You'll have to pardon me, but I'm positively reeling right now.  

Just for the hell of it, I did a Google search using two phrases from my wayward youth, and what I found has me in a state of shock.

But I have to give you a little background first.  And I'm going to beg you to indulge me and to be kind.  It was almost a quarter century ago.  Surely I can be forgiven...

You know that I'm always talking about my husband, Jim, the greatest guy I've ever known.  We met at Kent State University in 1982 on an icy night in January.  He was playing a gig at JB's Down, a guitarist in a new wave band called "The Somatics".  Four guys and a girl singer, they did some covers (one of my favorites being an updated version of CSNY's "Chicago") but mostly original tunes.  Songs with titles like "Billy Arson", "Embryonic Police" and "Period Conservatism".  You have to remember that the Akron/Kent scene was where Devo got their start, along with The Waitresses.  And Chrissie Hynde was also from the area, so there were big dreams in those days, and there were dozens of bands playing the clubs every weekend.  (My sister also met and married a guy from a Kent band.) 

Jim ended up recording The Somatics' songs at Brittain Square Sound in Peninsula, Ohio, the first studio he ever worked at, the start of his career on the other side of the microphone.

After we had known each other for awhile, Jim wrote a song called "Sometimes Memories Return", which was about meeting me and falling in love with me despite the fact that he had a steady girlfriend at the time (who, conveniently, couldn't make it to the gig the night we met because of the bad weather.) Claudia, one of the vocalists in the band, did a really nice job with the song, but I always harbored this secret fantasy about singing it myself.

After my graduation in 1984, The Somatics went their separate ways.  You know, kind of like The Beatles.  Anyway, I brought up the subject with Jim about singing "Sometimes Memories Return", and he thought it might be fun if we tried to put it on tape.  One of the benefits of working at the studio was that he could use the place when it wasn't booked.  So, off we went.  I got a real education in the recording process, which can be incredibly tedious and a hell of a lot of work.  We had some guest musicians come by, but Jim played almost everything, and I did the vocals.  

Eventually, we came up with a finished product, and I have to say that it was really thrilling hearing all that hard work become an actual song.  We started thinking about putting this song out as a record, which was not a big deal in those days  Just about everyone did it.  The problem was that we needed some more material - and a songwriting collaboration was born.  (Very short-lived, I must say.  I am not, and do not pretend to be, a songwriter.)  But we did manage to write two more ("Paint Love Blue" and "There Is No One"), and we "borrowed" one  ("Talking In My Sleep") from Jim's brother, Bill, who is actually a professional songwriter.  His song is the best one on the record, in my opinion.

So, after recording those and doing an extended dance remix of "Paint Love Blue", we had enough material for an EP!  We hooked up with a local record label, After Hours, which, for some reason, thought this stuff was pretty good. It was still the era of DIY music, and there were so many local labels to help out struggling artists, as well as loads of club and radio support.

A friend of a friend did the "artwork" (you'll see what I mean below), and the first EP by Primary Colours (the name that we came up with after countless hours and stupid ideas) was released in 1985.

There were actually good reviews in some of the independent/college music press.  We got some local airplay, and I remember being interviewed on a commercial station in Cleveland, back when local music stood a chance.

But when it came to the thought of playing live, I knew that we were doomed.  I am an introvert with a capital "I", and never in my wildest dreams could I summon the courage to stand on a stage in front of a club full of people and perform this material.  Amazingly enough, though, we didn't let that stop us. We recorded material for a second release and, in the summer of 1985, we traveled to London, in the hope of "shopping around" our record to some overseas labels.

What were we thinking?

Finally, common sense got the better of us, and we gave up on that particular dream.  Jim got a gig in another band, but after we got married in 1989, we decided that our future was in Nashville, where he has made a successful career in the music business, first as a recording engineer, and now as a mastering engineer.  I have a normal job, and I'm happy without entertaining dreams of musical fame and fortune.

A few years ago, though, I was contacted via email by someone who had our record and was a fan.  F-A-N.  It's hard for me to write that word in relation to myself.  But, he was serious.  He wanted to know if he could send us a copy of the record for us to autograph.  Sure, I said.  Absolutely. And he actually sent it!  My first and only "autograph session".

After this, I did some Googling, and found a website called "New Wave Outpost", where there were some people who actually cited our record as one of their favorites from that time period, and I even found a copy of it for sale on a website called gemm.com.  I also found a vague reference to "Paint Love Blue" being a big dance-club hit in Europe  (It makes me very happy to think that people danced to our music).  All of this while I was busy being a secretary for the teachers' union in Nashville!

Eventually, I forgot about my fan.  But yesterday, I wrote a blog about vocal tuning, and I started reminiscing about my adventures in the recording studio (where my vocal was "helped", but never tuned).  That was when I Googled "Primary Colours + Paint Love Blue".

I was shocked horrified thrilled to find that someone had actually posted "Paint Love Blue" (the extended mix, no less) on YouTube.  The only visual is the aforementioned "cover art" from the EP (if you can figure out what the hell it's supposed to be, please let me know).  I am posting it here in spite of that nagging scream shout whisper that tells me to let sleeping dogs lie.

As I said earlier, please be kind.  Remember, it was the mid-80's.  Synth-pop was king.  God forgive us, but we had a sampler and we used it.