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Relax

I caught Frankie Goes to Hollywood's debut TV appearance when a performance of 'Relax' was aired on The Tube in February 1983. I was impressed by the song, and meanwhile conscious of its being daringly risqué for early evening viewing. After it had been reworked and polished up by Trevor Horn et al, it sailed to No. 1 despite a temporary ban by the BBC.

I found my copy of it in a Swedish junk-shop about twenty years later. Thanks to Discogs I know it's a 3rd press UK version of the 12" single on which the A side is misidentified as the 'Sex Mix' rather than the so-called 'New York Mix' it really is. The 12" single was issued in a money-grabbing plethora of versions with a variety of sleeve designs, this one being known as the "Two Bodies" sleeve.

On the B-Side are the band's version of Gerry & The Pacemakers' 'Ferry Across the Mersey' along with the original version of 'Relax'. One hopes drugs were involved in the composition of the pretentious sleeve-notes: I wouldn't like to think they were the product of a sober mind.

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