Mesopotamia (album)

Mesopotamia
EP by The B-52s
Released	January 27, 1982
Recorded	September 1981 at Blank Tape Studios, New York City
Genre	New Wave
Length	25:43 (US, UK (CD)) 32:54 (UK (EP))
Label	Warner Bros. (US) Island (UK)
Producer	David Byrne
The B-52s chronology
Party Mix! (1981) Mesopotamia (1982) Whammy! (1983)
Singles from Mesopotamia
"Deep Sleep"/"Nip It in the Bud" Released: January 27, 1982 "Cake"/"Loveland" Released: January 27, 1982 "Mesopotamia" Released: January 27, 1982

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(A-)[2]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Mesopotamia is the first and thus far only EP by New Wave band The B-52s. It was produced by David Byrne of Talking Heads and was intended to be the band's third studio album; due to conflicts with Byrne, recording sessions were aborted prematurely and only six of ten songs to be completed were released as an EP. The album was distributed by as a vinyl record by Warner Bros. in the US and by Island Records on both CD and vinyl in the UK and other non-US markets; the UK Island Records vinyl contained extended versions and different takes of four songs, while the CD release was largely the same as the American version. In 1991, Mesopotamia was remixed and, combined with the Party Mix! album, was released on CD in the US.

Mesopotamia is considered a departure in style for The B-52s; Byrne inserted a large amount of additional instruments, vocal overdubs, horns, layered percussion, and an altogether richer sound. Live versions of the songs were performed by the then five members of the band alongside two additional musicians David Buck and Roberto Arron, who played the trumpet and saxophone, respectively. The EP was a moderate success, and spawned three single releases, double A-sides "Deep Sleep"/"Nip it in the Bud" and "Cake"/"Loveland" and titular track "Mesopotamia"/"Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can". This was the last B-52s album where every track from an album could be obtained on the a and b side of a single (the same had happened with The B-52s and Wild Planet).

Origins

Mesopotamia was initially conceived by The B-52s October 1981 following the release of their previous album Party Mix!.^[3] David Byrne of Talking Heads was selected as the album's producer by choice of the band and their manager Gary Kurfirst, who agreed that Byrne would be a good choice for the producer due to his previous musical experience.^[3] Despite constraints with recording The Catherine Wheel soundtrack, Byrne nevertheless agreed to produce Mesopotamia, producing the former during the day, and the latter at night, with little sleep in between.^[3]

Production

Originally, Mesopotamia was conceived as a full album. Due to production disagreements between the band and Byrne, the sessions were aborted prematurely and the bulk of the album was released as an EP. This is speculated to be because David Byrne had different ideas for the mixing of the album than the band had anticipated. Three of his mixes were released on the UK Island pressing of the album with no indication that they were different versions.

There are four known outtakes:

• "Queen of Las Vegas" – This original was released on Nude on the Moon and features a strong vocal delivery from Pierson and Wilson with Yogi Horton on drums. The song was modified and re-recorded in 1983 for the Whammy! album.
• "Big Bird" – re-recorded for Whammy!, this original has not been released. However "Big Bird" was included in the band's live set on the Mesopotamia tour and was largely the same as the version made available on the Whammy! album.
• "Adios Desconocida" – A ballad with lead vocal by Schneider in an uncharacteristically soft and romantic tone, this song was never remade by the band.
• "Butterbean" - Re-recorded for Whammy!, this original has not been released.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Vocals	Length
1.	"Loveland"	Keith Strickland, Ricky Wilson, Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson	C. Wilson	5:05 / 8:35
2.	"Deep Sleep"	Strickland, Kate Pierson, Robert Waldrop	Pierson	3:30
3.	"Mesopotamia"	Robert Waldrop, R. Wilson	Pierson, Schneider	3:51
4.	"Cake"	Pierson, Strickland, C. Wilson, R. Wilson	Pierson, C. Wilson	5:36 / 7:46
5.	"Throw That Beat In the Garbage Can"	Schneider, Strickland, R. Wilson	Pierson, Schneider, C. Wilson	4:09 / 5.40
6.	"Nip It In the Bud"	Strickland, C. Wilson, R. Wilson	C. Wilson	3:32
Total length:				25:43 / 32:54

Notes

• The album was distributed as a vinyl record by Warner Bros. in the US and by Island Records on both CD and vinyl in the UK and other non-US markets. The Island Records vinyl contained different and extended mixes of the songs; the times given here are for the Warner Bros. and Island Records versions respectively. The extended versions did not feature on all Island vinyls, and conversely not all the extended versions were featured on the same vinyl.
• Some copies of the Island Records CD have an incorrect track listing on the back cover. Track 5 is listed as "Lava" (the name of a track on the band's debut album), and tracks 5 and 6 are listed as 6 and 7 respectively. This is due to the last minute decision by Island to release the album as a separate CD from Party Mix- the Warner Bros version features both albums. In addition the Warner CD features 1990 remixes of the tracks from Mesopotamia to put the production in line with the Party Mix tracks.

Personnel

Band

• Ricky Wilson – guitars, bass, keyboards, organ
• Keith Strickland – drums, bass, keyboards, marimba, guitar, organ, piano
• Kate Pierson – vocals, bass, keyboards, organ, bird calls, synthesizers
• Fred Schneider – vocals, cowbell
• Cindy Wilson – vocals

Additional musicians

• David Byrne – fretless bass, guitar, percussion, synthesizers
• Steve Scales – percussion
• Yogi Horton – drums
• Charles Rocket – accordion
• Ralph Carney – saxophones
• David Buck – trumpet
• Roberto Arron – saxophone

During the "Meso-America" tour to support Mesopotamia, live versions of the songs were performed by Cindy Wilson on guitar, bongos and vocals; Fred Schneider on vocals; Kate Pierson on keyboards, bass guitar and vocals; Ricky Wilson on guitars; and Keith Strickland on drums. Saxophones on tour were played by Ralph Carney and trumpet and duck calls by David Buck.

Chart performance

Chart (1982)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	35
UK Albums Chart	18

Notes

1. ^ Mesopotamia (album) at Allmusic
2. ^ "Robert Christgau: Album: B-52's: Mesopotamia". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=203. Retrieved 2 August 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Sexton 2002, p. 57.

References

• Sexton, Mats (2002). The B-52s Universe: The Essential Guide to the World's Greatest Party Band. Minneapolis: Plan-B Books. ISBN 978-0965274593.