"LET'S GET IT OVER WITH" WEEK (OCTOBER 15-21, 2012)
Since it took the B-52's three years to release another album after Whammy!, I had given up on new material long before 1986. In fact, I was unaware of this album until the "Lost Summer of Mark" in 1988, when a girlfriend introduced me to it. It's a very uneven affair, even for the B-52's. While recording this album (or soon after, reports vary), the band lost its guitarist Ricky Wilson to complications from AIDS/HIV and the band just needed some time to mourn and recover. Fortunately, the band would later team-up with Nile Rodgers and Don Was and have a huge comeback.
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| Billboard, September 20, 1986, p. 72 |
The only song I remembered from 1988 was Wig, which I loved because of the sheer goofiness of it. So I picked up the CD and, while I'm glad to have a recording of Wig, I'm not wild about the rest of the album. Maybe if I had heard it in the summer of '86, I'd think differently.
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard 200: #85 (Oct 11, 1986)
- CashBox: #79
- Rolling Stone: #30
Tracks: Obviously, my favorite is Wig, but Summer Of Love isn't terrible.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In 1995, a clever publisher took the lyrics from Wig, got a wacky illustrator, and put out a children's book. I bought the book in '98, probably about the same time I bought this CD. Our copy was read quite frequently to my boys. When my youngest was in first grade, I would occasionally go read to his class. Once, I read the Wig book to them, then played the song from this CD while we all danced.
Previously revisited for the blog:
Funplex (2008)
Love Shack (1989)
Whammy! (1983)
Party Mix/Mesopotamia (1981/1982)
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