Joyful surprises!

[viktor_haag]

Every now and then the universe surprises you, pleasantly. This morning, I stumbled across an online music review for the B-52's new album ("Funplex"). New album!? But they haven't released anything in a decade and a half!

Yes, indeedy sir! The whacky foursome from Athens is still shaking their moneymakers. In their mid to late fifties.

Foursome!? But didn't Cindy drop out of the band to get on with her life?

Yes, indeedy sir! She's back and her voice slots in alongside Kate's once again for that edge that was just plainly not there on "Good Stuff".

Happy Tuesday.

Comments

You're What?

[thebitterguy]

That is good news. iTunes, here I come!

Re: You're What?

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Like most of the albums that are not (a) the eponymous debut, (b) Cosmic Thing, or (c) Good Stuff, the song-writing is a bit uneven and some of the tunes have a feel of the writing having been a bit phoned in. But the performances themselves are pretty high-energy and up front, which is the big knock against "Good Stuff" (I felt the songs top to bottom were better than average, but the edginess was plainly not there, whether because Cindy was not there, or for some other reason).

But then, after 15 years of on and off revival touring, it's hard to imagine that these guys wouldn't have become incredibly tight (and they are, and it shows).

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

It's been 16 long years.

Wow, despite being new this brings back memories...

::B::

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

Even though the song-writing isn't their best, the production touches and the energy clearly place this in a context that's genuinely B-52ish. There's some really strong stuff on this album, mostly in the middle: "Juliet of Spirits", "Eyes Wide Open", 'Funplex", and "Love in the Year 3000"; I never thought Cindy was anywhere near as good a singer as Kate, but it's great to hear her tone back: it was in retrospect really missing from "Good Stuff"...

That said, there's nothing on this album that's as good as the best of the past ("Planet Claire", "Rock Lobster", "Dirty Back Road", "Private Idaho", "Song for a Future Generation", "Deep Sleep", "Ain't it a Shame", pretty much all of "Cosmic Thing", heck there's even a few tracks on "Good Stuff" that are probably better than all these new tracks), but it's great to add them to the collection.

The word is that after touring so solidly, the band wanted new material to help shake up their sets, and all this material feels a lot like that: not very flashy, but pretty strongly built with an obvious purpose.

In other news -- I also finally picked up Shriekback's last album, "Glory Bumps", and it too has a very similar feel. Nothing on the album matches the brilliance of the best of their past, but Barry Andrews is very clearly comfortable in his own skin, song-writing-wise, and it's a generally strong album with strong links to various parts of the group's past. Highly recommended to fans, but perhaps not as a starting point if you don't know about Shriekback (that starting point is almost certainly "Oil+Gold" or "Big Night Music", depending upon which side of their range of tone you're liable to fall). "Glory Bumps" is perhaps most like "Big Night Music" of all their previous work.