Culture Club's Colour by Numbers secures lead singer Boy George's place as a blue-eyed soul balladeer of the first rank. If he has yet to match the heights of the soul elite – the delicate refinement of Smokey Robinson or the rich gospel fervor of Gladys Knight, both of whom he sometimes resembles–Boy George is still artistically the real thing, a singer who continually and instinctively...

Following in the footsteps of such bands as Haircut One Hundred and ABC, Culture Club's sound is spry and romantic. What sets them apart musically is their seamless blending of salsa, dub and calypso with good old blue-eyed soul. With steel drums, timbales and bullfight horns brightening the tunes, Kissing to be Clever positively jumps, from the pleasure-seeking masochism of "Do You Really Want to...