For a band that announced its farewell tour three years ago, the B-52s are bidding quite the extensive goodbye. The self-proclaimed “world’s greatest party band” recently announced that they will be hitting the road again for a co-headlining tour with Devo in the fall. The B-52s have also released the 9-LP box set, The Warner and Reprise Years (June 20), which gathers nearly all the band’s output since its 1979 debut.
Though the set doesn’t include Funplex (released in 2008 on Astralwerks), it still provides new fans with a chance to own all the essential B-52s albums in one place. The vinyl version, limited to just 2,000 copies, features not just new remastering but also colored records in honor of Pride Month. But how essential is this set, especially when all of the key albums have been reissued numerous times?
Everything begins and ends with The B-52s, the group’s eponymous first record. In a post-punk milieu that considered seriousness a virtue, the Athens, Georgia group leaned into campiness with pastel outfits, weirdo hairdos, and bizarre lyrics that crossed into science fiction. Featuring Fred Schneider’s distinct speak-singing and the lovely harmonies of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, songs such as “Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire,” and “Dance This Mess Around” infiltrated the popular consciousness. Kitschy and infectious, this first album remains the B-52s’ best.
The band would return a year later with Wild Planet. Though not as good as the debut and missing some of its charming quirks, Wild Planet is still filled with punchy, jittery songs that helped define the band, such as “Private Idaho” and “Strobe Light.” After Party Mix!, which features six dance mixes of prior songs, the band released the Mesopotamia EP in 1982. Perhaps the hidden gem in the set, this six-song collection was produced by David Byrne. More serious than the prior albums, Mesopotamia confused fans and critics at the time with its more experimental and serious approach. However, songs like the title track and “Loveland” show a brave new direction for the group.
Mesopotamia’s mixed critical reception pushed the B-52s back toward the funky territory of their debut on the 1983 follow-up LP Whammy!. With added synths and drum machine, some tracks on Whammy! haven’t aged well, but songs like “Legal Tender” and “Song for a Future Generation” are fan favorites. However, just four years after their startling debut, the B-52s struggled to recapture that initial magic.
It would take another six years for them to find it. In 1985, guitarist Ricky Wilson died of AIDS, and the following year, the B-52s, reeling from his death, delivered the critical and commercial failure Bouncing Off Satellites. Somehow, they found their mojo again with Cosmic Thing, the somewhat uneven 1989 record that spawned the hit single “Love Shack.” With Don Was and Nile Rodgers producing, Cosmic Thing felt more polished and funkier than anything the B-52s had put out before. It was also a massive hit.
The Warner and Reprise Years also features Good Stuff, reissued on vinyl here for the first time since its 1992 release. With Wilson no longer in the band (she would return in 1996), Good Stuff is a fans-only record that, while produced again by Was and Rodgers, feels unnecessary and forced. Without bonus tracks or B-sides, this by-the-numbers collection won’t appeal to longtime B-52s fans, but the appeal of the music contained within is undeniable.
