Zang Tumb Tuum

[Ciarán2]

I bloody love that Anton Corbijn video for Dr Mabuse. Nice to see Paul Morley in there! I saw "A Secret Wish" on vinyl earlier. I have the CD issue, I'll have to check the catalogue number at home, is there any difference between LP and CD? I bought the Cd in 1996, if that's any help. Also today I bought "Outside World", spurred on by this here thread. I'm going Propaganda crazy. Were they named after the Sparks' album at all? Maybe not...

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I love the dancing chair in P Machinery. I thought 'Oh very good, a CGI chair, very cle...hang on, it's 1985! It's on strings! Brilliant!'

[Ciarán2]

I love the dancing chair in P Machinery. I thought 'Oh very good, a CGI chair, very cle...hang on, it's 1985! It's on strings! Brilliant!'

Yeah! It's great, that bit. The whole video is excellent. I've got a couple of bits and pieces on Propaganda to scan in tomorrow. Claudia's Personal File from Smash Hits... Can't wait to get "Outside World" home and give it a spin.

[The Mumbler]

I saw "A Secret Wish" on vinyl earlier. I have the CD issue, I'll have to check the catalogue number at home, is there any difference between LP and CD? I bought the Cd in 1996, if that's any help.

Check the back of the CD - if it's the following track-listing:

Dream Within A Dream (8.04)
The Murder of Love (5.10)
Jewel (3.11)
Duel (4.43)
Frozen Faces (4.21)
P-Machinery (3.49)
Sorry For Laughing (3.28)
Dr. Mabuse (First Life) (4.35)
The Chase (4.04)
Strength To Dream (3.09)

...then it's the 1994 CD reissue, and exactly the same as the LP, except for Frozen Faces which wasn't on the vinyl version.  However, the first issue of the CD in 1985 had several differences, which I think I detail on the first page of this thread.

Deeply envious of all of you with a decent broadband connection!  I'd love to be able to watch those promos again.  (Although I have Duel on a tatty 1985  PolyGram Video compilation called Don't Watch That Watch This! Volume 3.  It turns up between Bring It Down (This Insane Thing) by The Redskins and Live Is Life by Opus.  A track-listing drawn up by a madman.)

[waste of chops]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/5119654.stm

Shot record boss critically ill

The owner of a record label who was accidentally shot with an air rifle by her son is critically ill in hospital.

Jill Sinclair, who owns ZTT Records with husband Trevor Horn, was hit in the neck while in her garden at home near Henley, Oxfordshire, on Sunday.

Ms Sinclair, 54, was unconscious in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Reading on Tuesday.

The pellet from her 22-year-old son's rifle hit an artery, leaving her in a critical, but stable, condition.

A company spokesman said: "It was a complete accident. It was a real freak occurrence that her son was shooting at some targets in the garden and wasn't aware that she was close by.

"Purely accidentally she took a pellet in the neck. She is under deep sedation and in an induced coma."

The company spokesman said it was too early to tell at this stage whether Ms Sinclair would suffer brain damage from the injury.

The couple have four children, three girls and a boy, and the youngest is aged 11.

ZTT Records enjoyed considerable success with bands such as Frankie Goes To Hollywood and The Art of Noise.

In the 1990s ZTT became a successful dance label boasting names like Seal and Adamski.

Ms Sinclair, a former maths teacher, married her record producer husband 26 years ago.

[The Mumbler]

Blimey, hope she's ok.

Here's a strange but true fact which, given that story, seems a tad insensitive, but: Trevor Horn used to go out with Tina "I Love To Love" Charles circa 1976-77.  He played bass guitar in her backing group.

[The Mumbler]

I think this zips straight to the top of my priorities:

---------

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BODY GOD [4 Disc Box Set]
Art Of Noise
ZTT

Released 7 August 2006

Price: £24.99 [on Amazon at any rate]

Disc 1
1. Beat Box (One Made Earlier)
2. Once Upon A Lime
3. War (Demo 2)
4. Close To The Edge
5. Confession
6. Moments In Love
7. Sign Of Relief
8. Who's Afraid of Scale?
9. So What Happens Now? (Take 2)
10. The Subject Has Moved Left
11. It's Not Fair
12. Close To The Edge (Ruff Mix)
13. A Time For Fear (Who's Afraid?)
14. Moments In Bed

Disc: 2
1. Moments In Love (12" B Side Idea)
2. Tears Out Of A Stone
3. Samba #2
4. The Chain Of Chance
5. Fairlight-In-The-Being
6. Diversions 3
7. Close (To Be Compiled)
8. Diversions 5
9. Damn It All!
10. Structure
11. The Angel Reel: Hymn 1 (Take 2)
12. The Angel Reel: Hymn 3
13. The Angel Reel: Fairground
14. And What Have You Done With My Body, God?
15. Klimax
16. Who Knew?

Disc: 3
1. War (Demo 4)
2. The Focus Of Satisfaction
3. Moments In Love (7" Master Rejected)
4. It Stopped
5. The Uncertainty Of Syrup
6. The Long Hello
7. The Vacuum Divine
8. The Ambassadors Reel: Beat Box
9. The Ambassadors Reel: Medley
10. The Ambassadors Reel: Oobly
11. Goodbye Art Of Noise

Disc: 4
1. Battle
2. Beat Box
3. The Army Now
4. Donna
5. Moments In Love
6. Bright Noise
7. Flesh In Armour
8. Comes And Goes
9. Moment In Love
10. That Was Close
11. Moments In Love + Moments In Love (Beaten)
12. Love Beat
13. In Case We Sneezed
14. A Time To Hear - Who's Listening
15. (Do) Donna (Do)
16. Battle Outakes

ZTT have a clear-out.  This is like having someone finding new chemical elements.  They might yet do the definitive Propaganda one at this rate.

Ambient Sheep, Lalla and me.  Who else is going to buy this?

[benthalo]

I'd have to seriously consider it.

[Ciarán2]

I'm definitely buying this. Unless I snuff it first. Brilliant!

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Is that entirely Into Battle/Who's Afraid-era material then? Or is some of that later stuff?

[TOCMFIC]

I think this zips straight to the top of my priorities:

ZTT have a clear-out.  This is like having someone finding new chemical elements.  They might yet do the definitive Propaganda one at this rate.

Ambient Sheep, Lalla and me.  Who else is going to buy this?

Wow! That's quite the set! I've not bought an RIAA affiliated release in 5 years. This could break that streak.

If it's not copy protected and I can play it on my laptop without any problems, even at about $60 in my currency, that is tempting!!!

[The Mumbler]

It's possible that some of it comes from the sessions for the 1999 album The Seduction of Claude Debussy (which was also on ZTT), but I think most of it is 1983-85 stuff.  Several titles are direct references to songs that ended up on the Who's Afraid LP of 1984: 'So What Happens Now' ('A Time To Fear (Who's Afraid?)'), 'It Stopped' ('How To Kill'), 'Close to the Edge' (obviously 'Close (To The Edit)'), those three Ambassadors Reel tracks on Disc 3 are probably live extracts from the Ambassador Theatre shows of June 85, and there are several bits on there which survive from the cassette singles.  Diversions 3 and 5 made their way on to the Edit single, and Disc 4 begins with the Into Battle 12" (tracks 1-9) – in order, and hopefully correct (the original version of Beat Box has never made it onto CD before), That Was Close was another excerpt from the Edit cassette single, tracks 11 and 12 are likely to be the segued cassette single version of Moments In Love (ie, slightly different version of LP version (without the 'now/now/now' section), cut to Beaten Mix without the piano intro, and then slowing down for LoveBeat.  (Beaten) has appeared on CD before, on the Daft* comp, under the title Love.  LoveBeat appeared on the same compilation as 'Three Fingers of Love'.  A Time To Hear – Who's Listening? was the B-side of Close (To The Edit), a 'sampler' for what was going to be the forthcoming LP (Snapshot, Beatbox (Diversion One), Close (To The Edit) with peculiar vocal links).  No sign of Close Up (a brilliant aggressive remix of Edit), but I'll wait and see with this, as I'm sure there's been some retitling going on.  

*Daft: 1986 compilation of the Who's Afraid LP, plus bits from Into Battle, and two mixes of Moments in Love.

[Ambient Sheep]

I think I've just cum in my pants.

Meanwhile, I see I left some unfinished business on this thread...let's have a go...which given that I'm nowhere near my vinyl/CD collection, may not be so easy.

Oh, and forgot to mention: Lied and The Lesson on Outside World were *not* previously unreleased as I had imagined.  They were issued as the second disc on a 7" vinyl double pack of Duel in May 1985.  Which somehow I missed.

Which would be a shame if you were a fan of Claudia Brucken, as it has her topless on the inside of the gatefold (well, wearing the wire-frame corset that's on the cover of the album, and nothing else).

1. DAS TESTAMENT DES DR MABUSE [13TH LIFE MIX] [6'34"]
The original 12" version of Dr. Mabuse, issued in February 1984.  First time on CD.

9. DAS TESTAMENT DES DR MABUSE [DJ PROMO VERSION] [9'52"]
Almost the same as the Secret Wish CD extended version of Dr. Mabuse/Strength to Dream, this has a shorter outro and has been remixed slightly.  (Although this was issued before the album, so that description should be the other way round...).

Track 9: Dr. Mabuse
Has been moved from the LP sequence (Side 2 Track 3) to the end of the album.  This is identical to the LP version until 5'05", when instead of fading out, some eerie string work and industrial clanking backdrop acts as a linking passage to 7'02" when it segues into Strength To Dream.

Right.  Dr. Mabuse mixes.  Not counting the long album versions & Strength to Dream, there are four that I know of: two 7" and two 12".

[*]The first 7" comes in a predominantly white sleeve and is the normal vocal 7".

[*]The second 7" comes in a predominantly black sleeve and is an instrumental version of the 7".

[*]The first 12" came in a predominantly white sleeve and was the long version of 9 minutes something (so 9'52" probably) with the eerie string work and industrial clanking.  That was then indeed used as the basis for the Secret Wish extended version (and not the other way around :-) ).

[*]The second 12" came in a predominantly black sleeve and was the 6'35" version with the shorter drum break from around 4'16" to 5'44".  Some early copies of this came in the same white sleeve as used for the 9'52" version with a sticker on the sleeve saying "New 13th Life Mix".[/list]I'm pretty adamant that that's the way round the two 12"s were released, not only because of the sticker business, but because of the matrix numbers, which, if not 1U and 2U respectively (I forget), were in a similar ascending arrangement.

However, in breaking news, by a strange but utterly genuine coincidence, this afternoon I decided to trawl the net for Dr. Mabuse versions, and found a slightly different version of the long mix - rather than the hard cut into the strange echoing repeating drum bit (that contains the eerie string work and industrial clanking), the main track fades out as the latter fades up.  I am currently downloading like mad to investigate this further.  It just goes to show, that after 22 years one can still be surprised by the thing that is ZTT.

By the way, I reckon the eerie string work - especially the plucked bits - might have been sampled off of the old 1970 film "Colossus: The Forbin Project" - if anyone knows, I'd love to have that confirmed.

[Ambient Sheep]

No sign of Close Up (a brilliant aggressive remix of Edit), but I'll wait and see with this, as I'm sure there's been some retitling going on.

Talking of Close-Up, did anyone actually ever see my giant Art-Of-Noise-thread-killing Close-Up post here?

I never worked out whether it just got missed, or whether everyone just smiled very carefully and cautiously at me while backing away slowly.  Or said "FUCK ME!" and ran away terribly fast.  :-)

[Ambient Sheep]

By the way, re. the multiple CD versions of Welcome to the Pleasuredome.  There were actually at least three that I know of.

The one that everyone THINKS was the first version, ZTT ZCIQ1, with all the listings of track faults etc., and that had a different track listing to the vinyl version, was in fact the second version.

Prior to that was a short run on the Island label (rather than ZTT) with a fairly straightforward sleeve, and an identical track listing to the vinyl album.  This is rare and cost me £25 (the going Rare Record Collectors Price Guide rate) in that same Glastonbury record shop in the mid 90s.  Before I read the RRCPG I had no idea it even existed, for despite not even owning a CD player myself (and wouldn't for nearly ten years!), I suspected that they might issue multiple versions (can't think WHY I might have thought that!), and so bought the CD the day it came out, and yet I still only got the ZTT one.  I wonder if the earlier one was some sort of limited edition for DJ radio-play purposes?  It doesn't say so, but I wonder.

Anyway, sometime in the early 90s the album finally got mid-priced back onto Island, at which point it reverted back to the LP tracklisting or something very close to it (I forget), this is presumably the version that dust picked up and was very disappointed by.


Mumbler - earlier on you mentioned Two Tribes 7" mixes.  How many are YOU aware of?  My memory's gone rusty, you see.  I know of four places that it appeared, but I think at least two, if not three of them are the same.  Those would be:

[*]Standard 7" A-side.

[*]Picture disc 7" A-side.

[*]The version on NOW 5 (apparently NOW asked for the standard version, got sent this one, rang up ZTT and said "Ooh, it's different, is it supposed to be?", ZTT said "NO!!  Send that back immediately please", NOW said "Ahhhh bollocks to that, if we've got a rarity, we're keeping it", and they did).

[*]The version on the vinyl, and first and third CD versions of the album.[/list]Now, I *think* versions 2 and 3 are the same, and probably 4 as well, but I forget.  Can anyone remember?  It's been bugging me for ages, but since I've been unable to play vinyl for, ooooh, at least six years now, I can't check.

Finally, has "Two Tribes (Surrender)" - the faux-live version on the B-side of every 12" - ever made it onto CD?  Its complete absence of being on the net suggests not, to me.

[The Mumbler]

Which would be a shame if you were a fan of Claudia Brucken, as it has her topless on the inside of the gatefold (well, wearing the wire-frame corset that's on the cover of the album, and nothing else).

Actually, I had a Susanne crush....!

My Dr. Mabuse 12" (Das Testament) was bought several months after the event, and was in a grey/white Zang Tumb Tuum label sleeve.  So that was the second 12"!  Cor.  Interesting to find that there was a completely instrumental version on 7" too.  

The version you've just discovered is on the Outside World comp.  Which mentions it was a DJ Promo Mix.
[/quote]

[The Mumbler]

No sign of Close Up (a brilliant aggressive remix of Edit), but I'll wait and see with this, as I'm sure there's been some retitling going on.

Talking of Close-Up, did anyone actually ever see my giant Art-Of-Noise-thread-killing Close-Up post here?

I never worked out whether it just got missed, or whether everyone just smiled very carefully and cautiously at me while backing away slowly.  Or said "FUCK ME!" and ran away terribly fast.  :-)

I didn't mean this to happen, but two things happened there: firstly, I didn't have the vinyl collection handy (still don't, in fact), and secondly, I was away for a few days shortly after that, and when I came back, the thread had dropped out of sight.  Terribly sorry, as that may have been one of the most labour-intensive postings ever seen on this forum.  You've reminded me to contribute, although quite what I'll contribute, I'm not sure!

[The Mumbler]

Mumbler - earlier on you mentioned Two Tribes 7" mixes.  How many are YOU aware of?  My memory's gone rusty, you see.  I know of four places that it appeared, but I think at least two, if not three of them are the same.  Those would be:

[*]Standard 7" A-side.

[*]Picture disc 7" A-side.

[*]The version on NOW 5 (apparently NOW asked for the standard version, got sent this one, rang up ZTT and said "Ooh, it's different, is it supposed to be?", ZTT said "NO!!  Send that back immediately please", NOW said "Ahhhh bollocks to that, if we've got a rarity, we're keeping it", and they did).

[*]The version on the vinyl, and first and third CD versions of the album.[/list]Now, I *think* versions 2 and 3 are the same, and probably 4 as well, but I forget.  Can anyone remember?  It's been bugging me for ages, but since I've been unable to play vinyl for, ooooh, at least six years now, I can't check.

Finally, has "Two Tribes (Surrender)" - the faux-live version on the B-side of every 12" - ever made it onto CD?  Its complete absence of being on the net suggests not, to me.

Don't think Surrender has.  Indeed, I don't think Now 3 came out on CD either.  

I never bought any of the seven-inch versions, but I remember that every Tuesday, when Peter Powell did his early-evening Top 40 rundown on R1, he seemed to play a different mix every single week it was number one (a lot of weeks, as you'll know - nine, to be precise!).  Sometimes it was one of the short versions, but I remember for its second week at the top, he played the Annihilation Mix which must rank as one of the most exciting things to hear on the radio.  The Carnage version turned up a few weeks later.

[waste of chops]

Finally, has "Two Tribes (Surrender)" - the faux-live version on the B-side of every 12" - ever made it onto CD?  Its complete absence of being on the net suggests not, to me.

According to discogs.com it was released on CD in Germany:

http://www.discogs.com/release/223538

[Ray Le Otter]

I never bought any of the seven-inch versions, but I remember that every Tuesday, when Peter Powell did his early-evening Top 40 rundown on R1, he seemed to play a different mix every single week it was number one (a lot of weeks, as you'll know - nine, to be precise!).  Sometimes it was one of the short versions, but I remember for its second week at the top, he played the Annihilation Mix which must rank as one of the most exciting things to hear on the radio.  The Carnage version turned up a few weeks later.

Wasn't just me then that remembered this.
http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=11551&start=20

[Ciarán2]

The "Annihilation Mix" is tremendous and petrified me as an 8 year old child. "If your grandmother or any other member of the family should die while in the shelter, leave them outside. But remember to tag them first for identification purposes..." It's a brilliant mix. One of the best singles of the 1980s.

But just you try playing it to kids or fellow students today. They won't thank you for it. Tsk.

[benthalo]

When Radio 1 did their Top 80 Of The Eighties at the turn of the decade, Two Tribes was in the top three somewhere and they played the Annihilation Mix. At the age of eleven it was all new to me and I played the cassette off-air to death. One of the most exciting records in the world.

[Ciarán2]

One of the most exciting records in the world.

Yep.

Seriously, a couple of months ago I played it for a couple of friends of mine (ages 25 and 30). They weren't in the least bit interested in it. When they asked who it was and I said Frankie Goes To Hollywood, they said "Oh right, that gay band? They had a song about being gay, what was that called? Relax! That's the one!" Gnnngghrrrr!!!

It's quite difficult to have a conversation about pop music with my friends because they say tings like "Blondie? Oh yes, she was a nymphomaniac wasn't she? That's why she was famous."

Sorry, but I have to vent. So, that's why I come onto CaB, I can't have a chat about Art Of Noise, Frankie or Propaganda anywhere else.

I don't have the info handy, so remind me which version of "Two Tribes" came with "War" as its b-side? I definitely remember hearing that for the first time. My brother also had "Two Tribes (Annihilation)" taped off the radio and similarly the tape got worn to bits. In a similar vein we managed to wear down 2 copies of League Unlimited Orchestra's "Love and Dancing".

[Ray Le Otter]

Ah, I remember taking my VHS of the extended banned  "Two Tribes" (recorded off the late night Tube) into school for us to watch as part of the music lesson. At last , I was cool for one day.

[TOCMFIC]

One of the most exciting records in the world.

Yep.

Seriously, a couple of months ago I played it for a couple of friends of mine (ages 25 and 30). They weren't in the least bit interested in it. When they asked who it was and I said Frankie Goes To Hollywood, they said "Oh right, that gay band? They had a song about being gay, what was that called? Relax! That's the one!" Gnnngghrrrr!!!

It's quite difficult to have a conversation about pop music with my friends because they say tings like "Blondie? Oh yes, she was a nymphomaniac wasn't she? That's why she was famous."

Sorry, but I have to vent. So, that's why I come onto CaB, I can't have a chat about Art Of Noise, Frankie or Propaganda anywhere else.

I don't have the info handy, so remind me which version of "Two Tribes" came with "War" as its b-side? I definitely remember hearing that for the first time. My brother also had "Two Tribes (Annihilation)" taped off the radio and similarly the tape got worn to bits. In a similar vein we managed to wear down 2 copies of League Unlimited Orchestra's "Love and Dancing".

Great post:) I've got one friend I can talk to about stuff like Frankie. He's on a mission to get EVERY UK top 40 song in MP3 format. He's doing very well! (He even has Landscape's "Norman Bates" for gods sake!!! The follow up to the epic "Einstein-a-go-go").

My other friends though? Forget it. They'll mock me for listening to anything 80's.

It was only recently, courtesy of here, that I realised I was all mixed up (pun intended) on Two Tribes mix names. So all this time, the one I've referred to as the Hibakusha mix was actually the annihilation mix! Just a brilliant mix. What was the name of the guy who did the voiceover? Used to do the Barrett homes ads, didn't he... It's just such a dark fucking mix. I mean we were still in the cold war, nukes were still a threat, we were still a couple of years before Chernobyl (which scared the shit out of me I have to say. I was 15 and terrified. Felt mortal for the first time.) A totally different era.

I've gone trawling on the net and found a bunch of Propaganda stuff, and a bunch of Frankie stuff, (and a ton of Depeche Mode, Yazoo etc...) and it's so sad that unlike bands from the 60's who at least get credit today for their good stuff, Frankie have been branded, as your friend said, "thay gay band"... It does them an incredible disservice, but sadly, at least over here in Canada, the only Frankie song that EVER gets any play is fucking "Relax", which I think is one of their weakest songs, and without Mike Read's nonsense, would probably have never reached number one.

From Two Tribes, all the way through to Rage Hard and Warriors, they produced fantastic songs... But their legacy by and large to the great unwashed is the song about wanking...

*sigh*

I came to the mixes of Two Tribes quite late. Late 85, a friend of my Dad's named Sue, who was a serious music nut, listed everything she had on vinyl. I'd borrowed her list and she said she'd bring round anything I wanted to listen too when she came round for dinner one weekend, and the 12" of Two Tribes was on her list. I still remember sitting in headphones that night, recording what I now know as the "Annihilation Mix" and listening in awe to this absolutely brilliant version of a song that, until that point, I'd just merely liked. (Not loved.) One of those formative musical experiences.

Thank you Sue, wherever you are!

[Ciarán2]

Cheers, TOCMFIC. I remember sitting with my brother and my elder sister (who wasn't especially a big music fan) around the stereo and being absolutely rapt listening to the Annihilation mix. And this, actually would have been in around 1989.

I also remember hearing CD for the first time, as it was around the same time. My brother had got a job in Burger King and bought an Alba midi-system which had a fairly bog-standard CD player. He didn't have any CDs to go with it though. So my sister's friend at the time - who was a music freak - lent us a 3" CD single of "Ghosts" by Japan, "This Is The Sea" by The Waterboys and the CD single of "The Beat(en) Generation" by The The. Then I remember my brother's first CD buys were "Abbey Road", Fleetwood Mac's 1988 "Greatest Hits" and a Steely Dan compilation called "Gold" (because it had "F.M." on it).

Aanyway, it's thanks to this thread that I've really gone back to those Propaganda and Frankie records. I can't bloomin' wait for the Art Of Noise box to come out now.

[TOCMFIC]

So you came to it later than me then:)

I remember hearing CD for the first time. I'd bought a Sony stereo. Bloody nice one! Went to this great little obscure record shop that was open truly insane hours, and wound up buying Mike and the Mechanics "The Living Years". Still remember sitting there listening to it, grinning like an idiot.

Can't remember for the life of me what came after that. For the longest time I still bought tapes. Until MP3 came along, tape was still my favourite audio format. Mainly due to the fact that my parents sold their awesome Toshiba music centre that was magnificent for vinyl, leaving me with the shitty Sony one. The one thing that let down that stereo.

But I was still hooked on 12":)

[The Mumbler]

at least over here in Canada, the only Frankie song that EVER gets any play is fucking "Relax", which I think is one of their weakest songs, and without Mike Read's nonsense, would probably have never reached number one.

Sorry to reduce your (very interesting) message to one sentence, but Relax was almost certainly going to be a number one record with or without Read's ban.  It had been yoyoing around the lower reaches of the top 75 for two months in November/December 1983 (getting a fair bit of Radio 1 airplay too).  It only hit the top 40 in the first week of 84 at #35 (there were almost no other new entries that week), whereupon it got them on the 20th anniversary show of Top of the Pops.  On 10th January, the single leapt from this position to number six, the week's highest climber.  The following morning, Read found himself playing the single, as on Wednesdays, he usually did a new Top 40 rundown, stopping to play Highest New Entry, Highest Climber, and Number One.  Relax was the week's highest climber.  Only now did Derek Chinnery step in and ban the record (some eleven weeks after it was released, during which time the station had played it at least 70 times).  However, independent stations did play the single on chart rundowns.

The following week, Relax climbed to number two, behind McCartney's Pipes of Peace, by which time it had been banned completely by daytime Radio 1 and Top of the Pops.  Five weeks at number one followed.  Smash Hits also displayed a rare bit of prudery as it admitted in a Frankie article that it had decided not to print the lyrics as they were 'a bit rude'.  Silly buggers.

If anything, Mike Smith was even more odious about the Relax ban than Read.  Read just said, "Oh, shan't be playing that again" in a dismissive way.  Smith said on air, "Number one is Relax, but we at Radio 1 do not consider this a suitable record for broadcast."  In the most glutinous, pompous way you can imagine.

Lest we forget, in July 1984, Frankie held the top two positions in the singles chart for three weeks in succession.  Two Tribes still at number one, Relax having bottomed out at #22 in April only to turn around and climb back up the charts towards number two.  

And they were only the second group to score three number ones from their first three releases (after Gerry & The Pacemakers twenty years earlier).  This remarkable feat was somewhat devalued in subsequent years, given that Jive Bunny was next to do it in 1989.

Oh yes, and Patrick Allen did the Two Tribes announcements.  And it was Chris Barrie from Spitting Image and Son of Cliche doing the Reagan impressions.

[TOCMFIC]

Yep, I'll put my hands up say that was a boneheaded comment to make. I was only remembering a very small part of the history of the song, and having read your post, and the entry on Wikipedia, I was way off base.

The banning probably helped it, but it was probably heading to number one anyway, so yep, I was wrong with my assertion. Though I'm still not a fan of the song.

Jive Bunny? Go get my gun, boy!

[The Mumbler]

Yep, I'll put my hands up say that was a boneheaded comment to make.

That's way too harsh!  The press line always maintained the ban happened before it became a major hit so it's understandable that the myth's got repeated down the years.   And it is a long time ago now.