ZANG TUMMM TUMB ARTICLES “the first draft of history”

Frankie goes to great lengths

FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOO are still busy working on their debut album, which ZTT plan to release in October — its called ‘Welcome To The Pleasure Dome, but a spokesman said he still doesnt know if it will be a single, double or triple LP! Meanwhile, yet another version of ‘Two Tribes is issued this week, called ‘Hibakusha Mix and guaranteed to be positively the final mix.

In addition to their chart-busting achievements, the group have now shattered all records in terms of the number of different versions of their two singles which have been made available. Heres the rundown:

RELAX: Originally released in 7", 12" sex mix (containing the extra track ‘Ferry Across The Mersey) and 7" picture disc. The extended 12" actually sounded nothing like the 7", thereby sparking numerous complaints from unwitting buyers — so it was remixed in New York, and re-packaged with the same sleeve and catalogue number as the original 12". This new 12" has now become known as the “sex mix”, and the older version has been made available again in a plain sleeve as the “original mix”.

Since its return to the Top Five, a 12" picture disc has been issued, and has a 24-minute cassette containing various versions. Also available are two import 12" singles — the first (about £5) contains the sex mix, the basic 7" and an instrumental version; the other (£4.50) has an eight-minute ‘Relax plus ‘Ferry Across The Mersey. Some indie shops have also been selling (about £2.50) a promotional white-label 7", known as the “DJ mix” and different from the standard 7".

TWO TRIBES: Originally released in 7", 12" annihilation mix (with the extra track ‘War) and 7" picture disc, the latter being a different mix from the standard 7". Three weeks later came a remixed 12" with a different sleeve and catalogue number, called “carnage mix”. Then followed a 12" picture disc, on which a remixed ‘War (known as the “hidden mix”) became the A-side, with the ‘Two Tribes carnage mix as the flip — and when initial pressing ran out, the latter was replaced by the standard black vinyl version and a different sleeve.

There is also a cassette containing 20 minutes of various versions, plus ‘War. And the newly released “Hibakusha mix” also features the “hidden mix” of ‘War.

This means there has now been a total of 13 official British releases of these two singles (not counting imports and white labels), and ZTT also issued three different versions of their other single, ‘Dr. Mabuse by Propaganda.


Composer Gerry Marsden (of Gerry & The Pacemakers) is reported so far to have earned £22,000 in royalties from FGTHs version of ‘Ferry Across The Mersey.