Kissing to Be Clever
| Kissing to Be Clever | ||||
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Standard cover art
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| Studio album by Culture Club | ||||
| Released | 4 October 1982 (UK) 13 December 1982 (US) |
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| Recorded | 1982 at Red Bus Studios, London | |||
| Genre | New wave | |||
| Length | 33:35 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Producer | Steve Levine | |||
| Culture Club chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Kissing to Be Clever | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Smash Hits |   |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | (B) |
| Rolling Stone |  |
Kissing to Be Clever is the debut album by the English band Culture Club, released in late 1982. It includes Culture Club's international breakthrough hit single, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", which reached number one in the band's native UK and Top 10 of many charts around the world.
The album's first two singles were "White Boy" (which failed to crack the US or UK charts at all), 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 global smash hit in over a dozen countries. The album spent 88 weeks on the US Billboard charts and reached its peak position of #14 in March 1983. The follow-up single, "Time (Clock of the Heart)", became a US #2 and UK Top 3 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 became the group's third consecutive Top 10 single in the US. This made Culture Club the first band since The Beatles to have three Top 10 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)". The 2003 release of the album has the restoration of the original colour cover which had been replaced by a black-and-white picture of lead singer Boy George on previous versions.
The album has reportedly sold over 5 million copies worldwide, including over 1 million in the USA where it has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.
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