Fond as I am of the pop junk they recycle -- with love and panache, like the closet ecologists they are -- there's something parochially suburban about turning it into the language of a world view. So I'm more delighted with their rhythms, which show off their Georgia roots by adapting the innovations of early funk (a decade late, just like the Stones and Chicago blues) to an endlessly danceable forcebeat format. Also delightful is their commitment to sexual integration -- Cindy Wilson is singing more and more, although her voice occasionally gives out before her ambitions do. Major worry: only one of the copyright 1979 songs -- my favorite track, "Dance This Mess Around" -- is as amazing as the 1978 stuff. A

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Bonus Reviews!

The B-52's were front-runners of American new wave, best known for the track "Rock Lobster." Zany is not sufficient a word for them. You will either be swept away by the sound and style or wonder why all the fuss about the B-52's manically repeated rhythms, their dated "beach party" instrumentation and utterly banal lyrics.

The recording of this, the original, B-52's album has turned up better than hoped-for on CD, improving on every chug-a-boom of the album. The sound has a focused energy and vitality with a pounding bass both cleanly reproduced and closely recorded. This disc has real impact but should only be taken under strict medical supervision.

Subsequent albums were not a patch on this release and are not eagerly awaited on CD.

- David Prakel, Rock 'n' Roll on Compact Disc, 1987.

It's all here on the debut album: the "Secret Agent Man" drum/guitar tracks that compel the feet to dance, topped by shrill female vocals and the brash speak-singing of Fred Schneider giving forth with some of the strangest non sequiturs as though he were an overexcited carnival barker. Includes "Planet Claire" and the hit "Rock Lobster." * * * * *

- William Ruhlmann, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

The B-52's is the indispensable New Wave party record. Its stripped-down, surf-twang retro makes it sound ever-modern, and its party chants still rule the floor. * * * *

- Roger Catlin, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.

With a four-string guitar, two chicks in beehives and a spooky keyboard, this little dance band from Athens, GA, celebrates low-tech fun that speaks to the camp in all of us. A happiness bomb made for aliens hosting a party, it bang, bang, banged on the door, baby! With Fred Schneider's nasal vocals balanced by the birdcall harmony of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson, it gave us an excuse to wiggle on the floor to such kitschfest anthems as "Rock Lobster" and "Planet Claire." * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

The B-52's debut sounds like a bunch of high-school friends cramming all their running jokes, goofy sounds and private nicknames into a New Wave record. "We never thought it would get past our circle of friends in Athens [Georgia]," vocalist Fred Schneider told Rolling Stone. It turned out that nobody could resist the band's campy, arty funk, or the eccentric squeals and bouffant hairdos of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. (Playing organ, Pierson also defined the band's sound.) They played toy instruments, and their thrift-store image was as inventive and colorful as their music -- which, with "Rock Lobster," was pretty inventive and colorful.

The B-52's was chosen as the 152nd greatest album of all time by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine in Dec. 2003.

- Rolling Stone, 12/11/03.

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