''This Time – The First Four Years'' is the first official

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

new wave group

Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (musician), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Mikey Craig (bass guitar), and formerly included Jon Moss ( ...

, released by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

on 6 April 1987. Its release came one year after the band had split up.

Overview

The compilation exclusively includes, in its vinyl edition, Culture Club's most successful hits. The one track which was never available in single format is "Black Money" (originally on the band's second album, ''

Colour by Numbers ''Colour by Numbers'' is the second album by the British new wave group Culture Club, released in October 1983. Preceded by the hit single "Karma Chameleon", which reached number one in several countries, the album reached number one in the UK a ...

''), which was intended to be released to promote this collection, but never actually came out. The album includes a wide selection of tracks taken from all their albums (including more than half the tracks from the ''Colour by Numbers'' album), as well as the group's contribution to the '' Electric Dreams'' film soundtrack; "Love Is Love". For many countries, it was the first time that their hit single "

Time (Clock of the Heart) "Time (Clock of the Heart)" is a song by the British new wave band Culture Club, released as a stand-alone single in most of the world and as the second single from their debut album '' Kissing to Be Clever'' in North America. As the follow-up ...

" was included on an album. Two additional tracks are featured on the CD and cassette version: the remix of "

I'll Tumble 4 Ya "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" is a song by English band Culture Club, released in 1983 as the fifth and final single from their debut album '' Kissing to Be Clever''. The 7" single was released only in North America, peaking at #9 in the U.S. and #5 in Can ...

" and the US 12" medley of " It's a Miracle" and "

Miss Me Blind "Miss Me Blind" is a song by English new wave band Culture Club. It was the third single released from the album '' Colour by Numbers'' in North America, peaking at number 5 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in spring 1984. Whitburn, Joel ...

". The bulk of these tracks would be re-issued on numerous compilations for years after.

Release details

Track listing

Personnel

Band/musicians

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

and lyrics * Roy Hay:

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, keyboards,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

, synth guitar *

Mikey Craig Michael Emile Craig (born 15 February 1960) is a British musician and DJ best known as the bassist of the pop/soul/new wave group Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comp ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Jon Moss Jonathan Aubrey Moss (born 11 September 1957) is an English drummer, best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, the Nips, the Damned and Adam and the Ants. Early life ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Helen Terry Helen Terry (born 25 May 1956) is a British singer and television producer, known for her backing vocal work with Culture Club. As a solo performer, she scored a Top 40 hit single in 1984 with "Love Lies Lost", and released one album in 1986, ' ...

: female lead and background vocals * for the other musicians, see

's first four albums

Staff/production

Steve Levine Steve Levine is a British record producer, best known for his work on Culture Club's studio albums. He won a Brit Award for Producer of the Year in 1984. He has also composed film and TV scores. History Levine's career began as a trainee tap ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, except track 8 *

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

, Lew Hahn: production on track 8 *Assorted iMaGes:

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released album, studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of a ...

David Levine David Levine (December 20, 1926 – December 29, 2009) was an American artist and illustrator best known for his caricatures in ''The New York Review of Books''. Jules Feiffer has called him "the greatest caricaturist of the last half of the ...

, Jamie Morgan, Mark LeBon,

Kate Garner Kathryn Mary Garner (born 9 July 1954) is a British photographer, fine artist and singer. Early life Garner was born in Wigan, Lancashire to Anne Philomena Shannon and George Sandeman Garner, a factory worker and a sailor. She was expelled ...

, Stevie Hughes:

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

*Mitaka: booklet Japanese

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

* for the other members of staff and production, see

's first four albums

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

AllMusic review

FnacMusic.com where it is possible to listen to short samples of all tracks on the collection

Amazon.com Use the "Search" box for infos on Culture Club's albums and collections

* ttp://rateyourmusic.com/view_album_details/album_id_is_166000 Rate Your Music Use search box for infos on Culture Club's albums and collections {{DEFAULTSORT:This Time - The First Four Years 1987 compilation albums Culture Club albums Albums produced by Steve Levine Virgin Records compilation albums Epic Records compilation albums