431. The B-52's - The B-52's (1979)

















Track Listing

1. Planet Claire
2. Fifty Two Girls
3. Dance This Mess Around
4. Rock Lobster
5. Lava
6. There's A Moon In The Sky (Called Moon)
7. Hero Worship
8. 6060 842
9. Downtown

Review

What a great, great album. If you know nothing about the B-52's except for Love Shack, you don't know what you are missing. This is an amazing album which is much closer to their post-punk roots than their work during the 80's and one of the best début albums by any band ever.

The B-52's present us with a completely unique style at the same time state of the art for 1979 with their new-wave/ post-punk sensibilities and also very retro, with an obsession with surf music which just makes them the right kind of quirky.

And quirky this album is, from the very funny and slightly surreal lyrics to the way it is sung/talked/screeched to the instrumentation. And then you have always behind it some pretty great post-punkish guitars. This is really good post-punk pop and you can count those by the fingers in your hand.

This is an astounding, unmissable album by a fun, smart and extremely competente group... they must have something in the water in Athens, Georgia...

Track Highlights

1. Rock Lobster
2. Planet Claire
3. 6060 842
4. Dance This Mess Around

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The B-52's peaked at number 59 on the Billboard 200 and "Rock Lobster" peaked at number 56 on the Hot 100.

In 2003 the TV network VH1 named The B-52's the 99th greatest album of all time. Shortly before his death, John Lennon considered the album to be his all-time favorite.


Album cover by Sue Absurd, aka, Tony Wright who also worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Traffic.

Rock Lobster: