I'm by no means an expert on the musical career of the B-52's; Good Stuff is in fact the only B-52's album I own, but I think it's a great CD. The B-52's are nothing if not quirky, and this special characteristic is front and center on such tracks as Tell It Like It T-I-Is, the wonderfully fun, retro Hot Pants Explosion, and Is That You Mo-Dean? This album looked like it would make a big splash, as the single Good Stuff was quite popular upon its release; for some reason, though, the album just seemed to slip into oblivion after that. It's too bad because there are some surprisingly impressive tracks here: Revolution Earth, for example, is sort of a love song on a cosmic scale that has a soothing quality I can listen to again and again. Vision of a Kiss is another awesome song that I thought had the potential to be a big hit indeed.
There really is an element of the cosmic in B-52's music, one that soothes while it entertains, all the while communicating some serious messages (okay, not in every song, but definitely in some of them) that belie the group's fun-loving musical persona. The World's Green Laughter and Breezin' don't do much for me, but every other song on this album has a contagious quality that almost requires you to sing along and join the fun. Whenever I get this CD out, I end up listening to it over and over again for weeks on end, and it never fails to raise a smile even during the darkest of days. Maybe this isn't the group's best album, but it sure is a heck of a lot of fun.