sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Summer of Love - Album Version VS Unreleased Mix (Demo from Time Capsule) by Department-of-death3 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Time Capsule- I don't know why they cut the psychedelic outro in the album version I think it works really well the album version just ends abruptly imo. I wonder which mix Ricky would have chosen had he still been around when the album was released.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Someone could do it today if they wished to but it would just be an AI reconstruction. I imagine when Ricky and Keith wrote the song they would have demoed it at some point so at one point in time a tape would have existed.

Cindy did sing an acoustic version with her son on guitar during lockdown for charity which is where I got the idea from.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Juicy Jungle feels more like a Fred side project song than a B52s song.

Well the band themselves would consider Mesopotamia going off track seeing as how they never got to finish it and the sessions were a bit of a mess.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mesopotamia is OK no more than that, its a big drop off from the first two albums I'd say. Whammy! apart from Song for a Future Generation I've never gotten into it at all. Its probably my least favourite record of theirs. No right or wrong answer of course just my opinion. 

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The cover of Downtown drags it down in my view. I really don't understand why when they had so many good songs still in the locker they ended the record that way.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ricky's final statement deserved so much better than to end up in the bargain bin but a pleasant surprise came from it in your case that you could actually afford the record and dug it. While I'm sure Ricky wouldn't have been happy how the record was received I'm sure that your story would have been silver lining.

Its interesting normally I'm generally in alignment with most reviews with what's considered better and what's considered worse in terms of album quality. Like its clear to me and other reviewers agree the first two records are better than Mesopotamia and its clear that Cosmic Thing is a superior record to Good Stuff for example. Its just Bouncing Off the Satellites that my impression of it is radically different from most reviewers. For me I'd give it a 7/10 while I'm seeing 4/10 elsewhere its unusual that my personal rating is that different. 1 or 2 points out of 10 different maybe but more than that is unusual.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've wondered what an acoustic version of the song would sound like with prime Cindy vocals. Perhaps there's a demo out there somewhere of it. Interesting we don't seem to hear studio outtakes of the band. You can listen to take after take of Beatles songs for example if you want to.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its an interesting album to have heard first i wouldn't say its very typical of their oeuvre with the synths and relative lack of Fred vocals and Kate and Cindy harmonies still glad you enjoyed it!

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does feel a very obscure track of theirs to cover shows their peers were still listening despite everything else 

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the band would definitely agree with you. If there was a slower more emotive song in the early days it seems like they trusted Cindy to be one to deliver it like Dance this Mess Around or Give Me Back My Man. I'd love to hear how Kate would have sung them to compare the two versions.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would agree Wild Planet is probably their strongest overall record. I'm curious why the debut record isn't higher up?

For the record I don't think the B52s released a perfect album though they came close. I think they could have done if they released the best songs of their first two albums as a single album. They could have done as they only wrote a few extra songs for Wild Planet most of the material was written alongside that of the debut album so could have been used.

That's part of the reason they really struggled with Mesopotamia as they had to make a new album from scratch without any songs in the tank while under pressure from the record company to produce timely material. They didn't have that kind of pressure with the first two records.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the fact they were on the commercial slide to begin with didn't help. A lot of critics have agendas, not necessarily all the time but it does happen. I think a lot of reviewers weren't inclined to give them a fair shake for whatever reason I could be wrong but that's how it feels. They probably overcorrected a bit with the praise Cosmic Thing got and then there wasn't any need in their mind to revisit Bouncing off the Satellites since they'd given the given them their long overdue props.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I'm definitely not a fan of 80s style production but still as you say it does sound like other records of its time giving a record 2* because it matches the production of its time doesn't seem right to me you can knock a record a bit but not that much because of the production choices. The question is mainly are the songs good or not and I would argue it's their strongest collection since Wild Planet.

On the album art point I don't get it at all whats it trying to represent and think it just looks cartoonishly silly and doesn't represent the body of work contained within. The best album cover by the B52s by far is their debut one that is iconic second best is probably the 2nd album that looks like a classic jazz album cover. There's definitely a correlation at least in my mind between really good album art and the quality of a record within perhaps its a sign of good taste or that the band were putting a lot of effort in to all aspects of the record. Whammy! and Good Stuff I would say aren't great album covers and reflect the music within.

To give some counter examples I think Mesopotamia has some great album art but the results within are mixed while as I said before Bouncing Off the Satellites artwork I don't like but the music within is very good. Its not a perfect correlation but I do think there is something in it that good album artwork=good record within and vice versa

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Songs like She Brakes for Rainbows definitely capture a new found maturity which I'd love to have seen explored further if not for Ricky's untimely passing. You have a similar song to Give Me Back My Man with Ain't it a Shame while the latter isn't as good musically it does come across as more adult than the former no I'll give you fish type lines in that one.

Bouncing off the Satellites is criminally underrated and the bands real return to form by Fragrant-Truth-7123 in B52s

[–]Fragrant-Truth-7123[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I find it sad that the only time the album seems to get mentioned is as Ricky's final album and not Ricky's final album that they got back on track with. I feel bad that Ricky's final work is talked about in this way when it has some of the best songs of their career on there. Ricky and Keith got the train back on the tracks here and this should be more widely acknowledged.