly so at the time) so different. Its heavy hitters were packed on the first half and the further you went into it, the mellower it got. It was a tough pill to swallow for teenage fans who had a pre-conceived notion of what a new FGTH album should sound like.

Having had years to digest this album though, it’s clear that it IS every bit the album that WTTPD was. For someone without such a strong opinion of what a FGTH album should sound like, there’s no reason not to give this one a good go. It really is an incredible album from beginning to end.

*this review is taken from http://www.excursionsinmusic.com/travel-guide/frankie-goes-to-hollywood-liverpool-1986/ and is completly independant from any thoughts of the blogger.

ELEMENT 17

Just what is Element 17, and do you believe? Is it Frankie and Frankie only? or is it just wishful thinking?