Lost B-sides Week: Thomas Dolby "The Wreck of the Fairchild"
One of Thomas Dolby’s earliest singles (even before THAT song, I believe) was the incredible “Airwaves,” a song I think was tough for him to equal – it’s mellow and epic all at once, with mysterious lyrics and a fantastic bridge with great lines:
Control has enabled the abandoned wires again, but the copper cables all rust in the acid rain that flood the subways with elements of our corrosion cable them to me.
Of course, when “Airwaves” was released as a single, the bridge was completely excised. Sigh.
“Airwaves” didn’t exactly burn up the charts – it was never even released as a single in the States. That ramps up the scarcity factor of today’s b-side, “The Wreck of the Fairchild,” a mostly instrumental funk/reggae/new wave stew with a pretty cool finish that segues directly back to its a-side. “Fairchild” sounds like a song in progress, something just waiting for a melody line to be written over it, but ultimately scrapped to an obscure b-side, never to appear on any other compilation or collection. Too bad – it would have been interesting to see it fleshed out, since it fits the vibe of Dolby’s first (and completely essential) album, "Golden Age of Wireless", which is in dire need of a deluxe re-mastering (complete with original mixes of “Radio Silence” and b-sides – c’mon, EMI). It was featured on the initial UK pressing of the LP, but quickly deleted and replaced by “One of Our Submarines” and a little-known song called “She Blinded Me With Science”.
Nearly an unstoppable pop juggernaut as the '80s dawned, thanks to hits from Xanadu and Physical, Olivia Newton-John stumbled a bit as the decade hit the halfway mark. First, her film reunion with John Travolta, Two Of A Kind suffered a commercial and critical drumming, but the soundtrack did middling business, with the increasingly New Wave-ish tone of the singles "Twist of Fate" and "Livin' In Desperate Times". While "Twist" hit the Top 5, "Livin'" reflected ONJ's diminished hit-making power, struggling to a measly #31.
That was heaven compared to what was next for Olivia fans. 1985's Soul Kiss was just shy of appalling, all the raunch of the Physical ONJ era with none of the humor or even a knowing wink. Where was the sly sexiness of "A Little More Love" or even the camp of "Make A Move On Me"? When the title track and lead-off single is about blow jobs, you can't play the classy card anymore, despite wrapping it all in a Helmut Newton-shot cover:
It's like she took the "Be A Whore!" lessons Sandy learned in Grease and applied them to her career. The rest of the album wasn't any better - the only saving grace from this period was tossed on the b-side of the "Soul Kiss" single. "Electric" is a campy little funk/dance number, complete with high-voltage sound effects and an early '80s style ONJ melody.
Olivia never fully recovered from Soul Kiss's failure in the States. She continues to act, release albums overseas and in Hallmark stores (seriously) and be a gay icon, but she's more well-known these days for her disappearing boyfriends than her current musical output. Here's someone due for a comeback - we know she's got it in her somewhere.
Just no more raunchy stuff, please.
"Electric" was the b-side of the "Soul Kiss" single.
Well, hello there. Nice to see you. What's that? Lost B-sides Week was last week? I haven't posted anything since? I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. Ahem. Moving on...
Dead or Alive's "Misty Circles" had a strange trip to becoming a b-side. It was originally the first a-side the band released after signing to Epic Records, but after peaking at a stellar #100 on the UK Singles Chart, well...what can ya do. A year later, the extended version found its way to the b-side of a little single called "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)". On 12", this essentially created a double a-side single, as many DJs had no problem flipping it to play "Misty Circles" - listening to it now, you can almost smell the poppers.
Speaking of gender-bending, the b-side to Adam Ant's "Vive Le Rock" featured a little ode to cross-dressing called "Greta X":
I'm a joyous glad TV Why don't you come TV with me? I know a girl who loves to dress me Up like this and then caress me To remind me of the way I used to go both night and day In femininity there's pride We'll marry soon, I'll be the bride
15 years later, he'd fire a gun at some people in a pub who made fun of his hat. Oh Adam, ridicule is nothing to be scared of.
And THAT is the end of Lost B-sides Week. What do you mean a week is only 7 days?
"Misty Circles" peaked at #4 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Chart in 1984 as a double a-side. "Greta X" is the b-side of "Vive Le Rock".
We just talked about Gene Loves Jezebel recently, so why not feature a Lost B-side from the fey, scarf-twirling duo?
While I've previously lamented that today's featured song's a-side was a concession to Top 40 and AOR radio, the flip, "Bugg's Bruises" was old-school Gene Loves Jezebel, a nice fusion of goth trappings over pure rock, not too dissimilar to what The Cult were doing at the same time, albeit with an extra layer of, let's call it, "femininity". Or "feminess". Not an insult, by the way - I kinda dug it.
Unfortunately, "Bugg's Bruises" did not make the LP proper, sacrificed for Jimmy Iovine-produced sheen and more Top 40 grabs that never quite took. It lives on today though, thanks to TEH INTERWEBS. Enjoy.
"Bugg's Bruises" was the b-side of the "Motion of Love" single.
Did you know this is the first time in this humble blog's two and a half-year history that we've featured Culture Club? That's a bit of a travesty which needs correcting, isn't it?
"I'll Tumble 4 Ya" was a 1982 U.S./Canada-only single release that became their third Top Ten hit off their debut, Kissing To Be Clever. For the b-side, the band chose "Mystery Boy", which was actually a Japan-only a-side (its full title is "Mystery Boy [Suntori Hot Whiskey Song]", which leads me to believe it was probably used in a television commercial there.). It's all so very confusing, isn't it?
"Mystery Boy" languished in obscurity for a couple of years...a say "a couple" because I'll be darned if their 1984 hit "Miss Me Blind" isn't a more fully fleshed out rewrite of "Mystery Boy". Listen and judge for yourself.
"Mystery Boy" finally made it to CD when Colour By Numbers was re-mastered with bonus tracks in 2003. Why they placed it on their second album and not the first is one of those weird record company things, I suppose.
"Mystery Boy" was the b-side for "I'll Tumble 4 Ya".
"one more time for a healthy body/one more time for a healthy mind/one more time for no good reason"
It’s been some time since we last did this, so we’re about due for another Lost B-sides Week here at LIT80s, aren’t we? All this week, we’ll feature b-sides to some famous and not-so-famous singles that for the most part have yet to make it to CD.
Kicking the week off is a long-time LIT80s fave, Sparks. We’ve talked about Sparks a bit here and here. The Brothers Mael had been recording for more than ten years by the time they got their American breakthrough with “Cool Places”, a duet with the Go-Go’s Jane Weidlin featured on their 1983 (the Best Year for Music Ever!) album, Sparks In Outer Space. The single’s b-side, ”Sports”, is another fun romp that wouldn’t have been out of place on the already short LP. In fact, it sounds a bit too close to other songs on Outer Space, especially “Popularity”, which may account for its flip-sided fate.
Oglio Records issued Outer Space on CD for the first time in the mid-90s, but left “Sports” off, so it’s remained a forgotten Sparks artifact. The band and Island Records have been slowly re-mastering and reissuing their catalog, but since their 80s output remains in the hands of Atlantic Records, it’s tough to tell when and if Outer Space and “Sports” will ever make it to CD.
”Sports” was the b-side of the “Cool Places” single and 12”.
* All songs are for sampling purposes only. If the album is currently in print, you'll see an Amazon link to purchase it. Supporting artists is a good thing, since labels are run by soulless whores. I KEED! Sorta. Look, if you like it, and it's in print, support 'em. If you're the artist or copyright holder, a quick e-mail to me will bring the song down ASAP. But compliment my writing first.
* Don't e-mail me asking me to repost dead links or to send you a song you can't find. Believe it or not, I have a life outside my blogging. I KEED! But don't do it.
* One more, and this is a biggie -- do NOT hotlink directly to my audio files and post them on your site, big shot. That's just disrespectful, rude, and a theft of my hard-earned bandwith.
Now, get readin', get downloadiN', and play nice. I loves me some comments. Bring it!
, which is in dire need of a deluxe re-mastering (complete with original mixes of “Radio Silence” and b-sides – c’mon, EMI). It was featured on the initial UK pressing of the LP, but quickly deleted and replaced by “One of Our Submarines” and a little-known song called “She Blinded Me With Science”.
Oh, Livvie. Talk about misguided choices.
We just talked about Gene Loves Jezebel recently, so why not feature a Lost B-side from the fey, scarf-twirling duo?
"I'll Tumble 4 Ya" was a 1982 U.S./Canada-only single release that became their third Top Ten hit off their debut, Kissing To Be Clever. For the b-side, the band chose "Mystery Boy", which was actually a Japan-only a-side (its full title is "Mystery Boy [Suntori Hot Whiskey Song]", which leads me to believe it was probably used in a television commercial there.). It's all so very confusing, isn't it?
Kicking the week off is a long-time LIT80s fave, Sparks. We’ve talked about Sparks a bit here and here. The Brothers Mael had been recording for more than ten years by the time they got their American breakthrough with “Cool Places”, a duet with the Go-Go’s Jane Weidlin featured on their 1983 (the Best Year for Music Ever!) album, Sparks In Outer Space. The single’s b-side, ”Sports”, is another fun romp that wouldn’t have been out of place on the already short LP. In fact, it sounds a bit too close to other songs on Outer Space, especially “Popularity”, which may account for its flip-sided fate.
