Culture Club - Colour by Numbers

2003 remastered reissue of 1983 album features 15 tracks including 5 bonus tracks, 'Man- Shake', 'Mystery Boy (Suntori Hot Whiskey Song)', 'Melting Pot', 'Colour By Numbers', & 'Romance Revisited', as well as the hit single 'Karma Chameleon'. Virgin. Album Description

Culture Club's Finest Hour

Colour By Numbers still holds up as Culture Club's finest album.

By the time of its October 1983 release, "Church of the poison mind" and "Karma chameleon" were already hits, reaching no. 2 and no. 1, respectively, in the UK. The arrival of the album proper consolidated Culture Club's status as one of the most popular groups in the world.

Some may have missed the tribal percussion elements of the first album, but the new album mined Motown ("Church of the poison mind"), country ("Karma chameleon"), and gospel ("That's the way") influences to further refine the Culture Club sound. And the songs were so much better overall.

Helen Terry was also added to the group; her vocal presence is most notable on "Church of the poison mind", "Black money", and "That's the way". (She also features on "Time (Clock of the heart)" which was included on the US edition of Kissing To Be Clever, and on the Japanese edition of Colour By Numbers, but was just a stand-alone single in the UK.)

The singles here are largely the best songs on the album, though I still think that "It's a miracle" made more sense in its original version as "It's America". "Black money" should have been a single, but never was. I tend to skip over "Changing every day" and "Stormkeeper", but neither song is bad.

"That's the way (I'm only trying to help you)" is really the highlight of the album for me. It is simply piano and vocals, but the interplay between Boy George and Helen Terry makes for a riveting listen.

I'm not fond of the remastered edition; most of the extra tracks are available elsewhere, and I find the overall sound too compressed for my taste. My recommendation would be to find a used copy of the previous CD edition, and purchase the extra tracks from this edition as separate downloads. June 19, 2008

The Definitive Culture Club Album!!

Though they had scored nicely with the preceeding
album, 1982's "Kissing To Be Clever" containing
"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me",
"Time (Clock Of The Heart)" and "I'll Tumble For Ya",
it was this album which will go down as their "Sgt. Pepper"
in terms of what they were about and capable of!
Every song on here is bangin'!
Along with CC doing their thing and Boy George handling the
lead vocals in his "Smokey Robinson meets Sylvester" way,
there was the excellent and soulful wailings of Helen Terry
throughout (why she never got offered a deal is beyond me!)
and the late Jermaine Stewart in the background!
As I said, all of this album is still the bomb,
but one in particular, "Victims", still melts my heart
to this day! January 4, 2006

Their Best Album Ever! Great Remastered Sound plus Extra Tracks!

This was the cd that I was waiting for. After my cassette version disintegrated years ago, I decided to wait for a proper remastered version to become available before getting a replacement. The wait was very long but finally the wait was worth it.

The remastering quality is brilliant and the album has never sounded better. The extra tracks are good too and unlike in other albums do not detract from or otherwise demean the main album material.

Boy George's antics may sometime detract from Culture Club as musicians and make it difficult to take them seriously but Boy is this album a good one (pun intended). All the tracks are wonderful and showcase the band as the great singer/songwriter/musicians that they are.

Great tracks, great sound quality, what more could you ask for? Go get this already! September 24, 2005

Colour by Numbers

OK CD.
Brings back A LOT of memories (like when I had this ON TAPE!!).
There's so many songs by Culture Club I wanted, I got their Best Of/Greatest Hits as well.
Good CD though. August 12, 2005

A perfect pop album - the BEST album of the 80s?! BRILLIANT

Out of all of CC's amazing CDs in their catalog, and out of all the LP's from the 80s, THIS is the one that means the most to me and the one I return to again & again. It NEVER sounds tired, it NEVER sounds dated, it ALWAYS hits the spot. It takes me back to my early teen years circa 1982/83 and defined that era when MTV really came into its own to transform the pop-music landscape forever. How can anyone who loves quality pop music deny the brilliant songwriting chops and production of sterling songs like BLACK MONEY, THAT'S THE WAY, IT'S A MIRACLE, MISS ME BLIND, CHURCH OF THE POISON MIND, and of course, VICTIMS, I think CC's most beautiful, mature, and poignant ballad ever! And I haven't even mentioned HELEN TERRY, quite possibly the best back-singer ever? Terry's fierce vocal interplay between BOY on almost every cut is staggering. Bottom line, this is GREAT music that defies genres & could please toddlers to grandparents and everyone in between - maybe that explains why (even though it outstays its welcome) KARMA CHAMELEON is STILL the biggest UK single of all time? CC isn't about 80s tired nostalgia, COLOUR BY NUMBERS is timeless, tuneful pop that demands to be in your CD collection. Every home should have one. July 16, 2005

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