Rhino Entertainment is celebrating the musical legacy of the B-52's with multi-LP and CD catalog box sets, The B-52's The Warner/Reprise Years, which collects the band's eight albums from the years between 1979 and 1992. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1977, the B-52's initially rode the crest of the New Wave with a string of hits that included the classics "Rock Lobster," "Planet Claire," "Private Idaho," and "Party Out of Bounds." As the band moved into the Eighties, their sound morphed into a post-punk blend of surf rock, dance- and synth-pop, and art pop. The B-52's commercial and critical success was fueled by MTV throughout the Eighties and into the Nineties with a string of hits like "Legal Tender," "Song For a Future Generation," "Whammy Kiss," "Summer of Love," "Wig," "Roam," "Good Stuff," and the pinnacle of their popularity, 1989's "Love Shack."
The B-52's The Warner/Reprise Years collects the band's seven studio albums, including The B-52's (Warner Bros, 1979), Wild Planet (Warner Bros, 1980), Mesopotamia (Warner Bros, 1982), Whammy! (Warner Bros, 1983), Bouncing Off the Satellites (Warner Bros, 1986), Cosmic Thing (Reprise, 1989), and Good Stuff (Reprise, 1992). Also included in the set is the 1981 remix album, Party Mix!, which included more dance-oriented remixes of their big hits from the first two studio albums. The first six LPs in the set were released on Warner Brothers in the US and Canada, and on the Island label elsewhere, while the final two LPs from their classic period were released on the Reprise label worldwide. While all of the band's albums reached gold record status, their debut, The B-52's went platinum, and Cosmic Thing reached 4x platinum on the strength of "Love Shack," which was on the air and MTV continuously.
I grew up just miles from Athens, Georgia (or Athens Gee-A as the local music scene refers to it), and it was at the time when Athens was becoming a mecca for punk, new wave, and post-punk music. Much of that revolved around local hotspot the 40 Watt Club, which over the years helped launch the careers of a host of Athens bands, including not only The B-52's, but Pylon, R.E.M., Love Tractor, Dreams So Real, Guadalcanal Diary, The Primates, Modern Skirts, and later on, bands like of Montreal, The Whigs, Reptar, and Drive-By Truckers. I spent much of my time in Athens during my college years, and saw The B-52's live at local clubs including the now legendary 40 Watt Club¹, as well as The Georgia Theater, all during their formative years and prior to being signed to a major label contract. Even in the early days, we all knew The B-52's were on the cusp of greatness, and when "Rock Lobster" hit the airwaves, I had no doubt it would become the hit that would place the band in the national spotlight. In no time, they were playing NYC's CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, as well as appearing on Saturday Night Live.
The B-52's The Warner/Reprise Years has been remastered as a 9-LP box set on wildly swirled and splattered vinyl, with eight exotic colors for the eight albums. Their debut, The B-52's, is pressed on yellow vinyl, Wild Planet is on red vinyl, Party Mix! is on green vinyl, the EP Mesopotamia is on blue vinyl, Whammy! is pressed on a smoky swirl vinyl, Bouncing Off the Satellites is on pink vinyl, Cosmic Thing is on orange vinyl, and the double-LP Good Stuff is pressed on purple vinyl. An 8-CD box was also made available, with both sets strictly limited to 2000 sets worldwide; the CD box set sold out during the pre-sale stage. My review copies came in the form of the 9-LP set as well as CD-quality digital downloads for all the albums; I can attest that the sound of the CDs is on par with that of the excellent LPs, which were pressed by GZ Media in the Czech Republic. You can still order the unbelievably beautiful LP box directly from Rhino's web store, HERE.
The B-52's, The Warner/Reprise Years, (9) 140 gram splatter/swirl colored vinyl LPs, Rhino Records, MSRP $174.98.
The B-52's began as a group of mostly college students at the University of Georgia in Athens; their first gig was a Valentine's Day party in 1977. The band's name came from the "beehive" hairdos worn early on by band members Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson; "B-52" was slang for the popular 1950's hair style. The core musical sound of the band featured Ricky Wilson's distinctive surf-style guitar, accompanied by Kate Pierson on bass, organ, and keyboards, along with Keith Strickland on drums. Fred Schneider shared lead vocals with both Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, as well as adding cowbell to many of the band's early hits. While the band's videos often showed both women playing keyboards, Cindy Wilson didn't really play any instruments, but provided a generous helping of her uniquely offbeat lead and harmony vocals to the band's catalog of albums. Following the completion of the band's fourth studio record, 1986's Bouncing Off the Satellites, Ricky Wilson died of AIDS-related complications; Keith Strickland was the only member of the band who'd been truly aware of Wilson's declining health. And as the recording sessions for Bouncing Off the Satellites proceeded, he quickly learned Wilson's distinctive guitar style, and permanently switched from drums following his untimely death.
The band took a three-plus-year hiatus following Ricky Wilson's death; his sister Cindy Wilson was particularly affected by the turn of events, and didn't really want to go on, and the rest of the band also felt that Ricky Wilson's death perhaps signaled the end of the B-52's. They did however, decide to return for 1989's multi-platinum Cosmic Thing, which featured a host of studio musicians to augment the instrumental contributions of Keith Strickland and Kate Pierson. In the aftermath, Cindy Wilson essentially retired from The B-52's; Keith Strickland has said that 1992's Good Stuff resulted from record label pressure to follow up on the runaway success of Cosmic Thing. Despite sporadic touring and appearances, Good Stuff ended the band's most intense period of creativity, but Cindy Wilson did agree to reunite with the band for their final studio album, 2008's Funplex (Alstralwerks Records). The music of The B-52's is so ingrained in the pop culture of American music throughout the late Seventies, Eighties, and early Nineties, no commentary is necessary on the individual albums or songs.
The Warner/Reprise Years is a beautiful—and great sounding set!
The nine colored-vinyl LPs in this set are even more beautifully realized than the impression one gets from the press photos, and they're mesmerizing to watch spinning on my turntable! And the remastered sound is a significant upgrade from my catalog LPs, which—with the exception of Party Mix! and Good Stuff—I had on hand for comparison. The set is a mix of colored vinyl swirl and splatter LPs; I've made comments in the past about being able to hear the demarcations between the various colors of "splatter" type vinyl pressings. That said, the manufacturers have gotten much better at it, and the sound of the rainbow of LPs in the set was uniformly excellent. I played these records so loudly during my evaluation, any very slight deviation from perfection quickly became a non-issue, and the highly collectible nature of this set will make it nonetheless exceptionally desirable to fans. All of the pressings were perfectly flat, and were supplied in heavy jackets that crisply replicated the artwork on the originals. Most of the LPs have been out of print for decades, other than a limited release of some of the catalog albums by Rhino on colored vinyl in 2023. Rhino also supplied me with the CD-quality digital files that replicated the contents of the CD box, and the remastered sound was a definite improvement over the digital versions of these albums I already had on my music server.
The Warner/Reprise Years is a beautifully conceived set; my only complaint is that the producers of the box set didn't go the extra mile to commission an essay or include a photo-filled booklet to accompany the LPs, which would definitely have been appreciated by fans—like me! Regardless, it's about the music, and it's never sounded—or looked—as great as it does on this nine-LP collection. Many thanks to Miranda Alston of Warner Music Group for making this review possible—The B-52's The Warner/Reprise Years comes very highly recommended!
The B-52's
Rhino Entertainment
All photos supplied by Warner/Rhino, the 40 Watt Club, and the author.
¹ The story from the 40 Watt Club's original owners was that the club got its name due to the fact that the only original adornment in the space was a single 40-watt light bulb suspended from the club's ceiling.
