Cosmic Thing (30th Anniversary Expanded Edition Remastered) The B-52's

• 1 Cosmic Thing (Remastered) 03:52
• 2 Dry County (Remastered) 04:54
• 3 Deadbeat Club (Remastered) 04:46
• 4 Love Shack (Remastered) 05:21
• 5 Junebug (Remastered) 05:06
• 6 Roam (Remastered) 04:54
• 7 Bushfire (Remastered) 04:57
• 8 Channel Z (Remastered) 04:49
• 9 Topaz (Remastered) 04:21
• 10 Follow Your Bliss (Remastered) 04:11
• 11 B-52's Megamix (Remastered) 06:35
• 12 Love Shack (Edit) (Remastered) 04:22
• 13 Channel Z (Rock Mix) (Remastered) 06:22
• 14 Roam (Extended Remix) (Remastered) 05:28
• 15 Roam (12" Remix) (Remastered) 08:17
• 16 Cosmic Thing (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:04
• 17 Bushfire (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 05:12
• 18 Quiche Lorraine (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:09
• 19 Dance This Mess Around (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 05:37
• 20 Dry County (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:54
• 21 Private Idaho (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 03:42
• 22 Give Me Back My Man (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:17
• 23 Deadbeat Club (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 05:14
• 24 Mesopotamia (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 05:35
• 25 Strobe Light (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:00
• 26 Roam (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 06:17
• 27 52 Girls (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 03:32
• 28 Love Shack (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 07:33
• 29 Rock Lobster (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 04:58
• 30 Whammy Kiss (Live At Starplex Amphitheatre, TX, 1990) 04:05
• 31 Channel Z (Live At The Pavillion, The Woodlands, TX, 1990) 06:23
• Total Runtime 02:37:47

Info for Cosmic Thing (30th Anniversary Expanded Edition Remastered)

The B-52s are celebrating yet another anniversary this year – the 30 years since the release of their mega-album, “Cosmic Thing.”

Mention the phrase "Love Shack" and anyone you're talking to will immediately know to what you're referencing. Few songs stick in the brain with such lasting power, fond memories, and sing-a-long potential as the B-52's blissful 1989 smash, one of the many moments that make the band's Cosmic Thing such a timeless affair. The group's melodies were never sharper, its vibes never as carefree, and attitude as joyous as on this multi-platinum affair that stayed on the charts for more than a year.

This HighResAudio ReMaster dazzles with glorious textures, deeper low-end frequencies, more pronounced midrange information, and enhanced vocal dynamics absent from prior editions. Especially noticeable is the additional color and sense of rhythmic involvement in the already-persuasive pop-rock tunes, guaranteed to lighten any mood and ignite any celebration.

Urging listeners to "roam around the world" on one of the two Top 5 singles here, the B-52's follow their own instructions, constructing lively fare assembled from quirky riffs, bizarre albeit smooth harmonies, strident lead vocals, jagged tempos, and infectious choruses. At heart, Cosmic Thing is a dance-your-ass-off soiree. Leader Fred Schneider delights in kitsch, his deliveries combining goofy pronouncements and half-rapped words that speak the co-ed ensemble's long tradition of originality, flair, campiness, and irreverence.

Better still is the band's embrace of a shinier, funkier sound established by producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers. The production, exponentially improved on this reissue, complements the upbeat energy, well-crafted songwriting, and emotional exuberance demonstrated on everything ranging from the kick-starting "Bushfire" to rambunctious "Junebug" to wild, weird, and wonderful "Love Shack."

The B-52’s spent the last part of the ‘70s and the first half of the ‘80s as one of the coolest, goofiest groups around, forging a solid reputation as a fun-time party band through such singles as “Rock Lobster,” “Private Idaho,” and so on down the line, but with the death of founding member Ricky Wilson in 1985, their future was in serious doubt…although – as Kate Pierson told the Onion A.V. Club in 2011, “Nobody ever said, ‘Never again.’” As such, Pierson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, and Cindy Wilson eventually regrouped with a very tentative plan to try writing some new material, not really focusing on anything other than seeing if they could even make it work.

“When we started getting together to write, we realized it was healing – incredibly healing – but it also conjured up the presence of Ricky,” said Pierson, in her A.V. Club interview. “And we started—I don’t want to call it nostalgia, because I don’t think we were maudlin or anything, but we started thinking about early times in Athens, like ‘Deadbeat Club,’ and things just started flowing. Keith, of course, had to take over all the guitar-playing and everything, so he went through a major transition. He’d always played guitar with Ricky and could play a lot of instruments, but to have the whole thing on his shoulders? I think it was a challenge, but one that he rose amazingly to and started just writing this amazing music. And when we jammed, things just started flowing out, because we had all this emotion and stuff that was locked inside, and it became this wonderful healing thing. We never intended to make ‘Love Shack’ this major party song. It just came out that way. Cosmic Thing just kind of came flowing out during the jam. We kind of had to put the pieces together, like a puzzle or a collage, but when we did, it just clicked.”

The B-52's

Produced by Nile Rodgers, Don Was

Digitally remastered

The B-52's
And thirty five years and over twenty million albums into their career, there can be no doubt as to why they remain one of rock music’s most beloved and enduring bands. Any mystery concerning the band’s longevity and ongoing appeal is immediately solved when exposed to a B-52s concert experience. From groundbreaking songs like “Rock Lobster,” “Dance This Mess Around” and “Private Idaho“ to chart-topping hits like “Love Shack” and “Roam” and “Deadbeat Club” to their thrilling reemergence on the pop scene with their 2008 CD Funplex the B-52s’ unforgettable dance-rock tunes start a party every time their music begins.

Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, the band played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977. Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated ‘bouffant” hairdos, the newly-christened B-52s (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for gigs at CBGB’s and a handful of other venues. Before long, their thrift store aesthetic and genre-defying songs were the talk of the post-punk underground. A record deal soon followed and their self-titled debut disc, produced by Chris Blackwell, sold more than 500,000 copies on the strength of their first singles, the garage rock party classic “Rock Lobster,” and “52 Girls.” The B-52s began to attract fans far beyond the punk clubs of the Lower East Side — galvanizing the pop world with their ‘stream-of-consciousness’ approach to songwriting and outrageous performance. They had clearly tapped into a growing audience for new music that was much larger than anyone could have anticipated. “We always appealed to people outside the mainstream,” says Kate Pierson, “and I think more people feel they’re outside the mainstream these days.”

With the release of their second studio effort, Wild Planet (1980), the B-52s and co-producer Rhett Davies proved their success was no fluke with hits with “Private Idaho,” “Give Me Back My Man” and “Strobe Light.” In just two albums, the B-52s created a lexicon of songs, styles, phrases and images which would set the standard for the development of the ‘alternative music scene’ for the next decade. The success of Mesopotamia, produced by David Byrne (1982), and Whammy! (1983) positioned the B-52s as MTV regulars as well as alternative radio staples.

At the time of their greatest achievements, however, they suffered their greatest tragedy — the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson from AIDS. “He really had a vision…,” said sister Cindy Wilson. “He was one of the strongest elements of the B-52s from the beginning.” Ricky Wilson’s passing in 1985 came just after the sessions for Bouncing Off The Satellites (1986). The album, dedicated to Wilson, had taken nearly three years to complete but was worth the wait, serving up the fan favorites “Summer of Love” and “Wig.”

As a period of mourning, Keith, switching from drums to guitar, gradually resumed writing music for a new album. Working together on vocal melodies, lyrics and arrangements for the new tracks, Keith, Kate, Fred and Cindy re-emerged with the Don Was/Nile Rodgers co-produced Cosmic Thing (1989). The album proved to be the greatest commercial achievement for the group, and its success propelled the band to international superstars.

Cosmic Thing soared to the top of the Billboard Album chart, sold five million copies and yielded their first-ever Hot 10 hits — “Love Shack” and “Roam” and a Top 40 hit with “Deadbeat Club.” The B-52s advanced their reputation as the greatest party band on the planet to a whole new generation of music fans. They played to sold-out audiences worldwide on a tour that would last more than 18 months, including an Earth Day gig before nearly 750,000 people in New York City’s Central Park.

Soon after, Cindy Wilson amicably departed. “I’d been a B-52 for a long time, and it just felt like time for a change,” said Cindy. Before long, Wilson had successfully completed her first solo project — a baby girl. Meanwhile, Kate collaborated with other artists, including Athens compatriots R.E.M., for whom she guest-starred on their 1991 album Out of Time. She also scored a hit with fellow CBGB’s alum Iggy Pop on his lovelorn duet “Candy.” Fred, meanwhile started work on a solo project, Just Fred (1996), with producer Steve Albini, his second solo project since the release of 1984’s Fred Schneider and the Shake Society.

As a trio, Fred, Keith and Kate re-enlisted the tag team of Was and Rodgers to produce the energetic Good Stuff (1992). With it’s popular title cut and concert favorite “Is That You Mo-Dean?,” Good Stuff is more than just a worthy follow-up to Cosmic Thing: the album stands as the group’s most overtly political album. “We’re out there to entertain people,” said Fred, “but it’s great to get people thinking and dancing at the same time.”

Reuniting permanently with Cindy, the B-52s wrote and recorded two new tracks that fit perfectly into Time Capsule, a 1998 stellar collection of hits. The first single from the Best Of collection, “Debbie” is a metaphorical tribute to band friend and supporter Debbie Harry and the whole CBGB’s scene of the late ’70s.

With the release of the two-disc collection Nude on the Moon: the B-52s Anthology (2002), the B-52s took much-deserved credit for a body of work that is unique, beloved and timeless in its own way. The B-52s influence cuts a wide path through much of so-called ‘modern rock’ — from the low-fi efforts of nouveau garage bands to the retro-hip of ultra-lounge, to the very core of dance music itself. “We just did our own thing, which was a combination of rock ‘n ‘roll, funk, and Fellini, and game show host, and corn, and mysticism,” says Fred. It is indeed all these things (and much more).

In 2008 the B-52s released their first new album in 16 years, the aptly titled Funplex. With its primal guitar hooks, driving drums and the B-52s’ unmistakable vocal style, Funplex is instantly recognizable as quintessential and contemporary B-52s. Newsweek Magazine declared, “Like a sonic shot of vitamin B12, the dance floor beats, fuzzy guitar riffs and happy, shiny lyrics keep the energy going.”

On February 18, 2011 the band joyfully celebrated its 34th anniversary with a triumphant return to their hometown of Athens, GA. Wig-wearing, boa-draped, glitter-covered fans came from near and far to celebrate this historic event, which saw the band deliver a sizzling 90 minute set that turned Athens’ Classic Center into a cosmic dancehall. The concert was released on a CD, DVD and Blu-ray entitled The B-52s With The Wild Crowd! Live in Athens, GA. In a review of the CD, Chuck Howard from Scripps Howard News Service proclaimed, “How The B-52′s have maintained their endearing vitality after all these years is a wonder, yet fans who hear “With the Wild Crowd!” will doubtless wish immortality on this uplifting band.”

In January 2013 Keith Strickland announced that he had made a decision to stop touring with the band. In a statement he said, “I will continue to be in The B-52s – I will just not tour. My barnstorming days have come to an end, but I wholeheartedly support Cindy, Fred and Kate’s decision to continue.”

As they take their party-music revolution into the 21st century the B-52s show no signs of slowing down, serving up their own unique blend of music and showmanship to millions of fans around the world.

This album contains no booklet.