Culture Club

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Kissing to Be Clever is the debut album by new wave soul band Culture Club, released in 1982.

The album was anchored by the international hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me". The album's first two singles were "White Boy" (which failed to crack the US or UK top 100), and "I'm Afraid of Me" (which peaked at No. 100 in the UK). But with the release of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", the band scored a hit in over a dozen countries. Next single "Time (Clock of the Heart)" became a US and UK top ten hit. This song appeared on US versions of the album but not initially on the UK version. Another single was released in North America, "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", which went top ten in the US. This made Culture Club the first band since The Beatles to have three top ten hits in America from a debut album.

Kissing to Be Clever was remastered and re-released in 2003 on CD. This edition contains the song "Romance Beyond the Alphabet", which is the orchestral instrumental version of "Time (Clock of the Heart), also included on Culture Club Collect – 12" Mixes Plus and its subsequent re-release Culture Club Remix Collection as "Time (Clock of the Heart) (Instrumental Mix)". It has the restoration of the original colour cover. The colour cover had been replaced by a black-and-white version.

The album has sold approximately 2.5 million copies worldwide, which includes about 1.5 million of those in the USA, where it was certified platinum by the RIAA.

Reviews for Kissing to Be Clever have been generally mixed to positive. Allmusic's Lindsay Planer rated it four out of five stars. She noted that it "was embraced by not only post-disco dance music enthusiasts, but also new wave listeners and pop fans as well." She also stated that the singles "provide accurate thumbnail sketches of what Culture Club were capable of pulling off musically." She concluded by saying: "From the light and buoyant Philly soul-inspired string arrangement to the effervescent and singalongable chorus, the melody foreshadowed a similar vibe that would carry over to their sophomore long-player, Colour by Numbers."[1] Robert Christgau rated the album a B, explaining that "for all [Culture Club's] fashionability I think their hearts are in the right place". However, he stated that "their bland Caribbean rhythms move no muscles, and their confrontations with racial issues are rarely more than a phrase deep."[2] Lloyd Sachs rated it three-and-a-half out of five stars, explaining that the album "positively jumps, from the pleasure-seeking masochism of "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" to the fearful soul-searching of "I'm Afraid of Me" to the shady "I'll Tumble 4 Ya"". He further stated that "[Boy George's] vocal "normalcy" [plays] against the provocative content of the material." He concluded that "the beat does special service to the message – even when we don't quite know what that message is."

All songs by Culture Club

Side One

1. "White Boy" [Dance Mix] – 4:40
2. "You Know I'm Not Crazy" – 3:36
3. "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" – 2:36
4. "Take Control" – 3:09
5. "Love Twist" [Featuring Captain Crucial] – 4:23

Side Two

1. "Boy Boy (I'm the Boy)" – 3:50
2. "I'm Afraid of Me" [Remix] – 3:16
3. "White Boys Can't Control It" – 3:43
4. "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" – 4:22

Later releases have "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" as the opening track of Side 2 (#6), and "Time (Clock of the Heart)" as the final song (#10).