As you know, The Analog Kid loves EPs and b-sides and non-album cuts. For years, I have placed all of my non-album material from a given band into a folder entitled “Band Name: Singles & B-Sides.” This makes it easier to browse through an artist’s album titles on my iPod, and it’s always a lot of fun to shuffle a band’s “Singles & B-Sides” folder (for example, my “U2: Singles & B-Sides” folder currently contains 278 songs).
Lately, though, I have found myself craving these deep cuts in their original formats. I use the iTunes Remote app (highly recommended if you don’t have it!) on my iPad to play music throughout my house, and it displays my meticulously-assembled music artwork in all its glory. One problem though: it seems to randomly pick one song from the artist’s “Singles & B-Sides” folder to use as the artwork for any song in that folder. If I am listening to U2’s “A Celebration,” I don’t want to see the artwork for “Another Day,” right? [I know, I know…I am nuts. I can’t help it. I was born this way. Sorry.]
This conundrum led to a recent epiphany: why not just put all of my original 12″ singles and EPs back into iTunes in their original formats? I already have the songs in the “Singles & B-Sides” folders and can still shuffle that at any time, but now I’ll be able to listen to the original releases in their proper running format as well (and see the artwork!). Of course, the fact that I have a couple thousand singles to re-rip means that it will take some time to accomplish this task. And yes, I will love every second of it.
Now that I am deep into the process of adding all of these EPs and 12″ singles back into iTunes, it makes sense to share the best ones with you in all of their original glory. If there’s anything you’d like to hear, drop your suggestion in the comments section or simply send me an e-mail. I will do my best to oblige!
Let’s start this new series with one of my favorites: R.E.M.’s 3″ CD single for “Orange Crush.” Do you remember 3″ CDs? The concept (thankfully) didn’t last very long, and some of the releases are now highly collectable. I love the version of Syd Barrett’s “Dark Globe” on this single, and the trashy cover of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider” is a lot of fun as well. I just re-ripped this CD last night after removing it from an air-tight protective vault, so I hope you enjoy it!
Note: let’s not get into a debate over what actually constitutes an EP. Some will argue that a release must contain four individual songs to qualify as an EP, but I think that definition is a bit too strict. To me, it qualifies as an EP as long as there are at least three unique cuts. I hope that’s OK with you.
R.E.M.: Orange Crush [German 3″ CD Single]
Warner Brothers Records, 1989
1. “Orange Crush” (Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe)
From the album Green
2. “Ghost Riders” (Reverby/Vega)
Previously unreleased
3. “Dark Globe” (Barrett)
Previously unreleased
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
U2: “A Celebration” (U2)
From the U.K. 7″ single A Celebration
Island Records, 1982
U2: “Another Day” (U2)
From the Irish 7″ single Another Day
CBS Records, 1980
Syd Barrett: “Dark Globe” (Barrett)
From the album The Madcap Laughs
Harvest Records, 1970
Suicide: “Ghost Rider” (Reverby/Vega)
From the album Suicide
Red Star Records, 1977
The Analog Kid 
Love that “Ghost Rider” track. Thanks for sharing it 😊