The B-52's – Mesopotamia

When the B-52’s moved from Athens, Ga., to New York City in the late ’70s, one of the first bands that befriended the new wave quintet was Talking Heads. Although the groups had distinct approaches to their music, an alliance made sense, given their shared love of dance music and off-kilter humour. They also shared a manager in Gary Kurfirst (who also worked with the Ramones and Blondie). The B-52s' first two albums – 1979’s self-titled debut and 1980’s Wild Planet – used up all of the band’s pre-existing songs. Kurfirst knew the group needed an infusion of new material, although he didn’t expect much to change in regard to the B-52’s nervy, retro-go-go, surf-rock sound.

“I really do feel trapped,” guitarist Ricky Wilson told Rolling Stone near the end of 1980. “Gary was talking about our next album, and I mentioned that it might not be a dance record, and he was so shocked by that idea. It’s shocking to me that people really do expect that of us now.”

Perhaps seeing a way to soothe Ricky and the band’s frustrations while simultaneously pairing two of his clients together, Kurfirst advocated for Talking Heads frontman David Byrne to produce the next B-52’s album. He wanted Byrne and the B-52’s to begin the project right away, in 1981.

“Actually, we wanted to write more songs,” singer/multi-instrumentalist Kate Pierson recalled to the A.V. Club. “We weren’t really ready to put out this album, and Gary had suggested working with David Byrne, but we hadn’t written all the songs out. He said, ‘You gotta put another record out!’ He was one of those managers who was, ‘Ya gotta do this! Ya gotta do that!’ So he kind of forced us.”

Although the band – who were looking to do something new – and Byrne – who had become interested in production via Talking Heads’ work with Brian Eno – were excited to work together, the situation in ’81 was far from ideal. As Pierson said, the B-52’s barely had enough material to record while the Talking Heads’ singer was working on his soundtrack for Twyla Tharp’s dance project The Catherine Wheel. Bowing to pressure, each side made compromises. The band hastily readied the new songs and Byrne worked simultaneously on the projects – devoting time to The Catherine Wheel during the day and producing the B-52’s by night (and getting little sleep in the process). The match between these musicians seemed ideal, but the situation was far from it.

“‘Cake’ wasn’t really finished,” Pierson said. “‘Deep Sleep,’ I just kind of stuck that lyric on in the studio in one take. It was just not finished.”

Mesopotamia was the name given to the project, which found Byrne helping the B-52’s to broaden their sound by using a lot of elements familiar to the recent Talking Heads LPs: worldbeat, horn sections and densely layered synthesizers. Whether it was lack of sleep, material or artistic cohesion, the collaboration soon broke down. The sessions stopped, leaving Kurfirst in a difficult spot. The manager had promised this new release with a high-profile partnership to the B-52’s record labels (Warner Bros. in the U.S., Island in the U.K.) and now might have nothing to show for it. Kurfirst arranged to put out a remix EP – Party Mix – to buy the band some time to assemble something from the Mesopotamia studio sessions. Eventually, the band agreed that there was enough good material to deliver a 25-minute EP with six songs. Ironically, “Throw That Trash in the Garbage Can” made the final tracklist. Other songs were junked and some were refashioned/re-recorded for 1983’s Whammy.

Mesopotamia came out on Jan. 27, 1982, followed by the B-52’s “Meso-American” tour to promote the record, including a guest spot on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light. But the difficulties didn’t end with the EP’s release. In Island’s haste to get Mesopotamia printed and in stores, the label accidentally included longer rough mixes of “Cake,” “Loveland” and “Throw That Beat” – upping the EP’s running time by more than seven minutes. The error was found and corrected, but the fans who got their hands on an initial version quickly dubbed the demo versions “David Byrne’s original mixes,” due to some funkier touches and denser sounds. Some listeners still prefer the rougher takes to the versions on the approved EP, which earned mostly mixed reviews from fans and critics. Because of the project’s rushed nature, fizzled collaboration and (partially) botched release, Mesopotamia remains a controversial entry in the B-52’s catalogue. Over the decades there have been rumours, and even some blunt talk from singer Fred Schneider, about expanding the EP into a fully realized album.

“We sometimes think, ‘Wow, if only we could go back and finish Mesopotamia’,” Pierson said.

Bryan Wawzenek

The B-52's - Loveland 12’’ (French Promo)

"Loveland" and "Cake" are tracks recorded by The B-52's produced by David Byrne from Talking Heads. Both songs were taken from the Mini Album Mesopotamia. The original Island Records vinyl & cassette release in the UK contained the extended versions of "Loveland" and "Cake". This was an error, and the discs were quickly recalled and reissued with the correct version of "Cake" however the extended “Loveland” remained. These two versions never appeared on the American release. In France both songs were issued as a special 12" promo. As far as I know neither of these mixes have appeared on CD.

Party Mix!

“Party Mix!” is a six-track mini-album that selects three tracks each from the B-52's' first two albums, The B-52's and Wild Planet, and presents them in dance mixes. "Party Mix!" makes a whole heap of sense for the B-52's, the danciest rock band around, because they get to layer their fun trash songs with all sorts of extra tacky sound effects, even if it's at the expense of the vocals, which on occasion sound dampened down. Give Me Back My Man benefits most from the remix treatment, ironically with extra zesty guitar from Ricky Wilson; although the same can't be said for Dance This Mess Around, which still fails to convince as a dance track and in fact appears here in a truncated and rather aimless form. But it's all in good fun, isn't it; and it should go without saying that the B52's manage to squeeze the most out of their infectious rhythms and unforgettable hooks. 

Wild Planet (re-upped)

Conventional wisdom has it that all the B-52's' subsequent releases are highly inferior to their debut. While Wild Planet is not the rarefied wonder their first platter is, it's still darn good. The songs here are generally faster, tighter, and punchier than previously, though production values are not as wonderfully quirky and detailed; fewer songs here are as over-the-top crazy as the first album's "Rock Lobster" or "52 Girls." These formless selections continue to exhibit a cunning mix of girl group, garage band, surf, and television theme song influences, all propelled along by an itchy dance beat. "Give Me Back My Man" allows Cindy Wilson a unique opportunity to croon a broad, expressive melodic line. Fred Schneider parades his inimitably nervous vocals on chucklesome ditties like "Quiche Lorraine" and "Strobe Light." The best songs here are "Private Idaho," a wonderfully jittery number that employs a variant on the famous melodic snippet from the Twilight Zone theme music, and "Devil in My Car," a delightfully loopy hoot that lays the craziness on very thickly. Performances and sound quality are fine. This album is well worth hearing and recommended.

Mesopotamia (The Remixes)

David Byrne of Talking Heads, long a supporter of the band, was brought in to produce the sessions for the B-52’s third album, but creative differences between Byrne and the group, as well as a lack of enthusiasm from their record labels, led them to scrap the project. Some of the completed tracks were issued in early 1982 as an EP, Mesopotamia, but that is not what we have here. The lovely people at Planet Clique produced a 7 track remix promo CD with versions of Love Land, Cake and no less than five versions of Mesopotamia. 

Whammy! Kiss

The Whammy! Remix EP had great songs to work with and a couple succeeded in my opinion. I actually like the versions of Trism and Whammy Kiss due to the fact that the songs don't deviate tremendously from the original versions. If anything, I prefer this, because it maintains the energy of the original songs and the vocals are brought to the forefront of the mix and sound crisp and fresh. The Legal Tender remix should have been left accapella. When the track was originally released, in its un-remixed form, it stirs up so much emotion as it builds. The only thing here that builds are the vocals, which are the same as the in the original - but without the supporting grooves they kind of fall by the wayside. I really don't know what to say about Song for A Future Generation...

I'll just end with, don't buy this CD (It’s for sale on Amazon for £499.00). You're better off downloading and listening to this FLAC rip, or simply go and listen to the originals and not taint your perception.

Wilder Planet

The B-52's are a great little dance band from Athens Georgia, by way of New York City. They're party people gone strange; too strange for Athens, where they got the bum's rush that propelled them north. The B-52's are real Southerners, though; true devotees of a party system in which everything serious is junked to make room for fun. Fun after all, is what matters in life, and it's what these bouffant bombers are all about. Fun is a void they drift through like asteroids, a vast expanse littered with cultural artefacts they keep bumping into Gilligan's Island, Star Trek, Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, the Mashed Potato, the Supremes and Beach Blanket Bingo. The way the B-52's handle these collisions is what makes them wild. They're connoisseurs of trash in a world full of it. To hear them is to lose your-self in the echo of pop arcana.

Dance This Mess Around

Even in the weird, quirky world of new wave and post-punk in the late '70s, the B-52's' eponymous debut stood out as an original. Unabashed kitsch mavens at a time when their peers were either vulgar or stylish, the Athens quintet celebrated all the silliest aspects of pre-Beatles pop culture -- bad hairdos, sci-fi nightmares, dance crazes, pastels, and anything else that sprung into their minds -- to a skewed fusion of pop, surf, avant-garde, amateurish punk, and white funk. On paper, it sounds like a cerebral exercise, but it played like a party. The jerky, angular funk was irresistibly danceable, winning over listeners dubious of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson's high-pitched, shrill close harmonies and Fred Schneider's campy, flamboyant vocalizing, pitched halfway between singing and speaking. It's all great fun, but it wouldn't have resonated throughout the years if the group hadn't written such incredibly infectious, memorable tunes as "Planet Claire," "Dance This Mess Around," and, of course, their signature tune, "Rock Lobster." These songs illustrated that the B-52's' adoration of camp culture wasn't simply affectation; it was a world view capable of turning out brilliant pop singles and, in turn, influencing mainstream pop culture. It's difficult to imagine the endless kitschy retro fads of the '80s and '90s without the B-52's pointing the way, but The B-52's isn't simply an historic artefact; it's a hell of a good time.