Liverpool is the second and final studio album by British band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in October 1986. Produced by Stephen Lipson and mixed by Trevor Horn, the album showcases a Pop rock sound in contrast to the synth dance tone found in its predecessor, Welcome to the Pleasuredome. The recording sessions would be marred by the radical change in musical direction creating tension within the band.
The album received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment compared to its predecessor, but it charted at number 5 in the United Kingdom and was a modest success in other countries. It would be supported by the lead single “Rage Hard”, a UK number 4 and number 1 in Germany. Liverpool would be the band's final album as lead singer Holly Johnson would leave the band followed by a flurry of lawsuits from ZTT.
Recording
Johnson was distant from the band during the sessions and was unhappy about the album's focus on rock over dance. Jill Sinclair, Horn's wife and one of the ZTT founders, later alleged that Johnson had been uncooperative and absent for most of the sessions. Johnson's distancing and disinterest came to the point that the band members concluded he was "finished and were in the market for a new singer". The session studio recordings were made in Ibiza, Holland and London.
Production
The album's production was handled by Trevor Horn's engineer Stephen Lipson, who urged the band to play their own instruments on this album (Horn having replaced many of the band's performances and arrangements with his session musicians or his own performances on Welcome to the Pleasuredome). According to Nash, the band was given contradicting information, with Horn considered as a producer or executive producer. The band was so much in debt that they had to sell at least a million copies to start earning "a penny". Frankie Goes to Hollywood have not released any more studio albums since Liverpool. The cover photo was different depending on what format was purchased (LP, cassette, or compact disc).
Release
The album was a commercial disappointment compared to the band's previous effort, though it charted generally high at No. 5 in the United Kingdom and Germany, No. 7 on the Austrian and Swiss music charts and No. 8 in Norway. It produced the top 5 single "Rage Hard" (No. 1 in Germany), top 20 single "Warriors of the Wasteland" and top 30 single "Watching the Wildlife". By March 1988, the album had sold around 800,000 copies.
Track listing
Personnel
;Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Holly Johnson – lead vocals
- Paul Rutherford – backing vocals
- Brian Nash – guitar
- Mark O'Toole – bass guitar
- Peter Gill – drums
Additional personnel
- Trevor Horn – executive producer
- Betsy Cook – backing vocals
- Barry Diament – mastering
- Stephen Lipson – guitar, keyboards, producer
- Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin – guitar
- Heff Moraes – assistant engineer
- Richard Niles – string arrangements, brass arrangement
- Andy Richards, Peter-John Vettese – keyboards
- Anton Corbijn – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Weekly chart performance for Liverpool
! scope="col"| Chart (1986)
! scope="col"| Peak<br>position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)
| 72
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 4
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
| 21
|-
! scope="row"| Icelandic Albums (Tónlist)
| 1
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 1986 year-end chart performance for Liverpool
! scope="col"| Chart (1986)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 92
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 92
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 1987 year-end chart performance for Liverpool
! scope="col"| Chart (1987)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 97
|-
! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 52
|}