Fred plus beef

"I just called and left a message on Steve's machine," explains Schneider from a stop along the road to Georgia, on a tour that brings him to the Paradise this Saturday with a band featuring former Didjits/Supersuckers guitarist Rick Sims. "He called me back the next day, told me he was a fan of my early stuff with the B's, and said yes right away. I'd been listening to PJ Harvey a lot and I liked Steve's work on the album he did with her. So he was at the top of my list."

Now, the last time someone serious got hold of Schneider's material, David Byrne managed to rain dullness all over the B-52s' Day-Glo parade on the 1982 EP Mesopotamia (Warner Bros.). But something went dreadfully right when Schneider and Albini hooked up in Chicago last year. For starters, Albini set Schneider up with three distinct back-up bands who were bound to enjoy kicking ass -- Providence's pomo punks Six Finger Satellite, the lo-fi surf outfit Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, and a pick-up group named Deadly Cupcake featuring Sims, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins, and Tar bassist Tom Zaluckyj. (Sims and Zaluckyj are joined on the tour by drummer Todd Cole and guitarist Chris Fuller.) And Schneider, who's spent most of his career in a goofy guise that's often seemed like an unholy cross between Charles Nelson Reilly and Jim Nabors, was up to the challenge.

"I really wasn't in the mood to do a funny album," Schneider reveals, "even though I know that's what people expect from me. I wanted to change my writing style and do something more personal. A lot of the more serious songs I've written in the B-52's haven't even been noticed. And I haven't had much experience singing from the heart. I know that my voice is considered weird and it really hasn't changed that much over the years, but I wanted to do something aggressive that would suit the kind of lyrics I was writing."

Schneider's idea of serious isn't likely to put anyone in the singer/songwriter racket out of business or pose a major threat to any of Lollapalooza '96's monsters of rock. As some of the titles from the new disc -- "Sugar in My Hog," "Radioactive Lady Eyeball" -- indicate, the guy who introduced the world to the "bikini whale" and "Rock Lobster" a decade and a half ago didn't exactly check his sense of humor at O'Hare. But he landed in the right place with the right people to make some kick-ass rock, which is probably more to the point.

Just Fred shifts into high gear with Sims and Simins churning away on overdrive at a riff that fuses the bounce of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" to the buzzsaw blast of the Ramones, and Schneider barking lyrics like "Your tongue white sheets flashing/Your lips hot kiss crashing." It's a far cry from the levity of "Love Shack." But don't worry, because for all its tough talk, "Whip" isn't nearly as punishing as the material PJ Harvey recorded with Albini. In fact, in an odd sort of way, it's reminiscent of the raw, punkish energy of the early B-52's, a resemblance that's only heightened when Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet bring Schneider back onto grungy surf-rock beaches for "Sugar in My Hog" and "Lick." And those are some of the more serious tunes on a disc that also features Schneider taking a man-sized bite out of Harry Nilsson's wacky "Coconut" and pouring coffee on his garden against the herky-jerky groove that Six Finger Satellite lurches into on "Stroke of Genius."

Elsewhere, Schneider describes a scary acid trip on top of a creepy, descending riff written by ex-Bongos frontman Richard Barone, then confronts his dark side with a little push from Six Finger Satellite's squiggly synths on "Bad Dream." The effect is more haunted-house playful then evil psychodrama. Or, as Schneider enthuses, "It's punk, it's aggressive, and it's just wild . . . and of course it has a sense of humor."

By bringing Schneider together with a punk purist like Sims and an alterna-rock heavy like Albini, Just Fred is also a refreshing reminder that punk rock was once a place where a diverse crew of misfits who included the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and the B-52's could all thrive. That's one of the more philosophical thoughts that "Sugar in My Hog" might provoke. Schneider, however, is content to offer a more visceral reward: "We're really just there to give you a sonic blast in the ass."