| High Hat | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | March 1989 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 51:32 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Boy George chronology | ||||
| ||||
High Hat is a 1989 album compiling tracks from Boy George's second and third UK and European solo albums, Tense Nervous Headache and Boyfriend .
Since neither Tense Nervous Headache or Boyfriend are any longer available, High Hat remains the only place to find any of Boy George's songs from 1988 to 1989. While High Hat has only ten tracks, the two other albums together included eighteen tracks: nine on the vinyl and twelve on the CD and cassette for Tense Nervous Headache; plus eight for Boyfriend, one of which (the hi-energy remix of "No Clause 28", also known as "Pascal Gabriel Mix") would later re-surface on Jesus Loves You's The Martyr Mantras album.
Tense Nervous Headache was shelved in the UK shortly after release of the first single due to lack of interest (or, as George put it in his autobiography, [1] after it "died a solitary death"), despite the singer getting to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart the previous year with "Everything I Own". Half of the ten tracks on High Hat were quite unsuccessful singles either taken from Tense Nervous Headache or Boyfriend: "Don't Cry", "Whisper", "Don't Take My Mind on a Trip", "You Found Another Guy" and "Whether They Like It or Not".
The only track actually taken from High Hat as an independent single in the United States was the US remix of the opener "Don't Take My Mind on a Trip"; the version of which included on High Hat is slightly different from that originally opening Boyfriend. "Don't Take My Mind on a Trip" was a club hit in Canada and the US, charting at No. 5 on the Billboard R&B charts. "You Found Another Guy" reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles Sales Chart on the 5th of August, 1989. A third single, "Whisper", was also released in the US in September 1989 and Boy George performed it live on the Arsenio Hall Show on September the 25th of that year. High Hat nonetheless did a little better than its US predecessor Sold , reaching number 126 on the Billboard charts on the 6th of May, 1989. [2] It was also released in Australia (V2555) and Mexico (LEMP-1640).
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
William Ruhlmann from AllMusic gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that while Boy George was in the band Culture Club, together they "scored surprising across-the-board success with a wild new fashion sense and old-fashioned pop-soul music", but "as a solo artist [he] seems determined to address a much smaller, more targeted audience". According to Ruhlmann, in the majority songs on the album, George "wants to engage in thinly veiled confessions set to new jack swing percussion tracks into which he nearly disappears". [4]
Tracks 2, 5, 7–10
Tracks 1, 3, 4, 6
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [5] | 126 |
| US Billboard 200 [6] | 126 |
Cheapness and Beauty is the fifth studio album by English singer and songwriter Boy George, released in 1995. It peaked at number 44 on the UK Albums Chart.
U Can Never B2 Straight is a 2002 album by Boy George. The album includes acoustic songs from George's London play Taboo, new and previously unreleased songs, as well as selected songs taken from his albums Cheapness and Beauty and The Martyr Mantras, the latter from when George was part of the band Jesus Loves You.
"Everything I Own" is a song written by American singer-songwriter David Gates. It was originally recorded by Gates's soft rock band Bread for their 1972 album Baby I'm-a Want You. The original reached No. 5 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked it as the No. 52 song for 1972. "Everything I Own" also reached No. 5 in Canada and No. 12 in Australia.
All Systems Go is the thirteenth studio album by Donna Summer. It was released on September 15, 1987; it would be her final release on Geffen Records, which had been Summer's label since 1980. There were two singles released in the US, "Dinner with Gershwin" and "Only the Fool Survives", although both failed to reach the top 40 of the Hot 100. The title cut, "All Systems Go" was released as single in the UK. The album peaked at number 122 on the US Billboard 200, becoming her lowest charting studio album to date.
Sold is the debut solo studio album by English singer Boy George, released in 1987 by Virgin Records. The album includes George's cover of "Everything I Own", which reached number one in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Norway, and the top 10 in several other countries.
The Song Remembers When is the third studio album by American country music artist Trisha Yearwood. The album was released October 26, 1993, on MCA Nashville Records and was produced by Garth Fundis. It was Yearwood's third collaboration with Fundis, who also produced her 1992 album, Hearts in Armor which received wide critical acclaim, as well as her platinum-selling eponymous debut. The title track was the album's lead single, becoming a major hit, peaking at #2 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1993.
E-Zee Possee were an English electronic music group, active between 1989 and 1991, made up of vocalists and musicians, and led by MC Kinky. She was a rapper and friend of Boy George, and E-Zee Possee were promoted by George's label, More Protein.
Whisper War is the debut studio album by American rock band the Cab. It was released on April 29, 2008, by Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance Records. The album was produced by Patrick Stump, who also provides vocals on "Bounce", "One of Those Nights", "I'm a Wonder" and sings backing vocals on other songs. Lead singer Alexander DeLeon's younger sister, Sophia, is the little girl on the album cover.
Destiny is the sixth studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1986.
The Martyr Mantras is the only studio album by Jesus Loves You and the fourth studio album by Boy George. It was credited to Jesus Loves You worldwide except in North America, where it was credited to Boy George upon its release there in 1991.
George Alan O'Dowd, known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, actor, DJ and lead singer of the English pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham and was part of the New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to early 1980s. His androgynous look and style of fashion was greatly inspired by glam rock pioneers David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He formed Culture Club with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss in 1981. The band's second album Colour by Numbers (1983) sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Their hit singles include "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time ", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon", "Victims", "Miss Me Blind", "It's a Miracle", "The War Song", "Move Away" and "I Just Wanna Be Loved".
Stay with Me Tonight is the second studio album by American singer Jeffrey Osborne. It was released on July 22, 1983, on A&M Records. Osborne reteamed with frequent collaborator George Duke to work on the album which reached #25 on the US Billboard 200 and #3 on the R&B chart. The title track, "Stay with Me Tonight", was a #4 R&B hit in 1983, while three other singles, "Don't You Get So Mad", "We're Going All the Way", and "Plane Love", entered the top twenty.
Let's Hear It for the Boy is the eighth studio album by American recording artist Deniece Williams, released on April 16, 1984, by Columbia Records. The album reached No. 26 on the US Billboard 200 Albums chart and No. 10 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hop-Hop Albums chart.
Don't Stop is the third solo album by Jeffrey Osborne, released on September 21, 1984.
Tense Nervous Headache is the second solo studio album by English singer Boy George, released in October 1988 by Virgin Records. While the album was withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom, it was still released in Europe but was not released by Virgin in the United States. The title was a reference to a UK television commercial for Anadin.
Boyfriend is the third solo studio album by English singer Boy George, released in April 1989 by Virgin Records, just six months after his previous album, Tense Nervous Headache, which Virgin Records decided to not release in the United Kingdom, due to its lead-single "Don't Cry" performing poorly.
Once in a While is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 23, 1988, by Columbia Records and found him returning to the practice of covering contemporary hits but also mixing in lesser-known songs already recorded by other artists along with a few new ones.
Jennifer Maidman is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actress and author who has collaborated extensively with many internationally well known groups and artists. Her work appears on hundreds of recordings from 1976 onwards and she has received numerous awards, including a platinum award from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for the album 'Hormonally Yours', on which she worked as part of the band Shakespears Sister. She was a core member of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra from 1984 until 2007. She is best known as a bass guitarist but also sings and plays guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukulele, cuatro and Chapman Stick. In June 2016, her website announced that she was working on a solo album in Woodstock, New York featuring amongst others, Jerry Marotta, Annie Whitehead, and David Torn. The album, entitled 'Dreamland' was released on 1 August 2017 and features Marotta, Torn and Whitehead, with guest contributions from Paul Brady and Robert Wyatt amongst others. Since 2017, she has also been collaborating frequently with New York-based arts cooperative The Secret City. In 2021, she reunited with Joan Armatrading for a live stream concert at the Asylum Chapel in London. In 2022, the concert was broadcast in the UK by the BBC and released as a double album on CD and streaming services.
Bullish is a 1984 album released by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, though the Tijuana Brass was not involved in its making. The album was reissued in 2017. The music of the album is mostly electro-funk, with Alpert's characteristic trumpet in accompaniment. The album is mostly instrumental, though Lani Hall provides vocals on the track "Maniac". Describing the album in 1984, Alpert said, "I don't think of this as a backward-looking record ... It's very contemporary."
Life is the sixth studio album by British band Culture Club, credited to "Boy George and Culture Club". It was released on 26 October 2018 through BMG. It was Culture Club's first studio album since 1999's Don't Mind If I Do.
