Following the vinyl excavation that led to the SCARILY popular Muppets post, I've delved into my B-52's back catalogue to give you some nuggets a bit further off the beaten track.
The B-52s - There's A Moon In The Sky (called the moon)
For some reason this never appears on "best-of"s, but it's one of my favourite tracks from their self-titled debut. Great title, bonkers lyrics, fantastic vocals and, as always, the brilliant scrathy guitar playing of Ricky Wilson. See also...
The B-52s - Running Around (instrumental version)
... which crops up on the b-side of the first Island pressing of the "Rock Lobster" 7-inch. It's an instrumental version of a track that would later appear on "Wild Planet", but this (unfinished?) backing track sounds better to my ears than the later version. Lord knows what guitar tuning Ricky was using (I think he only used 5 strings??) but it's SUCH a great sound - all gnarly and rusted and chunky!
The B-52s - Cake
This is from the "Mesopotamia" album, which I think gets a bad press. The album was produced by David Byrne, who brought in a lot of additional players from the Talking Heads live band of the time to fill the sound out. It's a more serious album on the whole and it features two extended groove-fests, opener "Loveland" and "Cake", which is great, depsite featuring one of THE most half-arsed talkie-bits ever recorded.
If you're looking for a B-52's introduction, you could do a lot worse than Rhino's "Nude On The Moon" double CD, which features all of the "Cosmic Thing" album, bar this track, which is my favourite.
The B-52s - Topaz
Yes, the lyrics might be a bit new-age-y, but oh lord can those ladies sing. Beautiful harmonies - and if I remember rightly, that's Nile Rodgers on guitar.
SPECIAL B-52's BONUS!!
... because we love you!
The B-52s - Rock Lobster (DB Records version)
The B-52s - 52 Girls (DB Records version
These are the 8-track versions that were released as a 7-inch in 1978 by DB Records before the band got signed. Neither version will drastically change the way you feel about the widely released tracks but if you're a fan, I'm sure you'll be interested to hear these early takes if you've never been able to track down a copy yourself. Enjoy!
Visit - B-52s.com
Read - The B-52s Wikipedia entry
Buy - B-52's albums.
Buy - Nude on the Moon: the B-52's Anthology [Us Import]
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