Sep 4, 2013

RhoDeo 1335 Aetix

Hello, "to bomb or not to bomb" that's the question the US Congress has to answer now, the longer the world awaits the outcome of  the vote, pro and contra are discussing the merits, where the longer the pro's talk the hollower their arguments sound. What's the use of a slap on the wrist after all that talk, now it has to be something substantial but not as much that Assad starts to attack Israel or Saoudi oilfields and harikiri attacks on the US battleships. Doing nothing will get an angry response from the Syrian rebels and the Republicans get their day ridiculing Obama, but whatever happens many more will loose their lives.

As we continue the females in the eighties today, today's band had 2 leading singing ladies who stood their men.  The "guy vs. gals" vocals of Schneider, Pierson, and Wilson, sometimes used in call and response style, are their trademark. Presenting themselves as a positive, enthusiastic, slightly oddball party band, they tell tall tales, glorify wild youth, and celebrate wild romance. .....N'Joy

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The B-52's originated as a New Wave rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, United States, in 1976. The band's name comes from a particular beehive hairdo resembling the nose cone of the airplane of the same name. During their early years, wigs of that style were often worn by the band's female singers Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson. Wilson, Pierson, drummer Keith Strickland, guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) and vocalist Fred Schneider formed the group in an spontanous jam session. The band's quirky take on the New Wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart by the unusual guitar tunings used by Ricky Wilson. Their costume thrift-store chic set them apart as well.

Their first single, "Rock Lobster", recorded for DB Records in 1978 (see 1978 in music), was an underground success that led to the B-52's performing at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City in New York City. "52 Girls" was the B-side. Their debut album, B-52's , contained re-recorded versions of "Rock Lobster" and "52 Girls", along with six more originals and a remake of Petula Clark's classic "Downtown". The debut album stood out as an original, unabashed kitsch mavens the bnad celebrated all the silliest aspects of pre-Beatles pop culture -- bad hairdos, sci-fi nightmares, dance crazes, pastels, and anything else that sprung into their minds -- to a skewed fusion of pop, surf, avant-garde, amateurish punk, and white funk.

The following year, they issued Wild Planet, which reached the Top 20 on the U.S. album charts; Party Mix!, an EP's worth of reworked material from the band's first two proper outings, appeared in 1981. Released in 1982, Mesopotamia arose out of a series of aborted sessions with producer David Byrne which saw the B-52's largely abandon their trademark sense of humor, a situation rectified by the next year's Whammy!, a move into electronic territory. After a Schneider solo LP, 1984's Fred Schneider & the Shake Society, the group returned to the studio to record 1986's Bouncing Off the Satellites. On October 12, 1985, however, Ricky Wilson died; though originally his death was attributed to natural causes, it was later revealed that he had succumbed to AIDS. In light of Wilson's death, the group found it impossible to promote the new album, and they spent the next several years in seclusion

In 1989, the B-52's finally returned with Cosmic Thing, their most commercially successful effort to date. Produced by Don Was and Nile Rodgers, the album launched several hit singles, including the party smash "Love Shack," "Roam," and "Deadbeat Club." In 1990, Cindy Wilson retired from active duty, leaving the remaining trio to soldier on for 1992's Good Stuff. A year later, dubbed the BC-52's, they performed the theme song for Steven Spielberg's live-action feature The Flintstones. Wilson returned to the group for a tour supporting the release of 1998's hits collection Time Capsule. Four years later the double-disc Nude on the Moon compilation would dive deeper into their catalog by featuring rare tracks, live recordings, and remixes along with the hits.

Funplex, the band's first original album in sixteen years (since 1992's Good Stuff), was released on March 25, 2008 by Astralwerks. The album is a slick, synthesizer-driven effort produced by Steve Osborne, who was asked to work on the album based on his work with New Order on the album Get Ready. The album debuted at #11 on the Billboard charts in the U.S., immediately making it the second-highest charting B-52's album ever. The band toured in support of the album as well as making television appearances on talk shows.

One would have thought that after 34 years, America’s premier dance party band would have released a slew of live albums, but believe it or not, With the Wild Crowd!: Live in Athens, GA, represents the first official, non-bootleg live set from the B-52’s to date. Recorded in 2011, the 18-song set offers up a nice mix of old and new, blazing through beloved standbys like “Love Shack,” “Rock Lobster,” “Roam,” and “Planet Claire” with more gusto than one would expect from a band halfway into its third decade. Anyone who's ever been to a B-52’s show know that Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, and Cindy Wilson never phone it in, and now they’ve finally got the goods to prove it.

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In 1981, The B-52's issued a six-track EP containing remixes of some of the most popular songs from their first two albums.
Party Mix! is a six-track mini-album that selects three tracks each from the B-52's' first two albums, The B-52's and Wild Planet, and presents them in dance mixes. Since the group's bouncy songs are already dance-ready, this makes for alternatives rather superfluos, even from a dancefloor perspective. In 1982, they released a new six-track EP produced by Talking Heads' David Byrne called Mesopotamia. After issuing the stopgap Party Mix! mini-album, they then turned in another stopgap mini Mesopotamia, produced by David Byrne, who must have seemed like a good choice, although his sense of humor is less zany, if just as weird, as that of the B52's. Mesopotamia is the sound of a band that once sounded like it was on a steady path, here losing its footing under their difference to the US alternative megastar of the time, David Byrne, hence  there's plenty to enjoy here for Talking Heads fans.



The B-52's - Party Mix Mesopotamia  (flac 351mb)

Party Mix
01 Party Out Of Bounds 5:12
02 Private Idaho 4:04
03 Give Me Back My Man 7:00
04 Lava 6:07
05 Dance This Mess Around 2:57
06 52 Girls 3:02
Mesopotamia
07 Loveland 5:05
08 Deep Sleep 3:30
09 Mesopotamia 3:51
10 Cake 5:36
11 Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can 4:09
12 Nip It In The Bud 3:32

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Following Mesopotamia, the B-52's decided to craft their fourth album as a return to the pop-culture funk explosion of their debut. Smartly, they decided to not simply replicate the skewed Southern funk of that album, choosing to update their signature sound with drum machines and new wave synths. As a result, it now sounds a little forced and dated, but the best moments -- "Legal Tender," "Whammy Kiss," "Butterbean," "Song for a Future Generation" -- rank as B-52's classics, and the entire record is certainly entertaining, even with its faults. Whammy! was originally released with a cover of Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry." When the time came to reissue the CD in 1989, the group ran into copyright troubles with Ono and the song was pulled, replaced by "Moon 83."



The B-52's - Whammy  (flac 248mb)

01 Legal Tender 3:40
02 Whammy Kiss 5:20
03 Song For A Future Generation 4:00
04 Butterbean 4:14
05 Trism 3:23
06 Queen Of Las Vegas 4:40
07 Moon 83 3:58
08 Big Bird 4:14
09 Work That Skirt 3:48

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Many observers were prepared to write off the B-52's after the release of Bouncing Off the Satellites. Granted, the album was completed in the wake of Ricky Wilson's death, but the group appeared bereft of new musical ideas and were sounding rather stale. In other words, the last thing anyone expected was a first-class return to form, which is what they got with Cosmic Thing. Working with producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers, the B-52's updated their sound with shiny new surfaces and deep, funky grooves -- it was the same basic pattern as before, only refurbished and contemporized. Just as importantly, they had their best set of songs since at least Wild Planet, possibly since their debut. "Cosmic Thing" and "Channel Z" were great up-tempo rockers; "Roam" had a groovy beat blessed with a great Cindy Wilson vocal; and "Deadbeat Club" was one of their rare successful reflective numbers. Then there was "Love Shack," an irresistible dance number with delightfully silly lyrics and hooks as big as a whale that unbelievably gave the group a long-awaited Top Ten hit. The thing is, Cosmic Thing would already have been considered a triumphant return without its commercial success. The big sales were just the icing on the cake.



The B-52's - Cosmic Thing (flac 320mb)

01 Cosmic Thing 3:50
02 Dry County 4:54
03 Deadbeat Club 4:45
04 Love Shack 5:21
05 Junebug 5:04
06 Roam 4:54
07 Bushfire 4:58
08 Channel Z 4:49
09 Topaz 4:20
10 Follow Your Bliss 4:08

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previously
Rhotation 43
The B-52's - B-52's (79 ^ 98mb)
Aetix 1101
Wild Planet (80   148mb)

4 comments:

Charles said...

Over the past year or so I've found some real gems on your site and I thank you. I don't know if you take requests, or if this is the place to do it, but I'll give it a shot. One band I haven't heard in years since losing all my vinyl of theirs a long time ago, is Kid Creole & the Coconuts. I would absolutely love to hear Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places again, or any of their albums. If you don't have any, that's fine, I'm enjoying (and still discovering) a lot of these great 80's records you've been posting. Thanks again.

Rho said...

Hello Charles, if you had used the search button on my blog you would have found i've posted 2 Kid Creole albums, Rhotation 8 and 18, admittedly this was more than 5,5 years ago, and i just re-upped both.
As for Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places I have it and who knows when it gets posted, maybe later this year. Meanwhile i hope you keep on discovering something new to enjoy.

Best Wishes, Rho

Charles said...

Thanks Rho! I actually did use the search button, but possibly misspelled something. Wouldn't be the first time. Great to listen to some of their stuff again.

Anonymous said...

any chance of B-52's re-ups please?