Revisiting Wild Planet - The B-52's

First post in a month and it should be something fun and quirky!

Apologies if you have been checking in seeking new posts. Had a wee break from all social media for the past four weeks dealing with "life stuff" (you know that thing that actually is going on whilst you are trying to keep up with everything else! 😁) 

So on this day, way back in the dark ages before the internet, social media etc in 1980, the second album Wild Planet from Athens, Georgia band The B-52's hit the shops and what an absolute delight it was (and still is for that matter).

Wild Planet - The B-52's

Island Records (UK) / Warner Bros. (U.S.)

Produced by Rhett Davies and The B-52's

Released 27th August 1980

UK Chart #18

US Chart #18

Side 1

 

Side 2

Personnel
The B-52's
    Fred Schneider – vocals, percussion
    Kate Pierson – vocals, keyboards
    Keith Strickland – drums, percussion
    Cindy Wilson – vocals, percussion
    Ricky Wilson – guitar

The album contained a number of singles that were released in various territories.

Give Me Back My Man 

 

 

 Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)

 

July 1980

UK Release

UK Chart #61

(German and Dutch Picture Sleeve)

Dirty Back Road 

 

 

 Give Me Back My Man

 

August 1980

Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Germany Release

No Chart Details

 

(US Picture Sleeve)

 

 (Dutch Picture Sleeve)

 

Private Idaho 

 

  Party Out of Bounds (Instrumental)

 

September 1980

US Release

US Chart #74

   

(UK and French Picture Sleeve)

Strobe Light 

 

 

 Dirty Back Road

 

November 1980

UK Release

Did Not Chart 

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Wild Planet spent 27 weeks on the Billboard album charts and reached its peak position of #18 in late September 1980.

 

The album was recorded in the Bahamas (as was their magnificent Debut Album) during April 1980 and some songs had been held back from their first record in order to deliver a strong second album (a very clever move indeed by the band) that was actually better produced and brimming with quality tunes that spotlighted not only their Quirky side  (Party Out of Bounds, and Quiche Lorraine) but also a Rocky edge (Runnin' Around, Private Idaho, Strobe Light and Devil In My Car) and also their Pop sensibilities (Dirty Back Road and Give Me Back My Man). 

Most of the songs on the album were co-writes between various band members with the only exception being Dirty Back Road which was a co-write between Ricky Wilson and art director Robert Waldrop (who would also co-write a number of other songs in The B-52's canon - Hero Worship, Deep Sleep, Mesopotamia, Roam, and Revolution Earth). 

Thirty Seven years on from its release I think it still sounds great.

 

In 1981 three tracks from the Wild Planet album were included on the Party Mix! release. My personal distaste for Remixes was furthered as I thought that the version of Give Me Back My Man on it was absolutely wretched and that they destroyed a perfectly brilliant Pop song! (I have included the links below for you to make up your own mind).

Party Out Of Bounds 5:12
Private Idaho 4:04
Give Me Back My Man 7:02

 

Revisiting Cosmic Thing - The B-52's (1989)

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Cosmic Thing - The B-52's

Reprise Records

Produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was

 Released 27th June 1989

US Chart #4

UK Chart #8

Australian Chart #1

 

 

Side 1

 Side 2

Personnel 

The B-52's
    Fred Schneider – lead vocals
    Cindy Wilson – backup vocals
    Kate Pierson – backup vocals
    Keith Strickland – guitar, keyboards

Additional musicians
    Carl Beatty – horns
    Crispin Cioe – horns
    Leroy Clouden – drums
    Charley Drayton – drums
    Sonny Emory – drums
    Steve Ferrone – drums
    Bob Funk – horn
    Arno Hecht – horn
    Richard Hilton – keyboards
    Sara Lee – bass
    Paul Litteral – horn
    Tommy Mandel – keyboards
    Nile Rodgers – guitar
    Philippe Saisse – keyboards

There are loads of links down below to various tracks, click to have a listen.

Singles On Cosmic Thing

 

A Channel Z (Rock Mix)     6:20
B1 Channel Z (Remix / Edit) 4:10
B2 Channel Z (Rock Dub) 5:34
Released: 9th March 1989
UK Did Not Chart*

* A re-release backed with Roam reached #61 in the UK 1990

 

 A Love Shack   
B1 Planet Claire (Live)  
B2 Rock Lobster (Live)   

 Released 16th June 1989 (US)

US #3 

UK #2 

Australia 8 weeks at #1 

New Zealand #1

A1 Roam (Radio Mix) 4:13
A2 Roam (12" Remix) 8:17
B Roam (Extended Mix) 5:25

Released: 4th December 1989 (US)

US #3 

UK #17 

Australia #11

New Zealand #2

(Listen to Full Maxi Single Here) 

 A1 Deadbeat Club (LP Version)   
A2 Love Shack (LP Version)   
B B-52's Megamix

Released: February 1990 (US)

US #30

UK Did Not Chart

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Almost four years had passed since the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's brother) and almost three years since the last album from The B-52's (Bouncing Off the Satellites). In the light of Ricky's death the band did very little to promote the album as you can well imagine they were too distraught to go out on tour, there were no hit singles and as a result the album did not sell well reaching only #85 in the US and #74 in the UK.

Cosmic Thing was like a comeback album of sorts and it would become one of their biggest selling albums and the one that had the best chart success!

Keith Strickland had been composing in 1988 and after he played some of his new music for the other band members, they all agreed to try writing together again, with Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Fred Schneider contributing the lyrics and melodies. In 1989 the band released Cosmic Thing, their mainstream breakthrough, released on their new label, Reprise Records worldwide. The single Channel Z, from the album, became an alternative and college radio hit, hitting number one on the U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, receiving significant airplay on MTV's modern rock show 120 Minutes. It wouldn't chart in the UK until it was re-released in 1990 and then it only hit the #61 spot.

The next single, Love Shack, with its party vibe and colorful music video, became their first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately reaching #3 in November 1989. That peak was matched in March 1990 when their follow-up single, Roam, also reached No. 3. In Australia, the country that had most embraced the band a decade earlier, Love Shack stayed at number one for eight weeks.

A fourth single, Deadbeat Club, which reminisced about the band's early days in Athens and whose video was shot on location and featured a cameo by fellow Athens artist R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, reached No. 30. The Cosmic Thing album climbed into the U.S. top five and earned multi-platinum certification. It also had huge international success reaching #1 in both Australia and New Zealand and #8 in the UK. The group had a hugely successful world tour to support the record, and appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in March, 1990. In 1990 the B-52's were nominated for 4 MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year. They won two awards, Best Group Video and Best Art Direction.

Whilst I have a real fondness for a lot of the work that The B-52's have released over the years (their debut album and Wild Planet are absolute classics I think) Cosmic Thing is an album I return to a lot. Love Shack is always going to get a mention when speaking of this album but for me the absolute standout track is Roam. It is in my mind a real classy Pop single and it's never lost it's appeal for me. There's an absolutely delicious acoustic version of it with just Cindy Wilson singing it from a show in 2003 that used to be on You Tube but has since been removed. And it still sounds stunning live, this version is from 2013 when they played in London.

 

 Cosmic Thing Tracks Live

 Cosmic Thing    
Dry Country    
Deadbeat Club    
Love Shack    
Junebug    
Roam    
Bushfire    
Channel Z .

Rewind: Funplex - The B-52s (2008)

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Funplex - The B-52s 

Astralwerks

Produced by Steve Osbourne and The B-52s

US Chart #11

UK Chart #73

Personnel
    Fred Schneider – lead vocals
    Kate Pierson – backing vocals
    Cindy Wilson – backing vocals
    Keith Strickland – guitar
    Tracy Wormworth – bass
    Sterling Campbell – drums
    Paul Gordon – keyboards

Pink Cover

There were a couple of variations to the cover for some releases in the US

Rainbow Cover

In the States at Target a special Limited 2CD Edition was exclusively available. It included five classic tracks performed live by The B-52s:

 2-01 Party Out Of Bounds (Live) 3:46
2-02 Channel Z (Live) 5:28
2-03 Roam (Live) 5:16
2-04 Strobe Light (Live) 4:40
2-05 Rock Lobster (Live) 5:33

All were recorded Live at The Roxy in Los Angeles 16th November 2007 (Here's an interview with the band and a few songs from the show, not necessarily the ones that were released as part of the Target Limited 2CD Edition)

On iTunes there were two exclusive Live Tracks from the same show on their Exclusive Deluxe Version:

     12. Private Idaho (Live at the Roxy) – 4:00
    13. Planet Claire (Live at the Roxy) – 5:28

Promos From Funplex

There were no Singles as such released from the album but there were a couple of Promo Singles anda video for the title track.

Funplex (Promo Video).

Juliet of the Spirits (Live Video 2007).

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The B-52s Glasgow Academy 

21st June 2008

Photo by Doug Watson (Me)

16 years is a long time to wait for an album of totally new music from an artist you like but like many fans of The B-52s I bided my time hoping that one day they would release a follow up to the excellent Good Stuff album!

Within those 16 years of waiting there had been little to hope that it would become a reality. There was a couple of new songs on the Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation Compilation in 1998 (Debbie and Hallucinating Pluto), there was also the awful Meet The Flintstones single released as The BC-52's in 1993 (which shockingly is their second highest placed single in the UK reaching #3!) and yet another compilation in 2002 (Nude On The Moon: The B-52's Anthology - Rhino) that contained absolutely nothing new apart from some new Edits, Mixes, a couple of live tracks and an unreleased Outtake Version of Queen of Las Vegas from the Whammy! sessions. Add to that the song The Chosen One (recorded for Pokémon the Movie 2000 Soundtrack), a parody version of Love Shack called Glove Slap for The Simpsons in 1999, Orange You Glad It's Summer for an advert for Target in 2002 and in 1996 Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson also recorded a cover of McFadden and Whitehead's Ain't No Stopping Us Now for the movie Soundtrack of The Associate (starring Whoppi Goldberg) and that was also the year that Cindy rejoined the band. All through this time the band were still playing live.

It's one of the things that irritates me a little when I see bands out on the road with no new material out for years and it's almost like a going through the motions just to make a buck or two! They just delve deep (depending on how many songs they have) into the back catalogue and put together a basic set of crowd pleasers and seem to do that year in year out! As a fan it's rather frustrating because you are just longing for something, anything that might be new!

Anyway, back on point, Funplex was recorded over the course of two years (2006-2007) and in 2007 they were already playing a few new songs in their sets which was brilliant for the fans. Keith Strickland was inspired to create an updated sound for the band and had encouraged them to get Steve Osbourne in to produce after he had been listening to New Order's album Get Ready. Strickland wrote the music and Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson (making her recording return to the band for the first time since 1989's Cosmic Thing) and Kate Pierson came up with the lyrics, harmonies etc.

Whilst it's not a bad album it was going to be hard to top the likes of their Debut Album, Wild Planet, Cosmic Thing or even Good Stuff. The album entered the US Charts at #11 and was their second highest place chart album - Cosmic Thing had reached #4. In the UK it didn't do so well chartwise not even making the Top 50! Their previous two albums had both stalled at #8 so only making it to #73 was a huge letdown! Despite that there's a few quality songs on it and the return of Cindy Wilson certainly added to the likeability factor for it.

I saw them on the tour for the album in Glasgow and they were really exceptional playing a mix of Classic tunes but also a number of tracks from the new album. Here's a few of the photos I took that night.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 240 - The B-52's

Wild Planet - The B-52's

Island Records (UK) / Warner Bros. (U.S.)

Produced by Rhett Davies and The B-52's

Released 27th August 1980

UK Chart #18

US Chart #18

Personnel
    Kate Pierson – keyboard bass, organ, vocals, keyboards
    Fred Schneider – vocals, cowbell, glockenspiel, additional keyboards
    Keith Strickland – drums, drum machine, Venus sounds
    Cindy Wilson – bongos, vocals, tambourine
    Ricky Wilson – guitars

Singles from Wild Planet

Give Me Back My Man / Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)

July 1980

UK Release

UK Chart #61

Dirty Back Road / Give Me Back My Man

August 1980

Netherlands, Spain, Poland and Germany Release

No Chart Details

Private Idaho / Party Out of Bounds (Instrumental)

September 1980

US Release

US Chart #74

Strobe Light / Dirty Back Road

November 1980

UK Release

Did Not Chart 

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Wild Planet is the second Studio Album from the Athens, Georgia natives The B-52's. It was released on this day in 1980. Hard to believe it was 36 years ago!

Now, the history of music is littered with bands who were unable to top the sheer quality of their Debut Album with the second one being somewhat of a disappointment. That is not the case with Wild Planet. As hard as it seems, The B-52's went above and beyond their most excellent Debut Record and delivered a second album that is way superior in everyway possible from the quality of the production to the loveability (is that a word?) of the songs.

A few of the songs had been around for a couple of years and had been staples of their live performance but when it came down to recording the Debut they wanted to hold back some tracks from being recorded as they were already thinking ahead to a killer second album.

Many fans of The B-52's (and I include myself in this) consider Wild Planet to be their best album ever. It's easy to see why with such a collection of songs that showed us still the quirky nature of the band (Party Out of Bounds, and Quiche Lorraine), their kinda rocky edge (Runnin' Around, Private Idaho, Strobe Light and Devil In My Car)  and also their wonderful pop sensibilities (Dirty Back Road and Give Me Back My Man).

Ultimately what the album showed was that The B-52's were not just a laugh and a joke band but they had between them some serious musical chops. Every track on the album was co-writes between various members of the band the only exception being Dirty Back Road that was a co-write between Ricky Wilson and Robert Waldrop (I don't know much about him but he co-wrote a number of songs by The B-52's - Hero Worship, Deep Sleep, Mesopotamia, Roam, and Revolution Earth).

And so that completes a week of albums from the 1980s. Not sure what will be up next week but hopefully they'll be as good as some of the albums we have posted about this week.

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!