Pop Music: Technology and Creativity - Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution by Timothy Warner

Author:Timothy Warner [Warner, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9781351774512
Google: arpHDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-01-18T04:40:39+00:00

The making of ‘Relax’

As well as providing excellent background information on ‘the Frankie phenomenon’ (Rogan, 1989, p. 395), A Bone in my Flute details the creative role played by Trevor Horn and his working practices.10 The genesis of the recording of ‘Relax’ appears to have been a long and surprisingly complex process involving four separate versions. Initially, Horn attempted to record the song with the musicians in Frankie Goes to Hollywood, however he ‘soon got tired of their playing and started to construct a rhythm track on his Fairlight’ (Johnson, 1995, p. 161). The second version of the song was played by Ian Dury’s Blockheads, a highly rated and extremely professional session band. The third ‘hybrid’ version was created using elements from the earlier recordings plus contributions from Andy Richards (keyboards and programming) and Steve Lipson (guitar). This too was finally scrapped. Eventually a fourth version was recorded which adopted ‘a new, machine-like electronic version of the backing track’ (ibid., p. 161). This was made with ‘the help of J.J. Jeczalic, Andy Richards on keyboards and Steve Lipson on guitar’ (ibid., p. 162). Johnson perceptively describes this final version as ‘a hybrid of the kind of disco records I had heard in the gay clubs, but with a significant rock edge to it’ (ibid., p. 162).

It should be evident from the account above that as a record producer Trevor Horn is extremely hard-working, highly determined and rather obsessive in the pursuit of his aesthetic goals. Also evident is the tenacity with which such a record producer investigates the potential of musical material. The recording studio not only offers the facilities to realize a recording, it also enables producer, engineer and musicians to go over the material again and again, until the ideal timbre, performance and context is found for each element. Inevitably a thorough understanding of the material develops and, as it develops, so the confidence of the creators in their artefact grows. It is a process that is both highly creative and fulfilling. In the case of Trevor Horn and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the production process was also highly expensive. It was the cost of producing the two albums which was to prove an important factor in the subsequent legal proceedings: the final recording costs for the first album totalled £394 000, while the second claimed a further £760 000, and these expenditures had a marked impact on the royalties the band subsequently received.

Johnson’s account of the recording of the follow up to ‘Relax’ confirms this aspect of Trevor Horn’s production techniques:

After ‘Relax’ had been such a huge hit, Trevor became very nervous, afraid that he would not be able to produce ‘Two Tribes’ to a sufficient standard to make it a hit. He was also scared that we might become just a one-hit wonder … Later Trevor cobbled together an electronically sequenced version of ‘Two Tribes’ that to my mind sounded fantastic. It wasn’t up to his standards however, and was scrapped. Another three-month process began in which Trevor and his team worked on ‘Two Tribes’ over and over again.

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