Everything about U Can Never B2 Straight totally explained
U Can Never B2 Straight is a 2002
acoustic album by 80's pop superstar
Boy George. The album includes acoustic songs from George's London play
Taboo, as well as other songs from other
solo albums, such as
Cheapness and Beauty. In total there are 16 songs (15 plus 1 ghost track, of which 8--exactly half--are previously unreleased), and each are dedicated either to someone in particular (most of them) or in general, in the booklet credits. Three songs are dedicated to important ex boyfriend Michael Dunne ("If I Could Fly", "Losing Control" and "The Deal"), whereas "Unfinished Business" is for Kirk Brandon (who took George to court for this song, but lost).
Boy George has received fantastic reviews for the album. It is his best received record but the lowest selling of his career. The hidden track "Out Of Fashion" was taken out as a single in a remixed form as a collaboration with dance duo Hi-Gate; a version of the song is also featured on the
Taboo musical soundtrack. Another track which was released as video-only was the opener "Ich Bin Kunst", a song dealing with performance artist
Leigh Bowery, a great friend of Boy George's, now dead, whose character George took on in his musical, instead of playing himself.
An example of the fantastics reviews can be found on allmusic.com, where it got 4.5 stars out of 5.
The album also includes all the acoustic ballads originally on
Cheapness and Beauty, including the single "Il Adore", as well as another single from that album, "Same Thing In Reverse", in an acoustic version which is different from the dance remix which reached the highest position on Billboard Dance Chart in the U.S.A.. "Same Thing In Reverse" is dedicated in the booklet credits to 'Eminem and all scared, pretty homosexuals'... The song "Julian", one of the new songs, is also featured on the next EP
Straight, sold together with Boy's new book of the same name, in 2005.
Finally,
U Can Never B2 Straight also contains the following three tracks: "She Was Never He", taken from the
1999 fan-requested compilation
The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit; "Fat Cat", originally on
Culture Club's reunion album called
Don't Mind If I Do and released in
1999; and the popular Krishna-inspired "Bow Down Mister", which gave the artist one of his last UK chart success after splitting from the band.
Track listing
- "Ich Bin Kunst" (2002) (song from the musical Taboo) - 2:38 (Boy George/Kevan Frost)
- "St. Christopher" (2002) (new song) - 3:46 (Boy George/Kevan Frost)
- "She Was Never He" (1996) (unreleased mixed version) - 3:33 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Cheapness & Beauty" (1995) (acoustic version taken from the "Il Adore" single) - 3:47 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Fat Cat" (1999) (acoustic version) - 3:24 (Boy George/Emily Themis)
- "If I Could Fly" (1995) (taken from Cheapness and Beauty) - 4:08 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Unfinished Business" (1995) (taken from Cheapness and Beauty) - 3:36 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Julian" (2002) (new song) - 3:39 (Boy George/Kevan Frost)
- "Wrong" (2002) (new song originally in Taboo) - 4:07 (Boy George/Kevan Frost)
- "Letter To A School Friend" (1996) (unreleased)- 3:49 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "The Deal" (2002) (old live favourite often sung around 1991 to 1993) - 4:41 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Losing Control" (1992-2002) (unreleased version adapted from a 1992 Jesus Loves You country demo) - 3:15 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Same Thing In Reverse" (1995) (from Cheapness and Beauty, even if an acoustic version is found on the Japanese version of that album) - 3:35 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Il Adore" (1995) (from Cheapness and Beauty) - 6:14 (Boy George/John Themis)
- "Bow Down Mister" (1991) (from Jesus Loves You's The Martyr Mantras) (Bruce Forest)
(16.) [hiddentrack] "Out Of Fashion" (2002) (acoustic version of a song from Taboo) - songs n° 15 & 16 (actually only one song, that's n° 15 - the next starts, after a long silent period, within that same track number) totally last 13:27
Credits
Ich Bin Kunst
dedicated to Leigh Bowery, Nicola and Christine Bateman
Boy George: co-production
Kevan Frost: keyboards, drum programming & brass arrangements; mix at Frosty Bros. Studio (Kev's flat); co-production
Ben Castle: saxophone & brass arrangements
Raul D'Olivera: trumpet
Mike Innes: trombone
St. Christopher
dedicated to Chris Manning
Boy George: co-production
Kevan Frost: backing vocals, acoustic guitar & brass arrangements; mix at Frosty Bros. Studio (Kev's flat); co-production
Ben Castle: saxophone & brass arrangements
Raul D'Olivera: trumpet
Mike Innes: trombone
Sharleen Hector: backing vocals
She Was Never He
dedicated to Natasha and Jody
Boy George: co-production
John Themis: guitars, backing vocals, co-production; mix at Mayfair Studios
Kevan Frost: backing vocals
Alan Branch: engineer
Cheapness & Beauty
dedicated to all tattooed car thieves
Jessica Corcoran: production
John Themis: guitars, backing vocals, strip & remix
Zee Asha: backing vocals
Alan Branch: engineer
Fat Cat
dedicated to all sexually confused straight boys?
John Themis: guitars, production; mix at home
Emily Themis, Katherine Themis: backing vocals
If I Could Fly
dedicated to Michael Dunne
Jessica Corcoran: production
John Themis: guitars & string arrangements; mix at Abbey Road Studios
Nick Ingman: string arrangements
London Chamber Orchestra: strings
Unfinished Business
dedicated to Kirk Brandon
Jessica Corcoran: production & mix
John Themis: guitars, string arrangements & mix
Julian
dedicated to Julian of course
Boy George: co-production
Kevan Frost: acoustic guitar, backing vocals and co-production; mix at Frosty Bros. Studio (Kev's flat)
Wrong
dedicated to Luke and all dreamers
Boy George: co-production
Kevan Frost: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals and co-production; mix at Frosty Bros. Studio (Kev's flat)
Pete Adams: piano & Hammond
Liz Chi: Chinese violin "edu" solo
Joel Pott, Sharleen Hector, John Gibbons: backing vocals
Letter To A School Friend
dedicated to Miss Carter and Michael Crome
John Themis: guitars, production; mix at Mayfair Studios
Zee Asha, Linda Duggan, Mary Pearse: backing vocals
Richie Stevens: drums
Winston Blisset: bass
Peter Adams: keyboards
Alan Branch: engineer
The Deal
dedicated to Michael Dunne
Boy George: co-production
Kevan Frost: acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals and co-production; mix at Frosty Bros. Studio (Kev's flat)
Liz Chi: violins & violin solo
Sarah Chi: violins
Sharleen Hector, John Gibbons: backing vocals
Losing Control
dedicated to Michael Dunne
John Themis: guitars, keyboards, bass, backing vocals, production & mix
Sugar Hajishakalli: bouzouki
Andy Kyriacou: drums
Jimmy "Mixologist" Sarikas: engineer
Same Thing In Reverse
dedicated to Eminem and all scared, pretty homosexuals
John Themis: guitars, backing vocals
Zee Asha: backing vocals
Jessica Corcoran: production & mix
Il Adore
dedicated to Stevie Hughes and all the lost boys
Jessica Corcoran: production
John Themis: guitars, string arrangements; mix at Abbey Road Studios
Nick Ingram: string arrangements
London Chamber Orchestra: strings
Christopher Warren Green: violin solo
Bow Down Mister
dedicated to Lord Krishna and John Richardson & family
Bruce Forest: production
Soho Krishna Temple, London Gospel Choir & Basil: special thanks
Further Information
Get more info on 'U Can Never B2 Straight'.
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