Album Of The Year (Of The Week): B-52's Singer Cindy Wilson's 'Change'!

If you'd have walked up to anyone, even a longtime fan of the B-52's, and asked them what a Cindy Wilson solo album might sound like, I'm sure a few of the looks you'd have received would have been quizzical.

While a beloved founding member of the B-52's, Wilson co-written many of the band's best-loved songs, but, by and large, she's been typecast as second-fiddle to Kate Pierson's first-seat frontwoman and playing a integral role in the band's "girl group from Mars" aesthetic.

Of course, those who downplayed her creative role were the first to miss her participation in the recording of the band's sub-par Good Stuff album and subsequent tours from 1990 through 1994, but that doesn't mean that those of us who recognized her contributions had any idea what direction a Cindy Wilson solo album might take.

Thing is, not being able to pin Wilson down is part of what makes her debut LP, Change, so satisfying. Having miraculously basked in relative anonymity as 1/5th of one of the most instantly recognizable bands to ever come blasting out of the deep south, Wilson comes out as a more uptempo Lana Del Rey with an appreciation for Brian Eno and My Bloody Valentine.

What makes Change such an engaging listen is that it begs - nay, requires - repeat listens, at which point many of the album's greatest gifts are slowly unlocked. While there is much gold to be found on first listen (most notably the atmospheric "No One Can Tell You", the fuzz-rock "Brother", and the Berlin-era Bowie influence of "Mystic"), "Things I'd Like To Say" (originally by New Colony Six) and "Memory" are best absorbed during those times spent with the entire album, making it a must for that next long car trip or study session.

In producer/multi-instrumentalist Suny Lyons, Wilson appears to have found the perfect conduit for creating engaging soundscapes for Wilson's ethereal vocals to blossom like Hooker's Lips - the flower, that is.

At a mere ten tracks, Change also manages to achieve something so few albums do these days - leave us wanting more.