lambchops's Full Review: At Worst...The Best of Boy George and Culture Club...
Pop music!
Oh yeah, that’s what Culture Club and Boy George did best in the 1980’s. Their flashy style and infectiously danceable lyrics led directly to the band’s success.
The figurehead of Culture Club was undoubtedly the flamboyant Boy George. His makeup, strange hairdos, and skirts got the band looked at. But, songs like the now classic ”Karma Chameleon” and ”I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” got them listened to by critics and fans alike. I would never call these Brits musical geniuses, but I will go so far as to say that their music and iconography helped to define an era of music.
Culture Club was formed in 1981 in London, England. The foursome (Boy George (vocals), Mickey Craig (bass), Roy Hay (guitar), and Jon Moss (drums) stuck together for just five years before disbanding in 1986 in the wake of serious drug problems from Boy George and various other tensions within the confines of the band. Two of their albums are probably the most obvious classics. 1982’s Kissing to Be Clever and 1983’s Colour By Numbers both spawned multiple hit singles.
At Worst…the Best Of Boy George and Culture Club was released by Virgin Records in 1993. It features a nearly overwhelming nineteen tracks ranging from the classics to more obscure examples from both the band and Boy George as a solo artist. With such an expansive number of tracks, this album has some very obvious low points. Most of these come as a result of Boy George’s hit-and-miss solo career. In fact, just ten of these nineteen tracks are from Culture Club. The rest are solo songs from the But, as a whole, this is the only Culture Club album necessary to complete a CD collection.
For pure soul-pop fun, I will refer listeners to ”Karma Chameleon”, ”Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and ”I’ll Tumble 4 Ya”. These three songs are what people specifically think of when they hear the words Culture Club. For truly inspired musicianship, look no further than the second track ”Time (Clock of the Heart”. Sure, it sounds a bit like Muzak, but it shows the crooning talent of Boy George.
The one and only song from Boy George: The Solo Artist is the title track from the gender-bending (and for that matter strange) film, The Crying Game. The song is soft and magical and tender all at the same time. George sounds like an alterna-god. Personally, I would have purchased this album for this song alone. The 1980’s kitsch included thanks to all the Culture Club tracks is a welcome bonus. All the other Boy George tracks are less than stellar examples of music.
I want to say that this is an awesome album. Alas, that is not and cannot be the case. These songs are on the whole just great examples of what music was fifteen years ago. As a listener, if you enjoy 80’s music then this could be a very important album for your collection. If Culture Club is a guilty release or pleasure than you may also enjoy the album. On the other hand, if you crave real guitars and drums than you may not want to pick this up. Most of the ‘music’ on this compilation is created with the aid of synthesizers. And, as we all know, synthesizers can get old really quickly.
As a whole, I give this album 3/5 stars. As I already mentioned, I love ”The Crying Game”. Besides that, the songs translate as simple ear candy. Not that that’s all bad…
Track Listing:
1. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me
2. Time (Clock Of The Heart)
3. Church Of The Poison Mind
4. Karma Chameleon
5. Victims
6. I'll Tumble 4 Ya
7. It's A Miracle
8. Miss Me Blind
9. Move Away
10. Love Is Love
11. Love Hurts
12. Everything I Own
13. Don't Cry
14. After The Love
15. More Than Likely - (with Boy George)
16. Crying Game, The
17. Generations Of Love - (La La Gone Gaga mix)
18. Bow Down Mister - (a small portion 2B polite mix)
19. Sweet Toxic Love - (deliverance mix)
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