The B–52’s
Issue #35
Funplex (Astralwerks)
By Liz Schroeter
Published: March 1st, 2008 | 12:28pm
It’s been 16 since years since we’ve heard new tunes from the B-52’s, but it’s not like they’ve been quiet. The self–proclaimed “world’s greatest party band” has been touring throughout, sounding perfectly at home in recent years sharing stages with newer acts like Junior Senior and the Rapture. Yes, you could call Funplex a comeback album, but the truth is the B-52’s haven’t gone anywhere.
You may notice slicker production in the new music, which is only natural when you consider the past 16 years have seen the advent of ProTools for digital recording. The band also brought in Steve Osborne, producer of New Order’s Get Ready, an album that provided a lot of inspiration to B-52’s guitarist Keith Strickland. This is perhaps most evident on the rave-worthy “Eyes Wide Open.”
New millennium recording values aside, Funplex is still the B-52’s we know and love. Singer Cindy Wilson is even back after sitting out 1992’s Good Stuff. The synths they adopted in the early ’80s are there right along with Strickland’s surf-inspired guitar work. Also in the mix is the unmistakable vocal interplay of Kate Pierson’s and Cindy Wilson’s killer pipes with Fred Schneider’s oddball sass.
When it comes to that vocal sass, any fan of the B-52’s will appreciate that they haven’t strayed at all from their winning party music formula: catchy songs about outer space, dancing, love, sex, food, and spandex! Lyrically they occasionally push it too far — which is nothing new — though it may raise an eyebrow to hear a band with members in their 50s singing about romance at the mall. On the other hand, only Fred Schneider can get away with lyrics like “There’s a rest stop, let’s hit the g-spot” while Wilson and Pierson break in with their signature girly “lovin’ it, lovin’ it, woo!”
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