I've posted a couple of B-52's entries in the past three years; here are some more hard-to-finds:
"Private Idaho" b/w "Party Out Of Bounds (Instrumental)" - I mentioned in a post about a decade ago that when I purchased The Yellow Album in the fall of 1980, the first music I ever bought with my own money, I'd listen to it in the living room during off-hours, with my ear pressed against the speaker and the volume turned down low; my parents weren't into this crazy New Wave music at all! But that situation was rectified that Christmas, when my folks got my brother and I a small stereo set (with speakers, cassette player and turntable) to set up in the tiny room we shared in the La Mesa Navy housing complex in Monterey, CA.
Woo-hoo! No more having to sneak around the house shamefacedly with my B-52s album, bracing myself for grownup derision, and/or admonitions to "turn that noise down!". And to show that there were no hard feelings, my parents also gave me a couple of 45s to play on own new rig. One was Devo's "Whip It" single (off of their then-latest album, Freedom Of Choice) b/w "Turnaround", a non-album B-side that quickly became (and still is) a favorite of mine.
The other disc my folks got for me was The B-52's "Private Idaho" single, off of their August 1980 Top 20 album release Wild Planet. The flip side of this record included an instrumental version of "Party Out Of Bounds", the lead track off of the same album. Both of these singles, plus the album I already owned, were in heavy rotation in me and my brother's bedroom for the next few weeks. That stereo system was the impetus I needed to begin acquiring more records by artists that I liked - like it or not, my parents inadvertently set me on the road to become a lifetime collector and appreciator of all types of music!
And after all of these years, through dozens of records, scores of cassettes, hundreds of CDs and thousands of MP3s, and more household moves that I can count, I still have this record in my possession. I used to play it often on my turntable, before technology caught up and I was able to burn both sides to MP3. This disc was never released on CD, so the B-side instrumental is somewhat hard to find. Therefore, here it is for you.
"Give Me Back My Man" b/w "Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)" - As 1980 turned into 1981, with a new stereo in my possession, I was eager to expand my music collection, but really didn't know how to start. Although I had been working a good-paying after-school job in the kitchen at Santa Catalina private girls' school (just down the street from where I lived), I was initially hesitant about spending my hard-earned pay on full albums. So my early purchases, from both the music racks at the Navy Postgraduate School Exchange and the music store at Del Monte Mall (both within walking distance of my house), were vinyl singles.
Here's one of the first I purchased that new year - another single (both the album track and instrumental version) from the Wild Planet album. I really like this song; I feel that "Give Me Back My Man" is one of the all-time highlights of Cindy Wilson's vocal career - you can really hear and feel the yearning heartache she conveys behind the somewhat silly words:
As good as the vocal version is, it's the instrumental version on the B-side that really grabbed me. I never get tired of hearing Ricky Wilson's innovative and creative guitar work showcased in this song's bridges - the guy was a frickin' MASTER! This particular song was the one that finally convinced me to loosen my purse strings and purchase the album... and I'm glad I did. However, I've always been somewhat disappointed that, outside of the vinyl single, the instrumental version of this song has never been released in any other format. Fortunately, with the time and the equipment, I took care of that!
Fun fact: Weird Al Yankovic completely stole the rhythm and melody (I believe he referred to it as a "style parody) of "Give Me Back My Man" for his song "Mr. Popeil", on his 1984 sophomore release "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D, the same album that contained his smash single "Eat It". His appropriation of this B-52s song even included background vocalists that sounded a lot like Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson:
If there is a fine line between tribute, parody and plagiarism, Weird Al came very close to obliterating it with this one. Whatever - water under the bridge at this point.
"Creature In A Black Bikini" versions - When I first wrote about this B-52's rarity three years ago, the only thing I had to go on was a brief soundboard snippet apparently recorded during one of the band's 1985 practice/rehearsal sessions for Bouncing Off The Satellites. From that abbreviated clip, it was obvious that there was more to the song, perhaps many more minutes, but I figured I'd never have a hope in Hell of tracking the longer version down.
However, about a year ago, I began hearing from a site visitor and rabid, knowledgeable French B-52's fan writing under the pseudonym "Frank Reich". Mr. Reich had the inside scoop on a TON of band information, which he kindly shared with me. For example, in my 2018 post, I speculated on what appeared to be a tentative track list for the full-blown Mesopotamia album, which was aborted and released in a 6-track EP format in early 1982. I had some thoughts and questions regarding demo tracks from that period, some of which were saved and developed for future albums, and some that had apparently never seen the light of day - included a conjectured "Butterbean" demo.
Mr. Reich set me straight on that account:
"...the band never recorded "Butterbean" during the late 1981 sessions... because of the tension accumulating in the studio ([such as] Byrne not telling the band he asked Kate to put vocals on an instrumental piece called "Cloud 9", which became "Deep Sleep"). In the end, there is no "outtake" version of "Butterbean" like there is with "Queen Of Las Vegas".
So, there you go. I got plenty of other great tidbits from him regarding Mesopotamia, including the following:
"[It was] Fred [Schneider who wrote, then] totally scrapped "Adios Desconocidas' (and didn't ever want to talk about it again), and Warner Brothers almost asked the band to drop the song "Mesopotamia" out of the record...
[Island Records head] Chris Blackwell asked David Byrne for his mixes (from various sources) that were then sent to Island Records... that's how the UK/European version of the EP sounds so different. Blackwell wanted to release and promote Mesopotamia as a dance/experimental funk record, something the band didn't know and never agreed to... In the end, European critics hated the record, fans were confused, and that's why that era of The B's (1981 - 1988) is not very famous (or known at all) in Europe. Talk about destroying a band's reputation...
The band ended up very frustrated with the EP, and to this day they still joke about 'finishing it', something they tried to do at various times throughout the '80s and '90s... that's why when you saw the band performing "Big Bird" during that '82 show, they were performing songs [according to] their original idea of what Mesopotamia could have been."
Mr. Reich was an absolute pleasure to correspond with, and as I mentioned above, a font of good band gouge. And at the end of our conversations, he provided me with two treasures: the full NINE MINUTE jam version of "Creature In A Black Bikini"... AND:
"I've also taken the liberty to include my own mix here, when I remastered the tape and overdubbed [it] with drum machine and keyboards in order to form a full 5 minute song."
Mr. Reich's efforts on this fully realized mix are incredible - it really sounds like something The B-52's themselves would have released during that era. It has the same sort of sound qualities and beats that were heard in band releases from that time like Whammy! and Bouncing Off The Satellites. It is a song fully worth devoting multiple listens to (and I have!).
So here you all are, for your repeated listening pleasure as well:
- "Private Idaho" b/w "Party Out Of Bounds (Instrumental)", recorded by producer Rhett Davies at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas in April 1980, and released on Warner Bros. Records in October 1980;
- "Give Me Back My Man" b/w "Give Me Back My Man (Instrumental)", also recorded at Compass Point Studios in April 1980 and released on the same label as above in November 1980;
- "Creature In A Black Bikini", the full 9-minute jam session outtake from the Bouncing Off The Satellites sessions, recorded in Philadelphia in the spring/summer of 1985 but never released; and
- "Creature In A Black Bikini (Frank Reich Mix)", a fan-created re-imagining of what a fully realized and produced version of this song would have been.
More B-52's stuff is ALWAYS good in my book! If you tend to agree, than this post, and these files, are for you! Have a listen, enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.
"Private Idaho" single (1980): Send Email
"Give Me Back My Man" Single (1980): Send Email
"Creature In A Black Bikini" (Extended Jam): Send Email
"Creature In A Black Bikini" (Frank Reich Mix) : Send Email
