Saturday Deluxe / 1 November 2025

Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Welcome to the Pleasuredome playback event

The Frankie Goes To Hollywood Welcome to the Pleasuredome reissue was released yesterday (apart from the SDE exclusive blu-ray, which is unfortunately slightly delayed) and to mark this occasion a special Dolby Atmos playback event took place at L Acoustics in North London on Wednesday evening.

A selection of tracks were played (‘Welcome to the Pleasure Dome’, ‘Relax’, ‘Two Tribes’, ‘Born to Run’ and ‘The Power of Love’) and amongst the small audience was two members of the band: drummer Peter ‘Ped’ Gill and frontman Holly Johnson. Steven Wilson, who created the Atmos Mix, was also in attendance, and I was there were the rest of the team who put this box set together, including designer Philip Marshall.

The room was dressed with lots of rare and original Frankie memorabilia (mostly on a big table) from the collection of super-fan Mark Ward (R.I.P) and Holly and Ped spent some time looking through it.

Both men seemed to thoroughly enjoy the Atmos Mix and we were lucky enough to spend a few hours with them in the pub, afterwards! A memorable evening, for sure.

The SDE exclusive blu-ray of Welcome to the Pleasuredome is expected to ship around the middle of this month. As well as the Dolby Atmos Mix, 5.1 Mix, New Stereo Mix and the original mix, it contains exclusive instrumental versions of the album and the bonus tracks (in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo) and an exclusive 30-minute remix (called ‘Supernova’) of Welcome to the Pleasure Dome by Steven Wilson.

Because it was supposed to be released yesterday, we have put the blu-ray back on sale and you can order only via the SDE shop, using this link or the button below.

New Terence Trent D’Arby box set

Sananda Maitreya (the artist formerly known as Terence Trent D’Arby) is on tour in the UK at the moment and he recently revealed, in an interview with the UK’s Daily Telegraph, that he has made up with his former record label Sony and that the label will be releasing a box set of the four albums he recorded for them over 30 years ago: Introducing The Hardline (1987), Neither Fish Nor Flesh (1989), Symphony Or Damn (1993) and Vibrator (1995).

The box set will apparently be called Juvenilia and Maitreya has written sleeve notes for each album. According to the article, this is supposed to be coming out in December, although that seems a little unlikely, given that it’s now already November and this box set release hasn’t been officially announced yet. It could happen, but early next year feels more realistic.

No more details yet, in terms of remastering, bonus tracks etc.

The Who / Who Are You playback event

There were many great new releases this week, so there was lots going on! On Thursday, I headed to Dolby HQ in the West End of London to hear The Who’s 1978 album Who Are You in Dolby Atmos (the same night Pulp were marking the reissue of Different Class at Rio Cinema in Hackney).

As with Frankie, Who Are You is available as an SDE exclusive blu-ray (#48 in the SDE Surround Series) and also like Frankie the blu-ray contains exclusive content (an instrumental version of the album). Steven Wilson has created the immersive audio mix.

No band members graced us with their presence this time, however broadcaster Matt Everitt hosted an interesting Q&A afterwards with people who have worked with the Who for many decades and offered some real insight into the making of the album and what was happening with the band during this period. These included Jon Astley, who produced the album with The Who once Glyn Johns stepped away from the project, designer Richard Evans who has worked with the band for almost 50 years (and has designed the new box set) and writer and Who expert Matt Kent. Insight into the Atmos Mixing process was offered by Steven Wilson.

Who Are You sounded amazing in the Dolby Theatre and it was a very interesting evening. The blu-ray was released yesterday, and the remaining stock is selling fast. If you don’t have a copy yet, now is the time (Elton John’s Captain Fantastic… which was issued a week earlier is now sold out). Order The Who exclusively via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.

Win a pair of tickets to a Split Enz Second Thoughts playback event

While on the subject of Dolby Atmos playback events, we have five pairs of tickets a Split Enz Second Thoughts Atmos playback event to give away!

The event is at Dolby HQ in Central London (Soho Square) at 6.30pm on 13 November 2025. I will be there and there’s an introduction from the album producer, and Roxy Music legend, Phil Manzanera.

If you can definitely make it along, then leave a comment which includes the words SPLIT ENZ PLAYBACK below. I’ll pick five winners at Noon on Friday 7 November and be in touch. Look forward to seeing you there!