Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation

Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation is a greatest hits album by American new wave band the B-52's, released in 1998. The album presents sixteen of their single releases and fan-favorite album tracks in chronological order, with the addition of two new songs recorded exclusively for this collection.

Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation
Greatest hits album by The B-52's
Released	May 26, 1998
Recorded	1979–1998
Genre	New wave post-punk synthpop pop rock
Length	79:22
Label	Reprise
Producer	The B-52's Chris Blackwell Rhett Davies David Byrne Steven Stanley Tony Mansfield Don Was Nile Rodgers
The B-52's chronology
Good Stuff (1992) Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation (1998) Nude on the Moon: The B-52's Anthology (2002)
Singles from Time Capsule
"Debbie" Released: 1998

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	A[2]

Background

The album includes sixteen previously released as well as two new songs, "Hallucinating Pluto" and "Debbie."[3] The latter is a tribute to Debbie Harry of Blondie.[3] Also exclusive to this release is the "Original Unreleased Mix" of their 1986 song "Summer of Love." Editions released in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have a different track listing to the US release. The album cover features the five founding band members standing in front of the Unisphere.

Singer Cindy Wilson, who had been absent for several years, made her return to recording with the group on this album, and shared songwriting credits on the two new tracks.[3] As noted in the book The B-52's Universe, the band intended this to be a larger box set consisting of singles, demos, outtakes, and new tracks, but Warner made the band trim it down. The band had remastered many tracks for the box, and were able to release more of them by using alternate track listings in different territories.

Track listing

All songs written by The B-52's except "Roam" (lyrics by Robert Waldrop) and "52 Girls" (lyrics by J. Ayers).

1. "Planet Claire"
2. "52 Girls" *
3. "Rock Lobster" (single edit)
4. "Party Out of Bounds" *
5. "Strobelight" *
6. "Private Idaho"
7. "Quiche Lorraine" *
8. "Mesopotamia" (Remix)
9. "Song for a Future Generation" *
10. "Summer of Love" (original unreleased mix) *
11. "Channel Z"
12. "Deadbeat Club" (Single Mix)
13. "Love Shack"
14. "Roam"
15. "Good Stuff"
16. "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Edit)
17. "Debbie" (new recording)
18. "Hallucinating Pluto" (new recording)

Notes

• In Brazil, and possibly other areas of South America, the album was released without "52 Girls", but added "Legal Tender."
• Editions released in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand have a shorter (15 tracks) and markedly different track arrangement. Tracks in the list above marked with * are not included, and the following are substituted:
  • "Quiche Lorraine" is replaced with a live version, which previously appeared on the charity record Tame Yourself
  • ‘’Summer Of Love (Original Unreleased Mix)’’ is replaced with the Album Version
  • "(Meet) The Flintstones" is added before the new recordings
• Some editions were released with a DVD of the band's videos

DVD Track Listing

1. Rock Lobster
2. Legal Tender
3. Song For A Future Generation
4. Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland
5. Channel Z
6. Love Shack
7. Roam
8. Deadbeat Club
9. Cosmic Thing
10. Good Stuff
11. Is That You Mo-Dean?
12. Debbie

Chart positions

The album spent 11 weeks on the U.S. Billboard album charts and reached its peak position of #93 in June 1998.[4]

Chart (1998)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	93

References

1. The B-52's – Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation : Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
2. Christgau, Robert. "Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation". Robert Christgau.
3. Stubbs, David (August 1998). "The B-52s: Time Capsule: Songs For A Future Generation". Uncut. UK.
4. "Billboard 200: The B-52s". Billboard. 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.