Month: October 2022

Seal was already in the charts with a song called “Killer” which featured his vocals in a song by Adamski, so it was unusual that he chose to do his first self-titled album with Trevor Horn and not one of the major record labels that was talking to him at the time. From Trevor Horn’s “Adventures in Modern Recording” we see that it was his wife Jill Horn that was Seal’s advocate in the partnership, “I’m sending Seal in to meet you. You’re gonna love him.” (Horn, 2022). Trevor Horn on the other hand was non-committal, when speaking about the demo of ‘Crazy’, “Although I liked the lyrics, especially the chorus, I couldn’t really tell whether Seal was a good singer, not least because somebody had seen fit to put his voice through a phaser.” Seal’s manager was also against the idea of Seal signing on to ZTT, “Seal’s then-manager had reservations about me [Horn] producing ‘Crazy’ and told Seal that if I got my mitts on his music I’d bland it out.”  However, part of the deal with ZTT was that ‘Crazy’ would be produced by Guy Sigsworth at Beethoven Street Studios in west London. This in the end did not happen and the track that achieved top 10 in 16 countries was eventually produced by Horn.

The album starts with the track “The Beginning”, a funky and lively track with elements of disco, clean guitars, programmed drums, sampled muted horns, and a driving syncopated bass. The chorus, while repetitive, is delivered so skilfully by Seal, “(“Music takes you round and round and round and round and rou-ound/Hold on to the love”) doesn’t look like much on paper, but the way he delivers it is thrilling: working away at each repeated syllable like a carpenter lovingly sanding down a bevelled edge.” (Sherburne, 2021) The drum and bass guitar break feature percussive elements that makes way for a key change (to the relative minor) creating interest before moving to a sparsely instrumented outro with just acoustic guitar and Seal.

“Deep Water” follows with an intro with simple percussion and acoustic guitar before slide guitar starts. This track has a more plaintive feel in keeping with the lyrics. Horn has treated this track with a light touch that does not feel all that pop at the start and then morphs towards the middle of the track into something much funkier like, “Moments like the interstitial passage at the midway point of “Deep Water” hint at paths the record could have taken, the ambient remix album that exists in an alternate universe,” (Sherburne, 2021).

The next track “Crazy” as mentioned earlier was meant to be produced by Guy Sigsworth as part of the deal with ZTT. The final version was produced by Horn and took two months to produce, “When we made the first Seal album, we spent two months doing Crazy – and then about two months on the whole album. Crazy wasn’t an easy record to make, because we were aiming high,” (Lindvall, 2014). The start of the song with ethereal synths opens to a swelling organ sound after an orchestral hit which could only be from a Fairlight CMI. The drums and bass cut in before the first verse. It is a very dense production with guitars, multi-tracked vocals, what sounds like cut up and retracked drums. The use of wah on the guitar also creates a lot of interest in the main break.

Moving past “Killer” as this was produced by Adamski, to “Whirlpool” which I think really shows Seal’s skill as a vocalist. Bluesy, yet restrained accompaniment really lets Seal’s voice shine. He is accompanied by two vocalists (Wendy & Lisa from Prince & the Revolution) towards the end of the track that Horn loved “They said they had an idea for a vocal at the end, and the three of them went out and it was fucking great.” (Pop, 2020).

“Future Love Paradise” was “was originally recorded with two tracks of MIDI, one track of audio straight into Studio Vision — the drums were MIDI drums, and a keyboard and Seal’s vocals. That’s how we started and we built it all on top of that.” (Peel, 2005). This marks a change in recording technology from 24 track analogue tape to fully digital. Horn remarks in his book that this makes arrangement easier, “I’d got some new software, SoundTools, that allowed me to load a digital mix into my computer that I could edit myself. Up to that point, the only way that you could ever edit audio was on tape. You marked it with chalk, cut it with a razor blade. This stuff was a revolution and meant I could really attend to the main thing that I had decided was wrong with ‘Crazy’, which was the arrangement.” (Horn 2022). 

This change in working practices from tape to fully digital is also referenced in ‘Pop Music – Technology and Creativity’, “This transition to digital technology has not only brought about a revolution in working practices but has also played an important role in determining how pop music as an art form has evolved in the past 25 years. This is because digital technology has not merely improved sound quality but has fundamentally altered the ways in which musical gestures are created, manipulated and interact with one another.” (Warner, 2017). These changes in workflow can have a dramatic affect on the ability for artists to explore musical ideas and arrangements with relative ease, “Once as sound has been digitally recorded it can be manipulated in a wide variety of ways within a digital editing programme, and these manipulations are non-destructive. As a result, pop musicians can extensively explore the musical potential of recorded sounds without ever losing the original recording… it is the creative imagination of the pop musician that becomes the determining factor in pop music production, rather than any physical limitations.” (Werner, 2017).

Track listing:

All lyrics and music written by Seal, except where noted:

1. “The Beginning” (Seal, Guy Sigsworth) – 5:40
2. “Deep Water” – 5:56
3. “Crazy” (Seal, Sigsworth) – 4:47 or 5:57
4. “Killer” (Adam Tinley, Seal) – 6:22
5. “Whirlpool” – 3:56 or 3:51
6. “Future Love Paradise” – 4:20
7. “Wild” (Seal, Sigsworth) – 5:19 or 5:28
8. “Show Me” – 5:59
9. “Violet” (Seal, Sigsworth) – 8:06 or 8:31

Production:

• Seal – vocals
• Richard Cottle, Mars Lasar, Mark Mancina, Jamie Muhoberac, Guy Sigsworth – keyboards/sampling
• Gus Isidore, Randall Jacobs, Chester Kamen, Trevor Rabin, Kenji Suzuki, Bruce Woolley – guitars
• Chrissy Shefts – all guitars (“Crazy”)
• Trevor Horn, Steve Pearce, Doug Wimbish – bass guitar
• Curt Bisquera, Denny Fongheiser, John Robinson, Keith LeBlanc – drums
• Paulinho da Costa, Andy Duncan, Luís Jardim – percussion
• Gary Maughan – Fairlight CMI
• Gota Yashiki – drums, percussion, bass guitar
• Ian Morrow – keyboard and drum programming
• Maria Vidal – backing vocals
• Robin Hancock – programming
• Anne Dudley – string arrangements

References

Horn, T. (2022) “’Crazy’, Seal (1990)” in Adventures in Modern Recording. London, UK: BONNIER BOOKS LTD, pp. 272–283. 

Lindvall, H. (2014) Trevor Horn: ‘I had delusions the label would be a hub of creativity’, The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/feb/13/trevor-horn-video-killed-the-radio-star-ztt (Accessed: October 31, 2022). 

Peel, I. (2005) Trevor Horn – 25 Years Of Hits. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/trevor-horn (Accessed: October 31, 2022). 

Pop, C. (2020) My life in vinyl: Trevor Horn, Classic Pop Magazine. Available at: https://www.classicpopmag.com/2019/10/my-life-in-vinyl-trevor-horn/ (Accessed: October 31, 2022). 

Sherburne, P. (2021) Seal: Seal, Pitchfork. Available at: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/seal-seal/ (Accessed: October 31, 2022). 

Warner, T. (2017) in Pop music: Technology and creativity: Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution. London, UK: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 20–22. 

The 1980s have been said to be the pinnacle of pop music. But for one part of society 1984 was the beginning of a cultural revolution that would change society. I am going to look at ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (FGTH), the story of how it became a hit, and how it helped to usher in a willingness by public figures in the music industry to come out of the closet. The willingness of these performers has had a significant positive impact on the general public’s attitude to homosexuality even at the time the AIDS epidemic was just beginning. And while this was happening Holly Johnson (lead singer) and Paul Rutherford (backing singer) were openly gay in contrast to many others (except Bronski Beat) within the music industry at the time. 

You cannot bring up Relax without also talking about it being banned by the BBC. Here I will look at the positive impact of the ban and how, as Oscar Wilde once said, ‘There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.’ 

Also central to this is the story is Trevor Horn, the producer on Relax, and the co-owner of ZTT records. It was his vision and production that created a track that was reported to have sold over two million copies in the UK alone. Paul Morley, co-owner of ZTT, who handled the marketing and promotion of the single, was also key to its success. He was one of the first in the industry to combine marketing with merchandising in a way that filtered into the visual vernacular in such a way that ‘Frankie Say Relax’ t-shirts are still used as a shortcut in film and TV to elicit the 80s. 

I will also go into the technologies used on the track. This part will be focused on 1984 as a time that included digital technologies, including the Fairlight CMI, but was still a largely analogue process.  

For me this track still stands up as an example of incredible production (while maybe not from a song writing point of view) that while timeless, that sits larger than life in my memory of growing up in the 80s. 

Bibliography to use for the proposal

Black, J. (1999) The Making of Relax, The making of Relax | Articles | Zang Tuum Tumb and all that. Q Magazine. Available at: https://www.zttaat.com/article.php?title=110 (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Buskin, R. (2021) Frankie goes to hollywood ‘relax’: Classic Tracks, Frankie Goes To Hollywood ‘Relax’ | Classic Tracks. Sound on Sound. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/frankie-goes-hollywood-relax-classic-tracks (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Clews, C. (2017). Gay in the 80s: From Fighting for Our Rights to Fighting for Our Lives. United Kingdom: Matador. 

Electronic Cafe (2022) JJ Jeczalik: Interview 2022 (part 1) – ZTT fairlight pioneer, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NY2dm6Xags (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Gilbert, B. (2021) How we made: Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Available at: https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/02/how-we-made-relax-by-frankie-goes-to-hollywood-sex-mix-gay-clubs (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Horn, T. (2022) “’Relax’/’Two Tribes’, Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1983/1984),” in Adventures in modern recording. London, UK: BONNIER BOOKS LTD, pp. 166–205.  

Lacedelli, S. (2021) The Fairlight CMI: The secret composer of the music you love, National Science and Media Museum blog. Available at: https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/fairlight-cmi-playlist/ (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

London Recordings (2018) Bronski beat – smalltown boy (official video), YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/88sARuFu-tc (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Nord (2014) Fairlight history, Nord Keyboards. Nord. Available at: https://www.nordkeyboards.com/sound-libraries/nord-sample-library-archive/fairlight-history (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Park, A. and Rhead, R. (2018) British Social Attitudes: Homosexuality, NatCen. Available at: https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-30/personal-relationships/homosexuality.aspx (Accessed: October 25, 2022).  

Rooks, S. and Bourne, S. (2019) LGBTQ+ timeline, BBC 100. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/lgbtq/lgbtq-timeline#the1980sthatkiss (Accessed: October 25, 2022).  

Storm, R. (2021) The story of ‘relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, YouTube. Hits of the 80s, Channel 5. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgksUyHeqlU (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

Warner, T. (2003) “’Relax’ by Frankie Goes to Hollywood,” in Pop music- technology and creativity. London, UK: Ashgate, pp. 75–90.  

Wexelbaum, R. (no date) Music of the AIDS epidemic 1977, Rachel Wexelbaum’s files. Available at: https://stcloud.lib.minnstate.edu/assets/users/_rswexelbaum/MusicoftheAIDSEpidemic.pdf (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

zttrecords (2007) Frankie goes to hollywood – relax (ZTAS 1), YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN2tHv8gPm8 (Accessed: October 23, 2022).  

After the end of World War 2 (2 September 1945) the technological advances that were invented to help the allies win the war were being re-developed for more general use. For instance, the microwave was first patented 8 October 1945. The first electronic computer, ENIAC, was completed in 1945 (10 December 1945), quickly followed by EDSAC in 1949. It was the invention of the transistor in 1947 at Bell Laboratories that heralded the dawn of the electronic age. These advances would not have happened so quickly without the spending on research because of the war.

Socially it was also a time of incredible change as there was a widescale challenge and subsequent breakdown on accepted beliefs and values, including the birth of rock and roll. There was also a boom in the economy that started in the 1950s called the ‘golden age’¹ that helped changed the lives of many in western society.

---

‘It is necessary to destroy music’

Pierre Henry

---

Pierre Henry was “was classically trained, studying at the famous Conservatoire in Paris under Olivier Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger”¹ until 1949 when he started working with Pierre Schaeffer at the Club d’Essai². Together their work, along with their collaborators, created ‘Musique Concrete’ which has influenced music in a fundamental way ever since. It’s use of recording, editing, and manipulation of sound is the basis for much of music production today.

It is interesting to hear how Henry and Schaeffer worked. For instance: “Two tendencies were developing: non-contradictory and complementary in a certain way. The first tendency is to build a complex machine that will simplify the operations and permit a more regular and controlled result…The second tendency consists of developing through practice a specific skill in a technique … the arrival of Pierre Henry to the studio in 1949 brought a person who would develop extensive and new skills in the manipulation of accidents, and be very inventive in the compositional process”³.  Also, from this quote from Henry in 1997 to the question “Do you find it necessary to be open to chance in your work?”, his response was: “It’s as important as fate. Without fate, without any deviation… drifting is necessary once in a while. I often play everything together and then listen. Sometimes a strange phenomenon occurs.”⁴ This chaotic way of exploration lead to works that reinforce his believe that “it is necessary to destroy music.”⁵

---

“I believe that the tape recorder is the best instrument for the composer who really wants to create by ear for the ear.”

Pierre Henry

---

I can see that Henry was driven to produce works with the machines as given, regardless of the complexity of the instrumentation, or quirks involved with their use, in fact the quirks would help with composition of the work, while Schaeffer seemed more likely to want to iterate on the machines to make them more controllable. This can be seen in the development of the Phonogene.

There were three versions of the Phonogene created. The first one was chromatic and controlled by a one-octave keyboard and utilised 12 reading heads that played tape loops. The second Phonogene allowed the musician to move a control rod that changed the speed on the motor of the tape allowing for tonal variation. An example of this version of the Phonogene can be heard in Voile d’Orphee by Pierre Henry (1953), “where a very long glissando appears that symbolises the tearing of the veil by Orpheus when entering hell”⁶. This led to the final version of the Phonogene, called the universal Phonogene⁷, which allowed for pitch transposition without altering the duration of the sound and vice-versa.

I couldn’t find a good place for this, but I had to include it, thanks Pierre Henry for giving Christopher Tyng the inspiration for the Futurama theme:

https://youtu.be/bcbrVLuWHRo

1. Toniolo, G., (1998) The Economic History Review New Series, Vol. 51, No. 2, pp. 252-267 (16 pages)
2. Williamson, M., (2017) ‘Pierre Henry: Composer of musique concrete’, Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pierre-henry-composer-of-musique-concrete-a7838681.html (Accessed: 17 October 2022). 
3. Teruggi, D., (2007) ‘Technology and musique concrete: the technical developments of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales and their implication in musical composition’, Organised Sound. 12(3), pp. 216
4. Lee, I (1997) ‘Pierre Henry’, Available at: http://www.furious.com/perfect/pierrehenry.html (Accessed: 17 October 2022)
5. ‘It is necessary to destroy music’. The avant-garde works of Pierre Henry, (2017), Available at: https://www.voert.digital/it-is-necessary-to-destroy-music-pierre-henry-avante-garde-genius (Accessed: 17 October 2022)
6. Teruggi, D., (2007) ‘Technology and musique concrete: the technical developments of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales and their implication in musical composition’, Organised Sound. 12(3), pp. 217
7. ‘The ‘Groupe de Recherches Musicales’ Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry & Jacques Poullin, France 1951’,(2014) Available at: https://120years.net/wordpress/the-grm-group-and-rtf-electronic-music-studio-pierre-schaeffer-jacques-poullin-france-1951/ (Accessed: 17 October 2022).