Don't Mind If I Do
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| Don't Mind If I Do | |||||
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| Studio album by Culture Club | |||||
| Released | December 14, 1999 | ||||
| Recorded | 1999 | ||||
| Genre | New Wave Pop rock Reggae Soul Ballad |
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| Length | 68:19 | ||||
| Label | Virgin | ||||
| Producer | Paul Staveley O'Duffy John Themis |
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| Professional reviews | |||||
| Culture Club chronology | |||||
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Don't Mind If I Do is an album by pop rock/new wave/reggae band Culture Club, released in 1999 for the Virgin label.
It was Culture Club's comeback album of original material, the first since the band called a halt to recording, back in 1986. However, despite heavy promotion, the album was a commercial failure, only peaking at Number 64 in the UK album chart. The work produced though one Top 10 single, "I Just Wanna Be Loved", which was actually released almost a year earlier, and was originally included on the Greatest Moments - VH1 Storytellers Live compilation (though the single version does not in fact feature on any album, neither on the 1999 studio comeback nor on the 1998 greatest hits/live compilation), the Top 25 single "Your Kisses Are Charity", which featured Dolly Parton on vocals, the third single "Cold Shoulder", and the cover of David Bowie's "Starman", which made a double-A-side release with the former, and became an appreciated live moment, but resulted in the lowest charting single ever for the group, stalling at Number 43. It is this double-A-side single that actually features the Dolly version of "Your Kisses Are Charity", which is not included on the album nor on the related CD single.
The music on the long playing is an amalgam of the classic Culture Club reggae-flavoured pop with rock, soul, and dance influences, including a couple of classic ballads, a genre which was revived as it is by Culture Club themselves, with classics such as "Black Money", "Mistake No. 3", and "Love Is Love", and then followed by Eighties bands like Wham! ("Careless Whisper" by George Michael), Duran Duran ("Save a Prayer"), and Spandau Ballet ("True"), just to quote a few famous ones. The title of Culture Club's 1999 work is a British idiom, originating as a catchphrase in the comedy series It's That Man Again, though some see it as a vague reference to Boy George's famous heroin addiction story.
The album features 15 tracks but, during its sessions, a sixteenth track was also written and recorded, namely "What Do You Want (From Me?)", which was included on the earlier 1998 greatest hits/live collection, released to test the audience's reception of the group, after almost 15 years of absence from the musical scenes. Both lyrically and musically, the song is considered to be an integral part of the album, though not featuring there, and no studio version is currently available.
As concerns "I Just Wanna Be Loved", the first single to be promoted from the comeback operation, and the beautiful ballad called "Strange Voodoo", both songs were re-recorded for inclusion on the new studio work, having already appeared as live tracks on the Greatest Moments - VH1 Storytellers Live double compilation.
"I Just Wanna Be Loved" featured in two different versions there: a studio temporary edit with incomplete arrangement on Greatest Moments, and an early live version with no middle8 section on VH1 Storytellers. Furthermore, the CD single version featured two more versions: again an edit one with a more refined arrangement, and a so-called 'Magic Man' remix by Roy Hay, completely different form any other version of the song. Finally, the album version (more or less similar to the single version) adds a short rap intro, which highlights Culture Club's comeback after a long time and locates the song in the new millennium (the work does have more typical toastin' bits here and there, in perfect Boy George & Culture Club style)[1].
As for "Strange Voodoo", the live version and the album version only slightly differ, the studio one featuring more backing vocals, a richer arrangement, and stronger vocals by George, lingering on final notes as he did on his very first solo hit "Everything I Own", when he re-recorded it for his debut album, with respect to the single version. No remixes were instead performed for "Cold Shoulder" and "Starman", of which only one version actually existed at the time (though the 2002 boxset features the 'Scary Numan Mix' of "Cold Shoulder" on the fourth CD, subtitled 'The Drumhead Sessions', wholly remixed by Ritchie 'Drumhead' Stevens).
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All tracks composed by Culture Club, except "Starman".
- "I Just Wanna Be Loved" – 4:33
- "Cold Shoulder" – 4:35
- "Maybe I'm a Fool" – 4:32
- "Sign Language" – 4:48
- "Mirror" – 4:06
- "Black Comedy" – 3:51
- "Your Kisses Are Charity" – 4:19
- "Weep for the Child" – 4:59
- "See Thru" – 4:06
- "Strange Voodoo" – 5:15
- "Truth Behind Her Smile" – 3:04
- "Fat Cat" – 3:25
- "Confidence Trick" – 4:57
- "Starman" (David Bowie) – 5:16
- "Less Than Perfect" – 6:33
[edit] Credits
[edit] Band
- Boy George - Vocals
- Mikey Craig - Bass guitar, piano, vocal arrangement
- Roy Hay - Conductor, guitar, keyboards, vocal arrangements, brass arrangements
- Jon Moss - Percussion, drums
- John Themis - Guitar, vocal arrangement
[edit] Others musicians and singers
- Tim Cansfield - Guitar
- Tony Remy - Guitar
- Steve Honest - Pedal steel guitar
- Darius Zickus - Keyboards, programming
- Kevan Frost - Keyboards
- Jonathan Shorten - Keyboards
- Sacha Skarbek - Keyboards
- Chaz Kkoshi - Hammond organ
- Richie Stevens - Percussion, programming
- Gillian Findlay - Violin
- Sophie Langdon - Violin
- Julian Leaper - Violin
- Roland Roberts - Violin
- Paul Wiley - Violin
- Rolf Wilson - Violin
- Kate Evans - Fiddle
- Chris Davis - Flute, saxophone
- J. Neil Sidwell - Trombone, brass arrangement
- Steve Sidwell - Trumpet, flugelhorn, brass
- Paul Spong - Trumpet, flugelhorn
- John Thirkell - Trumpet
- London Chamber Orchestra - strings
- Robin Smith - Arranger, programming, music direction
- Paul Staveley O'Duffy - Programming
- Steve Levine - Programming
- Disco Dave - Programming
- Adian Love - Programming
- David Maurice - Programming
- Mr. Spee - Programming
- Emily Themis - Backing vocals
- Zee Asher - Backing vocals
- Angie Brown - Backing vocals
- Linda Duggan - Backing vocals
- Gina Foster - Backing vocals
- Chyna Gordon - Backing vocals
- Spencer Graham - Backing vocals
- Derek Green - Backing vocals
- Mary Pearce - Backing vocals
- Tubbs Williams - Backing vocals
- Derick Johnson - Rap
[edit] Production personnel
- Jon Themis - Executive producer, music direction
- Paul Staveley O'Duffy - Producer, engineer, mixing engineer
- Dom T - Producer, remixing
- Roy Hay - Producer
- Steven Levine - Producer
- John Musgrave - Engineer, mixing engineer
- Chris Scard - Engineer, mixing engineer
- Albert Pinheiro - Engineer, assistant engineer
- Pete Lewis - Engineer
- Frank Arkwright - Mastering, cutting engineer
- Wing Commander Gill - Assistant engineer
- Daniel Gilliland - Assistant engineer
- Graham Hogg - Assistant engineer
- Ian Rossiter - Assistant engineer
- Ryan Tully - Assistant engineer
- Roland Herrington - Mixing engineer
- Richie Stevens - Mixing
- Fiesta Mailing - Transcription
- Ryan Art - Design
- Paul Cox - Photography
[edit] Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
| UK | 1999 | Virgin | CD | 848666 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ As for the "I Just Wanna Be Loved" rap intro lyrics, Derick Johnson, the toaster, a vocal role which is usually very hard to work out as for meaning and audibility of words, seems to sing something like: "Culture Club are back with a new song vibed nineteen ninety-what? You, two-thousand I live to see..."
