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| Funplex | 
 enlarge | Artist: The B-52's
Label: Astralwerks
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $4.88
You Save: $14.10 (74%)
New (51) Used (30) Collectible (2) from $4.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  147 reviews
Sales Rank: 2105
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
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| Customer Reviews:
 FUNPLEX just ROCKS March 25, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Well, after a 16 year wait, they're BAAACCKK! From PUMP to Juliet of the Spirits, to Funplex and Hot Corner, the "Deviant Ingredient" here is Keith Strickland's commitment to the band, and his commitment to the evolution of their sound.
Cindy and Kate sound TERRIFIC, and their vocal harmonies are instantly recognizable. I had a smile on my face as wide as the Grand Canyon whilst listening to the tracks. Fred Schneider, in rare form, completes this grand quartet.
I'm a huge fan since the beginning, and it feels SO GOOD to have them back. Grab it, and listen to it. I'll bet you're up on your feet, shaking your honeybuns, before the first trak is over.
I say all of the B Fans out there, UNITE and petition the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME to get this band in. They are true survivors, pioneers and .... THE WORLD'S GREATEST PARTY BAND.
Thank God. March 30, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
At no other time in our nation's history have we needed the B-52's as badly as we need them now. In a time when the whole world seems intent on bleeding the average Joe white while stuffing the pockets of the few; war, recession, politicians and all the rest, we NEED the B-52's to remind us how to party.
 The party is still out of bounds. April 15, 2008
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
Wow - in less than two weeks we have albums from REM (Accelerate) and this new one from The B-52's. The Athens Attack has survived three decades and these bands (who could be argued peaked about the same time, REM with Green and The B's with Cosmic Thing) drop comebacks just in time for Spring.
The question, then, is how does The B-52's Wild Planet message of freedom relate to love in the years 2000? The answer on "Funplex" is something of a mixed bag. Kate and Cindy still sound wonderful together, Fred Schneider still yelps and Keith Strickland has kept his trademark guitar riffs raw. The difference on "Funplex" is in producer Steve Osborne, who sounds like he forgot he wasn't producing New Order. This collision works great on the kick-off track, "Pump." The pulsing electronics are reminiscent of Whammy! (a severely under-rated album), with a fierce dance beat, the B-Girls chanting, Fred barking and Keith laying down one razor sharp riff. It's enough to make you hope the rest of "Funplex" is of equal brilliance.
Unfortunately, the remainder of the CD drifts around and starts to run out of steam midway in. There is one moment for Kate and Cindy to do their Girl Group greatness on "Juliet Of The Spirits." "Ultraviolet" and the title track (about hanging out in the mall - how 80's!) supply more dance-floor shake, as does the closing "Keep This Party Going." But "Deviant Ingredient" and "Too Much To Think About" are weak songs that begin melding into each other, eventually making "Funplex" fall into samey-sounding territory...the party goes on a bit too long. Old fans will likely be delighted (after all, no new B-52's album in 16 years is a long dry spell), the youngsters will wonder what all the fuss is about.
Y'know what? This is still gonna rock my Summer of Love. I'll just rip the CD into a party playlist and leave out the not-so-Good Stuff. It may not bring on the crazy fun of the "Love Shack" days (dang, that makes me feel old!), but "Funplex" will deliver the goods when The B's hit the road with Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour this summer.
PHENOMINAL return after far too long a wait! March 31, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have to say I'm absolutely stunned at how good this album is! I've had it since day 1, and cannot stop playing it daily. I know some people claim all of these 5 star reviews are from people who would rate anything by a favorite artist that high. That is not the case here at all. As much as I love Kate Bush, her last album, "Aerial", was at most 2 1/2 stars. As much as I think Siouxsie and the Banshees are the greatest band in history, I didn't go near Siouxsie's recent solo album. When it came to the B-52's, I was encouraged by the two excellent new songs they put on their Greatest Hits CD 10 years ago, and with Cindy back in the fold, I wouldn't miss this.
Let me start off by saying though I've been a fan for 20 years, I've always hated "Love Shack", and feel "Rock Lobster" has been too burned out. I avoided the dance funk Cindy-less blandness of "Good Stuff" from the start, but this could not be passed up..., even if it turned out I hated it, I had to try it.
"Funplex" is a B-52's album for everyone. It contains their signature sound with enough of a modern feel that people should avoid using the term "dated" when describing it. There is nothing wrong having a sound all your own, and let's face it, no one else could ever sound like the B-52's. I could have easily seen them wearing space suits on the cover.
From the opening track, the first thing that came to mind was how wonderful the ladies' voices have maintained over the years. A number of my favorite female artists have definitely lost their voice through the years; Hazel O'Connor and Siouxsie. But a few others sound amazingly untouched by time on their most recent recordings; Lene Lovich, Toyah, and now Kate and Cindy. "Funplex" contains all the things we've loved by the B's over the decades - excellent harmonies and melodies, Fred's campy talk/shout, upbeat tunes that get the feet tapping. There are some songs clearly geared for the dance floor on this album, and as much as I dislike modern dance music, in the world of the B's it works! "Juliet of the spirits" better be a single, and a #1 for that matter. What an amazing song, with beautiful harmonies and a damn catchy hook throughout. It gives me chills. "Love in the year 3000" and "Eyes Wide Open" are other excellent dance numbers, but even with a hint of a darker dance edge, which succeeds 100%. "Too much to think about" opens with an instantly recongnizable B's guitar riff, and rolls right into the fun. Though I do like some songs better than others, there is not one real dud on the album, and that's amazing in this day and age. But to see four people in their 50's making an album that can cause me to feel this much enthusiasm in 2008, I can't help but be surprised. I've got my tickets for the Cleveland concert in late April, and am looking forward to it more than the previous two times I've seen the B-52's perform. They should feel endlessly proud of this album, and I can only hope the next will not take as long to release. The dead world of bland modern music desperately needs the B-52's, to remind us what we used to get excited about with music. I'd almost forgotten!
Shake & shimmy at the Funplex.. April 18, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
B-52s are a fun bunch whose sound reminds one of a raucous party. I first came across them when I heard and fell in love with their 1989 hit "Love shack" which prompted me to get the album it came from, "Cosmic thing". That was a brilliant album which featured some production by Nile Rogers (of Chic fame). After that, I heard a pair of songs they did for movies; "The chosen one" from "Pokemon 2000" and "Meet the Flintstones".
"Funplex" is their first album in some 16 years and is much more of what we've come to expect from the band, and despite the heavy use of synthesizers and heavy beats, the album still manages to transport one back to a time when bouffant hairdos and miniskirts ruled. Musicianship is top notch, and the inspiration for the more electronic sound was apparently New Order.
The sound is dancey, with loads of jangly surf guitars, shout-and-reply refrains, and copious use of silly words like "shimmy". Opening cut "Pump" is a prime example. Others along this line are "Hot corner", the jangly "Ultraviolet", title track "Funplex" (jagged guitars against a bubby synth bassline - my favourite), "Too much to think about", the extremely catchy "Dancing now" (with a fuzzy bassline) and the sunny "Keep this party going".
Slowing the tempo down but not by too much are the buzzing "Juliet of the spirits" (lovely harmonies making them sound like a sixties girl group), the plodding eighties sounding "Eyes wide open", the groovy "Love in the year 3000" (another favourite of mine), and "Deviant ingredient" (which finds Fred Schneider yelling silly words like "Bootybots" and "Erotobots" at intervals). There are no real ballads to dampen the fun party mood.
"Funplex" is a real fun album which more than lives up to its name.
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