FROM LUXURY TO HEARTACHE

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Music reviews of FROM LUXURY TO HEARTACHE

Music Review: A different, but necessary, final album from Culture Club
Rating: 4 Stars

Let's get it out there on the table at the beginning: this album is no "Colour by Numbers." Not every track is a memorable, non-derivative song with great staying power. But "From Luxury to Heartache" has its charms.

Side one opens with the only real commercial hit from the album, "Move Away." Listen to this song right after "Miss Me Blind" from "Colour..." Notice any similarities? It's no suprise this was a hit: it has a catchy chorus, plus lyric simplicity without being banal. This was a frequent trap in the band's lyrics: Boy George would go running off on flights of rhyming fancy, leaving the listener wondering just what the heck the song was supposed to mean, anyway? (Check out "Crime Time" from "Waking Up with the House on Fire" for a good example of this.) But "Move Away" takes a very basic theme and runs with it. That is pop hit material.

"I Pray" is the next song, and keeps the up-beat pounding going. Boy George got quite a bit of help in the backing-vocal department here, and it makes the song a different effort. Instead of just 'The Boy with Helen Terry' or 'The Boy with Nameless Backing Choruses,' "I Pray" has a couple of distinctly interesting voices who do a lot of the work on the song.

Here, the album hit a lull. "Work on Me, Baby" and "Gusto Blusto" are aggressively cheerful, but the kind-of-pointless lyrics fail to make much of a lasting impression. "Heaven's Children" rounds out side one nicely. This song has taken some heat as being overblown, weepy, or dull, but the lyrics make a statement without being preachy. Really, an underrated song.

Side two opens with one of the most misunderstood tracks of all-time: "God Thank You, Woman." Hint: read the lyrics! It's not a love song! Even more basic hint: look at the title! It's a song of thanks. It's a song of friendship. It's not a song about sex. Some Culture Club 'fans' seem ready to jump all over the Boy for even considering singing a song with the word 'woman' in the title. Boy George is/was an important camp/gay cultural icon. This doesn't mean every song has to involve camp/gay topics. That would make Culture Club boring. The band isn't, thank you, god.

Also on side two, "Reasons" and "Come Clean" are a couple of good slower songs. "Too Bad" overcomes lyrical obscurity (once again, what IS the Boy talking about?) with a hook-based, sing-along chorus. Finally, "Sexuality" is good, clean, Culture Club fun.

This album, produced by Arif Mardin, has a few more corners and sharp edges than the other three, but "From Luxury to Heartache" deserves three hearty cheers after the lackluster "Waking Up With the House on Fire." Boy George expressed the wish that this album had never been released in his autobiography, 'Take it Like a Man.' Why? "From Luxury to Heartache" make have taken a critical beating, the Boy may have been falling out-of-love with drummer Jon Moss, but the songs stand as some of the Eighties best pop music.

Description of FROM LUXURY TO HEARTACHE

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• World Music
• Pop
• R&B
• Rock