Customer Reviews

Waking Up With the House on Fire

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Despite all the negative reviews, Waking Up is strangely a very listenable album, which grows on you with each repeated listening. Sure, it doesn't have the instant recognisable hits from previous albums, and many other tracks here, though catchy, seem somewhat lacklustre. You know, it's impossible to top Colour By Numbers and there are bound to be comparisons. I really love the inclusion of Love Is Love and The Dream, two of the most beautiful ballads Culture Club has ever recorded. Don't be put off by what you hear or read, this is an album worth keeping in your 80's and Culture Club collection.

The album is most notable for its hard-hitting "War" and the poetic "Mistake #3". These two singular songs stand as a testament to the writing skills and vocal talent of O'Dowd and company.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the release was typical of the period, having significance only to those of us that were around during the decade. However, the album, as a whole, was much better than the group's next effort, the mediocre "From Luxury to Heartache".

TOTALLY AWESOME!!! "Waking Up With The House On Fire" remains my absolute FAVORITE Culture Club album to date!! I never cared about negative media reviews. The proof is in the pudding!! This album kicks rock & roll butt!! I first saw Boy George in concert at age 15 when Culture Club were on tour to promote this album - the "Waking Up With The House On Fire" TOUR came to the Meadowlands/Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on November 12, 1984! How could I possibly forget that date?? I was 15 years-old then, and my hero was Boy George!! Seeing him LIVE from the 17th row was a life-changing event for me!! Oh what a night!! I will never in a million years forget seeing George O'Dowd, decked-out in neon-red hair and a silver pillbox hat with pink & gold scarves like a genie dressed in full-length black capes with bare feet, emerge from a pit of blue smoke underneath the mid-air-rising drum kit singing "The Dive" - my favorite song from this album! What a stage entrance!! What a concert!! What a TIME to be a teenager!! SOOOOOO COOL!! This digitally-remastered version of "Waking Up With The House On Fire" is even greater yet!! The songs are brilliant!! My favorites aside from "The Dive" are the singles - "The War Song," "Mistake No.3," and "The Medal Song." Additionally, there are some damn catchy tunes like "Mannequin" and the heavy metal "Hello Goodbye." The BONUS TRACKS are an AWESOME testimony to the brilliance of this album, as they were all recorded at that same time... "Don't Go Down Street" - haunting and rad with Japanese talk-over, and a song I feel is the most beautiful ballad Culture Club ever recorded and Boy George ever sang - "The Dream" - AWESOME times 10!!! Boy George's voice on this song gives me chills and Roy Hay's pianoplaying is his best!! Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Jon Moss's drumming and Mikey Craig's bass shine through big-time on "The Dive" and "Hello Goodbye." Check this CD out!! How can you not miss the '80's??!! These guys are BRILLIANT!! Boy George is the best!! Peace...

An apt title, if nothing else. "Waking Up With the House On Fire" is the sound of four young musicians who, amidst in-fighting, drug addiction and lavish extravagance, suddenly came out of their collective fog long enough to realise "hey...we've got an album to deliver!" They were obviously not prepared. While not totally without merit, this collection lacks the emotional and lyrical depth, as well as the memorable hooks and melodies, of their previous offering "Colour By Numbers." A few songs stand out: "Mistake No. 3" is a nice ballad despite its sometimes overwrought vocals, and has a nice solo in the bridge using what sounds like the guitar synthesiser Roy Hay is credited in the liner notes as playing. "Crime Time" is a hopping, swing- influenced number with a soulful vocal turn by the always on spot Helen Terry. "The Dive" goes in several interesting musical directions - from rock to pop to Caribbean in the chorus, and features some fine bass playing by Mikey Craig. Two bonus tracks culled from the soundtrack to the film "Electric Dreams" are tacked to the end, and should have been included in the regular release. "Love Is Love" and "The Dream" are both stronger musically than just about anything on "Waking Up..." The dud tracks ( and there are quite a few ) are marred by desperately silly lyrics ( "The War Song" ), underdeveloped songwriting ( the grating, seemingly endless "Hello Goodbye" ), or just bad performance. Many of these songs have an unfortunate stamp of age on them which comes from over-reliance on pre-set synth sounds and incredibly stiff programming. "Waking Up With the House On Fire" is for the most part uninspired and very simply lazy - a toss off. Non-essential for casual fans, and probably more than just a little maddening and disappointing for Culture Club lovers. However I still play a few of the songs on occasion, and in its defense must add it is much better than the dire album that followed it, "From Luxury to Heartache."

When Culture Club released their third album, following the worldwide success of "Colour By Numbers", one got the distinct feeling that regardless of what they came up with, a downfall was inevitable. The band had been praised for its imaginative and soulful music, as well as for Boy George's original stage persona; and they had scored seven consecutive top ten hit singles in the U.S., shattered records of attendance at their concerts, and made headlines more often than many political leaders. In one word, the band suffered from overexposure.

"Waking Up With The House On Fire" wasn't the artistic debacle that many people have said it was. It was by no means as good as "Colour By Numbers"; it lacked the soulfulness and honesty of songs like "Black Money" or "Changing everyday", and it cruelly suffered from a lack of in-your-face hit singles such as "It's A Miracle" and "Karma Chameleon". Still, listening to it again on this remastered edition, free from the expectations that surrounded its initial release in the fall of 1984, the listener might appreciate the album for all it's worth. It came out, it wasn't as good as "Colour By Numbers", and it flopped disastrously on the charts. Maybe now's the time to take an attentive listen to this underrated gem, because its qualities are still obvious after all these years.

For starters, Culture Club's knack for warm, breezy pop confections was intact. Songs like "Unfortunate Thing", "The Dive" and "Mannequin" have that carefree attitude that makes them irresistible. "The Medal Song" was a sweet and underrated song that should have been the debut single, with an instantly memorable melody and a refreshing honesty that some of the album's songs lacked. And "Mistake No. 3", in spite of the fact that it failed to ignite on the charts, might be the deepest, most meaningful ballad ever written by the band. Boy George's voice was still as expressive as ever, and the band' ecclectic musical approach was intact.

Of course, everything was not perfect. A song like "Crime Time" (with its meaningless lyrics and unconvincing retro arrangements) was obviously filler, and the opening track ("Dangerous Man") had sharp and witty lyrics matched with a poor melody and bland arrangements. A song like "Hello Goodbye" meant litterally NOTHING and even got annoying after a while. And "The War Song", which failed as a debut single and dragged the album on the wrong side of the charts, was a nice sentiment (and a catchy track) that ultimately sounds more like a novelty tune than an actual composition. It's ironic that this remastered edition's bonus tracks are more interesting - "The Dream" and "Love Is Love", both from the ill-fated "Electric Dreams" movie, are among Culture Club's finest moments, especially the latter which found the band at the peak of its soulfulness.

All in all, this album wasn't the impeccable follow-up that "Colour By Numbers" deserved, but it's really not the debacle that pop music historians have made it to be either. In all fairness, it was a good pop album, wonderful in its diversity and a worthy successor nonetheless. To quote "The Medal Song" : "life would never be the same as it was again" for the band and its charismatic leader, indeed. But there's still no reason why you shouldn't enjoy this album.

I owned this album when I was in college. I still remember buying it at the record store. I am glad to own it on CD. "Mistake #3" is my favorite song on the CD but the other songs are good. If you like the sound of Culture Club it will take you right back in time while listening.

I just finished reading Boy George's autobiography and he thinks this is their worst album. I totally disagree...when this album came out I played it more than when any of their others came out and I had bought each one as they came out. I love the whole album and think it is their best one. It isn't as commerical as the rest but so what. Hey George...this is an EXCELLENT album!

Waking Up with the House on Fire was supposed to be a "back-to-the-roots" album, after the success of the polished Colour By Numbers. But, things didn't turn out that way.

Instead, Culture Club made a record that had more of a sheen than its predecessor (and was digitally recorded to boot), but not enough good songs to make for a consistent album from start to finish. Had producer Steve Levine not had the good sense to record all of the instrument tracks in stereo (effectively limiting the number of tracks available for recording), I suspect things might have got out of hand, and the album might have become a real mess.

The album's first half is actually pretty good, though "Crime time" is a bit stilted, and "Unfortunate thing" is little more than a throwaway. People like to write off "The war song" as silly, simplistic, and/or patronising, but 1984 was pretty much the height of 1980s Cold War nuclear tensions; in the context of its time, the directness of the song's message was much more powerful, even if its "war is stupid" sentiment did come across as slightly childish.

The second half of the album (side B on the LP) starts off with "The dive", perhaps the best song on the album. After that, however, it is all downhill.

This album has some good moments, but it would have made a much better EP.

WAKING UP...was literally the beginning of the end for CC - how could any pop group live up to the gargantuan expectations coming off the multi-platinum success of COLOUR BY NUMBERS? Although no critical and/or commercial juggernaut like previous CC releases, WAKING UP still is chock full of fine moments that should please any casual CC fan - BOY still knows his way around a hook or two, as evidenced in instantly catchy, addictive tracks like THE MEDAL SONG, HELLO GOODBYE, and even the hokey WAR SONG, complete with its over-the-top war-as-catwalk fashion show video hammered all over MTV for weeks to no success. I think the REAL problem here is BOY's image veered from asexual doll to more daring, blatant drag queen - and sadly, America back in the early 80s couldn't stomach (much less support) an out gay man in a dress! But this CD is stil worth adding to complete your CC collection, even more so that they've added BONUS cuts like LOVE IS LOVE and THE DREAM (two of CC's finest songs ever!) to the mix.

This is a very underappreciated album by one of the best vocalists. Never have I heard an album with so many musical styles that actually flows like a gentle river. Not to say this album is all mellow. Definately a pop gem. Here in this remastered version, the songs are better sounding (of course) and harder to find tracks have been included as bonus tracks. With the original ten tracks, the album opens with the bright "Dangerous Man". "Unfortunate Thing" is one of the first detailed autobiographical songs Boy George recorded and has a "finger snapping" beat. The ballad "Mistake No. 3" has no bounderies when it comes to a beautiful melody with heartache poring through the vocals. "Crime Time" reminds the listener of the roaring Twenties with it's swing/jazz tones. The last of the original 10 songs is a rocking "Hello Goodbye", a style that, until this song, Culture Club had not tackled. But they succeed. Fans of Culture Club will delight in the bonus track "The Dream" from the movie Electric Dreams. It's a ballad and features Boy Geroge's vocals in duet with a piano. Very stripped down and heartfelt. My favorite of the bonus tracks is "Down Go Down That Street", unavailable on CD until now. A cautionary tale about being different and out of one's element set to a smooth jazz pop sound.