U Can Never B2 Straight is a 2002 album by
Boy George. The album includes
acoustic songs from George's London play Taboo, new and previously unreleased songs, as well as selected songs taken from his albums Cheapness and Beauty and The Martyr Mantras, the latter from when George was part of the band
Jesus Loves You.
Album overview
The album includes 16 songs (8 previously unreleased), each dedicated to someone in particular or in general. Three songs are dedicated to George's ex-boyfriend Michael Dunne ("If I Could Fly", "Losing Control" and "The Deal"), whereas "Unfinished Business" is for
Kirk Brandon (who took George to court for this song, but lost).
The hidden track "Out of Fashion" was taken out as a single in
remixed form as a collaboration with dance duo
Hi-Gate; a version of the song is also featured on the Taboo musical soundtrack. Another track which was released as video-only was the opener "Ich Bin Kunst", a song dealing with the late performance artist
Leigh Bowery, a great friend of George's, whose character he took on in his musical. (George would re-record the song again as Bowery in a more campy and
rock-style arrangement for the 2004 Broadway cast recording of the musical.)
U Can Never B2 Straight includes all the acoustic ballads originally on George's 1995 album Cheapness and Beauty, including the single "Il Adore", as well as "Same Thing in Reverse" (a different version from the dance remix which reached No. 1 on the US
Billboard Dance Chart). "Same Thing in Reverse" is dedicated in the booklet credits to '
Eminem and all scared, pretty homosexuals'... The song "Julian", a new song, is also featured on the
EPStraight, a CD which was included with George's 2005 autobiography of the same name.
The album also contains the following three tracks: "She Was Never He", taken from the 1999 fan-requested compilation The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit; "Fat Cat", originally on
Culture Club's 1999 reunion album Don't Mind If I Do, and the popular
Krishna-inspired "
Bow Down Mister", which gave George one of his last UK chart successes after splitting from Culture Club.
Reviews
AllMusic gave the album 4.5 stars out of 5. It also got four stars from Q magazine.
Track listing
"Ich Bin Kunst" (2002) (song from the musical Taboo) – 2:38 (Boy George,
Kevan Frost)
"Out of Fashion" (2002) (acoustic version of a song from Taboo) – hidden bonus track - 6:30 (begins after 28 seconds of silence, following "Bow Down Mister") Boy George,
Paul Masterson,
Judge Jules
Personnel
Ich Bin Kunst
dedicated to
Leigh Bowery, Nicola and Christine Bateman