Ordinary Alien – The Kinky Roland Files is an album by Boy George, his first solo album in more than ten years. It is produced by Boy George himself and German record producer Kinky Roland.
Review
Following a turbulent four years which saw him sentenced to community
service for falsely reporting a burglary, denied a Visa for his 2008 North
American tour, and more seriously, serve a four-month jail sentence for false
imprisonment, troubled ‘80s star Boy George has spent the last 12 months
attempting to remind everyone why he became such a defining pop icon in the
first place. After providing vocals for Mark Ronson's Record Collection, the
announcement of an impending Culture Club reunion and a critically acclaimed BBC
biopic of his early days, his career rehabilitation continues with Ordinary
Alien, his first album of new material since 1998's odds-and-sods collection
Unrecoupable One Man Bandit, and his first proper studio LP since
1995's Cheapness and Beauty. As its title suggests, it's a collaborative
effort with the German producer Kinky Roland, who's worked with George over the
last 15 years, and features remixes of some of his noughties material and a
host of brand new compositions which are firmly entrenched in George's club DJ
roots rather than the David Bowie-influenced rock of its predecessor. Opening
track “Turn 2 Dust” an empowering attack on prejudice set against a
backdrop of subtle trance hooks, gorgeous twinkling piano chords, and flashes of
dub reggae, shows that George hasn't lost his ability to tackle combing tough
lyrics with beautiful pop melodies in his 13-year solo exodus. “Yes We Can,”
a liberating gospel-fused slice of progressive house which samples Barack
Obama's famous speech of the same name, “Brand New,” a blissful fusion of
Chicane-esque dreamy electronica and Vangelis-style neo-classical pop, and
“Amazing Grace,” an enchanting blend of Eurovision techno and haunting
Portuguese fado vocals, which continues to explain why the dance scene has taken
George to their hearts, just like the pop world did three decades prior. But
just as the four-to-the-floor beats and acidic basslines formula begin to wear a
little thin toward the middle of the album, George changes tack for the second
half with a more eclectic, genre-straddling sound. The rumbling synths,
skittering rhythms, and Philip Something's disengaged Bernard Sumner-ish
tones on “Seconds” recall the Chemical Brothers’ pulsating “Out of
Control”; “Look Pon U” is an infectious blend of warbling subwoofer techno
and bouncy dancehall; while the post-punk beats, chunky bass riffs, and quirky
electronic effects on the tongue-in-cheek “Kill the A&R” echo the
experimental dance-rock of CSS. However, the expletive-laden “Here Come the
Girls,” not the Ernie K.Doe standard, is a messy attempt at sleazy,
Peaches-influenced electro-clash, while “Time Machine,” originally a
gorgeous understated duet with Amanda Ghost, is turned into a generic
floor-filler, as is his pointless cover version of Fleetwood Mac's “Go Your
Own Way.” The oxymoronic title of Ordinary Alien, therefore, couldn't be more
apt. At times, George could be just another ten-a-penny faceless dance act, and
at others, he sounds like he's from another planet. But bar a few
self-indulgent missteps, it's good to have him back. Jon O'Brien –
AllMusic