Sold (album)
Encyclopedia
Sold is the debut solo
album
by British
pop rock
/ soul
singer Boy George
, released in 1987, for Virgin Music label, including the following hit singles, "Everything I Own
" (UK#1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK#29), "To Be Reborn" (UK#13), and the title track "Sold" (UK#24).
, and a modest success in the UK
. Things were worse in the USA
because George was not able to tour and promote the record there due to drugs-related restrictions, so the record charted only in the lower regions of the U.S. Top 200, even though he was a multi-platinum artist with Culture Club
in previous years. The album was instead a huge hit in Italy
, where it became the artist's highest-charting and bestselling work ever - not even his band Culture Club
, though extremely popular in that country, ever achieved such an outcome there.
The album got good reviews, even if Virgin Records
didn't like the use of brass on many tracks.
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
/ soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
singer Boy George
Boy George
Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
, released in 1987, for Virgin Music label, including the following hit singles, "Everything I Own
Everything I Own
"Everything I Own" is a song written by David Gates. Originally recorded by Gates's band Bread for their 1972 album Baby, I'm a Want You, the single was recorded by The Connells, Jack Jones, Ken Boothe, Olivia Newton-John, Georgie Fame, Boy George, *NSYNC, Jude, Rod Stewart, Crystal Gayle, Nicole...
" (UK#1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK#29), "To Be Reborn" (UK#13), and the title track "Sold" (UK#24).
Overview
The album was a big success in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and a modest success in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Things were worse in the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
because George was not able to tour and promote the record there due to drugs-related restrictions, so the record charted only in the lower regions of the U.S. Top 200, even though he was a multi-platinum artist with Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
in previous years. The album was instead a huge hit in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, where it became the artist's highest-charting and bestselling work ever - not even his band Culture Club
Culture Club
Culture Club are a British rock band who were part of the 1980s New Romantic movement. The original band consisted of Boy George , Mikey Craig , Roy Hay and Jon Moss...
, though extremely popular in that country, ever achieved such an outcome there.
The album got good reviews, even if Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
didn't like the use of brass on many tracks.
Album
- "Sold" – 3:54 (O’Dowd, Martin, Dozier)
- "I Asked For Love" – 4:43 (O’Dowd, Dozier)
- "Keep Me In Mind" – 4:05 (O’Dowd, Nightingale, Brown)
- "Everything I OwnEverything I Own"Everything I Own" is a song written by David Gates. Originally recorded by Gates's band Bread for their 1972 album Baby, I'm a Want You, the single was recorded by The Connells, Jack Jones, Ken Boothe, Olivia Newton-John, Georgie Fame, Boy George, *NSYNC, Jude, Rod Stewart, Crystal Gayle, Nicole...
" – 3:53 (David GatesDavid GatesDavid Gates is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame...
) - "Freedom" – 3:49 O’Dowd, Martin, Stevens)
- "Just Ain't Enough" – 4:18 (O’Dowd, Dozier)
- "Where Are You Now (When I Need You)" – 4:16 (O’Dowd, Skinner, Stevens, Martin, Nightingale, Maidman, Wickens)
- "Little Ghost" – 3:13 (Mooney, Peroni)
- "Next Time" – 3:28 (Lasley)
- "We've Got The Right" – 3:46 (O’Dowd, Martin, Stevens)
- "To Be Reborn" – 4:25 (O’Dowd, Dozier)
B sides
- "Use Me" – (O'Dowd, Martin, Stevens)
- "State Of Love" (Edit & Extended Mix) – (O'Dowd, Hay, Pickett)
- "I Pray '87" – (O'Dowd, Hay, Moss, Craig, Pickett)
- "Are You Too Afraid" – (Hay, O'Dowd)
Other non-album tracks of the period
- "Let It BeLet It Be (song)"Let It Be" is a song by The Beatles, released in March 1970 as a single, and as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was their final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band...
" (with Ferry Aid) - 6:08 (John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
) - "Wishing Well" (with GOSH!) - 5:30 (Copping)
- "Live My Life" (from the soundtrack Hiding OutHiding OutHiding Out is a 1987 movie starring Jon Cryer as a Wall Street broker "hiding out" as a high-school student as the mob tries to kill him.- Plot :...
)
Singles taken from the album
- "Everything I Own" / "Use Me"
- "Keep Me In Mind" / "State Of Love" (+ "I Pray '87" on the 12" maxi singleMaxi singleA maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...
) - "Sold" / "Are You Too Afraid?"
- "To Be Reborn" / "Where Are You Now (When I Need You?)"
Band/Musicians
- Boy GeorgeBoy GeorgeBoy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
: lead male vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Helen TerryHelen TerryHelen Terry is a British singer, 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, Blue Notes....
: female vocals - Richie Stevens: drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Vic Martin: keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Glenn Nightingale: guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s and background vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists... - Ian Maidman: bass
- Paul "Wix" WickensPaul WickensPaul "Wix" Wickens is a keyboardist and composer from Essex, United Kingdom. Wickens has worked with musicians such as Paul McCartney, Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bon Jovi and many other artists. Wickens has been a member of McCartney's touring band since 1989.-Career:Wickens began...
: keyboards and rhythm arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
on tracks #2, 6 & 11 - Mike Timothy: keyboards
- Juliette Roberts: backing vocals
- Carroll Thompson: backing vocals
- Captain Crucial (Amos Pizzey): toastin’RappingRapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
- Lorenzo Hall: backing vocals
- Jerry HeyJerry HeyJerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....
: arrangiamenti stringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
and hornsHorn sectionIn music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
Staff/Production
- Stewart Levine: production
- Glenn Skinner: sound engineer; production on track #10
- Steve Reece: assistant sound engineer
- Malcom Garrett per Assorted iMaGes: sleeveSleeveSleeve is that part of a garment which covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The pattern of the sleeve is one of the characteristics of fashion in dress, varying in every country and period...
- Paul Gobel, Johnny RozsaJohnny RozsaJohnny Rozsa is a New York-based photographer, specializing in fashion, portrait, and celebrity photography.-Early life:Rozsa was born and raised in Nairobi, the son of Jewish Hungarian-Czech parents...
, Bill Ling: photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
Release details
| Country | Year | Label | Format | Catalogue |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
1987 | Virgin Records Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
CDV 2430 |
| MC Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... |
MCV 2430 | |||
| LP | V 2430 |
External links
- Amazon.com: professional and customer reviews, product details, track listing and audio samples.
- Lyrically Speaking: Web page, including, in particular, all the lyrics to the "Sold" album, the lyrics of its singles B sides, Wishing Well and Let It Be, as well as all lyrics to the songs by Culture Club, Boy George, Jesus Loves You and related projects, in general.