Sweet Toxic Love (Deliver Mr. David From The Hootenanny Mix)

There is a lot going on with this track; it was written for Eve Gallagher but George decided to keep it for himself. It was first performed in 1990 at the very first Jesus Loves You concert, the first time George played with John Themis (who co-wrote the song), and even before the debut album had been released in England. He continued to play it throughout the concerts and club gigs he did for the next several years, and it quickly became a fan favorite courtesy bootleg tapes being furiously duplicated and sent via snail mail to fans, by fans, all over the world. Eve never did manage to record it (perhaps George felt it was too good to give away), but she does provide backing vocals on the single, but it did not appear on that Jesus Loves You album. The single was eventually released (nearly 3 years later) as the first track from what was intended to be that second Jesus Loves You album, but the album was constantly revised and delayed and restarted and eventually became the Boy George solo masterpiece, “Cheapness & Beauty“- without this song. The only album it can be found on is the 1993 Greatest Hits compilation, “At Worst The Best Of“. It probably felt at home there amongst all the Culture Club hits, as it is the most “Culture Club“ sounding song George ever released without the band that made him famous. It has an opening like “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me“, a combination of country and pop like “Karma Chameleon“, and even glorious backing vocals evoking memories of Helen Terry. Given that George again began wearing the Hassidic Jewish hat he rocketed to fame in for TV promotion of this single (and “The Crying Game“, released around the same time) one might even think he was trying to recapture some of that Culture Club magic as a soloist. It worked, in part- the single was a minor hit in a few European territories, but did not dent the charts at home and wasn’t even released in America or Japan. It might have had a chance stateside, the nation was at the height of popularity for “MTV Unplugged“, and a small 80’s revival was underway (heralded by George himself with the afore-mentioned “Crying Game“, and the unexpected surprise of Duran Duran’s comeback, “Ordinary World“). An acoustic number that sounds like it could have been lifted off of “Colour By Numbers“ should have been easy pickings by record executives.