After founding member and Ricky Wilson died from HIV in 1985 it seemed doubtful that The B-52’s would record a full length album again yet the band regrouped and by summer 1989 they had finished work and completed their most successful album, Cosmic Thing. Gone was the new wave rough edge and thanks to producers Don Was and Nile Rogers a pop sheen was applied to the bands hook ridden (as ever) songs.
It’s clear that the band was still as obsessed as ever with getting the chin strokers of the world off their bums and dancing. This was music for geeks and freaks everywhere that were fed up with the weight The Smiths and R.E.M. carried, it appealed to a huge cross section of the musical populous, from mums and dad’s to bedroom dwelling indie kid’s.
The song Cosmic Thing kicks things off with a bright and bouncing verse that eases into a strutting chorus. It’s as if the group were berating those critics that wrote them off after the dismal sales of their last album, 1985’s Bouncing Off The Satellites. The B-52’s were back and they were back to party.
With this high polish gloss all over the record things could have gone from bad to worse for the band if they didn’t change their direction slightly. Luckily each song is as good as the last here. Starting with the title track was a clever move because it set the standards high. By track four when the ever so familiar drum roll introduction for Love Shack comes in it’s clear as to why this record was the summer sound track for so many people in 1989. Here the band hit gold. Love Shack is one of those tracks that will always remain in people’s subconscious minds, like the Beatles She Loves You and The Bee Gee’s Stayin’ Alive.
Elsewhere the luscious harmonies provided by Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson fill the likes of Bushfire and Roam with a powerful energy that can literally make the hairs stand up on your neck. Where the girls truly excel though is on Topaz which is one of my favourite songs of all time. The vocals are ultra smooth; the production captures every detail of their sweet voices, it’s a truly wondrous thing. Listening back now this slick sound has dated the record but not enough to ruin the enjoyment of it.
To this day I still regularly spin Cosmic Thing at BBQ’s round my place. It remains one of the great party albums of modern times.
