Review: Funplex by the B-52's

(I actually had made a good start on this review a month ago. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the file on my flash drive became corrupted. Stupid inexplicable errors.)

Before this album was released, the biggest question on people’s minds was whether or not the B-52's had lost “it” in the sixteen years since their last album, Good Stuff. Was it possible to create something good after a sixteen year absence from the studio?

The answer is unequivocally yes; time does not seem to have diminished their songwriting abilities in the least. Funplex stands alongside the best B-52 albums. Their distinctive, energetic, and fun sound is preserved while at the same time modernized. There isn’t a track here I don’t like.

Highlights of the album include the beautiful and lyrical “Juliet of the Spirits”. Does any band in existence have two vocalists whose voices mesh as well as Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson’s? As I said a couple of months ago, the title track, “Funplex”, is fun, fast and even though I’ve played it to death, still fresh. My favorite track is the smooth “Deviant Ingredient”, which is laid back, sensuous and seductive.

Funplex is a triumphant return for the B’s. Here’s hoping they don’t go another sixteen years before their next album.