Review of Cosmic Thing (The B-52s)

The B-52s are an Athens Georgia pop-rock/electronic band who got their start in 1976. The band consists of Keith Strickland (Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals), Kate Pierson (Keyboard, Vocals), Fred Schneider (Percussion, Vocals), and Cindy Wilson (Vocals), at its core. A great number of other people contributed to the album, which is their fifth full-length release.

One of the notable things about this band is the two distinct vocal styles applied by the men and women respectively. The women sing high, soft and sweet, while the men tend to belt out the tunes somewhere between singing and speaking in an almost Shatnerian style. This, combined with the electronic effects, tends to produce some very catchy-but-odd music, especially on tracks like "Love Shack" and "Roam". The album also has some more "normal-sounding" songs, like "Dead Beat Club", though the term "normal" and this band don't exactly mix.

The problem with this album is that it's pretty far out there, and I think one's either going to like the style of it or not. I find it easy to lose myself in the harmonies and the almost-spoken lyrics, but if this isn't your thing, you're really, really not going to like it. Generally it's a little more produced than I like to hear music. I'm a huge fan of the Low-Fi sound, and I consider the perfect sound to be a little too perfect, but once again that's a personal feeling and I'm sure many of you will disagree.

All I can say is that if you're the sort who likes your music wacky and weird, you'll get a kick out of these folks. I like it because it's too strange to do otherwise.