Cheapness and Beauty

Overview

The album opens with a cover version of Iggy Pop's "Funtime", which was released as a single and reached #45 in the UK Singles Chart. Another single was the ballad "Il Adore" (later featured on the soundtrack album Taboo) which peaked at #50, and "Same Thing in Reverse", which reached #56 in the UK and #28 on the Billboard Dance Charts in the US.

Having scored his biggest solo success in the US and Canada with the theme song of the movie The Crying Game in 1992, George decided to move away from an electronic sound and record some rock-oriented tracks with a glam-rock edge. One of the reasons he cited for this move was revisiting his teenage years while writing his autobiography, Take It Like a Man, which was released around the same time as the album. The album also marked the first time in which George didn't hide his gay sexuality in the lyrics. The tracks "Genocide Peroxide" and "Il Adore" were both later featured in the musical Taboo.

Track listing

All tracks composed by George O'Dowd (Boy George) and John Themis; except where indicated

1. "Funtime" – 3:05 (Iggy Pop, David Bowie)
2. "Satan's Butterfly Ball" – 3:03
3. "Sad" – 3:52
4. "God Don't Hold a Grudge" – 2:49
5. "Genocide Peroxide" – 3:44
6. "If I Could Fly" – 4:04
7. "Same Thing in Reverse" – 3:33
8. "Cheapness and Beauty" – 3:59
9. "Evil Is So Civilised" – 3:32
10. "Your Love Is What I Am" – 4:12
11. "Blindman" – 4:42
12. "Unfinished Business" – 3:33
13. "Il Adore" – 6:12

Personnel

percussion