Boy George- This Is What I Do (2013)

Boy George- This Is What I Do (2013)

I found Boy George in This Is What I Do, his new record, in a curious reflexive way, gone (almost) is the reggae, the oriental spirituality or the punk rock roots shown in his past recordings, yes, as role model and idol Bowie, George was a shape shifter, and

here Boy George, one of the most recognized musical characters of the 80s, seems to be figuring how to get back his career and how to put again himself on top of the hill, and how to become once again “as the king everything”, Boy George modernizes his act, and there are obvious hints to sexually ambiguous figures of recent relevance in his new direction, like Elton John, Morrissey and Antony Hegarty, although to me, the man who Boy George sound so much alike this time is no other than the great David Johansen from the legendary NY Dolls, whose battered down, bruised and wasted soulful voice remains amazingly powerful to this day and very evident on his lasts solo records.

George sets the mode into powerful balladry, reflexive lyrics and a voice that has turned rougher, but warmer at the same time, King Of Everything finds George sounding more human than ever, which is cool, his voice retains some of his power and that is used as his main advantage, and some dissonance on the arrangements helps the tune escape the Elton John excessive tenderness cliché, but by the second theme, Bigger Than War, there’s a strange lounge and strings jazzy arrangement, which unfortunately ends up hiding his voice, and making it almost unrecognizable at times, for George, it might be better to forget the dancing days for BG.

By Live Your Life, Boy recaptures his reggae spirit, nor his voice of the past, neither his enthusiasm, and the tune simply becomes a boring bummer, and the reggae stays shyly in the bass and on the more happier My God which somehow rescues the record with its more optimistic beat and nature, here, we can see the sometimes ruined humanity of George recover some of his former strength of character, the man founds his true essence in the times of self doubt and self confidence and this disparate stances makes him stronger and really soulful, although he quickly returns to quieter shores with Its Easy a beautiful country tinged tune, the weary voice suits perfect for this purpose, even though George has lost some of his identity on the process, perhaps a welcome change, although it will take some time to finally blossom into something powerful.

George takes out some of his fascination with revolutionary and controversial idols form the past (Bowie, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins in the past), this time, is the great Yoko Ono, whose Death Of Samantha is taken here by Boy and although it might not be a highlight form the record is done in a positive and respectful way, Anyroad has some gentle strings and here George erases most of his androgyny, his voice sounds deep and tuneful, a man wasted by times and a turbulent life, whose talent lives in his inner self and not in his outer looks, a song that definitely ends up as a winner for all the pain it can reflect.

Reggae was at the very soul of George in his Culture Club days, and definitely lives in George’s own very soul, impossible to disappear at all, nowadays George still does his reggae tunes, but this time they sound more down to earth, less quirky, and on My Star, by the first time on the record he bangs the Jamaican drum in the right way, and he repeats the feat in Love and Danger, George’s reggae keeps tales of love and hurt, like in the past, but this time, the ambiguity of past days is replaced by the wasted personality of the singer in the present, now pain and mature age seems to be the center thematically, and the darker nature of the themes prevents the record to become an immediate hit, but helps making this an important and relevant attempt and adds to the Boy Gorge persona additional and welcomed depth.

We have witnessed some comebacks this year, but definitely BG wins in defying in a better way his strengths and developing new ones, his old pop instincts and painful life somehow have helped in making Boy George an still relevant and interesting character and the fact that the man knows how to write a tune makes it even better this return.