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'The Power Of Love' was Frankie Goes To Hollywood's third consecutive No. 1 track in December 1984... Remixed by Rob Searle for the year 2000,the track is back in the chart with a club-flavour and a legion of new fans of this classic track.Once in a while, an entry on this inherently retro blog becomes coincidentally topical, and here's one such case. It happens that the original mix of the song was Number One 28 years ago this week, but moreover it's become an example of the modern phenomenon that is the recurrent Christmas song - it's in the second string of the established small group of songs people seem determined to buy every November and December and this week a cover version is a serious contender for the top position as well. What makes this an unusual entry into that canon is that the song itself never sounded very Christmassy. The lyrics aren't at all festive (if anything they'd suit Halloween better) and the production lacks sleigh bells or other obvious signifiers. The recognition of this as a Christmas song seems to derive entirely from the video to the original release, which is probably also why the 1993 re-issue (promoting the same best-of album that brought 'Relax' onto Now 26) was at the same time of year. Holly Johnson even released a solo cover version of the song for Christmas 1999, though without troubling the Top 50.
As somebody unconvinced that this was ever a Christmas song at all, I sometimes feel like reminding people that this third chart run for the song was at the height of summer, with a new video and a remix aimed at promoting the group's second hits compilation. It's rather a neat moment in Now! history as this song was the only Frankie chart-topper not to appear in the series first (or second) time around, although I can't share the same enthusiasm for the remix itself, which is at best samey.
Also appearing on: Now 2, 3, 26
Available on: Maximum Joy
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