High Hat

Infobox Album
Name = High Hat
Type = compilation
Artist = Boy George


Released = 1989
Recorded = 1988
Genre = pop, dance, acid house
Length = 51:32
Label = Virgin Records
Producer = Gene Griffin, Bobby Z, Mike Pela & Boy George
Reviews =
Last album = Boyfriend
This album = High Hat
Next album = The Martyr Mantras

:"This article refers to an album by Boy George. For the part of a drum kit, see Hi-hat."

High Hat is a US album compiling tracks from Boy George's second and third UK and European solo albums, "Tense Nervous Headache" and "Boyfriend". Since those two albums are no longer available, "High Hat" remains the only place to find any of Boy George's songs from 1988-89, though High Hat, like "Tense Nervous Headache" and "Boyfriend", is very difficult to find. While High Hat only has 10 tracks, the two other albums together included 18 tracks: 9 on the vinyl and 12 on the CD and tape for "Tense Nervous Headache"; just 8 for "Boyfriend", 1 of which (the hi-energy remix of "No Clause 28", also known as 'Pascal Gabriel Mix') will later re-surface on Jesus Loves You "The Martyr Mantras" album. "Tense Nervous Headache" was shelved in the UK shortly after release of the first single due to lack of interest (or, as George put it in his autobiography [Boy George with Spencer Bright (1995), "Take It Like A Man", London, Sidgwick & Jackson] , after it "died of a solitary death"), despite the singer getting to #1 in the UK Singles Chart the previous year with "Everything I Own". Half of the ten tracks on High Hat were quite unsuccessful singles either taken from "Tense Nervous Headache" or "Boyfriend": "Don't Cry", "Whisper", "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", "You Found Another Guy" and "Whether They Like It Or Not". The only one track actually taken from High Hat as an independent single in America was the U.S. Remix of the opener "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", the version of which included on High Hat is slightly different from that originally opening "Boyfriend".

"Don't Take My Mind On A Trip" was a club hit in Canada and USA, charting at #5 on the Billboard R'n'B charts. "You Found Another Guy" went into the top 40 of the same charts too.

Boy George was not proud of many of the tracks on that release, especially the tracks on the "Boyfriend" album, which he first rejected. Finally, after the flop of Tense Nervous Headache, Virgin Records didn't ask him about the tracklisting of Boyfriend and High Hat.

Track listing

#"Don't Take My Mind On A Trip" (U.S. Remix) - 5:21 (Griffin)
#"Whisper" - 5:40 (O'Dowd, Maidman, Bobby Z)
#"Whether They Like It Or Not" - 5:10 (Griffin, O'Dowd, Bell)
#"You Found Another Guy" - 4:27 (Griffin, Bell, Middleton)
#"You Are My Heroin" - 6:21 (O'Dowd, Maidman, Nightingale, Stevens, Fletcher)
#"I'm Not Sleeping Anymore" - 4:20 (Griffin, O'Dowd)
#"Kipsy" - 6:06 (O'Dowd, Nightingale, Dewar, Geary)
#"Don't Cry" (single version) - 4:09 (O'Dowd, Maidman, Bobby Z)
#"Girl With Combination Skin" - 6:00 (O'Dowd, Fletcher, Maidman, Nightingale)
#"Something Strange Called Love" (edit) - 3:59 (O'Dowd, Vincent, Dewar)

Musicians/Staff/Production

Tracks 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

*Boy George: lead vocals; co-production on 7 & 10
*Glen Nightingale: guitars & other voices
*Ian Maidman: bass, keyboards
*Bobby Z.: drums; production on 2, 5, 8, 9
*Amanda Vincent, Vic Martin: keyboards
*Richie Stevens: drums ("Kipsy")
*Derek Green, Carrol Thompson, Helen Terry, Beverley Skeete, Belva Haney, Wendell Morrison, Jr., Julliette Roberts, Nevada Cato: other voices
*David Ulm, Carol Steel: percussion
*Jagdeep Singh: tabla & other voices
*Simon Tyrrel, Andy Dewar: drum programming
*Ann Dudley: all string arrangements
*Kenny Wellington, Dave (Baps) Baptiste, Nat Augustin, Sid Gauld: brass section
*Ed Jones (jazz musician): major sax
*Desmond Foster: other bass
*Caron Geary: toastin' ("Kipsy")
*Paul Lee, Iris Sutherland, Yvonne White: the choir ("Mama Never Knew")

*Jock Loveband, Alan Douglas, Martin White, Terry Reed, Paul Wright, Renny Hill, Phil Legg, Robin Evans: engineers
*Mike Pela: mix on 2, 5, 8, 9 for Powerplant London; co-production on 7 & 10

Tracks 1, 3, 4, 6

*Boy George: lead vocals
*Lee Drakeford, Zan Marsha McClurkin, Mauricette Martin: backing vocals
*Teddy Riley: all instruments, backing vocals, arrangements
*Bernard Bell: acoustic guitar & backing vocals
*D Mitchell: engineer
*Bill Esses: assistant engineer
*Gene Griffin: production for G.R. Productions

Notes