Culture Club Album: “Culture [Box] [PA]”

At first hearing word of a Culture Club boxset I was immediately intrigued by hearing all the unreleased material that's been locked away in some record label's vault--not to mention the prospect of finally having all the 12" mixes that have yet to appear on compact disc (the complete "Gusto Blusto", "White Boy", "Don't Go Down That Street", "Heaven's Children"...) finally preserved on CD. Well, I was half correct in my assumptions: There is a sampling of demos (both earlier and later, and songs that have been unheard until now) but no 12" versions of those hayday Culture Club tracks. The demos are of particular interest, and are this collections most valuable inclusions, simply because they sound so solid. Familiar tracks like "I'm Afraid Of Me" and "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" sound like finished product in their less complex pre-studio steriod states. Ardent Club fans (myself included), however, may be a bit disappointed with the presence of so much Boy George solo material. Before the middle of Disc 2 George's solo material begins (not even beginning with Sold material, but with The Martyr Mantras material), seemingly having gotten the Culture Club requisites out of the way too soon. Sold is merely represented with a new mix of "Everything I Own", while the inferior High Hat--but still neglected--is given minor notice here with a new mix of "Kipsy". If such a sampling of George's solo recording was going to be on this compilation at all there could have been better and more obscure material chosen (his b-sides "I Pray" and "Use Me" come to mind). George has cleaned his solo vault twice in the past few years (The Unrecoupable... & U Can Never...), so almost half of this collection devoted to his material was simply unnecessary. I would have slapped down the price of another four disc collection if he were to release one of his own, rather than compromise this one. Besides, the inclusion of solo careers is a lopsided affair here, since Mikey Craig and Jon Moss (Heartbeat UK) both released records after Culture Club, as well. Where are those curiousities? Overlooked, also, is the often--and criminally--underrated From Luxury To Heartache album. No alternative versions, no demos, nor unrealeased tracks from those sessions? I also would have like to have heard the Peter Asher demos that are mentioned in George's autobio...but they're not included. In place of any of that we get yet another remix of "Love Hurts" and four versions of "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". Lacking also are this collection's liner notes. Other than producer credits there is no track annotation--and frustratingly so! Shots of Roy Hay, Mikey Craig, and Jon Moss make up less than half of the photos included (guess who makes up the rest?), and you'd be challenged to find the names of these bandmates listed in these resplendently photo-filled pages. Although, the singer's is listed under his innumerable quotes that are peppered throughout. After listening to the music, seeing all the photos, and reading all of the words, it's clear that this was an unbalanced event. While I've an ardent fan of the band's and of George's on his own, there were three guys who played behind him. I would have enjoyed this set much more had every track included been a Culture Club track. If you've been left wondering why these four guys had such a difficult time getting along, this mistakenly truncated Culture Club Boxset (for the sake of Boy George's solo career) and Disc 1 Track 19 are answer enough. As a collection, this is limited and disappointing.

I'm a big fan of culture club, but i found this box set a bit much to digest. after the second CD the box set looses it's luster. There is plenty of bitchy stuff in the booklet between the CDs. But none of the material give you no real insight to the box set or the music itself. In fact the first page tells you to by the book "Take it Like a Man, maybe then we'll understand the box set. well i read the book and it somewhat coincides with box set. although I'm a bit disapointed eyes of medusa was on the track list. But there are plus sides. Like all the demos tracks. Like Kissing 2 be clever. which almost sounds like Bow wow wow. There's also some stuff from thier latest album "don't mind if I do" which unfortunatly wasn't released in America and seemingly would be a just as good or even better then Colour By Numbers. In short this box set is great for the demos, but really lacks substance. It doesn't really give a full aspect of Culture Club. It's almost like a greatest hits album expaned four folds. obsessive culture club fans will find this box set heaven set. others lost after the second CD.

Okay, I'll admit it. I was a huge fan of Culture Club in the day. But for an "off-the-beaten-path" youth in the conservative American south at that time, how could I not be. What was my alternative? Journey? And Freddy Mercury's teeth were too big. The best way to disappoint my parents was to buy an album with a picture of a very mannish woman on the cover and play it over and over. Then when I found out HE could sing, well it was just a bonus. Sadly, as I slalom headfirst into middle age, this compilation is a good thing to have in my bright red roadster.

These songs take me right back to staying out past curfew, my first drunken adventures, and even some fun college remembrances, i'm still not ready to claim. The good news is that, even as dj's and producers have come into their own mixing some of our favorites of today, they have not forgotten to put their special touches to some of our old favorites, and they are all here.

In America we haven't really been able to keep up with Boy George's solo work, but for those of us who have, this compilation helps to fill in some of the gaps. I'm sorry to see a lack of a couple of Culture Club album titles, but I bet you won't even notice until you get to the end.

And if you need me, I'll be the middle-aged guy in the bright red roadster stopped at the green light, jamming, shaking my head, and looking for my lipstick.

Culture Club emerged at a time when the pop charts had become stale as moldy bread, and most of the more interesting of the new music coming out of England (and other places where aspiring young musicians picked up synthesizers instead of guitars) had a distinct gothic gloom that the average member of the record-buying public found to be cold at best (and alien at worst).

In such an atmosphere, Culture Club came across as sunny rather than cold, human rather than mechanistic, colorful rather than monochromatic, and emotional rather than distant. Even the moody "Do you really want to hurt me", which was most of the world's first real exposure to the band, came across as smooth and engaging.

Culture Club's emergence also coincided with a resurgence of interest in Motown, whose influences on Culture Club's music were quite obvious ("Church of the poison mind" blatantly lifts from Stevie Wonder's "Uptight", for example). And, similar to Motown, Culture Club's music appealed to a variety of people as it blurred some of the rigidly defined categories the music industry had thrown up around everything.

This box set reflects very little of that appeal. Half of the first disc consists of demos that, for the most part, aren't that interesting (though they are surprisingly polished for demos); half the second disc jumps several years ahead to Boy George solo material; and the remaining two disc are a horrid mishmash of solo material, reunion tracks, unlistenable remixes, and more demos.

The packaging is similarly awful. The track listings make no distinction between Culture Club tracks and Boy George tracks, so you're likely to be very confused about what is what on the later discs unless you have followed Boy George's solo and DJ careers very closely. And there is little in the way of liner notes to speak of; what little there is tells only Boy George's side of the story.

In any event, it seems clear that this is not really a Culture Club set, but a Boy George set. In that respect, this collection is clearly mislabeled. I'm surprised that Virgin were even willing to release the thing.

If you want an overview of Culture Club's brief career, I'd suggest sticking with either the Greatest Moments/VH-1 Storytellers disc, or the more recently released Greatest Hits collection. Just avoid this.

This CD & DVD made me so happy. I had a party and my friends and I all danced for hours! I had a lot of these songs during the 80's but on cassette tapes that haven't survived. This Album/DVD rules!