This was their first album after they lost guitarist Ricky Wilson to Aids. He was the musical brains of The B52’s, defining their minimalist throwback/party sound with an approach to guitar completely his own, by purposefully omitting the two middle D and G strings to force himself to play completely differently, and it worked!.
He was also the brother of their other female singer Cindy, and his untimely death devastated her and the entire band. Their in-progress album Mesopotamia ended up a dud, despite being produced by David Byrne and their final album with guitar parts played by Ricky.
But somehow their next album Cosmic Thing ended up, in my humble opinion, their best effort musically. Produced by Nile Rodgers, which in itself suggests a major shift from their raw beginnings, this has their original drummer now on guitar, and he somehow manages to create a genuine B-52’s vibe without sounding like Ricky Wilson at all. I was very impressed by this, to my knowledge this is unprecedented - it’s not like a running back switching to wide receiver or something like that!
Roam is a great example of the fantastic songwriting on this album, and charted reasonably well, but of course Love Shack got this album all the commercial attention it needed. It is a terrific pop song, but the album is so strong top-to-bottom, I appreciate the non-hits all that much more.
The title track is wonderful, never a hit, but so energetic and fun - it exemplifies an overall positive mood to this album that completely defies what they had gone through following the tragic loss of the band’s beloved leader.
Dry County and Deadbeat Club follow, both worthy examples of classic B-52’s irreverence, just with this more polished sound. After the 4th big-hit track Love Shack is the somewhat forgettable June Bug, one of only two weak songs of the ten.
Side 2 opens with Roam, a strong choice (even post-vinyl, they seemed to have thought this way), followed by the listenable but non-dimensional Bushfire, then the lively pair of Channel Z and Topaz. Then they close with the instrumental Follow Your Bliss, an homage to early 60’s surf guitar ballads. It’s a sweet, relaxing finish that contrasts wonderfully with all the upbeat, zany, colorful songs that precede it, and also draws upon their roots, when they established themselves by mimicking sone of the more interesting musical experiments from that era.
I love me some Kate too, and we’re both Tauruses! But more than that, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall as they were putting that album together - how could they know it would work, how could they write upbeat songs, never mind radio hits, how could their drummer just stand in in for their de facto band leader and not only cover, but successfully evolve their sound, just like that?
There are few examples of this kind of recovery in the music business world, and while it’s true that the B-52’s never again had a big hit like Rock Lobster or Love Shack, this one album showed how a creative determination coupled with a valuable partnership (Niles Rodgers) can result in musical magic.
While it’s a given that not everyone will care for the B-52’s musical style, I’d live to hear about even one other similar comeback example having this level of accomplishment. I honestly can’t think of any.
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