Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can: The B-52’s Expand ‘Mesopotamia’ EP with Outtakes, Remixes and More
The B-52’s are returning to Mesopotamia. This Friday, August 21, the band will revisit their 1982 David Byrne-produced EP on Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited, a new and generously expanded 3CD/1LP box set premiering outtakes, alternate mixes, and a previously unreleased concert from the era.
Following two back-to-back albums (1979’s self-titled debut and 1980’s Wild Planet), The B-52’s were creatively tapped out. Moving the group into a house in upstate New York to concentrate on writing only inflamed tensions further. A compilation, Party Mix!, was issued in 1981 as a stopgap measure to keep momentum from stalling while the band collaborated on a new album with Talking Heads’ David Byrne. Ricky Wilson, Cindy Wilson, Keith Strickland, Fred Schneider, and Kate Pierson found the experience of working with Byrne to be a somewhat challenging one. Their shared, democratic process wasn’t always conducive to his widescreen production style, and the band chafed at their producer bringing in guest players such as saxophonist Ralph Carney to play on denser, more expansive arrangements. Byrne himself played multiple instruments, as well.
Warner Bros. eventually cut the sessions at New York’s Blank Tape Studios short, with only six of the intended songs completed and released on a 12-inch EP. Some tracks from the sessions were abandoned altogether, and some songs were re-recorded for 1983’s Whammy! with Jamaican producer-engineer Steven Stanley. The original “Queen of Las Vegas”, recorded for Mesopotamia with Yogi Horton on drums and first issued as a re-recording on Whammy!, finally saw the light of day on a 2002 compilation.
The new “Full-Length Version” of Mesopotamia featured on CD and LP in Ancient Culture reassembles the track list as closely as possible to what was originally intended. Newly remastered versions of the original six EP tracks are joined by three outtakes: the previously unreleased recordings of “Big Bird” and the exotica-flavored “Adios Desconocida,” along with “Queen of Las Vegas.”
The second disc gathers up the various remixes that have surfaced over the years of Mesopotamia’s material including the “international mixes” mistakenly included on the early U.K. pressings of the EP. They’re joined by Tom Durack’s remixes which appeared on Reprise’s 1991 expanded Party Mix / Mesopotamia CD.
A previously unreleased recording of the April 19, 1982 concert at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom concludes the collection. Taken from the band’s Meso-America tour, it features renditions of numerous cuts from the EP (“Nip It in the Bud,” “Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can,” “Loveland,” “Mesopotamia,” and even the outtake “Big Bird”) plus favorites such as “Private Idaho” and “Rock Lobster.”
Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited arrives from Rhino on August 21 as a 3CD/1LP box set and on all digital platforms. You’ll find the track listing and pre-order links below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited (Warner/Rhino, 2026) (Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab))
* previously unreleased
CD 1/LP: Mesopotamia (Full-Length Version)
- Mesopotamia
- Deep Sleep
- Adios Desconocida *
- Queen of Las Vegas
- Nip It in the Bud
- Loveland
- Cake
- Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can
- Big Bird *
Alternate order of Tracks 1-2 and 4-8 released as Warner Bros. MINI 3641, 1982
CD 2: Mixes
- Loveland (International Mix)
- Cake (International Mix)
- Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can (International Mix)
- Loveland (Tom Durack Remix)
- Deep Sleep (Tom Durack Remix)
- Mesopotamia (Tom Durack Remix)
- Cake (Tom Durack Remix)
- Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can (Tom Durack Remix)
- Nip It in the Bud (Tom Durack Remix)
Tracks 1-3 released on U.K. pressing of Mesopotamia – Island ISSP 4006, 1982
Tracks 4-9 released on Party Mix/Mesopotamia CD compilation – Reprise 26401, 1991
CD 3: Meso-America – Live At The Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY – 4/19/1982 *
- Party Out of Bounds
- Give Me Back My Man
- Big Bird
- Cake
- Lava
- Loveland
- Mesopotamia
- Planet Claire
- 606-0842
- Throw That Beat in the Garbage Can
- Dance This Mess Around
- 52 Girls
- Nip It in the Bud
- Rock Lobster
- Private Idaho
