Colour By Numbers

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