The B-52’s
The Warner and Reprise Years
RHINO
The radical, ecstatic joy of The B-52’s stems from the fact that, in their 49 years with the same lineup (save for the late-great guitarist/composer Ricky Wilson, whose writing charge went to Keith Strickland upon his passing in 1985), Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson, and Fred Schneider have remained over-ground and underground at the same time. Despite anthemic new wave dance-floor favorites (ever watch roomfuls of lawyers, doctors, and grad students writhing on the floor to “Rock Lobster”? I have) and platinum pop albums, the B’s remain alt-Athens proud, unfettered by Rock Hall considerations despite their innovations in angular rhythm, undefinable harmony (there is no sound in music like Cindy and Kate vocalizing simultaneously), their charming call-and-response chatter, and whatever squawky sing-speak Fred does when he approaches the mic alone.
Released in celebration of Pride Month with a rainbow’s worth of catalog coloring, having The B-52’s, Wild Planet, Mesopotamia, Party Mix!, Whammy!, Bouncing Off the Satellites, Cosmic Thing, and Good Stuff in one box represents all that an alternative lifestyle and soundscape should, as the diverse weirdness of The B-52’s is its own universe with its own language filled with narwhals, radium clocks, frugging mermen, and lascivious pineapples.
The tacky yet glamorous naivete, Farfisa-driven freakiness, and thrift store kitsch of their 1979 debut is still a raw-powered smack in the bouffant wig with its primal-punky oomph, low-volume surf twang (if your ocean was on Venus), Dadaist lyrics, and communal intimacy. As most of 1980’s Wild Planet was penned, like their debut, during the band’s nascent development stage, its kink and crinkle sounds similar, though its warm, dense production from Rhett Davies (Roxy Music’s guy) gave the ensemble a reptilian brand of sensuality best heard on the boinging, snaky “Give Me Back My Man.” When Cindy Wilson luridly offers you fish or candy, it doesn’t sound like an option as she moves from purr to yelp within seconds. The idea of making love to the flicker of a strobe light has never sounded as pernicious as it does within Wild Planet.
While the Don Was and Nile Rodgers–produced variations of the bands’ quirky Southern pop is exploded across the entirety of 1989’s glorious Cosmic Thing, and expanded for 1992’s universal Good Stuff (sadly without Cindy Wilson’s participation), the albums that most benefit from the box’s remastered sound and chronological inclusion are the 1982 Mesopotamia EP, 1983’s Whammy!, and 1986’s Bouncing Off the Satellites. The then-controversial David Byrne–produced former release surely jives with his expanded vision of Eno/Fela/Bali/P-funk at the time with its clunky fretless bass and percussive overdrive and its reed-heavy horn section adding to the B’s quirk. Now in remastered form, the sound of its deep-grooving title track with its ascending vocal backgrounds—along with the nervous, stretched-loose R&B of “Cake” and “Loveland”—make Mesopotamia a fresh mini-masterpiece.
As for the chirping Whammy! and the forlorn yet effervescent Bouncing, both found the band experimenting this time with airy synthpop as their designated driving aesthetic. The former’s first side—though short—is a rich portrait in the B’s oddball pop in an elevated electronic mode, showing off the same band of kids who met in Athens’ basement scene doing their party ball best. Bouncing Off the Satellites, however, is the sound of those same kids dealing with maturity and mortality with the loss of one of their own, as Ricky Wilson suffered from AIDS during its recording. Still my favorite album in the B-52’s canon, Bouncing gracefully includes languid, hauntingly contagious melancholy melodies and lyrics for Cindy songs such as “She Brakes for Rainbows,” “Theme for a Nude Beach,” and “Summer of Love,” while allowing space (and zotzed-out spaciness) for their usual Duchampian goofiness.
Hearing The Warner and Reprise Years all in one space of time, deliriously happy as it makes me, only makes me want to live through their original release dates all over again, if for no other reason than to imagine the first-time awe of seeing and hearing The B-52’s.
