Don't Mind If I Do

Obviously if anyone pays any attention to my "CD Spins" in the sidebar, I've been heavily into my Culture Club/Boy George stuff of late. I'm not sure whether Boy George and Culture Club are a "guilty" pleasure or just a surprising (to others, anyway) pleasure, but it's no secret to those who personally know me that I've always enjoyed Boy George's music both with and without the Club (except for 1989's dreadful "High Hat" though I have it for complete-ist purposes). And I've always found him personally fascinating and mesmerizing to watch when performing or just appearing on talk shows.

There are countless musical acts that put forth some weird act or have that all-pervasive brooding angst look and they almost always give me the impression that their personas are all part of their show, a charade. I never got that impression with Boy George who always struck me as being genuinely the "kamikaze queer" (his own phrase from the song "Same Thing In Reverse") that he proudly is.

But putting all that aside—his look and his sexual orientation—I just think he has made some tremendous music over the years. I also think he has significantly developed musically as well and he's always delved into a multitude of musical styles. Culture Club tunes weren't all great works by any means, but even those that weren't often at least had a unique bouncy, pleasing pop sound in my opinion.

Now you may have absolutely hated Boy George and Culture Club (or perhaps just won't admit liking them now anyway), but I want to ask anyone reading this to put aside any preconceptions of you may have as I tell you that I highly, highly (!) recommend the 1999 reunion album Don't Mind If I Do. It was never released here in the states and I have no idea know why. (I found it back around 2000 in a unique record/CD store as a $27 import item and have never seen it anywhere again since.) There isn't anything even approaching a bad song among the fifteen tracks and I could listen to it over and over.

I liken Don't Mind If I Do to Steely Dan's Grammy® winning Two Against Nature (2000) when it comes to "reunion" albums. They share the stellar production values of a typical Steely Dan record. And like Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, Culture Club's reunion album was far from a hit. Perhaps it's the obvious "baggage" that comes with the Boy George association in this still fairly new millennium, but I think if folks really listened and gave it a chance this one would have won significant music awards and been a huge popular hit besides. It's Culture Club's most musically mature and overall consistently listenable album in my opinion.

But hey, no one has to try it if they don't want to—I'm just sayin'... But please don't take this recommendation as merely that of a big fan. While I'm obviously (and maybe disturbingly) heavily into BG & CC, I honestly believe that many folks (especially in Steely Dan circles) would enjoy Don't Mind If I Do if they could just A) find it, and B) give it a decent chance.
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In other personal BG & CC news, I've been working on merging the unique tracks of two collections (At Worst, The Best Of Boy George And Culture Club and 12" Mixes Plus) and the result is Culture Club and/or Boy George—Leftovers. I credit it to Culture Club and/or Boy George because let's face it—no one's more "and/or" than Boy George! I also have a CD single of "Same Thing In Reverse" with four alternate mixes of the song, so I threw those on there as well. The merged collection is divided onto two discs, the first one containing Culture Club stuff, the second Boy George's solo stuff. I also interspersed some odd short spoken bits just because I like'em and they were relevant having come from BG & CC sources.

By the way, the song "Same Thing In Reverse" (in it's superb "Country Queen Dance Mix" form) comes from George's 1995 Cheapness And Beauty, another one of my all-time favorite albums which I could (and often do) listen to over and over. That's particularly surprising because a large part of it is intense "screaming guitar"-driven material. I would even call it "metal-ish", though I'm not an expert on such things (and could easily be wrong). And yet a handful of the tunes are split between a couple stellar bouncy pop confections (STIR and the title track, C&B) and beautiful sensitive ballads ("If I Could Fly", "Unfinished Business", and "Il Adore").

The album is quite different from anything George had previously done and it's also his most openly gay-themed work. So while I myself love the album (much to the chagrin of my friends, though I don't subject them to it), I recognize that it's obviously not for everyone—especially if gay themes bother you as they do some (many?) people.

By the way and for the record I'll just state here and now that I am not gay myself (not that there's anything wrong with that—[grin]) just in case anyone might be wondering or should it matter at all to you for some reason. But if ever there were a song that might begin to give me an idea of what it's like to be gay, it would be "Same Thing In Reverse."
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While I was working on my CC a/o BG Leftovers I happened to visit Princeton Record Exchange and spotted (quite by chance since it was in the boxed set section, not with other BG/CC stuff) a Culture Club box set (4 CDs—$22 used, lists for $60). It features a lot of demos of CC songs, more unique unreleased tunes (a few of which are amazingly good!), and numerous other remixes (some quite listenable, others not so much). I don't know why they call it a "Culture Club" box set, though, since it includes a lot of George solo stuff too. It's probably only for the most hardcore BG/CC fan, but apparently that's me. At some point I may collect the demos and other tracks that I like best while omitting the tracks that just repeat what I already have on regular albums, but that's a project for another day.