Vinyl Junkie #3 - Welcome to the Pleasuredome

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I started collecting vinyl records at around 10 years old (11, possibly. Somewhere around there,) when my aunt went off to college and gave me and my sister her collection of LP's and 45's. For me, it stuck, and propelled me towards a rather large collection of both vinyl records and compact discs. Now that I have my own place, I'm starting to rebuild the collection. There are albums I love, albums I need to own, and then there are albums that I cannot do without. Welcome to the Pleasuredome, the 1984 debut album by Liverpool's Frankie Goes to Hollywood, is one of those "Cannot do without" records. Produced by 80's uber producer Trevor Horn (who utilized session musicians including his Art of Noise bandmate Anne Dudley, legendary Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and members of Ian Dury's band, to augment the group's songs,) Welcome to the Pleasuredome was possibly the most hyped record in history, and damn, was it glorious! The double album's lead single, "Relax" (quite possibly the single song that best represents the 80's,) was banned by the BBC (songs about gay oral sex and the BBC don't mix well, after all. They have been known to ban songs for much, much less,) reached #1 in Britain, as did "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love," making Frankie Goes to Hollywood only the second band in UK chart history to reach #1 with their first three singles (Gerry and the Pacemakers being the first,) and the album hit #1 as well thanks to over 1 million advance sales. "Relax," "Two Tribes," and the epic 13+ minute title track (on which Howe performs the "Dark Side of the Mood" solo) were worth the price of admission by themselves, but a few cover songs, ranging from utterly brilliant (their version of the anti-war protest classic, "War," is how a cover song should be made,) to really nifty (Gerry and the Pacemakers' "Ferry Across the Mersey,") to simply fun ("Born to Run," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?") made this thing one boffo album. I've owned it on cassette, I've owned it on CD, and now, I own it on vinyl! Boffo, I say, boffo! (Info verified by Wikipedia)