Culture Club [Box set, Original recording remastered, Import]

Culture Club | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 2, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Original recording remastered, Import
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B000077EF1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #237,658 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Those old enough to remember the '70s may have thought they'd seen some strange things in fab culture's relentless drive toward the Different. But a soul-embracing band of English musical chameleons fronted by a bitchy, ever-quotable drag queen? David Bowie aside, that notion simply required a whole new decade to frame properly. Ironically, while Culture Club's stateside success was meteorically brief (though yielding a half dozen Top 10 singles), they ended up one of the most indelibly iconic acts of the '80s, thanks to the larger-than-life antics of Boy George and those three magic letters: MTV. This four-disc anthology never strays far from the beguiling, egocentric singer or his fetishes, musical and otherwise. Brimming with demos, a few cheeky outtakes, and a wealth of de rigueur remixes (including a full disc of 2002 dubs by Richie "Drumhead" Stevens) and footnoted with a colorfully rambling, drag-centric scrapbook that passes for liner notes, it's also a set that helps scrub away George's bluster and mascara to find the innocent fan's soul--and shrewd record collector-club DJ sensibility--that lies at the heart of Culture Club's music. It may be obsessive for the uninitiated, but seldom obtuse, while CC faithful should find it a newly annotated gospel. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

2002 compilation for one of the most popular bands of the early 1980s ('Karma Chameleon' is still the best-selling UK single of all time in Virgin Records history, with 'Do You Really Want to Hurt Me' also still in the top ten). This four CD box-set represents the definitive history of the band with many added gems such as demos, remixes, alternative versions & previously unreleased songs. Lavish artwork includes a 72 page glossy booklet, official photos, personal photos, quotes & notes from band members. All previously unreleased tracks have been newly remastered. Long digi-book. Virgin.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shirley Temple Moments, February 17, 2003

By 

David Rainwater (Brookland, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Culture Club (Audio CD)

As a borderline-obsessive Culture Club fan I was rabid upon the arrival of this box set. Knowing about the unreleased CC material and the confusing BG solo history I thought this would be a godsend. Well, there are miracles here (the SUPERB remastering) as well as misses:

The packaging is great with the exception of the fact that this box set has no title. With all of the group's clever lyrics and song titles surely one of those could have been used as a title for this collection. The booklet is illustrated with great full-color photos and bitchy, fabulous quotes from BG. The other band members appear only a few times and there are virtually no quotes or comments from them. It definitely gives the impression that they were not involved with this project. The major packaging sin (unforgiveable in this case) is that there are NO song annotations or information. Despite this being a collection mostly of rarities. If you don't already know these songs or where they came from (or whether they are CC or BG solo recordings) then you're out of luck. For collectors this is frustrating.

The demos that were recorded for EMI are here and will be the main selling point for most fans. They're good, especially the versions of songs that later became hits. The band had it together even before Virgin signed them. However, another set of demos exist but are not represented here.

You'll find a few requisite hits here but if you're looking for a definitive overview of them, look elsewhere. The collection basically ignores the 3rd and 4th albums which is a mistake. Anyone who missed the reunion album will find some pleasant surprises here as the new stuff is good.

The rare songs on here are worth hearing although perhaps not repeatedly. Their hits remain their best recordings. Among the treasure chest highlights are Shirley Temple Moment (which shows why the group imploded), a few solo BG songs (If The Lord Can Forgive, These Boots), though Il Adore & Crying Game aren't here & unexplained re-recordings of Love Is Love & Victims.

If you aren't into BG solo works then you'll find yourself drowning in confusion. Lots of what's here is from his confusing solo recordings, not that you'll find any information on the songs origins. This is also not a definitive review of BG as a solo act. That collection doesn't exist yet.

The remixes are also an odd affair here. If you're looking for the hard-to-find, classic versions of CC hits they're not here. Instead there are a lot of odd remixed versions of songs that are a bit odd to begin with. Worth listening to but a lot of stuff deserved space on this collection more. The last disc is all new remixes that are surprisingly good and also help make this an essential (if frustrating) purchase for hardcore fans.

This collection spans 4 discs, a full 2 of which are more than worth your time because they contain the major hits, revealing demos and good new remixes. Disc 2 & 3 are hit and miss and you should enter them at your own risk. For those of you who will find this box set frustrating (and all of you will) you might take heart in knowing the the original 3 CC albums are being re-released with remastering and bonus tracks. CC's producer Steve Levine says they have a multitude of unreleased material and that the bonus tracks will not be duplicated from this set. So anyone lamenting the absence of this track or that might still find it released soon.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Whose Affair Is This Anyway?, February 1, 2003

By 

Dana C. Steinman (SyracuseNY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Culture Club (Audio CD)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars left me wanting more, September 7, 2004

By 

J. Brady (PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Culture Club (Audio CD)

Disc one : The demos range from sometimes confident and promising to mostly awkward and amatuerish. Let's face it, that's why they are demos. They weed out the bad songs. And early Culture Club demos are a decidedly mixed bag. The early hits are then well represented, with some b-sides and choice album cuts thrown in. The song Victims is heard first in a recorded rehearsal that begins shakey and ends in a ridiculously campy argument between the band members, with the actual song - still a gorgeous, tender ballad - ending the disc.
Disc two : Starts promising, includes the song "Colour By Numbers", so good it should have been an A-side, not a B-side, or at very least the title track to their incredibly sucessful second album. The third Culture Club album is represented by one song ( another great ballad, Mistake Number 3) and the fourth is ignored altogether.And then all of a sudden we find ourselves inexplicably in the middle of Boy George's solo career, with a few new remixes and some previously unreleased material, rounded out with the more accesible tracks from his under-rated and misunderstood solo album Cheapness and Beauty.
Disc three: We begin where we last left the still solo George, with a campy, hard rock cover of these Boots Were Made For Walking. If nothing else I can assure you it sounds better than KMFDM's recent ham-fisted version of that same song. A few new Culture Club songs follow, some good, some just OK, then a few more demos ( again, some really good , especially the ballad Grand Scheme of Things , and some are OK - experimental or just half baked ). The remixes are what makes this disc really good. Strange Voodoo , If I Were U , and an updated, electro/techno Church of the Poison Mind are the highlights.
CD four: My favourite disc , it was remixed by Richie Stevens ( who also had a hand in the Gorillaz vs Spacemonkeys "Laika Come Home", a brilliant dub reggae / chill out / groove remix cd - he was one of the "Spacemonkeys" ). Dub reggae and electronic sounds are crafted expertly onto Culture Club and Boy George songs old and new ( in fact I think the "Scary Newman" remix of Cold Shoulder, on the 2000 Culture Club album Don't Mind If I Do far surpasses the original , and should have been a single.) There are again a few demos that close out the disc, the best being a song called Armageddon, which happens to be my favourite song in the entire box set. My one and only complaint about this set is its presentation and packaging, it is the one thing that keeps this from a four star rating. My main gripe is that the discs tend to want to fall out of the book unless the book itself is left flat on its side. Indeed , I have had to purchase ANOTHER copy of this very expensive boxed set because the first and third discs fell out of the box and were lost forever in a nightclub when I was playing a few songs from the set. Sure, it was ultimately my own fault, I should have had each disc in a seperate slip case, but I wanted to show some people the book. Which brings me to my other complaint on the book. It has absolutely nothing interesting in the way of liner notes, other than the odd quips and rambling anecdotes from ( who else ) Boy George, a few words from the band members ( and by a few I mean literally less than a dozen)and production credits on the songs ( using hard to follow symbols, no less. ) I wanted more information on the demos, i.e. when they were recorded? are they group efforts or George's work alone? I wanted more vintage photos. There are FAR TOO MANY photos of George, and his boyfriend, and his entourage ( OK!! WE GET IT !! YOU HANG OUT WITH THE Beautiful People ) And to top it off, despite it being called very simply CULTURE CLUB, roughly half the material is Boy George's solo work. If I'd wanted a box set of his songs, I'd surely buy one. I am a fan, after all. But this is a Culture Club box set. And I do love it. I certainly paid enough for it. ( The both of them, actually .) I'd maybe have done it a little differently. The botom line is that most fans who are willing to pay for a box set already have most of these songs. There is maybe one full disc of demos that are good and one full disc of new remixes that are previously unavailable. The remainder is either readily available or is of little or no merit or interest.