695 The B-52s - Wild Planet (1980)

 695 The B-52s - Wild Planet (1980)

Studio Album - Pop



About the Act:

The B-52's arguably should not have the apostrophe, and they did in fact dump it in 2008. Before then, they lost their guitarist (in 1986). Other than that, since 1976 they have had a consistent existence. They are from Athens, Georgia, and have released 8 studio albums.

About the Album:

This was their second album. They deliberately kept some of their regular live songs back from their first album, to ensure the second album went down well with fans. Good plan.

My History with this Album:

None. I don't think I even knew any of the songs, although some were singles.

Review:

So, if you know Love Shack, Rock Lobster, or Meet The Flintstones, you know what the B-52s sound like. Although none of those songs are on this album, the sound most definitely is. There's some quite basic, but punchy backing (unusually with synth bass rather than real bass) and the guitar is jangly. It has a New Wave energy (somebody once told me New Wave was Punk merged with Pop to be more acceptable, and I think that is a reasonable way of thinking about it). The music is almost dancy and quite infectious, pretty much all of the tracks are up-tempo and have a party kind of feel to them.

The uniqueness of the B-52s comes from the vocals. They have three vocalists, two ladies who sing in a punky kind of style, and there is a particular tone to their voices when they sing in unison or harmony that I really like. It's a common American Female Punk kind of tone, but I think these girls have perfected it. This is then complemented by the guy, who does this over-exaggerated sing-talking that has a posh word, but is basically like halfway between talking and singing and goes up and down a lot and is really expressive. And camp. Don't forget camp. The vocals do a lot of call-and answer kind of swapping backwards and forwards between the girls and the guys, and sometimes the girls sing-talk instead of singing also. The combination of all this stuff is what makes their sound. The song structures are foarly untraditional too, as they tend to move on section after section, rather than have verse/chorus structures. Sometimes sections come back.

So, musically, it's fun, and infectious, and sounds like a bunch of teenagers in an open-top Cadillac on a sunny day. Lyrically, it is not deep. This is not a judgement, just a description. This is fine, shallow suits them. Highlights for me are Devil in my Car, and possibly the campest song ever, Quiche Lorraine, about a poodle.

So, they are the B-52s, they have a sound, this album is all that sound, and it works.

7.3/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3FNONpkCNVPrrqEPvm5Fwn

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeQJL9B62AgSTNYhpWoxAKVa-kfh21YjX

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Planet



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