Colour By Numbers

An album I would argue that is carried by the first song. Song is infamous but really doesn't do it for me but I would still rank it high than most of the other songs. 1. Mystery Boy (Suntori Hot Whiskey Song) 2. Stormkeeper 3. Karma Chameleon

Ja fanar hårt me viben men de va int otroligt bra tbh

Reminds me of school discos... I hated school discos

A pretty standard 1980s pop album that has a couple of pretty good tracks, but ultimately just blends in sonically with the rest of what came out at that time. 2.5/5

Dull

Are we just reaching for that 1001 number at this point? Okay, not painful to listen to, which is how I dictate what gets a 1, but not much fun either. It's just mediocre. Mediocre voices, mediocre backing instrumentals, mediocre lyrics. I suppose they all match each other nicely that way. Is this the kind of music you put on for your kid to entertain them? That's what the first song felt like for sure.

Not for me. Sounds like every stereotype of the 80's in a bad way.

Karma chameleon delivers but all of the other songs feel a bit empty

karma chameleon and the next song were great, rest was ehh to bad

TBH it's pretty inoffensive lightweight 80s pop (though I am a miserablist) Not a big fan of the main backing singer whose tones grate on me. The lyrics are all a bit simple/banal. 4 hits though and I rather like (bit OTT, and orchestral) Victims which finishes it all off...2.5

2nd May 2022 Listened in the morning on the way to work. Met Gareth and Ben to watch Liverpool Villarreal champs league semi where we won 2-3. Quite enjoyed this, but not as much as Cyndi Lauper. Had some good tracks but felt a bit lightweight for me. 2.5 if I could.

There's some solid hits on this new wave album led by Boy George, however I will be an infrequent re-visitor to this one. The vast majority of these tracks are emotional, and meant to evoke similar feelings in the listener; it feels a bit put-on and cliche. Got pretty bored while listening to be frank. There is some good incorporation of strings at times and synth-y beats, but overall I do not operate on the same wavelength as this album. Fave tracks: Karma Chameleon, Black Money

Eehh wasn't super into this. I didn't find it to be necessarily bad, just not really my thing. The music was a bit too upbeat and twinkly-sounding for me. Reminiscent of foggy dream sequence in a movie with a lot of lens flairs or something, not sure how else to describe it. Karma Chameleon is definitely a classic tune though, and I'm glad this album is included, if only for that. Fav Tracks: Karma Chameleon

This is fine.. feels too long. But maybe I listened to an extended version.

Eh, it was better than I though. But not great.

Apart from the obvious hits I didn't really enjoy this.

1983. Karma Chameleon

Meh new wave

Didn't care much for it, karma chameleon though is a classic

Didn't need a re-listen. It annoyed me when it was released, just as annoying now. Still a very solid album, just a little to "uppy" for me.

This is... The blandest pop so far

New wave albums tend to coast through my ears, but the fakeness of the instruments in Karma Chameleon balanced out my familiarity with the single. There are a few highs elsewhere, but they are packed at the end and the whole thing is just a touch too fun for its own good. Not a bad listen, but bad for the list.

Nothing extraordinary. Upbeat eighties pop including karma chameleon. Nice harmonies but basic/kitschy lyrics.

Karma chameleon

Radio music from the '80s. Competent, but uninteresting album.

One hit and filler.

This is absolutely not for me. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this, apart from "Church of the Poisoned Mind", which almost came together for me before falling apart, which is even worse than just not coming together at all IMO. The only reason this is 2 stars instead of 1 is that it is definitely a competent album; well played, well written, well produced, and you can tell they are having fun. I just didn't have any fun with them lol.

It's tempting to make a crack about this music being by the numbers, but it's just not true. Colour By Numbers is easily identifiable as 80s pop no doubt, but Culture Club is very much its own thing. It's definitely not punk and it's not new wave. It's unabashed, pure pop. It's slick and heavily produced, but the synths are mostly in the background. It avoids instrumental textures that smack of darkness or depravity--cotton candy all the way. The vocals by Boy George are...oh, no! Is that supposed to be...soul???? Good Lord. Okay, there's a long history of non-black performers who attempt soul vocals and they sound like anything but. That doesn't mean that they're terrible, they just kind of accidentally create a new genre. And that's what's happening here. The tipoff is the background vocals by Helen Terry, who halfway kinda pulls off soul shouting. Colour By Numbers is kind of hard for me to evaluate. I wouldn't listen to this music on my own initiative in a million years--I generally don't like pure pop, and pseudo-soul-pop even less. But I'd be lying if I said that the arrangements, performances, or production were incompetent. You also can't fault the catchiness of Karma Chameleon. Do I hate it? Yes. I find Colour By Numbers tasteless and disposable. But on the level of craft, it isn't bad at all.

One Banger and then a load of bang average filler. But I dare you not to wear out your carpet dancing to Karma Chameleon. I bloody Dare you! 2/5

5/10

80s pop that came and went for me. Not much I would go back to on here, not even the hit single. Favorites: It's a Miracle, Changing Every Day

2 stars. A few OK tracks but nothing to write home about. Not entirely sure why it’s on this list?

Give Boy George credit for being a trans gender pioneer and having a sweet pop voice. But this album is just too sachrinne sweet for me and not my jam.

I can't believe I had to listen to a whole Culture Club album just to realize that "Karma Chameleon", the first song and their biggest hit, was the best.

Reconheci um hit dos anos 80

Het doet mij erg weinig. Lijkt voor mij op George Michael meets club tropicana.

A decent 80's pop album. Certainly a product of it's time and something that doesn't sound great going to listen to it now, but I can see how it was popular. Some of the songs could just get annoying and repetitive.

Very 80s as expected. Kind of cheese but not super awful.

A šta ja znam, moglo je definitivno bolje. Zaboravljiv album više manje. Ne želim biti pregrub, al tako je. Već sam tako nešta čuo, vrišti 80te ali ne i kvaliteta. Prva i zadnja pjesma su dobre, prva je klasika od pjesme, a zadnja je fin završetak.

This is a fun album. I probably will never listen to it again, but I dig it.

Why do people like this. Why do people listen to this. Why. Why. It's still incomparably better than something like Wu-Tang Clan or Bob Marley though.

Not for me it i see the value here

Not my jam

I was really hoping this wouldn’t be an entire album of Karma Chameleon clones..... and that’s basically what this is. So incredibly cheesy and utterly bland that it honestly was hard to get through. Glad I at least heard the orchestral piece at the end, because that made the suffering a little more worth it. Favorite Track(s): “Romance Revisited”

Pure 80’s cheese...and not the good kind.

Good music but not for me.

There are some pretty snappy numbers on this but also some terrible ones.

80s style music. Karma Chameleon definitely the most famous song. Boy George sure seems like a character

Heute hab ich etwas gelernt, was ich eigentlich nicht wissen wollte. Ein Lied, dessen Band ich bewusst nie nachgeschlagen habe. Musikalisch durch nichts überzeugend. Der Gesang ist kein Teil der Musik, sondern ein Sprachkanal. Der Text wirkte auf mich stellenweise dümmlich. Keine gute Mischung. Sound of the 80s? Klingt mir zu fröhlich, aber ich kann mir vorstellen zum Rhythmus mitzuwippen, wenn es im Radio liefe. Deswegen höre ich kein Radio. Moving on!

Super boring

Cheesy and annoying

Corny as hell. Best track: Miss Me Blind

WHAT?!

i actually really like Karma Chameleon, but i went into this with low expectations. it underperformed those, unfortunately, having little flavor outside of the big hit. sounds like it was made with the intention of padding a single into an album. deserves to be one of the 1001? ehh nah

Nah, not for me.

Went into this one with an open mind and was disappointed. Nothing but wall-to-wall New Wave tripe. Over-saturated with the kind of trite lyricism that's more interested in the word 'LOVE' than love itself. Probably popped off on radio in the 80s but it probably should have stayed there. Fav tracks: Man-Shake

Karma Chameleon is iconic, but the rest doesn't do it for me. Romance Revisited isn't bad.

As a kid I absolutely hated this band and all forms of New Wave... as an adult I am completely changed. I am more open minded and accepting, I have started to enjoy more New Wave, and I expected that my taste of Culture Club would be refined. Nope, I still don't like it.

Like that scene in The Clockwork Orange except they're making me watch Cocomelon and those baby sensory videos with the dancing fruit I will put some respect on Boy George for his bravery. Nothing else. God help me

Wow who knew that the singer of San Marino's 2026 Eurovision entry used to make horribly synthetic pop tunes

Colour by Numbers is yet another project I never had any intentions of covering before, but thanks to the lovely 1001 albums to hear before you die list, I was forced to listen to this very of its' time New Wave album. I am sorry but a majority of the New Wave albums this album chose to represent the genre are dog water and have aged like shit. The color palette of this album cover perfectly matches the wacky and bright nature of this album, but again it feels too fantastical and upbeat for me to give a singular damn about it, like I get what they are trying to do here but it comes off childish. Even with the hit Karma Chameleon, it just feels like a children's song catered to adults. I tried to enjoy Colour by Numbers as much as possible but it is just too much for me. Sorry not sorry.

Kicking off with funny horn (?) is a surefire fasttrack to my heart, and considering how blocked that path is with arterial plaque, that's one-ah powerful-ah horn-ah!! (Say with racist Italian accent). Everybody has heard Karma Chameleon and wondered, why would life be easy if you were the same colour as the singer's dreams? What the fuck does that even mean? Also, are people's dreams in colours other than just regular colours? Like the colours of the horrifying monstrosities that assail me in the darkest corners of the domain of Morpheus seem to match hue with my expectations. Maybe I'm an idiot and these musical types are on an elevated plane. You've got that stupid Pearl Jam song where the singer burps out "She dreeeaauhhhheems in Reeeehuhhd." Must be a theme. There was a funky beat here, but also white reggaee. I need a percentage of albums (especially British ones) where we get a white guy making a Jamaican Jerk-Off (Thanks, Elton) of himself. I think you'd be shocked. 1 HIGHLIGHTS: I dream of Gee Knees, athletic balm

Album 176. Colour By Numbers (https://open.spotify.com/album/51NPMfa9QfxsYtqzcB2VfY?si=UhIgouryRC23_KlAfoxfDQ) — Culture Club (1983) Oh no, 1 banger and 14 bad 80's pop/new wave/disco songs. karma, karma, karma, karma, karma chameleoooon It was interesting culturally, but basically a waste of time. Strange world, David Bowie (not just him) inspired that guy. He has even tattoos with Bowie and Marc Bolan on his hands. Boy George is the fucking original of the Verka Serduchka version. 1/5 Liked: — Karma Chameleon

The video for Karma Chameleon is one of my earliest musical memories. The rest of the album is just meh.

Nope. Not wasting my time.

excited for this one bcs i love karma chameleon and tbis might be the first fucking upbeat/pop album on here 😭 its all been country/folk and the dullest rock it’s a miracle sounds so michael jackson love miss me blind the synths(?) sound so modern i don’t have the heart to rate this any higher. i need to learn to stop looking forward to albums based on their best song

As colorful and ahead of his time as Boy George looked when this album came out, that colour did translate to the music he made. The music found here is dated and cheesy. 'Karma Chameleon' is a guilty pleasure. Everything else is forgettable. The opening melody of 'It's A Miracle' sounds like something you would find on a Kunt and the Gang song. The saxophones on this album sets the instrument back years as something you would associate with tacky eighties pop music. Adding soul singers does not mean your music has soul. This is vapid pop music. The hooks are repetitive, and Boy George isn't a compelling vocalist or lyricist. This is mercyfuly short and it is inoffensive enough to not get irritating. The band lack both the bite and innovation that you could find in other new wave bands.

Dodgy 80s pop.

I actively hated listening to this

1/2

I hate Karma Kameleon. Couldn’t get through the first three songs

Albums that are one good single should not be on this list.

So much better music from this era. Dated and downright cheesy at times. 1 - doesn't belong on this list

1001 albums that would make you pray for the sweet release of death. Absolute garbage.

Ни разу не слышала музыку этой группы сознательно, возможно, только на квизах. Поняла из рецензий ребят, что Карма Хамелеон - хит до сих пор. Но полагаю, что сейчас просто никто не может продраться дальше первого трека на альбоме. Ретро Европоп - отдельная форма пытки для меня, а обложки Culture Club - отдельный ор.

Meh

Didn’t like this when it came out. 40 years on it’s even worse than I remember. Some points but it’s the production that really lets it down. Even a great song like church of the poisoned mind has really weak production - it’s needs to punch and it doesn’t.

Bad then, worse now. 1

Cheesy over-polished pop rubbish. Didn’t even make it to the end.

Terrible

favs: karma chameleon miss me blind stormkeeper rating 1.5/5

Told myself I never wanted to hear this again, went to the kitchen to get some water and karma chameleon was playing on the radio. Fml

Look, I hate karma chameleon, always have, the naff rhythm, the silly synth the weird breathy backing vocals, the annoying colour refrain, almost everything about it. So it's a bad start to this album. I'm hoping I like some of the other bits... I don't. It all carries on in a similar vein, I'm not taken by any of it and I'm not into the 80s pop production. "That's the way" started a bit better, but I don't like the backing vocals and it didn't really do anything else. My brain drifted off at one point and then I realised and hoped it was over. It wasn't. But they did hit a gong. At least it's short, although with everything else all the versions have extra tracks dragging it out. Screw that.

Somehow even worse than I thought it would be, and I set the bar low. One star.

Just no. Almost non-existent lyrics. The melodies are so whatever.

Yikes

Bailable jsajasa. Me gusta la onda del cantante. Es un pop bien ochentoso con sus baterias reverberantes. Un sonido kinda minimalista, limpio. Son como bailables pero soft, no son punchy. No me molesta escucharlo pero me aburre, no me llama. Side A ninguna cancion. Side B: Victims -

1 good song, lots of filler.

New Wave music sucks. These guys get classified as blue-eyed soul and reggae in Wikipedia, truly anyone can edit those pages. Karma Chameleon is the hit off this album and it is awful. Each song sounds the same and is uniquely New Wavey garbage. That's The Way is the blue-eyed soul...it would be better without Boy George and just the backup singer doing her thing. There is nothing redeeming about this album and Mister Man hits a true low point in music. On the plus side, the album is short.

Haaaaaaaate the first song. Always hated it. Still do. A lot of this is the kind of music I think of when I think about hating the music of the 80s. This album is a little better when it gets soulful, but it's not enough to save it.

Yikes

I can't believe that I listened to this whole album. 'Milquetoast' came to mind when listening. I felt like i was sitting in the dental chair at the orthodontist involuntarily listening to the radio circa 1994. I bet the dental assistants loved Culture Club. Why was the last song on this album an instrumental number? Weird.

Not my type of music Bit repetitive

Karma chameleon is fucking trash as with the rest of this album.

I hate this album so much, I cannot believe I listened to the whole thing. I hated Culture Club in 1983, and I hate them even more now.

As a whole, even worse than Boy George's USA accent. Unforgivable drivel

Gay

Not a fan

Didn't like it when it came out. Don't like it now. Nothing's changed.

slop

Gag! It's Culture Club. If their first big hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" didn't make you want to hurt them, then this album certainly will. It's a saccharine sweet lightweight vapor of an album dressed in a little bit of Blue-Eyed Soul. Karma Chameleon was a hit amongst middle schoolers new to MTV but serious club goers despised it. Church of the Poisoned Mind, while an MTV hit was repetitive and lacking any real substance. But how do I really feel?

YFGY

Wow, turns out handcuffing that fella to a radiator was only the second worst thing Boy George ever did.

First song brought back memories of being stuck in a car with my mom as she smoked cigarettes while I couldn’t get away from that smell in early 2000s brought back bad memories musically it’s fine just the emotions from memory push my rating

It's never a good sign when you have to check to see how long an album is. How much of my life do I need to spend enduring this nonsense? 38 minutes for the core album, or 57 minutes if I want to listen to the reissue bonus tracks. 38 minutes is long enough thank you very much. This very much signaled the beginning of a dark age for popular music in the early to mid 80s. Top of the Pops, dry ice, synthesised drums, bad miming, New Romantic fashion, nasal crooning and warbling, and frenetic dancing to the beat. Culture Club were front and center during all of this cringe, and this album brings you viscerally back to all of that with a shudder. Nope. Not for me.

Still dumb

The wrong kind of 80s pop. Culturally relevant Olaf the time but I’m sorry the music and production is terrible.

boring. I hated 80s music, it was empty, a very lite copy - as though fisher price made it

They have more than that one song? I didn't get through the album. Schlock.

I really don't see how this is significant in any way -- sure, "Karma Chameleon" is a one hit wonder, but it's a mediocre one at that, and the rest of the album is just incredibly dated tosh.

First time listen! I do know the first song for sure.

I‘d rather listen to all Throbbing Gristle albums simultaneously for 30 hours than to one more song of this terrible plastic karaoke masquerading as new wave, reggae or whatever

Rubbish

Really disappointing, considering how much I like Karma Chameleon

I can’t

tough listen

Horrible. Not my style at all.

Not sure this should be in the list. Pop music from my childhood...

No

Yeah, this was simply awful. I thought Karma Chameleon might be enough to save it from the ignominy of a one star rating, but to be honest, unless I'm three beers in at a party or wedding I have zero interest in that irritatingly pointless song either. I was really relieved when this one ended and never want to hear it again.

Pretty forgettable.

Meh. Cheesy got moldy

Talentless twat! And that backing vocalist sure can shriek.

Aggressively mild in every way possible, complete with cheesy 80s sounds. I’d rather not listen to anything than this.

Really really hard to get through. Karma chameleon is a highlight, and I hate that song.

Bloody awful singing over bloody awful muzak. I appreciate its massive cultural merit, but with almost zero musical merit it should be nowhere near this list.

I'm guessing that the reason this album is on the list is that it's an example of music with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Unlistenable.

I could see how this made a big enough cultural impact to validate its inclusion but yeah this could've just been a 7-inch single instead of the whole thing. Rating: 1.5

An example of the worst 80s music had to offer: just a horribly synthetic and over-produced sounding record. There’s some nice singing on this, but this was too long with few redeeming qualities for me; just not a fan of this at all.

“Mom, can we have Prince?” “No, we have Prince at home.” Prince at home:

Everything that's wrong with 80s pop music in 57 minutes. Awful.

awful

Very inoffensive and goofy. Not memorable except for the famous track.

I love reggae. This is an abomination.

For a band with an image filled with so many colours and eccentricities in, their music is boring to an unbelievable point.

Not for me. 1/5

Just a gimmick album.

putrid

No thanks

Sorry, absolutly not music for my ears.

Generic 80's garbage.

"Colour By Numbers" from Culture Club, I MUST hear before I die? Seriously? I go on and on about music from the 80's, how there was a lot of great music, punk, new wave, LA, Minneapolis, Athens, Boston, college alternative rock, but most of it was outside the mainstream. Commercial radio and MTV showcased some of the worst music of the decade with Culture Club near the top of the list. If a couple of manufactured hit singles and a bunch of filler is considered an essential record, this list is whacked! I'll be honest, I disliked CC then and now and I'm still haunted by their dreadful music on commercials and TV and movie soundtracks. This is the go-to music for fun loving, free spirited, flaky 80's inspired characters who have a passion to wear face paint and dress like a sensitive clown. I have nothing against Boy George, but to me Culture Club represented everything I hated about the 80's...again there was some good music in that decade, but not here.

It reminded me of that cheesy music you hear in the background of some "B" 1980s movie. It was very lackluster, lacked real instruments, and the singing was unbearable at times. Favorite song: "Karma Chameleon".

I threw in the towel so fast on this one, you'd think I was working in a laundromat. 1 precious hour of my life saved by not listening to this album out of 5

Liked song 1 and 2, turned it off when I heard he’d chained someone to a radiator and beat them.

Not for me. Did not enjoy.

Horrible

This is an easy one for me to review. Karma Chameleon is catchy as hell really didn't like the rest.

Couple ok songs

I'm an 80's music fan, I enjoy bands such as Billy Idol, Echo & The Bunnymen, Corey Hart, The Smiths, and the Cure. I even enjoy spanish 80's rock such as Soda Stereo and the pop band Timbiriche not to mention other mainstream acts of the decade. I mention all this to say that I did not enjoy Culture Club's Colour By Numbers. I understand it's more pop but even then I don't consider this a top 1000 album.

Pedophile anthems

Stuff me full with Stilton and cheddar, but this is too much British cheese to handle.

Trökigt

Two songs in, contemplating quitting. Four songs in, quitting.

mig 9 gange efter jeg Karma Chameleon: "lyder som en værre version af Karma Chameleon?" ekstremt uessentielt album at have på listen

Altså. Jeg er ikke engang særlig vild med Karma Chameleon, og det var objektivt set den "gode sang" her. Fair nok at de gerne vil finde plads til noget 80er pop på listen, men jeg kan altså nemt komme i tanke om mere inspirerede valg end den her.

Kaaaarmakarmakarmakarmachameeeleeoooonnnn - Banger! Men nej.

Nothing here that I enjoy and a lot that I dislike.

Уууу, обложка впечатляющая [ще хуевая]. Я уважаю главного чела. До сих пор заигрывания с гендером встречаются аудиторией натянуто, а сорок лет назад? Да, Боуи вытворял там подобные штуки и того раньше, но факт остается фактом. Моя проблема с альбомом состоит в том, что 8 из 10 основных песен имееют самую отвратную структуру, которая может быть в поп-песне. Ко всему к этому припевы, которые повторяют одну и ту же строчку, не всегда такую уж впечатляющую, по двадцать три тысячи раз подряд - это рак поп-музыки. Не мое. Лучшая песня - Karma Chameleon.

Absolutely terrible. Shouldn't be anywhere close to a top anything list.

I love 80s music. I grew up in the 80s. This isn’t it

1.5

Achterlijke kanker herrie

Not for me…

I dig the first track well enough but by the end you realize it’s pretty formulaic and bland. I didn’t mind his voice at first but I grew to almost hate it.

Hard to get through

Brutal. Don’t like the singles on here and the rest is garbage.

Not even Karma Chameleon could save this from all the other naffness

cant stand these guys

As it turns out, 40 years doesn’t change a thing. I hated this in 1983 and still hate it in 2023.

To much 80’s glitterpop..! But of course som classic songs.

Listening to ‘Karma Chameleon’ for the first time and wondered why everyone would make a fuss over such a busy, repetitive track. Rest of the album nosedived from there into pure 80s excess, with way too much going on and yet nothing meaningful being conveyed. All pomp and no circumstance, should’ve left this back in the awful decade it came from.

Not for me

They broke America and got a guest appearance on the A-Team out of this?! Karma Chameleon is a good pop record. I was hoping there would be more to the rest of the album. Some underplayed gems. Nope. Just a continual drone of 80s ness. It not a good sign when you’re googling the name of the backing singer (who’s not even featured on the cover) because they’re the most interesting thing on the album.

cheesy

If we’re interpreting the name of the book/list literally as albums you need to hear, in contrast to albums you need to know about because of their cultural significance, then Culture Club does not belong on this list. This album is boring as hell. It’s all watered down reggae and world music and gospel. It’s offensively bland. For someone who made such an impression with his image— I mean, I was really young so maybe I’m wrong here, but Boy George was an outlier in the cultural landscape at the time— the music is surprisingly nondescript. It sounds like something my mom would enjoy. I’ve heard Contemporary Christian Music artists who make edgier music than this.

Brani Preferiti: - "Karma Chameleon" Note: Il brano di apertura è probabilmente il brano migliore di questo album e non è per dire che sia il migliore... ma il meno peggio, grazie al coro. Non sono stato in grado di ascoltare tutto il disco per la sua scarica qualità, dovendo saltare parti di canzoni nella speranza di trovare un qualcosa di piacevole.

So much pain.

seriously?

It started off decently, but "Black Money" made me realize how little I could really understand the vocals. The singing style and the mix made them blend in with the rest of the music and everything was just dull. From them on, it was a struggle to find the will to finish the album. 1/5

For me this was somewhere between George Michael and Simply Red. I didn’t enjoy any of it apart from a couple of the bass lines. If found the style grating and the lyrics were repetitive. I didn’t like the singer’s voice and it didn’t blend well with the backing singer. The ad libbed vocals by the backing singer in some songs were very over the top and annoying, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I have no idea why this is on the list, the album had one big hit and the rest was a forgettable cheese selection.

So very 80s formulaic pop! I hated it when it came out and it got so much radio play at the time. Listening to it now I can’t believe how simple and repetitive it is. My immediate reaction was a 1. A negative 1. Odd reaction: the tempo of Karma Chameleon is way faster than I remember. It’s as if my memory slowed it down to mellow it out or something. And then the real song sounds to me like it’s being played back at 1.25x speed. But a few songs were better than I thought they’d be and showed a glimmer of talent (like That’s the Way). Nah, it’s still a 1.

Not only did I not like this… I did NOT like this. Boy George’s voice annoys me to no end. I cannot understand how someone would find that voice attractive. It always sounds off, like we’re at this creepy community theater show. I can’t place why exactly I was repulsed by this album. But I think it’s 85% Boy George. The other 15% is when, on half their songs, they have an actually good gospel singer in the background doing mindless “hey, heyyyy” sounds that serve no purpose. I hate it when people do that. I hate-listened twice. One star. 1/5

Aan die single heb ik al sinds de jaren 80 een hekel, de rest is ook verschrikkelijk. Klote band die alles wat kut is uit de jaren 80 vertegenwoordigt.

hahah karma chameleon från the office.. idk about dis, 80tal är svårt för mig.

Not much good unless you want to include Karma Chameleon

Garbage

This album reminds me why I hate 80's music.

"Colour By Numbers" was released 40 years ago. "Aladdin Sane" came out 50 years ago next week. Boy George and David Bowie cultivated androgynous makeup wearing personas in the 70s and 80s. Yet here we are, in 2023, with states passing laws targeting drag shows that are so restrictive they seem like they would prevent any performance by Culture Club or David Bowie, let alone trans performers like Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! or Rainbow Kitten Surprise's Ela Melo. If the 80s could handle Boy George (though I'm sure acceptance of Boy George was far from universal and I'm sure he experienced intolerance and discrimination), why have we not progressed more in the last 40 years? While I fully support Boy George's freedom of expression, I can't stand this album. "Colour By Numbers" is filled with incredibly repetitive songs. Each track is almost all chorus, with 4-5 words repeated until you can't help but hit the skip button. If the music behind the lyrics stood out that would be one thing, but there's nothing here to maintain interest in.

Everything I don't like about the 80s.

hate it 2* - I like this kinda music but this is just annoying

Elevator music that's only bearable if you're going from one floor to the next. In other words, everything that's dead wrong about the eighties in one album. And the tunes are not even memorable (apart from "Karma Chameleon"). Which might be a good thing, come to think of it, because they fortunately don't get stuck in your head for hours, at least. I have a lot of sympathy and respect for Boy George's character, by the way. He's not always had an easy life, and I can only praise him for reaching the sort of success he reached at a time when prejudice was still everywhere. But I don't care at all for the artist that he is, or for that band he was part in. If really Culture Club wanted to reenact the schmaltzy vocabulary of the fifties and sixties in a more contemporary frame, the least they could do was to take a page from Eurythmics or Soft Cell--to mention somewhat close acts who had their faire share of the spotlight around 1983. Those acts knew how to make their mix of influences sound *vital*, at least in their great singles. In comparison, Culture Club's tunes sounds thin, stale, and hackneyed. Next! Please... Number of albums left to review: 631 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 182 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 85 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 109 (including this one)

This album sounds exactly like the cover looks - corny and cringey. So 80s in the worst way. Not my thing at ALL. Even the book seems so mid about it!

no

After listening to about half of this, 80s pop just might be my least favorite genre of all the genres. - did not finish -

I'll admit to having a soft spot for "Karma Chameleon," but the rest of this is fucking awful, just the blandest stereotype of bad 80s pop

I started off really liking this, already had been a fan of the first track. But it became full of too many genres, while still being overly loud and quintessentially 80s. +1 for gender nonconformity Update: -2 for racism

cumma cumma cumma cumma cumma cumeleon u cum and go. this is entertaining the first time and then it tries to enter your skull through blunt force repetition i haven't actually investigated this band at all aside from hearing a few singles, i don't think they're super highly regarded in most circles boy george actually isn't a very good singer? he just sounds kind of flat, his voice doesn't carry much my initial impression is that this is fine but thoroughly forgettable pop music. This in spite of most of the songs being painfully repetitive. it's trying so DESPERATELY to make a hook stick that I think it actually has the opposite effect. The instrumentation on "miss me blind" is a little funky which is cool but on most of the songs it feels like the instruments are pushed so far back they're barely noticeable. "mister man" on the other hand verges into being irritating they wrote a song called "man-shake" yet seemingly none of the lyrics are remotely sexual. wtf. boy george makes being gay boring as this wears on I really don't like it, it's not viscerally offputting but there's very little I actually enjoy here proof that the 80s weren't all amazing given these dudes were topping the charts everywhere

no thank you this is music that says nothing and means nothing. can't stand it

C’est difficile à écouter par bout. Il y a quelques chanson où le côté gospel sort assez fort pour que j’aime un peu ça. Autrement, ...

Really grating, every song outstayed it's welcome, definitely captures what's it's like to listen to heart FM. Massive respect to wham for making this sort of music remotely palatable. Another one where I made sure to check the original tracklisting so I could skip the 'bonus tracks' on the remaster.

Karma chameleon aside, can't say I enjoyed it. Melting pot was quite good too Very 80s.... But not the good kind of 80s

Not sure why this was on the list of 1001 albums to listen to before you die. I could have lived my life perfectly never having listened to it. Shhmehhhhh.

Au bout d'un moment ça agace

crapy pop

I do not have any high hopes for this… The album opens with karma chameleon it’s a song I recognise and it’s okay but has to win the award for the most middle of the road pop of the 80’s. I don’t recognise the it’s a miracle but it’s still the same brand of music, nice and listenable but boring and sell outy. Things get slow with black money it’s a rather forgettable album track but I can still see them doing worse. I sorta like changing every day like the verses aren’t bad as such but this band cannot write a chorus for the life of them, they just say the songs name a few times then that’s it. Side one ends with that’s the way ( I’am only trying to help you) the song starts sparking my interest ( as it’s very different from the rest of the album) but the gospel style backing singers don’t work on a pop record, but hey nice for trying. Side two starts with church of the poisoned mind it’s good for the album probably the best song would probably save this album from the inevitable low rating if the chorus weren’t so repetitive ( but the backing vocals do work). Miss me blind is the most repetitive song on a very repetitive album like the whole late half is chorus-> generic guitar solo-> extended coda. It’s just not great. I like the pre chorus to mister man but the rest of it is just the dumbest song ever ( and it’s not even super repetitive). Just by reading the lyrics of stormkeeper I predicted how the chorus was gonna go it’s so generic but it’s short. I think culture club became conscious of their repetitive choruses as victims is only said like four times in the whole song. Anyway it’s a fairly generic piano ballad to close off one of the worst albums I’ve ever herd. I maybe being too harsh but this is a 1. Compared to what I have rated a 1 before at least tortoise, the incredible string band and Robert Wyatt provided unique listening experiences, public image at least had sparks of hope. (My other 1 was kid rock and well they’re not that bad). Compared to other 80’s pop this is nothing, honestly listen to pet shop boys, Duran Duran or even A-ha then listen to this you can tell that those other three bands weren’t 100% in it for the money.

No.

Nobody needs to hear this album while they are alive.

Pure turd

Twee camp 80's rubbish

First track Karma Chameleon is a classic but thinking about it, it's not actually a good track, it's just well known. Other than that there was nothing to write home about. Maybe some Arctic Monkeys Old Yellow Bricks inspiration from Miss Me Blind. Really not my bag at all though, not sure if it's a 1 or a 2.

Karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma karma

No thank you. This was a very boring and uninspiring couple of listens

This is garbage. It is just musically bad. Least favorite tracks: Black Money, Mister Man, Man-Shake

No i klasyka gatunku, wyspiarski pop, colour by numbers to drugi studyjny krazek synth popowo soulowej bandy prosto z londonu, rok 83 wiec nateznie synthow przkroczylo wszelkie normy sluchalnosci, a scena byla zalewana grupami, ktore pojawialy i znikaly po wydaniu tego czegos co udalo sie sprzedac i zostac zapamietanym na jednym kawalku, w przypadku kulturalnego klubu jest to juz pierwszy utwor z tej plyty, czyli karma chameleon ktory jest stalym bywalcem w szlagierach radiowych wspominajacych lepsze czasy, no i jeszcze mozna kojarzyc z tego widelo gdzie chlop, czyli pan wokalista bandy Boy George przebral sie za babe kolorowom, no nie wyczymie, chociaz jest on glownym wokalem, to jego glos z pewnoscia nie jest czyms co zostaje w pamieci po odsluchu tej plyty, bo jest to mialkie niebieskookie zawodzenie ktorego czlowiek zawsze ma dosc po 5 minutach odsluchu, wiec wypadaloby ze po pierwszym traku bezpiecznie mozna skonczyc odsluch plyty, bo na kolejnych dziewieciu kawalkach nic ciekawszego niz na pierwszym nie sposob uraczyc, ale czlowiek sie przekonuje tylko, ze wokalnie panie bakujace zrobily o wiele lepsza robote niz pan george, pisze panie, bo glownie zenskie glosy slysze z tylu, ale w kontrybucji albumowej cala banda jest zaznaczona jako bakujacy wokal, sporo takze sesyjnych muzykow na wszelakich fletach, harmonijkach, trumpetach, bo material jest przepakowany kaczowatymi melodiami wypchanymi do granic mozliwosci sluchalnosci, ale cale szczescie krotka plyta, bo zaledwie 38 minut liczy podstawowe 10 kawalkow, z ktorych na plejke leci wspomniany na poczatku one hit wonder bandy

This is so 80's sounding it is ridiculous. Hard to believe anyone ever took this seriously or thought this was was a critically important album. So cheesy.

Rubbish

Did not enjoy this at all. Hated the production.

Never properly listened to Culture Club. Mainly because Karma Chameleon is an utterly wank song and also Boy George is a piece of shit who handcuffed a rent boy to a radiator and beat the shit out of him. For these reasons, I didn’t go into this album with a lot of optimism but I thought maybe the rest of the album will be a bit different from Karma Chameleon. It was not and the songs that were different were worse. I’m a huge fan of flagrantly gay 80s cheese pop but this was just too much for me. Church of the Poison Mind is the only half decent tune on it but the war crime against harmonica just ruins it for me. Willing to bet a large amount of money that Boy George will end up on a washed up celebrity show like I’m A Celebrity or Big Brother at some point in the future, the absolute wetty.

I’ve had ample reggae influenced British pop bands from the 80/70’s to rate lately, and I can’t say I’ve found one more enjoyable than any of others. Their all kinda ho hum. I mean you’d have to been living under a rock for the last 40yrs not to have heard of Culture Club. The same could be said for the first track on this album. But I doubt many peeps would have sat and listened to a whole album of theirs. I can save those people the time to do something more enjoyable though. As predicted when I found I’d been given this album to review today...I was already looking forward to tomorrow’s. 1 Star!

Solo la de.karma chameleon esta buena

Beetje saai album, niet echt lekker

Some good queer fun, but sounds very dated. I can't stand Karma Chameleon. Most of the other tracks are pretty forgettable.

muuuito anos 80 :(

Horrible