Various Artists – ‘The Flashback Four – Hits and Rarities’ US Promo CD (Sire / Warner Bros Records / Reprise / Mute, PRO-CD-5930, 1992)

This curious little promo CD came to mind recently with the news that Talking Heads – a particular favourite of mine, for a certain period of their work at least – will be releasing a series of deluxe reissue sets that gather together the original albums plus various related recordings, starting with ‘Talking Heads: 77’, obviously enough. I must confess straight off the bat however, I find past re-issues of Talking Heads material a mixture of frustrating and essential. Frustrating because while previous re-issues did come with some bonus material, so many particular versions – those released on singles particularly – have either never been re-released digitally, or if they have been, are limited to downloads/streaming and only in restricted territories. For the essential examples, well… look no further than the Record Store Day release from earlier this year, the ‘Live at WCOZ 77’ live double album that captures the band in fine form (and some of which had been included on their fantastic 1982’ live double album ‘The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads’. Already, based on some of the music forum discussion so far, these releases likely have their work cut out to please all. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Whats the catch with this CD then for the Talking Heads fan? Well, it’s that version of ‘I Zimbra’ – remixed by Brian Eno, and a good bit longer than the familiar album mix. Back in the day, it was issued as the A side on a promo 12” single release in the US. Somewhat curiously, to this very day – at least until that super deluxe re-issue of ‘Fear Of Music’ that is now on the horizon, and I wouldn’t necessarily say with any certainty that will guarantee it – this remix has only ever had promo releases.

By my reckoning, there have been three very definite opportunities to have released this mix more widely on physical format;

• 1992’s ‘Popular Favorites 1976-1992 – Sand In The Vaseline’ compilation CD that included a few tasty rarities.
• 2003’s multi-disc ‘Once In A Lifetime’ set, they also salted a good amount of rarities.
• The 2006 album re-issue releases with bonus tracks.

But none of them did and as it happens, to date, it has only been released digitally as download/streaming – in 2006 as part of the ‘Bonus Rarities & Outtakes’ set, though only available in the US, I think – and as a bonus download with the ‘Brick’ set the year before in 2005. Will that super deluxe edition of ‘Fear Of Music’ on the distant horizon, you would imagine that it should see a release on that… surely?

So, we know now that the remix of ‘I Zimbra’ by Talking Heads is present and correct, along with two other tracks by the band – but the CD also featured a similar selection of two mainstream numbers and an obscurity by The Smiths, Erasure and the Sex Pistols. Essentially, all four acts had compilation albums out at the same time to promote, so this was a multi-artist sampler to promote those releases.

Tracklist:

1. Talking Heads: ‘Popsicle’ (Album Version) (5:17)
2. Talking Heads: ‘Burning Down The House’ (Album Version) (4:02)
3. Talking Heads: ‘I Zimbra’ (12″ Remix) (3:55)
4. The Smiths: ‘This Charming Man’ (New York Vocal) (5:34)
5. The Smiths: ‘Ask’ (Album Version) (3:11)
6. The Smiths: ‘How Soon Is Now?’ (Album Version) (6:45)
7. Erasure: ‘Stop!’ (Album Version) (2:54)
8. Erasure: ‘Oh L’Amour’ (Album Version) (3:06)
9. Erasure: ‘Love To Hate You’ (Spanish Version) (3:53)
10. Sex Pistols: ‘Anarchy In The UK’ (Demo Version) (4:03)
11. Sex Pistols: ‘My Way’ (Album Version) (4:05)
12. Sex Pistols: ‘(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone’ (Album Version) (3:07)
13. Black Arabs: ‘Medley (Pistols On 45)’ (4:45)

And finally, it wasn’t just a CD release – there was a vinyl version too… but… it included only eight tracks in total – and for a good bit of version craziness, both of the included tracks by Erasure were different mixes not  to be found on the CD – the 12” mix of ‘Stop’ and ‘Oh L’Amour (Funky Sisters Remix)’. Quite the curio, these releases.