I never liked Frankie Goes To Hollywood, finding most of their music to be unlistenable and their over-the-top, in your face image and posturing to be off-putting.
The one exception to this was the ballad "Power Of Love", which I thought was tremendous, and contained some poetic lyrics. "I'll protect you from the Hooded Claw, keep the vampires from your door. When the chips are down, I'll be around with my death defying love for you. Envy will hurt itself".
Around the same time there were two other songs with the same title, but the one by the Frankies was a lot better than those by Huey Lewis and the News and Jennifer Rush !
When Frankie Goes To Hollywood split up and singer Holly Johnson went solo I didn't expect much. However, his first two singles, "Love Train" and "Americanos" were unexpectedly good, so much to my surprise I decided to get the album. Probably after it had reached number 1 in the album charts !
My memory is that whilst there were a couple of Frankie Goes To Hollywood style songs I didn't like, overall I enjoyed what a thought to be a collection of mostly catchy pop songs.
Looking at the track listing now, I can only remember three of the four singles, with "Atomic City" completely erased from memory, apart from that I didn't like it........
The opening track "Atomic City" is over 6 minutes long and is overblown Frankie Goes To Hollywood disco/dance pop. Co-written with Dan Hartman of "Instant Replay" fame, it is the only song not solely written by Johnson. There are lots of synths, horns, funky bass and Johnson's trademark haw hawww vocals. "We've got no ozone, we got radiation. See the air pollution from the power station". I still don't like it.
In contrast, "Heaven's Here" is a jaunty, toe-tapping pop song, with a soft vocal and a glorious uplifting chorus. It's a fantastic song and should have been a huge hit, but wasn't. The fade out is a little annoying as the song deserves a big finish !
"Americanos" is a fantastic, happy singalong number, but underneath it is a critique of the American way of life. There are jazzy bouncing horns, sax, girly backing vocals and so many great lyrics "There's a place where a kid without a cent he can grow up to be president", "Americanos, blue jeans and chinos, Coke, Pepsi and Oreos, "Satellite stations across the nation, that's cable TV for you and me", and "Everything's organized from crime to leisure time", with "leisure" sung in an American accent for emphasis !
"Deep In Love" has a funky bass and brass, with a catchy melody for the chorus. It is perhaps the best of the non-single tracks.
"S.U.C.C.E.S.S" has a few notes of Beethoven's 12th at the start before becoming a fairly bland disco dance pop number.
"Love Train" is another song with an uplifting melody, a great vocal and ooh ooh ooh backing vocals. The guitar solo is played by Brian May. The line "you're a work of art, you're a Trevi Fountain" was educational as I had never heard of the Trevi Fountain before, so I made a point of seeing it when I eventually got to visit Rome. The promotional video for "Love Train" clearly inspired The Smashing Pumpkins.
"Got It Made" starts with some standard electro synth pop beat but the verse has a decent melody, and there is a short guitar solo. "We've got it made, we've got it, straight from the hands of the Marquis de Sade"
"Love Will Come" is a slower number. Again, there is a bold brass intro but the verse is musically fairly sparse with a liquid bass and drums to the fore, but the brass returns for the rising chorus. The guitar break could have come from New Order circa mid 1980s, but overall the song is more in the style of ABC.
There is more brass on the 1980s "Perfume" which is reminiscent of Prince, especially with some of the vocals, but it is the weakest track on "Blast".
"Feel Good" has gentle swirling synths to begin with before becoming a slow ballad. The instrumental break could be from The Cure. It is quite nice but without being anything truely memorable.
I had forgotten just how good "Heaven's Here" was and "Americano" and "Love Train" remain classics. I also liked "Feel Good", "Deep In Love", "Got It Made" and "Love Will Come", leaving just three tracks I wouldn't be bothered about never hearing again.
So overall, "Blast" is a pretty decent album.
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Atomic City
2. Heaven's Here
3. Americanos
4. Deep In Love
5. S.U.C.C.E.S.S
1. Love Train
2. Got It Made
3. Love Will Come
4. Perfume
5. Feel Good
Released 1989
UK Chart Position : 1
Singles :
Love Train ( No 4 - 1989 )
Americanos ( No 4 - 1989 )
Atomic City ( No 18 - 1989 )
Heaven's Here ( No 62 - 1989 )
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