Colour By Numbers

Boy George uses the biggest pop machine of 1983 as a delivery system for old Motown and Philly soul, so that a nursery-rhyme hook like "Karma Chameleon" is really a smuggling operation.

"Church of the Poison Mind" gallops on a Stax-style backbeat with Helen Terry's huge gospel roar shoving against George's smooth lead, and the trick works because the band commits to the source rather than winking at it. Underneath the harmonica and hand-claps, the lyrics keep circling betrayal and disguise — "Victims" turns that ache into a slow, orchestrated confession that drops the disco armor entirely. The pleasure is watching a group with a giant single like "Miss Me Blind" refuse to coast on it. What lingers is how much genuine hurt they folded into music built for radio, and how few listeners noticed at the time.