With coronavirus lockdown in the UK easing, it’s time to meet old friends once again. There’s some trepidation, fiddling with apps in a pub garden to get served and remembering how to hold a conversation. But above all though there’s a sense of optimism around the country, that Covid-19 will no longer dominate our lives.

Among the old friends we can once again join up with is Peter and David Brewis & co, aka Field Music.

They have a new album out. Flat White Moon. And its among their best yet.

The Sunderland band have long been inventive with pop. Prince one minute, King Crimson the next. Or was it Talking Heads I just heard? Or XTC?

Above all they are like a UK version of Medications, the US band whose quirky, jerky style adorns all the Brewis’ albums.

Flat White Moon is among their most Medications-y yet. The short songs of two to three minutes, veer this way and that. They pack so much into each track.

Opener Orion From the Street sounds like a pop band floating down a river. Do Me A Favour brings the acoustic guitar out. Reminiscient of  Them That Do Nothing, from their 2010 album Measure.

There’s plenty more to like across the 12 tracks.

The bass and vocal arrangement on Not When You’re In Love is a treat. The Medications riff that opens Out of the Frame and rhythm of No Pressure, other high points.

Meant to Be’s prog-rock guitar a joy.  Proceedings end with You Get Better. Oh, how I wish Prince was still alive to hear this.

It’s perhaps also their most uplifting album yet.

9/10

by Joe Lepper

After 1992’s Good Stuff, 16 years were to pass before the B-52s’ next and as it has transpired, most recent album release, Funplex.

Since their last album they scored a hit with the theme tune to the Flintstones movie in 1994 and Cindy rejoined them two years later.

But they were firmly entering heritage rock territory on the live circuit having formed in the 1970s. A succession of compilations, gigs and TV appearances kept them busy. In 2004 and 2006 they opened for Cher and the Rolling Stones respectively.

Eventually they decided to record again, as a quartet, and so Funplex was born in what Strickland referred to as “loud, sexy rock and roll”.

Producer Steve Osbourne was brought in, based on his helming of Get Ready by New Order.

So how did they do for what is currently their final album?

Commercially it only just broke even, despite being their second highest charting B-52s album in the US.

Artistically it features one of the worst album covers of all time. An excuse for Fred and Keith to show what buff boomers they are? Also, they dropped the apostrophe.

But its actually pretty good.

Opener Pump is essentially Love Shack reworked. Although, it is great to hear Fred, Cindy and Kate together for the first time since the 1980s.

Musically much veers between dad rock and smart electro rock, especially on Hot Corner, Ultraviolet and the title track.

Fellini film inspired Juliet Of The Spirits is a welcome high point. Strong pop. Cindy on top form. It sounds great and would have been a welcome addition to many of their previous album releases.

I’m relatively new to Funplex and given the awful cover I expected it to be worse but in Juliet of the Spirits, Love In the Year 3000 and Too Much To Think About there is some good stuff here.

What of the B-52s now? They are still touring as a three-piece with Fred, Cindy and Kate.

Keith is now their Brian Wilson or sorts, having retired from touring but still part of the band when recording . He is also available when special appearances are needed. It looks like he has found the “essence from within” that he sought on 1983’s Whammy.

Kate runs some interesting looking glamping holiday retreats and lodges with her wife.

Cindy has worked on solo projects including the excellent synth pop album Change in 2017.

Meanwhile, Fred still lives in New York and occasionally works with his side project The Superions.

That’s the B-52s immersion on Neonfiller complete. What a fantastic career and wonderful album run they’ve had.

by Joe Lepper

We resume our album-by-album The B-52’s retrospective with a look at Good Stuff, their 1992 follow up to the huge success of Cosmic Thing.

This was at a time when singer Cindy Wilson decided to take a break from the band and they were carrying on as trio of Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland and Kate Pierson.

Live Julee Cruise replaced Cindy Wilson. A fine stand in, but there’s only one Cindy Wilson with her unique southern states emotional style of singing. It is their only album not to feature Cindy.

Despite their obvious mainstream appeal, they were still being pigeonholed as ‘New Wave’ and ‘alternative’. Incidentally, Good Stuff was nominated for a best alternative album Grammy – eventually losing out to Tom Waits’ Bone Machine.

Cindy, Kate and Fred work perfectly as vocalists. But take one away and its not the same. Therein lies the problem with Good Stuff.

The Tracks

Tell It Live It T-I-Is is bland rock and roll, although Kate’s vocals are great. Hot Pants Explosion is just plain stupid, rather than cool-stupid.

As with their previous album Nile Rodgers and Don Was once again share half the tracks each and the title track is perfect for one of their own albums but falls flat here.

There’s a bit of politics (to be said in a Ben Elton 80s voice) here referencing their own activism, on gay rights, Aids awareness and the environment. Revolution Earth sums this up and ends up being the highlight. Great melody and Pierson again excels. How good would this have been with Cindy too!?

The same can be said of Dreamland. It clocks in at more than seven minutes and sounds great, featuring Strickland’s increasing influences of Buddhism and meditation. Turns out his was a hippy all along. Also, Pierson carries its trance like funk along well. Once again, with Cindy involved this could have been one of The B-52’s career highlights.  

For Pierson fans this album is a must. Vision of a Kiss features another strong  Kate performance, as does Breezin’.

There’s a nod to their earlier days with live favourite Is That You Mo Dean? given a run out. Ends up a bit of a filler track though.

Despite some less than stellar offerings, there’s a lot to like here, some great songs and its got a nice laid back feel to it too.

But without Cindy Wilson there’s a vital cog to their machine missing.

By Joe Lepper

Here’s the sad part. Not the next B-52’s album – Bouncing off the Satellites – that we are focusing on over recent weeks.  That’s full of excellent tracks. It’s the story behind it.

Guitarist Ricky Wilson tragically died after the album was completed and prior to its release.

He was one of the many young brilliant men that succumbed to Aids during the 1980s. His guitar playing and song writing were becoming more assured. He had already invented his own tuning and riffed his way through the previous decade or so. But it was to be no more.

Bouncing off the Satellites was in the can and it is full of commercially pop savvy numbers, including upbeat tracks moving into the realms of dance and club music with Girl from Impanema Goes to Greenland, Summer of Love and the ridiculously silly Wig.

Tony Mansfield was on production duties for this one. That may explain why it sounds so radio friendly for a mid to late 80s audience. His credits include Aha’s Hunting High and Low.

But with the band too shocked to tour and promotional appearances limited it failed to make an impact on the charts or the media. According to Pierson, Wilson even kept his illness secret from his band mates. They pretty much disappeared as a band, with Ricky’s sister Cindy particularly affected. They would not come back together for another two years.

This was the first B-52’s album I bought when it came out and it will always be tinged with sadness due to Wilson’s death.

It’s almost as if the songs become sadder knowing about his death. But there are also some beautiful ballads on here, which are the ones I still listen to most regularly.

Ain’t it a Shame is a beautifully sad Cindy Wilson number, co-written with her brother and drummer Keith Strickland.

Coincidentally another of my other favourites is She Brakes for Rainbows, also featuring Strickland on writing duties, this time with just Ricky.

The band will need Strickland’s increasingly strong ear for a good tune when they convene again for their next release.

Elsewhere on the album, Theme for a Nude Beach is stupid but strong and I have a soft spot for Detour Thru Your Mind.

The fillers are from Pierson and Schneider respectively, who supplied solo tracks they’d been working on. Of the two Pierson’s Housework is the best. Schneider’s Juicy Jungle feels a little out of place – too solo.

There is some strong music here and makes me wonder what would have become of the band if Ricky was still alive.

**Cindy and her son Nolan recently shared this wonderful clip of them playing She Brakes For Rainbows in her living room from last year. This is one of the great comments that sums up her singing style – “I love the place Cindy goes to as she sings”. I think she always thinks of Ricky when she sings this.**

By Joe Lepper

Drum machines and a greater use of synthesizers should make Whammy! a very different sounding The B-52’s album from their Duane Eddy riffed opening two albums and the largely dour David Byrne mis-step with Mesopotamia.

But even with smart 80s tech deployed, it actually marks a comforting return to their fun, live roots, which propelled them to acclaim back in 1978.

The songs are fun and the drum machines and synths work well with Cindy, Kate and Fred’s vocals.

The album also features three songs that were originally planned for Mesopotamia, Butterbean, Big Bird and one of my highlights Queen of Las Vegas, a crime thriller  script of a track from Cindy.

The highlight of the album for me and arguably across all their albums is Song for a Future Generation, featuring all five band members in a wonderful 80s version of the likes of Tinder and other dating apps. Who doesn’t warm to drummer Keith wanting to find the “essence from within”?

There’s more here. Another crime focused track in Legal Tender and in Whammy Kiss the band developed a staple live classic.

There’s another of my favourites by the band in Trism. It’s a great pop track but also shows how inventive and eclectic Ricky Wilson’s guitar work was becoming. The 50s twang was being expanded into FM friendly riffs and licks. What a talent he was.

There is a difference from the original release, which featured a cover of Yoko Ono’s Don’t Worry, Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow).

Legal issues, however, saw this removed on later  pressings and replaced by Moon 83, a synthed up 80s version of There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon). A filler track, but one with merit.

The Tracks

The departure in sound here could have gone array. But thanks to production from Steven Stanley it sounds fresh and fun and I challenge anyone not to at least smile during Song for a Future Generation. Stanley’s other credits include Tom Tom Club, Black Uhuru and Grace Jones.

Keith takes additional guitar and keyboard credits on this album. Remember that guitar credit for a couple of albums down the line. Also note Ricky’s expanded guitar work here.

By Joe Lepper

Half-finished album? EP? Mini-album? Call it what you will it, but Mesopotamia deserves its own place in the history of The B-52’s album releases.

It was planned as the band’s third full album with David Byrne at the helm no less. He seemed the right fit for a band that was regularly on the same touring circuit and bill as Talking Heads. They knew and respected Byrne and vice-versa.

But it didn’t quite go to plan. Byrne was also recording The Catherine Wheel, which he worked on by day, while recording with the B-52’s at night.

This schedule can’t have been good for anyone involved.

Whether lack of sleep or not quite understanding The B-52’s, Byrne’s mix of the album was not what the band were after. Too flat, too sad in places. Perhaps he was half asleep?

As a result, it was cut short and released as a six track collection, with three of four abandoned songs later to resurface in the far more commercially savvy next album Whammy, but more of that tomorrow.

Island didn’t help either, shunning the band’s choices of more upbeat tracks and instead going for filler songs.

The tracks

Across the six tracks here, half are good and half are a misstep. Loveland, with Cindy Wilson on vocals, followed by Deep Sleep, with Kate Pierson taking turns behind the mic, are as lacklustre an opening two tracks as you can get.

It picks up significantly with the title track, with Fred Schneider’s much needed enthusiasm making it a real highlight. Cake is a track I’ve warmed to, but the mix feels too flat for me. It ends on a high though with Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can and this mini-album’s best track Nip It in the Bud. Cindy is on fine form here.

The tracks that later emerge on Whammy are all perfect for that release.  More on that tomorrow. I’m glad they were left off Mesopotamia and away from Byrne’s tired controls.

You may love some of the tracks I haven’t warmed to and hate the ones I like, but time and again it is Mesopotamia and Nip it in the Bud that I come back to from this.

Next week, a drum machine and an album with one of, if not our favourite tracks by the band. It’ll help you find the essence from within!

By Joe Lepper

Following the favourable global response to their debut album, The B-52’s were fast becoming one of Island’s biggest acts. For their second album slicker production was needed and Rhett Davies was brought in, with label boss Chris Blackwell moving to ‘executive producer’ duties.

Davies’ credits include albums by Genesis, Roxy Music, Robert Palmer, Brian Eno, Dire Straits and Talking Heads excellent More Songs About Buildings and Food. He was a big deal for The B-52’s.

The production may have been new and slicker, but a number of the tracks had been staples of their live act for a number of years. It has been reported that the Bs had some commercial acumen at the time, wanting to hold back some of the best live songs for their second album. With top 20 album positions in the UK and US in 1980, the combination of Davies and these five camp New Wavers from Athens clearly worked.

My take on the production? I actually prefer the original’s energy and agree with Rolling Stone’s review of the time saying that it sounded ‘flatter and duller’ than its predecessor.

The Tracks

Nevertheless, there are some great tracks here and the production is only flatter in comparison to their fantastic debut. It’s still a great sound.

I’m going straight into Cindy Wilson’s finest moment first – Give Me Back My Man. Remember Dance This Mess Around on the debut? This takes that raw pain and emotion and switches it up a gear. A woman pleading with her man’s new woman to give him up. It’s basically Dolly Parton and great Dolly Parton at that. In desperation she tells her man’s new woman that she’ll do anything even ‘give her fish, give her candy’. Now that’s love.

Private Idaho is another high point on Wild Planet. Ricky’s intro packs a punch. It was later used as the title song for Gus Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho. It’s in my top five The B-52’s tracks with the intro never failing to excite.

Among the live staple party tunes is Strobe Light, Quiche Lorraine and Party Out of Bounds.

As with Give My Back My Man there are some deeper, rawer tracks too with Dirty Back Road, perhaps the best of these.

While as an album it was a hit, single wise though Davies failed to deliver, with Private Idaho the best performer in the US at 74 in the Billboard charts, although the Aussies loved it, helping it reach 11 in the charts down under.

While good, the album lacked a little of the spark of their debut but is a great collection and made a classic by Give Me Back My Man and Idaho alone.

It didn’t quite capture their live energy though and to this day I still prefer the tracks live. Just check out this awesome 1980 live version of Give Me Back My Man.

How does David Byrne fare producing the band? Find out next week when we travel forward to 1982 and Mesopotamia.

by Joe Lepper

It was some point in the mid-1980s that I first heard The B-52’s. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Rock Lobster from their eponymous 1979 debut album had just been re-released. The teenage me promptly bought the 12” at Brighton’s Virgin Megastore. With its smattering of great tracks from their next two albums, I’d found my new favourite band.

Still not a week goes by without a track from the band in my life.

Over the next eight weeks I’ll be guiding you through the array of albums from this New Wave outfit from Athens, Georgia, the US university town that has been blessed with creating three great bands: REM, Pylon and this bunch of 50s sci-fi, bee-hive wigged obsessed party-goers.

The B-52’s formed two years prior to this release, mainly for friends at parties. The band gradually grew in popularity, performing at legendary venues in New York such as CBGBs and then signed to Island, with the label’s founder Chris Blackwell producing their debut.

Blackwell wanted the album to recreate their live act as much as possible. This was a savvy move with each members’ particular talents allowed to shine here.

Here’s some wonderful black and white footage of the B-52s live in 1978 in Atlanta.

Before I discuss the tracks let’s meet the players.

On guitar is Ricky Wilson. Armed with his trusty Mosrite he had his own way of tuning his guitar to create a wholly unique science fiction surf sound, packed full of great riffs. Why is it tuned so differently? I think it may have been to suit the voice of this sister Cindy Wilson, who he formed the band with. Ricky was blessed with unique talent on the guitar, but as we will learn later in the immersion, it was a life cruelly cut short.

Cindy is the star for me. Her Georgia drawl and powerful voice gives many of the B-52’s tracks a real edge. So emotional. So raw.

Fellow singer, and keyboardist, Kate Pierson, is another great vocalist and then there’s a third too in Fred Schneider. Most bands are blessed with one great vocalist. The B’s had three! Fred talks and shouts mostly through the tracks, but his Georgia accent and odd lyrics strangely work, especially when combined with Cindy and Kate. A perfect blend.

Then there’s drummer Keith Strickland. He’s the one at the back who later in The B-52’s story arguably becomes the most talented and pop-savvy of them all. Once again. More on that later.

The tracks

Track time. Rock Lobster weighs in at a mighty 6:49 here. Live it keeps going, so Blackwell thought that should also be the case on the album.

Dance This Mess Around is the ultimate Cindy, Fred and Kate song here, where the pain of being a wallflower at the local dance for Cindy becomes unbearably real. This is the track where I knew the B-52s had far more to them than being just a party band.

There’s more from Cindy’s incredible vocals on Hero Worship and Lava. And on 52 Girls the simple naming of Miss America contenders through Cindy and Kate’s southern tones gets under the skin of a beauty pageant, like Harry Crews reporting on proceedings, as Betty, Brenda and the other gals are lowered into a pit of snakes while a circus freakshow passes.

Fred and Kate take vocal duties on mysterious ‘50s B Movie space oddity Planet Claire, and there’s even a chance for a cover of Tony Hatch’s Downtown.

There’s a couple of filler tracks but they more than make up the numbers. There’s merit in each of 6060-842 and There’s a Moon in the Sky.

This is the first in a series of reviews looking at the career in albums of some of our favourite acts.

By Joe Lepper

Over the next eight weeks, every Monday morning (9:00am UK time), we are going to look back on the complete back catalogue of albums by some of our favourite bands and artists.

First up we will give our take on the eight album run spanning four decades of The B-52’s. This starts next week (March 8) with their 1979 self titled debut and finishes in May with their most recent album, 2008’s Funplex.

See you next week for our look at The B-52’s complete discography!

In compiling our Top 10 Albums of 2020 list there’s no getting away from the fact that this year has been the pits. The Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the health, emotional wellbeing and finances of a generation.

And the music industry is no exception. Gigs have been cancelled, to adhere to social distancing. Albums have been mothballed and many, many musicians have been wondering where their next pay cheque is coming from.

For us at Neonfiller.com music reviewing has had to take a back seat as we focus on our day jobs. No gigs to go to has robbed us of some eye-opening new music in particular.

But amid the health crisis we have still managed to do our bit to support new music and releases when we can.

And its still been a great year for music for those that managed to get albums out or release them before the world shut down. Whether deliberate or not they have all ended up being the soundtrack to our year.

In addition, there’s been some inventive music and performances still being ushered out to our ears and eyes online by musicians amid the pandemic.

Here are our Top 10 albums of 2020.

10. The Sinclairs Sparkle

What an intriguing debut to emerge during lockdown from The Sinclairs, formed by Damned drummer Rat Scabies and Jesse Budd, aka Billy Shinbone, from Flipron and guitarist with Neville Staple’s band.

Ennio Morricone with a New Wave twist and added electronica. Read the full review here.

9. John Howard- To The Left of the Moon’s Reflection

The pandemic is inescapable across album number 17 from 1970s singer/songwriter turned 21^st century indie artist John Howard, althrough it was written and production began prior to the health crisis.

Although unintentionally it provided us with a beautifully meloncholic look at life in our strange world of social distancing.  Read the full review of this top 10 albums of 2020 here.

8. Seazoo – Joy

Sometimes, and this year has definitely been one of those times, you just want a good natured guitar pop album to enjoy. Joy, the second album from Wrexham based Seazoo, is definitely that kind of album. Ten songs in a breezy 33 minutes is, simply put, a joy.

As with lots of bands on this list we’d hoped to get to see the band touring the album this year, but hopefully they’ll be out on the road in 2021. Read the full review here.

7. The Orielles – Disco Volador

The Orielles are one of our favourite new bands, and we enjoyed them a lot at Indietracks 2019. Their second album, Disco Volador, was an album I picked up just around the start of the 1st lockdown.

It is a fun and eclectic slice of pop music that manages to be in equal parts dreamy and danceable. ‘Bobbi’s Second World’ is the stand-out single  but there are plenty more tracks to enjoy here.

6. Mountain Goats – Getting Into Knives

Considering the world has gone to pot due to Covid-19, the Mountain Goats have been relatively prolific in terms of album releases this year. Fresh from releasing his DIY album Songs for Pierre Chuvin at the start of lockdown, John Darnielle’s troop are back six months later with this deserved entry into our top 10 albums of 2020 list, Getting Into Knives.

There’s some proper hits on Getting Into Knives. Get Famous is particularly marvellous with a fabulous chorus and superb woodwind and horns. Read the full review here.

5. Laura Marling – Songs for Our Daughter

A concept album written to an imaginary child –  simple, stunning and uplifting in this troubled year, when family means so much more. It would be lazy to compare Laura Marling’s beautiful Song For Our Daughter to Joni Mitchell in her 70s pomp. But screw it. I’ll do it anyway. This is a downright instant, timeless classic, with its sweeping strings and shuffling drums perfectly accompanying Marling’s vocals.

4. Field Music – Making A New World

Field Music are a band that we have championed on this site for many years, and took top spot in our end of year chart for 2010. Making A New World is a fascinating addition to their discography.

It isn’t a straightforward set of songs, it is a concept album themed around the aftermath of the 1st World War. That means there are more instrumentals and short songs than you’d expect from the band, but there are also some big pop classics like ‘Money Is A Memory’ to enjoy.

3. BC Camplight – Shortly After Takeoff

Despite his clear talent and string of excellent albums it is unlikely that BC Camplight will ever become a household name. He was a revelation when we saw him at The Larmer Tree Festival in 2019. He’s never been lucky, and his excellent latest album being released during the year of Covid seems strangely appropriate.

Shortly After Takeoff is a sophisticated and emotional album, with enough humour to balance some of the more painful lyrical subjects. It is brilliantly played and contains as many musical ideas as you’ll find on any album released this year.

2. Eyelids – The Accidental Falls

Eyelids are one of the bands we have championed most since we first discovered them back in 2014. The Accidental Falls is a fascinating album in that it uses lyrics written by Tim Buckley collaborator Larry Beckett for all the songs and that really drives the musical feel of the record.

It is a real grower of an album and reveals a little bit more with every listen. You can read our full review of the record here.

1.Rolling Blackouts CF – Sideways to New Italy

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever already have a couple of fine EPs and a brilliant debut album behind them, but that doesn’t stop Sideways To New Italy sounding totally fresh. They aren’t doing anything new here, it is the same driving three guitar pop-rock we’ve come to expect, but delivered with enough verve as to sound like they’re just starting out.

They are simply one of the most exciting bands we’ve discovered in years and this album is just a string of single-worthy future favourites. They are also a great live band and we hope that they manage to come to the UK for their planned tour in 2021.

The top 10 albums of 2020 list is compiled by Dorian Rogers and Joe Lepper