Do you have examples of bands whose best albums were B-side compilations?

Question

There have been a few bands who have put out B-side albums that I've absolutely loved, and have made me wonder why the songs didn't make the cut on their original albums. I won't say it's my favorite by them since the early stuff was so groundbreaking, but Nirvana's "Incesticide" was very strong in my humble opinion. There are a couple of tracks on there that are easily some of my favorites by them.

How about you?

Hey, that's fine with me. If you just want to talk about B-sides instead of full albums, go for it!

Emo Murderer - I loved the Deftones album. :) And I really liked the DVD with their videos - I had never seen any of them before.

lovnrckets - I haven't heard Jesus and Mary Chain in forever!

Bowzer - could not agree more about "Lost Dogs". I remember hearing it for the first time, from start to finish, and wondering how some of it didn't make it the first time. I still don't get it.

GK - I agree about Pisces...I also thought that was a strong one.

James - Prince examples are always welcome!

Darth - it's a homemade album...that's OK!

Tee hee hee...it's the birthday girl! :)

Answer 1

I do agree about "Incesticide"!

The one that I really like as an outstanding example of this is "The Sound Of Speed" by The Jesus And Mary Chain, which, in its totality, is far better than some of their "real" albums, and has an excellent cover (maybe the best I've heard) of Leonard Cohen's "Tower Of Song". EDIT: Love n' Rockets also chose a good one, BWK is another JMC rarities compilation that has some excellent songs. "Kill Surf City" is great, so is "Psychocandy" and their creepy cover of "Who Do You Love".

Close to it is "VU" by The Velvet Underground, which is so much part of their catalogue that people often forget it is actually a pure "rejects & outtakes" album. It's just that the rejects include "Stephanie Says", "Andy's Chest", "Ocean", "She's My Best Friend" and a heap of essential tracks.

Other good ones:

"Odds & Sods" by The Who
"Extras" by The Jam
"Lost Dogs" by Pearl Jam
"Pass The Margarine" by Strawberry Jam - naaaah, just kidding.

Answer 2

Maybe not a B-side album, but I can roll out a list of several bands who have had B-sides that were much better than their respective album tracks. I wouldn't expect anyone here to have heard any of them, but both Bon Jovi and Def Leppard (but especially JBJ and company) have some excellent tunes that have only seen the light of day as Japanese bonus tracks or on the flipsde of European singles. Also, the two best songs Great White ever recorded were B-Sides.






NP: "Crossroad" - Cream

Answer 3

The Jesus & Mary Chain came out with Barbed Wire Kisses which was mostly B-sides. This was a solid piece of work with twenty tracks. Some of the songs included Kill Surf City and Sidewalking.

Answer 4

I don't think any band put out a b-sides album that was their BEST work, but some of them certainly have been up to par with their other albums. I thought "Pices Iscariot" by Smashing Pumpkins and "Steal This Album" by System Of A Down were very solid CDs.

I loved "Incesticide" to, but "Nevermind" and "In Utero" were so extraordinary that it seems significantly weaker than those 2 in my opinion.

Answer 5

I don't know of any full albums, but I do have a few favourite
B-side and other rare tracks :~

Sake of Song ~ Blackmore's Night
{b-side to 'The Times They Are A Changing'}

Once In A Million Years ~ Blackmore's Night
{rare compilation only track}

Once In A Garden ~ Blackmore's Night
{Japanese bonus track}

Planets of the Universe {full version with extra verse} ~ Stevie Nicks {on the 'Planets of the Universe' 6 track single}

Silver Springs ~ Fleetwood Mac
{b-side to 'Go Your Own Way'}

No Questions Asked ~ Fleetwood Mac
{b-side to 'Hold Me'}

Go Insane {live} ~ Fleetwood Mac
{b-side to 'Silver Springs' [live 1998]}

Violet and Blue ~ Stevie Nicks
{soundtrack song}

Thousand Days ~ Stevie Nicks
{b-side to 'Blue Denim'} {as was 'Inspiration'}

Sleeping Angel ~ Stevie Nicks
{b-side to 'I Can't Wait' re-issue, & a soundtrack song}

Word Up ~ Willis
{b-side to 'Take You High'}

Battle of the Dragon ~ Stevie Nicks
{b-side to 'Love's A Hard Game to Play'}

One More Big Time Rock n' Roll Star ~ Stevie Nicks
{b-side to 'Talk To Me'}

Fireflies {live} ~ Fleetwood Mac
{was either an a-side or double a-side with 'Over My Head'}

May You Never ~ Sandi Thom
{b-side to 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker'
~ but not as good as the original by John Martyn}

Answer 6

Pearl Jam has a lot of great B-sides. Yellow Ledbetter is one of their most popular tunes and it was a B-side. They have a whole album called "Lost Dogs" which is a compilation B-sides from the beginning of the band. "Drifting" is a cool one on that album that i had never heard, but is now a regular in my rotation.

Answer 7

Deftones had a rarities and B-sides album
Shadows Fall-"Fallout From The War"
Unearth "Our Days In Eulogy"

Answer 8

Led zeppelin leads this. Stairway to heaven was a BSed song that robert plant wrote down in like 10min and jimmy page just kind of sat there and made up some cords. and now its considered one of the greatest songs of all time. the success of the song was a major surprise to them. Bohemian Rhapsody is another one it was 3 songs they just threw together that they had never finished

Answer 9

Hey pal love that mancs compilation lol For me The Clash the singles it misses out a lot of tracks. The essential Clash is much better. BQ the clash BQ2 Give em enough rope.

Answer 10

Two that come to my mind straight away are Muse's "Hullabuloo" and Damien Rice's "B-Sides".

Hullabuloo is a two disc album, one of b-sides and one live disc. I wouldn't exactly say it's their best album, but it certainly has some of my favourite songs by them, most notably "Ashamed", "Map of Your Head", and "Hyper-Chondriac Music".

And Damien Rice's b-sides release, while pretty short at only 8 tracks, is really good, and has my favourite of his songs on it, "The Professor". But again, it's not his best release.

Usually I'm pretty wary of b-side compilations though :)