Waking Up with the House on Fire explained

Waking Up with the House on Fire
Type:studio
Artist:Culture Club
Cover:Waking Up with the House on Fire CD cover.jpg
Released:22 October 1984[1] [2]
Recorded:1984
Studio:Red Bus Studios, London
Genre:
Length:36:52
Label:Virgin (UK)
Epic (US)
Producer:Steve Levine
Prev Title:Colour by Numbers
Prev Year:1983
Next Title:From Luxury to Heartache
Next Year:1986

Waking Up with the House on Fire is the third album by the English new wave group Culture Club, released on 22 October 1984. The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's third top five album.

Overview

The first single, "The War Song", hit #2 in the UK and went Top 20 hit in the US in late 1984. While Waking Up with the House on Fire became the band's third consecutive Platinum seller in both the UK and the US. It less successful than the group's previous album, Colour by Numbers (1983). It was certified gold or platinum in many countries, even earning Double Platinum status in Canada.

The other two singles were "The Medal Song" (UK No. 32), (with its B-side, "Don't Go Down That Street" being released as a single from a subsequent EP in Japan but only reaching No. 69 in the charts) and "Mistake No. 3" (US No. 33). In Mexico, "Don't Talk About It" was released as a single in mid 1985 and charted at number eight. Billboard called "Mistake No. 3" "slow, lyrical musings on human weakness" that is "an unusually sad song" for Culture Club.[3]

Reception

Reviews for Waking Up with the House on Fire have been fairly negative. In Smash Hits magazine, reviewer Tom Hibbert stated the album was "a disaster of mediocrity" and that the majority of the tracks were "a characterless stodge of bland blue-eyed soul, slouching rhythms, pedestrian horns and nonchalant vocals...".

AllMusic's Lindsay Planer retrospectively rated the album two out of five stars. He noted that "overexposure in the media, the ever-changing tides and trends of pop music, and, quite frankly, a less than laudable collection of songs resulted in [the album] receiving a less than enthusiastic response." He also explained that it "was in no way aided by the irony-laden yet undeniable banality of the emphasis track [...], "The War Song"." However, he stated: "Two of the more interesting cuts are the vintage R&B "Crime Time" and the upbeat and soulful "Mannequin," blending Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies with a distinctly Carolina beach and shag flavour."

Robert Christgau rated it a B, stating: "Since I had even less use for the dismissive because-he-wears-dresses theory than for the ridiculous new-Smokey analysis, I could never figure out [Boy George's] means of commercial propulsion". He also stated that "this calls for concerted protest – which might be easier to whip up if the latest album weren't part three of more-of-the-same."

Track listing

Personnel

Culture Club
Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1984–1985)Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[4] 2
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[5] 6
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[6] 7
French SNEP Albums Chart[7] 2
Italian Albums Chart[8] 7
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[9] 4
New Zealand Albums Chart[10] 15
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[11] 9
Spanish Albums Chart[12] 4
Swedish Albums Chart[13] 19
Swiss Albums Chart[14] 21
UK Albums Chart[15] 2
US Billboard 200[16] 26
West German Media Control Albums Chart[17] 22

Year-end charts

Chart (1984)Position
Australian Albums Chart68
Canadian Albums Chart[18] 30
French Albums Chart[19] 61
Italian Albums Chart60
Japanese Albums Chart60
UK Albums Chart[20] 54
Chart (1985)Position
Canadian Albums Chart[21] 89
Japanese Albums Chart113

Release details

align=center Countryalign=center Datealign=center Labelalign=center Formatalign=center Catalog
1984VirginCD91392
LP39881
1996CD86181
2003CD92406

Notes and References

  1. Adrian . Thrills . Frankie Say: Beat It! . . . London, England . 2 . 13 October 1984.
  2. 20 October 1984. Culture Club in a hot house. Record Mirror. 4. 18 July 2022.
  3. Billboard. Reviews. December 15, 1984. 2023-02-10. 72.
  4. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0646119176.
  5. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.9540&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 Library and Archives Canada.
  6. Web site: dutchcharts.nl Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. MegaCharts. nl. 3 March 2012.
  7. Web site: InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste . infodisc.fr . fr . PHP . 3 March 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150711144234/http://www.infodisc.fr/Album_C.php . 11 July 2015 .
  8. Web site: Hit Parade Italia – Gli album più venduti del 1984. it . hitparadeitalia.it . 3 March 2012.
  9. Book: Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Oricon Entertainment. Roppongi, Tokyo. 2006. 4871310779.
  10. Web site: charts.nz Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. ASP. 3 March 2012.
  11. Web site: norwegiancharts.com Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. Hung Medien. VG-lista. ASP. 3 March 2012.
  12. Book: Salaverri, Fernando. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. 1st . September 2005. Fundación Autor-SGAE. Spain. 84-8048-639-2.
  13. Web site: swedishcharts.com Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. ASP. sv. 3 March 2012.
  14. Web site: Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire – hitparade.ch. de. Hung Medien. ASP. Swiss Music Charts. 4 March 2012.
  15. Web site: The Official Charts Company – Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. Official Charts Company. PHP. 3 March 2012.
  16. Web site: [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r20321/charts-awards|pure_url=yes}} allmusic (((''Waking Up with the House on Fire'' > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums)))]. allmusic.com. 3 March 2012.
  17. Web site: Album Search: Culture Club – Waking Up with the House on Fire. de. Media Control. 3 March 2012.
  18. RPM Top 100 Albums of 1984. RPM. 29 January 2012.
  19. Web site: Les Albums (CD) de 1984 par InfoDisc . fr . PHP . infodisc.fr . 29 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121027131308/http://www.infodisc.fr/B-CD_1984.php . 27 October 2012 .
  20. Web site: Complete UK Year-End Album Charts . 3 March 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120111074744/http://chartheaven.9.forumer.com/a/complete-uk-yearend-album-charts_post21.html . 11 January 2012 .
  21. RPM Top 100 Albums of 1985. RPM. 3 October 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20140116124832/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0618&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5. 16 January 2014. dead.

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