Album Reviews

The B-52s make no attempt to reinvent the wheel on Funplex, but do they really need to? Their first studio album in more than 15 years amplifies the band's flamboyant pedigree of infectious dance beats and surf-flavored retro flashbacks through a rainbow-colored kaleidoscope, Fred Schneider spreading his vocals like a peacock's feathers alongside the shakes and shimmies of his higher-pitched counterpart Kate Pierson. If there is a noticeable change since their last studio effort—Good Times in 1992—it's the overt sexuality that is showered shamelessly throughout the eleven tracks, from opener "Pump," to Schneider's over-the-top proclamation that, "I am a fully eroticized being, no more neuroses!" amidst the "stripped-naked soul soup" of the gleefully homo-erotic "Deviant Ingredient." For sheer aesthetic pleasure, "Hot Corner" resides in the same neighborhood as "Love Shack," the title track could be the band's next sing-along party anthem, and "Eyes Wide Open" is driven by a club-ready techno backbeat. "Keep doing what we're doing 'cause it's what we like," Schneider and Pierson declare on "Ultra Violet," and there's no argument there—it's been 30 years since musical serendipity first shined on The B-52s, but rest assured they haven't forgotten how to get their "Rock Lobsters" off.

—Paul Gargano
03.27.08