The B-52's are about to take a "roam around the world" with a summer tour of the U.S. and Europe, and they'll also release a new 2CD expanded edition of Cosmic Thing, the group's best-selling album, in June.
Cosmic Thing: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition remasters the original 1989 album alongside five bonus remixes of the album's biggest singles, including the smash hits "Love Shack" and "Roam," and adds a live disc drawn from two sets in Texas in 1990. The package also comes with new liner notes from writer T. Cole Rachel plus never-before-seen photos of the band from the time.
No one could have predicted the runaway success of Cosmic Thing; in fact, in the years leading up to the album's release, things seemed particularly bleak for the band. Guitarist Ricky Wilson, the older brother of vocalist Cindy Wilson, died of AIDS shortly after completing work on the group's fourth album, Bouncing Off The Satellites (1986). The remaining members - Cindy Wilson, vocalists Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider and guitarist Keith Strickland - abstained from promoting the record, and save for a public service announcement for AMFAR in 1987, did not make any public appearances for years. (During that time, fellow Athens, GA group R.E.M. successfully broke into the mainstream, helping set the stage for a bigger splash should The B-52's come back.)
And splash they did: with production duties split between Nile Rodgers ("Deadbeat Club," "Roam") and Don Was ("Love Shack," "Channel Z"), Cosmic Thing was the group's most accessible work to date. Aided by videos with constant rotation on MTV, "Love Shack" and "Roam" both reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the record sold more than 4 million copies in America, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The deluxe Cosmic Thing hits stores June 28, one day after the album's anniversary. Pre-order links and the full track list can be found below!
Cosmic Thing: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Disc 1: Remastered/expanded album
- Cosmic Thing
- Dry Country
- Deadbeat Club
- Love Shack
- Junebug
- Roam
- Bushfire
- Channel Z
- Topaz
- Follow Your Bliss
- B-52's Megamix
- Love Shack (Edit)
- Channel Z (Rock Mix)
- Roam (Extended Mix)
- Roam (12" Mix)
Tracks 1-10 released as Reprise 25854, 1989
Track 11 from Reprise U.K. 12" promo SAM 710, 1989/U.K. 12" B-side to "Deadbeat Club" - Reprise W9526T, 1990
Track 12 from Reprise single 22817, 1989
Track 13 from Reprise 12" single 21299, 1989
Tracks 14-15 from Reprise 12"/CD single 21441, 1989
Disc 2: Live In Texas, 1990 (previously unreleased)
- Cosmic Thing
- Bushfire
- Quiche Lorraine
- Dance This Mess Around
- Dry County
- Private Idaho
- Give Me Back My Man
- Deadbeat Club
- Mesopotamia
- Strobe Light
- Roam
- 52 Girls
- Love Shack
- Rock Lobster
- Whammy Kiss
- Channel Z
All tracks recorded live @ C.W. Mitchell Pavilion, The Woodlands, TX - 8/4/1990 except 15, recorded live @ Coca-Cola Starplex, Dallas, TX - 8/3/1990
Robert W Lett says
I thought I read their tapes burned in the Universal fire? (Won't buy this for other reasons though.)