For many acts, recording B-sides is an excuse to lark about in the studio. But for some – see our list below – B-sides are a chance to give their most dedicated fans something special. Over the years, some incredible albums have been put together from bands’ B-sides, here are the best of them.
The 15 best B-sides albums
15. Pet Shop Boys, Alternative (1995)
The original plan was for Pet Shop Boys to release a single-disc collection of the best B-sides from their first 10 years of singles. But when it came down to choosing their favourites, the duo of Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant struggled to narrow it down.
Eventually, Alternative became a 30-track, double-disc set – a mark of the quality of the beloved electronic group’s flipsides.
Highlights include the uber-cool electronic minimalism of ‘Paninaro’ (originally the B-side of 1986’s ‘Suburbia’, but released as a single in its own right in Italy), the thumping High-NRG dance of ‘I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)’, and the Morrissey-baiting ‘Miserabilism’.
Key track: 'Paninaro'
14. Radiohead, Airbag / How Am I Driving (1998)
Released in the United States in April 1998, this mini-album collected B-sides that had featured on Radiohead’s singles from the previous year’s OK Computer.
The band were on such a hot streak at this point that it not only reached No 56 on the US Billboard 200, selling 20,000 copies in its first week, but it was nominated for the Best Alternative Music Performance Grammy award.
Essential moments include the dubby instrumental ‘Meeting In The Aisle’, the moody prog leanings of ‘A Reminder’, and the raging grunge of ‘Palo Alto’.
Key track: 'Palo Alto'
13. The Clash, Black Market Clash (1980)
A compilation that started out as an attempt to beat the bootleggers, Black Market Clash was originally a nine-track 10” record collecting Clash rarities that were then unavailable in the US except as imports.
Stormers such as ‘City Of The Dead’ and ‘Armagideon Time’ (a cover of a dub track from Jamaican Willi Williams), were familiar to the band’s single-buying UK fans, but Black Market Clash was the only place to find their cover of Booker T & The MG’s ‘Time Is Tight’, as well as ‘Bankrobber/Robber Dub’, a combined edit of the A- and B-side of their 1980 hit single.
The compilation was updated with 1993’s Super Black Market Clash, which added 12 extra tracks, though the original is still close to fans’ hearts.
Key track: 'Armagideon Time'
12. R.E.M., Dead Letter Office (1987)
While R.E.M.’s brilliant early run of albums were cloaked in mystery, from Michael Stipe’s mumbled, half-sung vocals to their enigmatic artwork, their B-sides gave revealing glimpses into their influences while showing their looser, more lighthearted side.
Dead Letter Office featured a clutch of Velvet Underground covers (‘There She Goes Again’, ‘Femme Fatale’ and a sublime ‘Pale Blue Eyes’) – so far, so expected – but more surprisingly, also includes a raucous take on Aerosmith’s ‘Toys In The Attic’ and an endearingly all-over-the-place version of Roger Millar’s ‘King Of The Road’.
Meanwhile, ‘Voice Of Harold’ is Stipe singing the sleevenotes of a gospel album, The Revelaires’ The Joy of Knowing Jesus, over the backing track of ‘7 Chinese Brothers’ from 1984’s Reckoning.
Key track: 'Voice Of Harold'
11. The Rolling Stones, Metamorphosis (1975)
Though The Rolling Stones and manager Allen Klein parted company in 1970, that didn’t stop Klein’s label ABKCO Records – who still had control of the band’s ’60s material – plundering the vaults for ‘new’ Stones product.
Following 1971's multi-million selling compilations Hot Rocks 1964-71 ABKCO tasked Andrew Loog Oldham – who’d been the Stones’ manager before Klein – with compiling a set of unreleased material.
Though that set was mastered and even had finalised artwork, Oldham and Klein disagreed on the tracklisting and, in 1972, the singles-heavy More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) was released in its place.
Many of the songs originally intended for Necrophilia ended up on 1975’s Metamorphosis – a 16-track set comprising Stones takes on songs that Jagger and Richards wrote for other artists (including the demo of ‘Out Of Time’) and unreleased tracks, with stand-outs ‘Jiving Sister Fanny’ (recorded during the sessions for 1969’s Let It Bleed) and ‘I’m Going Down’, also recorded in 1969 and – legend has it – featuring an uncredited Stephen Stills.
Key track: 'I'm Going Down'
10. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, B-Sides & Rarities (2005)
Nick Cave fans were still getting to grips with 2004’s landmark double-album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus when this 56-track, three-disc collection of B-sides (from 7″, 12″, flexidisc, and CD singles), outtakes, radio sessions, contributions to tribute and soundtrack albums, and unreleased songs was unleashed.
It’s an abundance of riches, starting with a gospel-like renditions of Tender Prey track ‘Deanna’, and taking in moments of magic such as Cave’s spine-tingling version of The Pogues’ ‘Rainy Night In Soho’, the visceral Murder Ballads outtake ‘The Murder Of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane’, and a spooked slink through ‘Red Right Hand’ recorded for the Scream 3 soundtrack but unreleased till this point.
Key track: 'Red Right Hand (Scream 3 Version)'
9. Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)
Suede burst on to the UK music scene in 1992 with their stomping, glam anthem of a debut single, ‘The Drowners’, but fans soon realised that the real treasure lay with the single’s bonus tracks – the drama-filled indie of ‘My Insatiable One’ and ‘To The Birds’.
Over the next few years, the band made a habit of releasing some of their best material as B-sides – ‘Where The Pigs Don’t Fly’, ‘The Living Dead’, ‘Killing Of A Flash Boy’, ‘Europe Is Our Playground’ – and in 1997, compiled the best of them for the double-album Sci-Fi Lullabies, which reached No 9 in the UK chart on release.
Key track: 'My Insatiable One'
8. The Cure, Join The Dots (2004)
The 4CD box set Join The Dots was a godsend for Cure die-hards on its 2004 release. Among its 70 songs (!) were B-sides of long-unavailable singles, remixes, compilation contributions, and eight previously unreleased tracks.
Among the fan-favourites given a new lease of life were the stark post-punk of ’10:15 Saturday Night’ (the original B-side of debut single ‘Killing Of An Arab’), a markedly different take on ‘Lament’ that was given away with Flexipop magazine in 1982, the gorgeous ballad ‘Breathe’ and the melancholy brilliance of ‘This Twilight Garden’.
Key track: 'This Twilight Garden'
7. The Who, Odds & Sods (1974)
When Who bassist John Entwistle saw the popular 1974 bootleg Who’s Zoo – a double-album of non-album singles and B-sides – it inspired him to put together an official response, designed to stem the flow of bootlegs.
"I tried to arrange it like a parallel sort of Who career," Entwistle told Rolling Stone, "what singles we might have released andwhat album tracks we might have released."
The 11 tracks on the original vinyl release of Odds & Sods (it was expanded to 23 for its CD release in 1998) included ‘I’m The Face’, the B-side of the band’s 1964 debut single ‘Zoot Suit’ (back when they were called The High Numbers, Entwistle’s fun travelogue ‘Postcard’ (originally intended for release back in 1970) and ‘Pure And Easy’, a song that had been the heart of Townshend’s abandoned Lifehouse project.
Key track: 'Pure And Easy'
6. Tom Waits, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006)
"What’s Orphans?" Tom Waits asked himself in a promotional interview on the release of his 2006 rarities set. "I don’t know. Orphans is a dead-end kid driving a coffin with big tires across the Ohio River wearing welding goggles and a wife beater with a lit firecracker in his ear."
If you’re none the wiser after that, Orphans is a 56-track collection of Waits’ contributions to film soundtracks and tribute albums, as well as collaborations with other artists and 30 previously unreleased songs.
Waits divided the songs into three sets: Brawlers (for primal, fuzzed-up blues, boogies and stomps); Bawlers (for ballads of deep melancholy and tender hope); and Bastards (for Waits’ wild side, all spoken word weirdness and experimental diversions).
Key track: 'Road To Peace'
5. Nirvana, Insecticide (1992)
Following the phenomenal success of 1991’s Nevermind, demand for more material from Nirvana was through the roof. Unsurprisingly, enterprising bootleggers took advantage, releasing under-the-counter collections of B-sides and live material.
When former label Sub Pop revealed they had a number of unreleased early recordings, Kurt Cobain took control of the project, compiling the tracklisting, putting together the artwork and agonising over sleevenotes which dealt with his reaction to success, defended his wife, Courtney Love, and made it clear that anyone remotely homophobic, racist or sexist had no business buying a Nirvana record.
Highlights included the 1990 non-album single ‘Sliver’ (one of Cobain’s poppiest moments), a punked-up version of Nevermind track ‘Polly’ recorded at a November 1991 BBC Radio 1 session, and – from the same session – an incredible live version of one of their greatest songs, ‘Aneurysm’, originally the B-side to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
Key track: 'Aneurysm'
4. Oasis, The Masterplan (1998)
From the beginning, the strength of Oasis’ B-sides were a point of pride for the Manchester group, with some of Noel Gallagher’s greatest songs tucked away as bonus tracks on CD singles.
The fraternal anthem ‘Acquiesce’ was better than the A-side, ‘Some Might Say’, the same goes for the bittersweet ‘Rockin’ Chair’ (B-side of the plodding ‘Roll With It’). Elsewhere, the plaintive beauty of ‘Half The World Away’ and metal attack of ‘Headshrinker’ showed sides to Gallagher’s songwriting that their albums didn’t hint at.
Originally intended for release in the United States and Japan, where Oasis’ B-sides were only available on expensive imported singles, The Masterplan ended up becoming one of their most beloved albums and sold over three million worldwide.
Key track: 'Acquiesce'
3. The Beatles, Past Masters (1988)
Compiled by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn (the author of the exhaustive early-years book Tune In: All These Years) as two chronologically arranged separate volumes, Past Masters collected all of the official releases by The Beatles to that point which were not available on their 12 original UK albums or the US Magical Mystery Tour.
This meant that classic non-album singles including ‘From Me To You’, ‘Day Tripper’, ‘Lady Madonna’ and ‘Hey Jude’ nestled alongside some stellar B-sides.
The quality of these tracks brings home their genius – who else could afford to throw away songs such as the exuberant rocker ‘I’m Down’, the heavy groove of ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ and perhaps the greatest psychedelic song of all time, ‘Rain’?
Key track: 'Rain'
2. Prince, The B-Sides (1993)
A bit of a cheat this, as The B-Sides was only available as the third disc of Prince’s 1993 set The Hits/The B-Sides, but it wouldn’t have been right to have a list of the greatest B-sides albums without including it.
The album compiles almost all of Prince’s B-sides from his ’80s purple patch, including the transcendent funk of ‘Erotic City’ (B-side of ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, 1984), the melancholy ’17 Days’ (B-side of ‘When Doves Cry’) and the blue-gospel genius of ‘How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore’. That these songs were mere B-sides still beggars belief.
Key track: 'Erotic City'
1. The Smiths, Hatful Of Hollow (1984)
The Smiths barely put a foot wrong during their brief career, but for many fans, Hatful Of Hollow – a collection of radio sessions, singles and B-sides – is their greatest album.
The live tracks, among them definitive versions of ‘What Difference Does It Make’, ‘These Things Take Time’, ‘Still Ill’ and ‘Girl Afraid’, have a spark and energy that lifts them above their studio versions.
Meanwhile, the singles – ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’, ‘Hand In Glove’ and ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ – are the distilled essence of The Smiths, all romance and wit. But Hatful Of Hollow’s crowning glories are a pair of B-sides – ‘How Soon Is Now?’ and ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’ – which rank among their greatest moments.
Key track: 'How Soon Is Now'
All photos Getty Images / Album covers Amazon
Top image Prince performs on stage on the Act II Tour, Brabant hallen, Den Bosch, Netherlands, 9th August 1993
