The B-52's (1979)

8.5

Planet Claire / 52 Girls / Dance This Mess Around / Rock Lobster / Lava / There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon) / Hero Worship / 6060-842 / Downtown

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, which would become famous as the hometown of the world’s biggest death metal band, R.E.M., the early B-52’s were one of the most original and adventurous bands of their era, seamlessly combining seemingly contradicting genres (60’s instrumental rock, girl group pop, punk, surf, avant-garde elements, etc) into an eccentric but convincing whole, constantly sauntering on the thin line between kitsch and artiness. The band consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, some miscellaneous instruments), Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson (mainly giggles and some other stuff), Cindy’s brother Ricky on guitar, and Keith Strickland on drums. It is not only the music that was deemed semi-deranged. Some of the band members also looked almost alien (especially Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, with their outrageous hairdos), while the cover of the album was an extraordinary canary yellow.The album was produced by Chris Blackwell,founder of Island Recordsand also producer of several classic reggae-albums by Bob Marley and Toots & The Maytals, in Nassau (the Bahamas). And it shows. This is definitely a party record, one that will crack you up guaranteed, and that will have you hum along for almost 40 minutes.

“Planet Claire” is probably one of the greatest album openers of ’79, with some Hank Marvin/ Bob Bogle-guitar stylings (or is that Duane Eddy’s “Peter Gunn”?), sounding ultra-tight. Add to this some extra-terrestrial keyboards, the robotic singing of Fred Schneider, the band's trademark nonsensical lyrics (“Some say she’s from Mars, or one of the seven stars, that shine after 3:30 in the morning, WELL SHE ISN’T”), and you’re left with a winner. During the more swinging “52 Girls” we get the same cleanly-produced but punchy guitars, slightly false harmonies by the 2 women, weird synth-accents, and a combination of girl group cheesiness and punk energy. “Dance This Mess Around” starts off with keyboard bass (no ‘regular’ bass on this album) and drums, and is quite repetitive (so are most of the other tracks on the album, by the way). The song does become memorable because of Cindy Wilson’s ecstatic shrieks (“I say, don’t that make you feel a whole lot better?”), the demented instrumentation and more freaky lyrics, though. “Rock Lobster” is probably the most notorious of these tracks, and rightly so, since this 6:50-combination of idiotic vocals, spacey noises and cool guitars is one of the most infectious tracks my ears have ever encountered. The second half of the album, on the other hand, is a bit less impressive, although it starts off with “Lava,” which has muscular guitars, a GREAT melody, and the best vocals on the album, with Pierson and Wilson trading off excited shouts and ear-piercing shrieks. Next up is “There’s a Moon in the Sky,” a shortened variation on “Planet Claire” but ultimately not as entertaining (and it’s a bit too long). “Hero Worship” strikes back, though, with jerky musicianship, a bouncy rhythm (the bass-line sounds like something from a Talking Heads-album), and Pierson freaking out, making the weirdest sounds and noises with that voice of hers. “6060-842” is the last song that’s at least good. The best part of the song is the repeated “Your number’s been disconnected” at the end. Last (and least) on the album is the disappointing “Downtown”. Yes, it’s the one Petula Clark also sung, but unfortunately this version is awful, and sounds uninspired, with just monotonous keyboards and false vocals by Pierson. It gets better when the guitar is more prominently present towards the end, but it remains sub-standard nevertheless.

“The Yellow Album” is an album with an original and even stunning first half, but it slumps down somewhat during the second half, which has a few songs that are no match for the earlier highlights (“Planet Claire,” “52 Girls,” and “Rock Lobster”). The entire album is still a great kick to listen to, though, even 24 years after its release. Much like Devo, The B-52’s were one of those weird bands that were often dismissed or categorized on the basis of one or two songs, but this album proves they were truly a one-of-a-kind-bunch that effortlessly dabbled in music history and came up with a damn fine debut, which everyone, who ever plans on having a party, should have.

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Wild Planet (1980)

7

Party out of Bounds / Dirty Back Road / Runnin’ Around / Give Me Back My Man / Private Idaho / Devil in My Car / Quiche Lorraine / Strobe Light / 53 Miles West of Venus

One look at the album cover, and you'll immediately expect more of the spacey surf-pop-goes-extra-terrestrial that made up a large part of the debut. The canary yellow is replaced by blood red, but the line-up, the ridiculous hairdos (created by Laverne), Schneider’s silly moustache, and the overall kitsch have remained the same. Although it’s still vintage 52’s, they have altered their sound somewhat: the eerie keyboards and ear-piercing shrieks have diminished, those ultra-tight guitar riffs are less upfront, and the album as a whole leans more towards a new wave-meets-dance pop sound that wasn’t as out of step with the time as their debut album, which was regarded by many as a masterpiece. Of course that was an exaggeration (the second album half was positively disappointing compared to the supreme lunacy of the first half), but the second album is not the enormous deterioration many critics claimed it to be either. It lacks the quirky charm of the debut somewhat, but the song-writing and performances are for the most part still very good.

Album opener “Party out of Bounds” has a very appropriate title, as it’s a deliciously infectious track that hesitates between quite conventional dance-pop and more angular funk. The guitar is less upfront, but the fast percussion and silly backing vocals help to turn it into a damn fine opener any band would be proud of. It’s immediately followed by another excellent track, “Dirty Back Road”, even though it lacks the typical eccentricity, sounds more serious and ‘normal’ than anything the band had ever recorded before (the women sing quite conventional and doing a great job at it). The album’s highlight is undoubtedly “Private Idaho,” which starts off a bit weird, but suddenly transforms itself into a brilliantly catchy song with cool-sounding guitars (reminiscent of the first album), and, most importantly, astonishing vocal harmonies that turn this song into one of their very best, one that gives “Planet Claire” and “Rock Lobster” a run for their money. Though the rest of the album isn’t nearly as good (heard that before, right?), there are still some interesting songs left: the peculiar dance-pop of “Give Me Back My Man” benefits from the alternately breathy/seductive and shrieking vocals of Cindy Wilson, while Fred Schneider’s hysterical vocals shine in the exciting “Devil in My Car.” “Strobe Light,” simple and loud, ups the ante, and would be one of the last instances of a clear punk-influence in their music (although Schneider would re-visit this territory on his hard-rocking solo album Just…Fred (1996)). Like the debut, Wild Planet also has its share of lesser tracks that aren’t bad, but that somehow lack the wickedness of the album’s highlights. “Runnin’ Around” is quite fast and exciting in the beginning, but doesn't have much to offer ultimately, while both “Quiche Lorraine” and “53 Miles West of Venus” never fulfil their expectations, and drag on for too long. Many other bands would’ve been happy with songs like these, though.

Wild Planet still sounds very fresh and adventurous when compared to albums by most contemporary party-bands. Like the debut, its best songs (“Party out of Bounds,” “Private Idaho”) are really good tracks that combine irresistible dance rhythms with sonic details that must’ve been something completely different at the time. Unfortunately, the band isn’t capable of sustaining the momentum during the remainder of the album, which consists of good tracks and a few semi-successful ones. Wild Planet is also supposed to be their last (well, that’s early) truly intriguing effort, as their act became increasingly more of an easy gimmick during the next years, and their sound less bizarre and adventurous.

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Party Mix (1981)

6.5

Party Out of Bounds / Private Idaho / Give Me Back My Man / Lava / Dance This Mess Around / 52 Girls

Nowadays it's quite common, but back in the day when Party Mix was released, a remix album of already existing rock songs (although it's debatable whether you could or should consider The B-52's an average rock band) to get people wiggle their booty on the dance-floor must've been quite special. The release gathers three songs from the classic debut and three from Wild Planet, and while most of these are among their best songs (the only crucial absent one being "Rock Lobster"), Party Mix's relevance is questionable. Four of these songs are longer than their original counterparts ("Give Me Back My Man" even getting three minutes extra), but the problem is that these remixes are rarely improvements. The B-52's already were a dance band in my book - albeit one for freak-parties attended by marshmellow-munching, kool aid-gulping nerds with a few nasty tics - as their first two albums dealt in a merger of camp, surf and other random silliness that was twice as geeky as anything The Talking Heads ever recorded. There are no radical deconstructions or re-workings included here, the main difference usually being a larger amount of silly, spacey sounds, more pronounced beats and added percussion. "Party Out of Bounds" and "Give Me Back My Man" get stretched out towards the end and while that's no big deal in the former's case, the latter loses its momentum. As the least unadorned of the Wild Planet-cuts, "Private Idaho" - possible their best song and a classic of the new wave-era - remains the essential pick. The same thing can be said about the Yellow Album songs: the extra minute doesn't make "Lava" more charming and "52 Girls" remains as oddly infectious as it already was two years earlier. If you think that The B-52's represented the kind of new wave with the highest entertainment factor, like me, you'll undoubtedly love this album, but the frustrating lack of improvement (creativity, even) when compared to the original material makes it somewhat of a superfluous release that you only need to check out if you have too much money to spare (in which case I'll give you my bank account number).

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Whammy ! (1983)

4

Legal Tender / Whammy Kiss / Song for a Future Generation / Butterbean / Trism / Queen of Las Vegas / Moon 83 / Big Bird / Work That Skirt

What the hell happened? In 1981, the insane quintet released Party Mix, an EP featuring remixes of five songs, and in 1982 the EP Mesapotamia (you're encouraged to send it to me if you happen to own a copy) with the aid of fellow-geek David Byrne. In 1983, three year after the sophomore release Wild Planet they suddenly reappear with this entirely puzzling synth-pop album. Some of the ingredients are still there: the music's still ridiculously tight, the vocals are unlike anyone else's and the lyrics are as inane as ever ("I ain't foolin', give me a refuelin', yeah whammy kiss me, whammy hug, come on mammy, throw me that whammy," etc), but they also succeeded in turning their all-over-the-place goofball music into something too artificial, entirely dominated by horrendously outdated synths and drum computers. At the time, they probably were among the most courageous of new wave bands for doing this, but what does courage mean by itself? Why walk into a brick wall without a helmet? The ultra-tight guitars are almost drowning in these plastic sounds, while the ongoing rhythm tracks throughout this album resemble something like tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk, only faster. The Sesame Street synths of "Legal Tender" are bearable, but it's really the only song I have no (well…) bone to pick with, as the remainder of the album is a monotonous exercise in soulless robot-pop that occasionally refers to their early material ("Whammy Kiss," Butterbean"), but usually remains so self-occupied that it doesn't even notice the "eh?"-factor is way in the red. The completely over the top "Song for a Future Generation" is kinda interesting, as it could've appeared on Wild Planet, but when you get to the part where all the members introduce themselves ("Hello, I'm Cindy and I'm a Pisces, and I like Chihuahuas and Chinese noodles"), you'll just cringe at all that silliness. They had always been about grotesque camp and kitsch gone astray, but there's only so much a regular guy like me can take. And so the album goes on, moving from by-the-books B-52's ("Trism" and "Moon 83," which makes me curious about the song it replaced - a cover of Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry") to awkward percussion-heavy Kid Creole-meets-arcade-game-nonsense ("Big Bird") to, finally, the forgettable instrumental album closer. They'd eventually recover from this creative low and stylistic dead-end, but unfortunately the goofy charm that made 'em so appealing in the first place was gone forever when they OK'd the release of Whammy!.

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