Clam shells clappin’.
Growing up with divorced parents, I lived most of my childhood with my mom in Western PA and Eastern OH. I had two older step-siblings who lived with my father and their mother right outside DC. I would visit my dad at least once a year. The steps had a couple of albums by The B-52’s. I must have been about ten years old when I stumbled upon both “the B-52’s” and “Wild Planet” under the family record player. The album covers called to me; both had pictures of the band, one against a bright yellow background (the debut self-titled LP) and the other with the members against a solid, bright red. For whatever the reason, I played the yellow one first. When the spacey beginning notes started playing in Planet Claire, I was blown away. What in the world was this? I had honestly never, in my short ten years, heard anything like it before. I loved it! It was sooooooo weird, perfect for a kid. Plus, it was clearly cool. And who doesn’t want to be cool? The quirkiest of the quirky, a liquid delight. The “Peter Gunn” bass line, literally, played an octave higher on a guitar repeats and repeats all while the gradual crescendo builds with the subtle instruments and understated drumming. Then, Bam! The piercing, far-out organ enters the orbit while the bass line is now played both on the aforementioned guitar and an octave lower on a rich, deep synth bass. We are only a little over a minute in. The song is about 4:30 minutes long; and we don’t get our first words until the 2:30 mark:
“She came from Planet Claire. I know she came from there. She drove a Plymouth Satellite, a faster than the speed of light. Planet Claire has pink air, all the trees are red. No one ever dies there, no one has a head.”^ This far-out opening track sounds like a 1950’s Sci-Fi movie.
With the great vocals of Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson, 52 Girls is always a fun punk number. You definitely realize that these gals not only blended amazingly, they had great pipes, too. Just when you are taking your deep breath after the two opening numbers you are bowled over with the thumping bass and organ of Dance This Mess Around. Think a caldron of lounge on the beach(surf’s up) meets the 1960’s pop dance floor. This flows easily into the totally off the wall Rock Lobster, a 6 and a half minute opus all to itself. It has so much going on in it, where to start. Let me just say only a few quick things about it(needing to jet). First, throughout all of the verses of the song, the guitar plays the same riff over and over again. It changes when the chorus comes and goes and during what I would call the bridge, but otherwise it just vamps and vamps. The kinky Fred Schneider takes the lead singing duties while the bouffant hair styled ladies offer their backing vocals with pinpoint precision. Throw in a groovy bass and drums plus more pounding organ and you get an upside down pineapple cake on it’s side. And to think we haven’t even turned the record over yet.
Like Rock Lobster, the sheer brilliance of the entire album is that even though the music is not complex in the least and the lyrics are Seusical and silly, you cannot help but completely dig this album. I certainly did, as well as “Wild Planet.” Looking back, this was some of the first popular music that I would listen to regularly for a while. I made a mix tape from the records. I see how the taste of my step-sister and step-brother rubbed off on me. It had a lasting impact. I still love the strange genius of the B-52’s first record.
^ Fred Schneider, lyrics
365, Album of the Day 2014 