[40 Years out of Mesopotamia] -- In September of 1981, the B-52s entered NYC's Blank Tape Studios to work on their third studio album. Their manager, Gary Kurfirst, also worked with Talking Heads, so David Byrne was tapped to produce the record. The band had to scramble a bit in the writing department because they had already used their store of previously written songs on their first two records. On top of that, Byrne was shuffling between sessions for the B-52s' songs and his work on the soundtrack for Twyla Tharp’s dance project, The Catherine Wheel (1981). Multitasking and multi-tracking don't go together all that well, and the collaboration between Byrne and the B-52s broke down, concluding the sessions. Fortunately, the collaboration did yield enough material for an EP. Even better, Byrne had successfully introduced the B52s to several new musical elements for their exploration (check out the layered synths on this record). After some more polishing, the B52s released Mesopotamia on 1/27/1982 – forty years ago this week! Soon after, they launched their “Meso-American” tour to support it.
Now, I just summarized some basic points about the record's production and release. It was apparently a more difficult affair, and you can read up on it in Diffuser's 35th anniversary retrospective, if you want to. Or, you could skip right to the embedded YouTube playlist and virtually spin a vinyl copy of this release. And let me know your favorite tracks. I'm kind of partial to "Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can" and "Loveland."
Flashback: Mesopotamia
That's all till next week. Dedicated 80s-philes can find more flashbacks in the Prophet or Madman archives or via Bookended's 80s Flashback tag. As always, your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.
I'll see you in seven!
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