Overview
The album was produced by Mike Thorne; the recording sessions took place in London and New York City. The first single, "Smalltown Boy", was recorded at The Garden studio (owned by former Ultravox singer John Foxx) and mixed at Maison Rouge studio, both of them based in London. It was released in June 1984, peaked at number 3 in the UK singles pop charts and is a poetically poignant, soul searching composition addressing homophobia, loneliness and family misunderstanding. It is accompanied by a video of Jimmy Somerville with fellow band member friends Larry Steinbachek and Steve Bronski who, while cruising at a public swimming pool and changing room, are attacked and beaten up by a gang of homophobes. Somerville is returned to his family by the police; he leaves home alone and has a reunion with friends Steinbachek and Bronski, travelling to a new life on a train.
The band had the telephone number of the London Gay Switchboard (telephone support and information for gays and lesbians in central London) etched into the inner groove of the 12" vinyl version.
Additional congas were played by John Folarin. Sleeve cover art was by Gill Whisson.
The follow-up single "Why?" (recorded at RPM Studios, NYC and mixed at Townhouse Studio, London) pursued a more energetic musical formula, while the lyrics focussed more centrally and darkly on anti-gay prejudice. The song opened with and featured a questioning vocal by Somerville and the shattering of breaking glass, emulating the character Oskar in Günter Grass's The Tin Drum. In the novel and film, Oskar screams at an extremely high pitch when he is in danger of not getting his own way, shattering any glass objects in the vicinity. The single made the top 5 in the UK.
The promotional video opens with Steinbachek and Bronski buying artificial bombs and a small statue of Michelangelo's David in a mad supermarket. At the checkout, because they are openly gay, the assistant telephones the management to enquire whether they can pay for the items. They are refused. Meanwhile, Jimmy is singing behind a counter of sausages and salamis and, seeing the dilemma in progress, starts complaining to the checkout girl. All three are arrested by "the thought police" and made to appear for trial before a puppet court and senile judge (Jimmy's father in "Smalltown Boy") The band members are sent to a workhouse. From the workhouse Jimmy rises up into the air and confronts "God". The workers revolt, and strip the thought police of authority and clothing. The band members are placed on pedestals, before "God" transforms all three of them into statues of salt for their alleged sins.
Ironically, the thought-police actors who arrest the trio are the swimmer / homophobic gang-leader from the "Smalltown Boy" video and "Martin", a friend of the band whose situation in a gay relationship with a younger man actually inspired the lyrical content of the song. The video extras were mostly friends of the band; they went on strike during the video shoot, due to the excess labour endured by them in the production.
The "Smalltown Boy" and "Why?" videos were directed by Bernard Rose, who also directed the videos for Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" and "Two Tribes".
The song is dedicated to the memory of playwright Drew Griffiths, victim of a homophobic murder in 1984.
The sleeve cover art was by Robert McAulay.
The third single "It Ain't Necessarily So", the George and Ira Gershwin/ DuBose Heyward song (from the opera Porgy and Bess) in which the authenticity of Biblical tales is questioned, reached the UK Top 20. The track featured Arno Hecht from The Uptown Horns on solo clarinet and the openly gay male choir from London, The Pink Singers. It was recorded at The Garden studio, London and Skyline Studios, NYC
The promotional video featured Jimmy and Larry as inmates in a borstal with Jimmy and "Martin" (the "thought police" actor from "Why?") having a Christmas pie-eating competition which takes place during the Christmas religious service, which Jimmy, of course, wins. Steve plays a closeted prison warden who has a keen eye for one of the other prisoners.
The cover sleeve art was a parody of The Wizard Of Oz with Dorothy having the head of the devil.
A further single was released - a medley of "I Feel Love / Johnny Remember Me / Love To Love You Baby" that was a re-recording of the same track on the album. It featured former "Soft Cell" singer Marc Almond sharing vocals with Jimmy Sommerville, and reached the UK top 5. The choir was "The Pink Singers"; cellos were played by Beverly Lauridsen, Jesse Levy and Mark Shuman.
Sleeve cover art was by Gill Whisson.
The song "Heatwave" features the tap dancing rhythms of Caroline O'Connor.
The album ranked #12 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1985" .
The inner sleeve of the album contains the different international ages of consent for males to engage in gay sex, but this was removed from the United States release of the album by MCA Records after sales and radio play were reportedly lower than anticipated because of this little known information.
Read more about this topic: The Age Of Consent