The Martyr Mantras | ||||
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Studio album by Jesus Loves You | ||||
Released | 1990 | |||
Genre | Pop, dance, soul, house, Balearic, acid house, deep house | |||
Label | More Protein/Virgin Records | |||
Producer | Simon Rogers, Mark Brydon, Angela Dust, Jon Moss, John Themis, Bobby Z, Jeremy Healy, Bruce Forest, Zeo | |||
Jesus Loves You chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
The Martyr Mantras is the debut and 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.
The Martyr Mantras contains many dance-oriented tracks, most of them with an electronic production. It is partly a collection of some of the songs that were released as one-off singles many months before ("No Clause 28" in 1988, "After the Love" in 1989, "Generations of Love" and "One On One" in 1990). The lead single was the Indian and house mash-up "Bow Down Mister" which reached the Top 30 in the UK Singles Chart.
George’s songwriting credits are also on another alias, as "Angela Dust".
In a contemporaneous review in Keyboard, Jim Aikin described the album as "blue-eyed soul for the '90s". He added that "[George] updates his British R&B roots very effectively with hip-hop beats and techno tricks". Aikin also noted that, whatever the mood of any particular track, "you feel that George is sincere".
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann found the music to be "largely anonymous, if danceable", but singled out "Bow Down Mister" as an exception.
The Martyr Mantras was not a strong seller, only reaching #60 on the UK Albums Chart. Although it did fare better in European countries,The Martyr Mantras failed to enter the Billboard Top 200.
Production