From Luxury to Heartache

From Luxury to Heartache was produced by veteran pop and R&B producer Arif Mardin, who replaced Steve Levine, the producer of Culture Club's previous three albums, in a bid to revitalise the band's sound. Due to lead singer Boy George's growing addiction to drugs, recordings dragged on for so long that Mardin had to disband the sessions and leave it up to engineer Lew Hahn to record the final vocals. The final credit on the album gave production credit to both Mardin and Hahn on all tracks. Songs like "Gusto Blusto" and "Reasons" took days for the addicted singer to finish.

Following the release of the album, rumours of George's heroin addiction began to circulate in the press and in British and US tabloids, and by the summer of 1986, he announced that he was indeed addicted to drugs. In July, he was arrested for possession of cannabis.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4321642.stm|title = Boy George in the spotlight|work=BBC News|date = 8 October 2005}} Several days later, keyboardist Michael Rudetsky, who played on the album and had co-written "Sexuality" with George, was found dead from a heroin overdose in George's home.{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1986/08/07/american-musician-dies-in-boy-georges-home/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102062220/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-08-07/news/8602260755_1_kevin-o-dowd-george-o-dowd-drug-related-death |archive-date=2 January 2015 |title=American Musician Dies In Boy George`s Home |work=Chicago Tribune}}

Lead single "Move Away" became a hit in several countries around the world. However, also around this time, media reports of lead singer Boy George's drug abuse were starting to surface. "God Thank You Woman" was the second single released from the album in Europe and Asia, it peaked at number 31 on the UK Singles Chart, while in North and South America "Gusto Blusto" was chosen as a single, but it failed to chart on the US Hot 100.

Another single, "Heaven's Children", was scheduled for release in the UK in July 1986, but was cancelled.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/4563425-Culture-Club-Heavens-Children|title=Culture Club – Heaven's Children|website=Discogs|date=1986}} Within a year of the album's release, the band broke up and Boy George embarked on a solo career, making this the last Culture Club album until 1999's Don't Mind If I Do.

{{Track listing

|all_writing = George O'Dowd, Jon Moss, Michael Craig, Roy Hay & Phil Pickett, except where noted

|headline = Side one

|title1 = Move Away

|length1 = 4:21

|title2 = I Pray

|length2 = 4:00

|title3 = Work on Me Baby

|writer3 = O'Dowd, Moss, Craig, Hay

|length3 = 4:06

|title4 = Gusto Blusto

|length4 = 4:40

|title5 = Heaven's Children

|length5 = 4:44

}}

{{Track listing

|headline = Side two

|title6 = God Thank You Woman

|length6 = 4:14

|title7 = Reasons

|length7 = 4:35

|title8 = Too Bad

|length8 = 4:36

|title9 = Come Clean

|length9 = 3:20

|title10 = Sexuality

|writer10 = O'Dowd, Moss, Craig, Hay, Michael Rudetsky

|length10 = 5:28

|total_length= 44:04

}}

{{Track listing

|headline = CD bonus tracks:

|title11 = Move Away

|note11 = Extended

|length11 = 7:25

|title12 = God Thank You Woman

|note12 = Extended

|length12 = 7:03

|title13 = Sexuality

|note13 = Extended

|writer13 = O'Dowd, Moss, Craig, Hay, Rudetsky

|length13 = 10:34

|total_length= 69:06

}}

A Japanese version of From Luxury to Heartache, released on 21 December 2022, also contains the bonus tracks "From Luxury to Heartache" and "Gusto Blusto" (Extended Dance Mix).{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/25607311-Culture-Club-From-Luxury-To-Heartache|title=Culture Club – from Luxury to Heartache|website=Discogs|date=21 December 2022}}

• Boy George – vocals
• Mikey Craig – bass guitar
• Roy Hay – guitar, piano, keyboards, sitar, electric sitar
• Jon Moss – percussion, drums

• Michael Rudetsky – keyboards
• Phil Pickett – keyboards, background vocals
• Lewis Hahn – recorder
• Helen Terry – backing vocals
• Jocelyn Brown – backing vocals
• David Lasley – backing vocals
• Wendell Morrison – backing vocals
• Ruby Turner – backing vocals

• Arif Mardin – producer
• Lewis Hahn – producer, mixing
• George Marino – mastering
• Jon Moss – digital mixing
• Michael O'Reilly – engineer
• Martin Pearson – engineer
• David Richards – engineer
• Tony Gordon – management

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Culture Club|title=From Luxury to Heartache|type=album|award=Silver|relyear=1986|certyear=1986|id=2419-1733-2|access-date=27 June 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007VWRD0 Amazon.com review]
• [http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,2684379,00.html Artist Direct review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224192346/http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,2684379,00.html |date=24 December 2007 }}
• [http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=60506785&loc=109&sp=1 Buy.com review]
• [http://rateyourmusic.com/view_album_details/album_id_is_3049 Rate Your Music review]

{{Culture Club}}

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Category:1986 albums

Category:Culture Club albums

Category:Virgin Records albums

Category:Epic Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Arif Mardin