B-52s: Classic or Dud.

I saw them at the Concord Pavillion one time in the early 90s, I think. I don't remember the show that well. All I remember is that the line to the women's toilets was too long, so after 20 minutes of waiting futilely I made a dash to the men's toilet. They pee into long troughs. A security guard made me leave, but the relatively speedy relief of my bladder was worth it.

The only example of bands/artists whose later work improved markedly with maturity that I can think of is Pulp. I hated the stuff that came before His'n'Hers. Well, maybe not hate, but I have no desire to listen to that. I'm glad they persevered to go on to make A Different Class, though.

You guys are leaving me alone tonight. Planet Claire and the whole first side of the first album vinyl "52 Girls" etc. are killing me to the core right now. So many clueless people have not even heard this delicious slice of funky post-punk groove.

Where are you Jeff W. when I need you? You know even Pretenders can't hold a prayer to the first B-52's album. And "Dance This Mess Around" is STILL my favourite, even though I love you if you say "Rock Lobster".

EVERYBODY GOES TO PARTIES THEY DANCE THIS MESS AROUND

hippie shake

ROCKZ LOBSTER IS STILL THE MOST CLASSICKEST

The music sounds like an Addams Family theme. Monster Mash. I mean what else do you want out of US post punk than the B-52's?

I have a black long sleeved shirt with the yellow sleeve for this on the front.

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:IrF69RtMDg1MBM:http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00002632M.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

b-52s being teabagged by sherman hemsley

Funplex wasn't that bad

Until this thread I didn't know that they released two versions of Mesopotania. I love the original but my vinyl is fucked.

My kids totally love 'Wig'. They shout 'What's that on your head?' at random moments.

yeah I'm still listening to Funplex on shuffle. Pretty much the best thing they could have come up with at this stage

Didn't we have a thread specifically discussing the different versions of Mesopotamia? I recently go the 'Nude on the moon' comp and the "1990 remix" of the title song on there kills me.

I have recently rediscovered, thanks to the Diplo/Santogold mix-CD, that I love "Mesopotamia" very very very much.

(I still think "52 Girls" is the best song they ever did, though.)

I"ve really grown to love Mesopotamia, although I'm still not sure which version I own.

I think I have the original Byrne one, but judging from that 1990 remix, the new version seems more to my liking

Too lazy to go upthread to read the Mesopotamia stuff, but there are three versions, and here's how you can tell which one you have.

* If you have the Mesopotamia/Party Mix two-fer CD from 1990, you have the 1990 Remix version, i.e. "the rock mix"
* If you have the Warner Brothers vinyl EP (the most common one on vinyl) or the Island CD-EP, you have "the original official mix"
* If you have an Island EU vinyl EP, you likely have "the accidental mix" i.e. "the byrne mix". You have to listen and see if the songs are more sparse and dubbed out, but I haven't encountered an Island EU vinyl version that wasn't the accidental mix.

I'm so late on digitizing the accidental mix. Sorry guys. :( Once i get the vinyl I kept sorted, I'll let you know.

An online quote by Keith Strickland I stumbled upon today:

A friend of ours in the journalism department back then – which was also journalism-slash-TV-slash-media – had access to this studio and he invited us over and we did this performance. And we were using these tapes. It was actually the way we performed in Athens at the beginning, using reel-to-reel playback on some of the stuff. I played congas, Ricky played guitar, we had second guitar on tape, and Fred, Kate and Cindy would sing. So that’s how we performed for this video that a friend of ours, Spencer Thornton, made. And so a couple of clips from that have surfaced.

Discovering these two primordial B-52's videos on Youtube this morning made me happier than a (giant) clam! These predate the first album by a year.

Lava: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG70rsLUjfQ

Devil In My Car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpYRnVcNPto&feature=related

One more, Hero Worship; brief snippet, but maybe my favorite of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_KKZhA9sPw&NR=1

awesome

My friend Scott's band opened for the B's last night in Charlotte. OPENED FOR THE B-52's! I realize this isn't as big a deal in 2009 as it would've been in the past, but he's been a gigantic fan of theirs for the 17 years that I've known him. I can't even imagine what that would feel like.

/personal babble

"Is that you Moe-dean" is godheadlike. honorable mention, not seen mentioned, for godheadlikeness:"Give me back my man"

"Ain't It a Shame" = secret highlight.

they had so much cool around the first two albums im surprised they didnt precipitate a black hole

Based on "Love Shack", I pretty much ignored and avoided the B-52s for the past fifteen+ years. Listening to the first album, I guess that was a bad decision. BUT, aren't these songs too long for their own good?

No.

they're long-ish, yeah, but b-52s were always emphatically a dance band, i think they wanted to keep the grooves going.

If the first album went on forever it would still be too short.

The remixes on Party Mix are so awesome.

Looks like a concert from just after Wild Planet went up on the YouTubes recently. B-52's obsessives are going to be DELIGHTED.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhnmhDNF1JJiUMOz9qZgeiAFySF6R3lwX

ooh!

fuck they sound amazing in this.

I'd kill for some unreleased B's from that era, I'd love to see those first 2 get the deluxe treatment.

To continue the "Do I have the David Byrne mix version of Mesopotamia?" discussion from 6 years back, the UK vinyl Byrne mix has longer versions of 3 tracks:

8:33 vs. 5:00 - Loveland
7:45 vs. 5:48 - Cake
5:46 vs. 4:30 - Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can

Holy cow, that show is AMAZING. If anything, watch "Strobe Light"

This is SO FUCKING GOOD.

WoW i watched those music vault video's this morning and now someones posted them here.. strange anyways lately i've been listening to the Party Mix/Mesopotamia pack alot

Thanks, campreverb, this is indeed amazing! I saw this tour back then, but I don't remember the synth freakout in "Strobe Light."

Sick stuff.

Ricky Wilson was such a great guitarist.

y'all our own Tyler Wilcox has posted an amazing B-52's bootleg, with near soundboard quality, and a much tighter performance than recently released iTunes show.
Get caught up-http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/118118850842/b-52s-edenhall-amsterdam-the

Nice! I'm usually not a big fan of live boots, but I'll make an exception for early B's.

This is super hot! Cindy seems ready to levitate on "Give Me Back My Man."

Been listening to Mesopotamia/Party Mix a whole lot lately

holy shit i just noticed i posted that last year lol

Lyrically this is one of the most subversive bands out there... hope any "duds" are from people who consider their lyrics plain silly. Wave that esoteric flag.

http://georgiamusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/B52s_Athens_04.78_kb.jpg

(at their first gig, Valentine's Day 1977)