Nude on the Moon: The B-52's Anthology

Disc 1
1	52 Girls 3:36
2	Dance This Mess Around 4:37
3	Rock Lobster 6:51
4	Lava 4:56
5	Hero Worship 4:08
6	Planet Claire 4:37
7	Give Me Back My Man 4:01
8	Private Idaho 3:36
9	Devil in My Car 4:27
10	Party Out of Bounds 3:23
11	Strobe Light 4:00
12	Quiche Lorraine Live, 1990 4:31
13	Mesopotamia 1990 Remix 3:51
14	Queen of las Vegas previously unreleased / Mesopotamia Outtake Version 5:40
15	Legal Tender 3:41
16	Song for a Future Generation 3:59
17	Trism 3:23
18	Whammy Kiss Live, 1989 3:59
Disc 2
1	Summer of Love 4:03
2	Ain't It a Shame New Edit 4:33
3	Theme for a Nude Beach New Edit 4:24
4	The Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland 4:22
5	Wig 4:21
6	She Brakes for Rainbows 4:40
7	Cosmic Thing 3:52
8	Deadbeat Club 4:57
9	Love Shack 5:22
10	Roam 4:56
11	Channel Z 4:50
12	Junebug 5:05
13	Follow Your Bliss 4:09
14	Good Stuff 5:58
15	Revolution Earth 5:50
16	Is That You Mo-Dean? Interdimension Mix / Edit 4:38
17	Debbie 3:32

Barnes & Noble

It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since this lil' ol' band from Georgia first made the leap from the thrift store to the stage. But this two-CD set -- a decided step up, quality-wise, from the single-disc best-of that hit stores some years back -- provides a lovingly detailed look back at the full reign of the B-girls and -boys. The set, which takes its name from a campy early-'60s "adult" flick, hops through huge hits like “Love Shack” and “Rock Lobster” but also opens the vaults wide enough to allow some oddities to escape. Beginning with early songs like "52 Girls" and "Dance This Mess Around" (both of which struck listeners like lightning bolts from an alternate universe when they were first unleashed in the late '70s), the collection bops and frugs among the high points of the band's career. That leaves plenty of room for dizzy pop trifles such as "Party Out of Bounds" and "Private Idaho" but also casts some light on more pastoral, pretty ballads (like "She Brakes for Rainbows" and the sway-along "Roam"). Live versions of "Quiche Lorraine” and "Whammy Kiss" give ample evidence of the band's party-starting abilities, while a 1992 remix of "Is That You, Mo-Dean?" sets them on a deep interstellar voyage, thanks to Moby's production wizardry. The 50-page booklet features plenty of pictures of the band’s costume drama as well as liner notes from Michael Azerrad and the B-52’s themselves. Nude on the Moon is guaranteed to have you doing all 16 dances in no time flat. David Sprague

All Music Guide

The B-52's were one of the great new wave bands, one of the ones who defined the style and cut one of the great records of their time (their eponymous debut), an outfit who maintained a dedicated following even as they fell off the radar of critics and hipsters, a group who overcame a tragic loss (guitarist Ricky Wilson) to make a startling, unpredictable comeback that launched them beyond college radio and to the top of the pop charts. It's a hell of a story, even if the final act was decidedly anticlimatic (after one follow-up to the Cosmic Thing comeback, 1992's Good Stuff, the group essentially disappeared apart from an embarrassing version of the Flintstones theme for the 1993 big-screen adaptation), and they're easily one of the more legendary bands of their time. Unfortunately, legend doesn't always translate to great music, and the fact of the matter is that the B-52's really only had two very good records: the transcendent debut and the comeback. The second record had its share of moments, more than the other albums that followed, and there were some sublime cuts scattered among the other records, but by and large they were a band who got by on their brilliant moments -- brilliant moments that were surrounded by competence and mediocrity. It really was the kind of career that could be salvaged and justified by a tremendous double-disc retrospective like Nude on the Moon: The B-52's Anthology, which has a lot of their greatest moments as well as interviews in the comprehensive booklet, great photos, and just the general warm vibe this Georgian band -- perhaps the greatest Georgian musical act this side of Jerry Reed or R.E.M. -- gives off. Stephen Thomas Erlewine