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| Funplex | 
 enlarge | Artist: The B-52's
Label: Astralwerks
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $5.15
You Save: $13.83 (73%)
New (57) Used (32) Collectible (2) from $4.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  143 reviews
Sales Rank: 2264
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 28730
UPC: 094922873071
EAN: 0094922873071
ASIN: B00139B39O
Release Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new; still in shrink wrap!!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Any B-52's album is better than none March 27, 2008
12 out of 20 found this review helpful
When you make one of the best party records of the 80's as Cosmic Thing was, you set a pretty high mark. Comparisons are inevitable. This album is no Cosmic Thing, and it comes kinda close to Good Thing though good thing had songs with good hooks. That being said,Funplex still has some Good Stuff. The girls are still in A+ form, and hearing Fred's screaming warble is always fun. They remain true to their classic hippiechick lyrics and shimmy shake lyrics while incorporating new electric dance sounds. The main problem I have with the album is gets pretty redundant after while. The tempos are all pretty much the same, the themes of the songs feel like you just heard them 10 minutes ago. In short it's kind of like going to a rave. You're dazzled for a while and then start wondering if you've been to this party before.
 Refreshingly the same February 25, 2008
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
It sounds just like sixteen years ago. I love it. It is very consistent with their original sound. If you are a die-hard B-52s fan, you won't be disappointed.
The B's White Album March 26, 2008
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
Only the B-52's could come back with a record after 16 years, when they're all in their 50's, that focuses on sex and romance! This is the best new release I've heard in ages. Funplex manages to combine the quirky lyrics and dance beats that made fans fall in love with them over the past 3 decades with some cool, now sounds like driving rock guitars and funky electronic grooves. It is easily both their most unusual(for them) and most accessible album. The first six tracks on the disc will have you shaking your booty and creating your own in-home funk-a-thon. After that, things get a bit experimental. The tracks:
1. Pump: this is a delicious slice of chaotic rock that will have you pumping and jumping. Love the way Kate sings about "mama."
2. Hot Corner: this rocked out jam will have you dancing in your room until you're out of breath.
3. Ultraviolet: a tune with a hyper rock vibe that is fun and funky.
4. Juliet of the Spirits: a fan fave, a shimmering techno love fest in which the girls admonish a friend to come out of her shell and really live life.
5. Funplex: the first single, a funky, funny, mid-tempo dance/rock number that will have you laughing and singing along. "Lady? What lady?"
6. Eyes Wide Open: my favorite song on this album. This is absolutely incredible and tough to describe. Starting out as an ominous, stark techno experiment, it gradually builds into an all-out dance frenzy that will have you shakin' it like crazy. I love Kate's refrain: "I don't want to clash, I don't want to re-hash the past, I just want release."
7. Love in the Year 3000: The verses are odd and experimental, with Fred talking about different kinds of robots. The choruses are catchy with the girls exquisite harmonies. It's an interesting and addictive combo.
8. Deviant Ingredient: The closest thing on the album to a ballad, the song is lush and sensual, a bit on the commercial-sounding side, but the female vocals on the choruses are hard to resist, and the song builds to a somewhat rocking climax. Sort of like a peppy chill out song.
9. Too Much To Think About: This is the only song on the album that I don't like. The different parts of music and vocals just don't work. It felt flat to me.
10. Dancing Now: A really cool ditty that harkens back to the B-52's garage/punk origins, with Fred barking out verses while the girls sing verses behind him. It's a great effect.
11. Keep This Party Going: While not the best song on the CD, this is a fun and warmly felt tune that is the perfect album ender. Leaves the listener with a happy, party friendly glow.
If you like fun, danceable, quirky music, buy this now!
Rumored 2-disk version is for real! March 28, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
The limited 2-disk version is a Target exclusive and only available in-store. I purchased mine today($11.99) and it contains a bonus disk recorded live at the Roxy in L.A. It contains the following tracks:
1. Party out of bounds
2. Channel Z
3. Roam
4. Strobe Light
5. Rock Lobster
There are no rainchecks on this version so if you want it, you better get it soon.
They are in top form! April 11, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I remember being just a kid when I saw them on SNL doing "Rock Lobster," back in '79 or '80, and thinking at the time "they're really weird." I wasn't an instant fan, but felt oddly drawn to them. Over the years, I took notice of their more mainstream stuff (I was rather sheltered and never sought out music that I wasn't rather mundanely exposed to), such as I'd see on MTV, and as of "Cosmic Thing" I began to check out more of their older stuff and have considered myself a fan for a few years now.
However, nothing prepared me for what I'd feel with upon hearing this magnificent CD. I don't think I have ever loved an entire album so much upon the first listen, and "infectious" (to quote another reviewer) is an entirely appropriate adjective for this collection of songs.
I find it to be the perfect blend of their early, raw party sound, and the more highly-produced sound of their later years. This is classic, prime B-52s here, folks; it doesn't get any better than this. The songs from this CD stay with me even after I've stopped listening to them (which, I admit, can be maddening if one is in a circumstance--such as at work--where the CD can't be played).
I find that the best venue for this CD is in a car with a great stereo system, on a sunny-day highway. It is the ultimate road-trip music, and I can't help but crank it up so loud that I fear I'll blow out my speakers. And that is saying a lot: I'm about to turn 41 and I very rarely do that (or even feel like doing that). So thank you, B-52s, for staying the course and doing what you do best: making great, uplifting, bizarre and fun music that inevitably makes people move and smile. This is one of the rare bands that just keeps improving with age, and I can't help but wonder if or how they could top this terrific CD. BRAVO!!
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