*** B-52's

TIME CAPSULE: SONGS FOR A FUTURE GENERATION

(Reprise)

Some greatest-hits albums radically recontextualize parts of artists' earlier albums. Others provide a representative sample of their work. And still others make the earlier releases irrelevant. Time Capsule is one of the latter: though it doesn't flow as well as most of the B-52s' past discs, it has everything you'd reasonably want to hear from the group's 20-year career, from the early-new-wave dance classics "Rock Lobster" and "Private Idaho" to the four hits from Cosmic Thing and the two good songs from Good Stuff, as well as a representative sampling of their weirder early-'80s moments ("Song for a Future Generation" is particularly strange and wonderful). There are also two new songs, for which singer Cindy Wilson has returned to the fold. It's interesting to hear how the group moved from their early emphasis on rubbery live instrumentation toward showcasing harmonies, especially after founding guitarist Ricky Wilson's death in 1985. Three of the four current members are singers only -- at least if Fred Schneider can be called a "singer." The essence of the band, though, is the way they make silliness bittersweet, tempering the absurdity of their songs with hints of sadness and loss.

-- Douglas Wolk