B-Sides that should have been A-Sides

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I'm sure this has been done before, but anyway... I'm currently listening to "A Japanese Dream" and thought how great it would have been the kick-off single for _Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me_ instead of "Why Can't I Be You???" This led me to realize that there are a large number of Cure B-sides that I wish had been the A-sides ("Throw Your Foot", "A Man Inside My Mouth", "Lament", "New Day", "Stop Dead", "Breathe", "This Twilight Garden", "2 Late", "The Exploding Boy", "A Few Hours After This", "Home", "Play", "Halo", "Harold And Joe", "A Chain Of Flowers", "Adonis", "It Used To Be Me", "Ocean", and I think I should stop before I just list all of them).

The concept of the superior B-Side isn't new or revolutionary, particularly among groups with rabid fans. I guess I'm curious about two things:

- What are your favorite B-sides?
- Why is it that some groups put their best material on the backs of their singles?

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

- What are your favorite B-sides?
dEUS' I Suffer Rock. (Meta Rock! It's MENTAL!)
- Why is it that some groups put their best material on the backs of their singles?
The side didn't work.

― cuba libre (nathalie), Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, HA HA. Use a poorly-worded question as an invitation to discuss the single vs the album, and all you get is (well-deserved) abuse. Hmph.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Radiohead are a great b-sides band. A lot of Radiohead's Amnesiac b- sides were superior to certain tracks that made it onto the LP. I'm referring to The Amazing Sounds of Orgy and Worrywort in particular. Talk Show Host, A Reminder, and Pearly are some of my favorite Radiohead tracks.
Bjork's Sweet Intuition would've fit nicely on Post.

― lou, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ansaphone is a better song than Disco 2000.

― Ally, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

X-Ray Spex, "I Am A Cliche". I like the sax bit more than the one in "Oh Bondage" and I love the hell out of that whole "yammer yammer yammer" bit.

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Daft Punk's "Musique" is pretty great; so is Bob Dylan's "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Live)," from the b-side of "I Want You"

― M Matos, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

WAY too many fave B-sides for me to name...

But it isn't uncommon for B-sides to become defacto A-sides later on.. "White Horse", "Erotic City", "Into The Groove", "Dear God", etc.

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

well i could say that spearmint are a great b-sides band aswell as being a great band in general. but you'd all just slag spearmint off though (fools.)

― Myles, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wasnt Musique a A-Side? like the second one, after the new wave

― Chupa-Cabras, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Wait, "Into The Groove" was a B-side? To what? I only know it as the single from the "Desperately Seeking Susan" soundtrack.

― Dan Perry, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Rollercoaster" (b-side of "Lips Like Sugar") by Echo & the Bunnymen shoulda been the a-side.

"Kill Surf City" (b-side of "April Skies") by the Jesus & Mary Chain shoulda been the a-side.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Into The Groove" was originally the "Angel" B-side... at least I think...(?)

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All rightie, this clears it up a little..

"Into The Groove" was originally a European A-side, but was introduced in the U.S. as a B-side of the "Angel" single. I was just being Yankcentric as usual. Sorry.

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You jingoistic punk.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pulp b-sides are frequently excellent - I prefer the "Second Class" b- sides collection to "Different Class" by miles and miles.

Spearmint indeed often have better b-sides than a-sides. This was definitely the case with more than one of the singles from "Oklahoma", and the "You are still my brother" single

MBV's "Paint a Rainbow" is prolly my favourite b-side evah

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bowie: "Velvet Goldmine" (B-side of one of many re-issues of "Space Oddity", this one from '75)
Smiths: "How Soon is Now" (B-side of the "William It Was Really Nothing" 12-inch)
Queen "See What a Fool I've Been" (B-side of "Seven Seas of Rhye")
Cramps: "Drug Train' (B-side of "Garbage Man")

― Arthur, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Kill Surf City" (b-side of "April Skies") by the Jesus & Mary Chain shoulda been the a-side.
B-b-b-b-but Alex, "April Skies" was amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!

― Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All the b-sides made by the boo radleys were better than their a- sides.
Especially "Blues for George Michael" which should have definitely at least been an album track.

― dog latin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

have to disagree, boo radleys b-sides(i love'em, marting carr yeah he's a god) are mostly rubbish, with only the occasional remix jobs by high llamas as the exception.

― keith, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Pharcyde's "Pork" isn't better than "Passin' Me By" but it should've at least found its way to a full-length or something.

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

aw! come on!
Friendship Song
Annie & Marnie
I Will Never Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know The Answer
Vegas
Crow Eye
Sunfly II (Walking with the Kings)
French Canadian Bean Soup
...And Tomorrow The World
Nothing to Do But Scare Myself
Janus

and loads more i can't remember cos my extensive Boo Radley's b- sides and rarieties double C90 I have upstairs is not me, on account of it's upstairs. All these are living and solid material proof of the Radder's greatness on their adjacent-edge aural releases which one hears with one's ears. I rest my case.

― dog latin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pulp's 'Cocaine Socialism' was a contender for A-side. Nick voted for it, the other 4 for 'Help The Aged'. Is 'Killing of a Flash Boy' too obvious? Soft Cell, 'Its A Mugs Game' instead of 'Where The Heart Is', Duran's 'Late Bar' instead of 'Careless Memories', OMD's 'Romance of the Telescope' instead of 'Joan of Arc', Black Box Recorder's 'Start As We Mean To Go On' although its A-side was great. a lot of great songs get shunted off the album when the album has "a coherent concept", but just as many suffer from poor judgement.

― jamie, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The b-side of Boo Radley's "Free Huey" is one of my favourite songs of theirs. "Free Huey" itself is a horrible mess of a track.

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"THE SUN GOES DOWN" (/"zabadak", by dave dee dozy beaky mick & tich)

― unknown or illegal user, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

lotsa bubblegum b-sides are good outrageous rip-offs like just the same song played backwards or something. i guess that's not "better" than the a-side but i like stuff like that.

― unknown or illegal user, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bah, you all have a Boos B-side talk without me when I've just been relistening to them all again! ;-) I go one step further than double C-90s -- four 80-minute CDRs of the buggers. Yes, I am insane. ;-)

A slew of amazing songs tucked away on those singles, just incredible. Sure, a fair amount were simply pleasant, but I could go on all day about many of them. "Sunfly II" alone -- jawdroppingly good. If I have to name a secret favorite, though: "At the Sound of Speed." Dear heavens, was that a loud bastard of a song.

I can also confirm that Martin Carr is indeed a very friendly guy. :-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four cdrs? How is that possible? Did you include remixes? I didn't bother with those (although there are some good ones - High Llamas, Justin Warfield, St. Etienne)... I think I have nearly all their b- sides except for the original Sunfly.
Which one was the one that went "I Can't Wait until tomorrow" - that was such a fucking ace track!
oohoo! I also have Ichabod & I (but the actual vinyl is a bit dodgy with the hole in the centre being too big).

― dog latin, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

At The Sound Of Speed ended up as an a-side - on a very alarmingly coloured vinyl 7" on Spin Art

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

MC Lyte's "Not Wit' a Dealer" remix way WAY outshined "Cappucino," which inexplicably was the A-side.

― Douglas, Thursday, 30 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't know many B-sides - 45s were a little before my time, and I hardly have the scratch to spend on CD singles - but "Safe" by House of Love is breathtaking.

― Clarke B., Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Safe" was meant to be the a-side! d'oh! Why are record companies (and bands for that matter) so damn fickle!

― electric sound of jim, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pavement's b-sides had about the same hit % as any of their album tracks. What a potential gold mine for Matador!

― Sam, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

and Domino too for that matter. I imagine they could probably use the money too

― electric sound of jim, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have to agree with the Boo radleys thread, I too have 3 cdrs full of b sides and rarities and there are still one or two more to find.

"Let me be your faith" is amazing, one of the top 5 Boo Radleys songs ever.

I have to agree Ned, Martin is truly a top bloke.

Kris.

― Kris England, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Just to continue the Radleys love in, I'm in agreement with everything so far. Ace b-sides especially the C'mon Kids era. Been going round trying to pick up whatever vinyl I can find too, still searching for Ichabod and I although I have mp3s of it and I have a copy of the vinyl on tape.

Still a shame that their bsides haven't been properly compiled onto an album. If sometime in the future some fool does a Radleys box set (like that'll ever happen) it couldn't fail to be brilliant with the mix of great album tracks and bsides and no doubt the demos that Martin probably has. Guess I'll just have to do my own.

Can also confirm the friendliness of the man Carr - ace bloke. Sadly though, the next Brave Captain LP delayed till September.

― mms, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why is it that so many people are compiling boos b-side albums for themselves? I thought I was the only one to be doing this until I met at least two or three people at uni who had b-sides and rarities tapes of the boos. Very strange indeed!

― dog latin, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've never compiled a Boos b-sides tape but thinking about it I have to wonder why I haven't before. Now, if only someone can tell me the name of the song that appears as track 3 on the "Boo forever" EP, 'cos that's probably my favourite track of theirs. It's buzzing around my head now and I just can't remember the bloody name of it.

― Rob M, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Living Dead and (moreso) My Dark Star by Suede.

ugh. i just had an absolutely killer example in my head and its gone. but there are lots of bands who bizarelly seem to reserve their more interesting work for their b-sides.

― Wyndham Earl, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

despite Luke Haines' protests to the contrary, a lot of Auteurs b- sides are fantastic. Car Crash, Kenneth Anger's Bad Dream, Everything You Say Will Destroy You (originally a b-side to Chinese Bakery) etc.

― Wyndham Earl, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I said it before I will say it again: all Pet Shop B's should have been A's.

Marc Almond made some funny and excellent B stuff, i wonder why he bothered to put them on the 'wrong' side, they don't have more or less commercial value then there counterparts, they are just better.

― erik visser, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Erik: YES. "Don Juan" in particular is SO MUCH BETTER than "Domino Dancing" it isn't even funny. Oh, and how excellent are "Some Speculation", "Miserablism", "Jack The Lad", "Paninaro", "Too Many People", "In The Night", "The Boy Who Couldn't Keep His Clothes On", "I Want A Dog", etc, etc?

― Dan Perry, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Joy Div should've flipped Transmission/Novelty.

If they'd have done that long mac prices would've gone down as a certain % of JD fans would've not known whether to buy a long mac or stick with their leather jackets.

And Alex in Mainhattan would've been happier cos it was more 'rock' and less 'deep voiced' an' ting.

― Dr. C, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ICE, ICE, BABY.

― Dave225, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pet Shop Boys B-sides and Marc's many efforts do in fact deserve quite a bit of attention. Alternative might just be the PSB's best album, actually.

four cdrs? How is that possible? Did you include remixes?

The fourth CDR is nothing but remixes, yes. The first three have all the B-sides and as many flat out rarities as I could get my hands on, like "Skywalker," "XFM is Ace" and the like. I also have one or two unreleased tracks thanks to some feller -- "French Canadian" and something else, I think.

Martin mentioned to me in passing that Sony wants to release some sort of Boos collection but that he's 'stalling,' to use his word, for the moment.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ah, what the hell, here's what I have tracklisting wise. "...And Tomorrow The World" isn't on here, but that's because I could never burn it properly from the single, annoyingly enough. I should try again. Meanwhile, I'm still missing a digitized version of the original "Sunfly," so if some kind soul could contact me...

First disc:

Vegas
Feels Like Tomorrow
Whiplashed
Boo! Forever
Buffalo Bill
Sunfly II: Walking With the Kings
Lazarus (full version)
At the Sound of Speed
Let Me Be Your Faith
Petroleum
As Bound as Tomorrow
I Will Always Ask You Where You've Been Even Though I Know the Answer
Peachy Keen
Furthur
Crow Eye
Tortoiseshell
Zoom
Cracked Lips, Homesick
(I Wanna Be) Touchdown Jesus

Second disc:

Lazarus (acoustic)
Peachy Keen (acoustic)
Janus
Blues For George Michael
Friendship Song
Wake Up Boo: Music for Astronauts
The History of Creation
Don't Take Your Gun to Town
Wallpaper
The Only Word I Can Find
Very Together
This Is Not About Me
Tambo
Donkey
From the Beach at Belvedere
Hi Falutin
Almost Nearly There
I Want a Rainbow
French Canadian

Third disc:

Bloke in a Dress
Flakes
Atlantic
The Absent Boy
Annie and Marnie
Spion Kop
To Beautiful
Nothing To Do But Scare Myself
Vote You
A Part I Know So Well
Roadie
Safe at Home
Everything Falls Away
In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
Spanish Lizards
Superintendent
Last Night I Dreamed of God
Tomorrow
Free Huey (Rasmus mix)
Skywalker
There She Goes
It's Lulu (live)
XFM is Ace
Oh Brother
The Queen is Dead

Remix disc:

Rodney King (St. Etienne mix)
Lazarus (Flood remix)
Find the Answer Within (High Llamas mix)
Reaching Out From Here (High Llamas mix)
Martin, Doom! It's Seven O'Clock (Stereolab remix)
Joel (Justin Warfield remix)
What's In the Box? (Kris's Erupting Cricket Box mix)
Bullfrog Green (Ultra Living remix)
From the Bench at Belvedere (Ultramarine remix)
Fortunate Sons (Greg Hunter remix)
Everything Is Sorrow (Grantby remix)
C'mon Kids (Mekon remix)
Free Huey (Environmental Science remix)

And there ya go.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm still back on this "'Into The Groove' was a B-side in the US" thing. Am I the only person who saw the video for this one Friday Night Videos when "Desperatly Seeking Susan" came out? You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing that song! (It was right around th time that "Crazy For You" came out.)

― Dan Perry, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Of course it was an A-side, it was all over the place. And indeed it was the follow-up single -- by accident maybe more than design -- to "Crazy For You" (crazy for ya babehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...).

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Subway Sect: Different Story is a huge favourite of mine, and was the B-side on the also-great single Ambition.

― Martin Skidmore, Friday, 31 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I do think Black Box Recorder's B-Side collection is their best album - the aforementioned Start As You Mean To Go On is fantastic, as is Jackie Sixty, Seasons In The Sun, and especially Rock and Roll Suicide. Nixey has never sounded finer...

― Mr Swygart, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

How many bands would be looked at in a completely different light if their B-sides had been A-sides? How many would still be successful? How many would be more successful?

― Dan Perry, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Charlatans give good b-side. The track "Title Fight" is almost the best track they ever wrote.

― Peggy Michel, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

How many would be more successful?

I don't think that many -- great as all those PSB B-sides are, switching over to them from the A-sides completely would be...a little too extreme. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, come on. There are some pop masterpieces in there, like "In The Night", "A Man Could Get Arrested", "Was That What It Was?", "Paninaro", "Jack The Lad", "Don Juan", "Too Many People", "Miserablism", "Hey Headmaster", "Shameless", "Decadance", "Some Speculation", "I Want A Dog", "Bet She's Not Your Girlfriend", "Losing My Mind", "We All Feel Better In The Dark", "Music For Boys"... Really the only one that I could see scaring people is "The Sound Of The Atom Splitting", which is its own level of genius. I'd give a lot of money to be able to go back in time and replace cockfarming "Domino Dancing" with any of those songs.

― Dan Perry, Saturday, 1 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the thing isn't that sort of replacement (I fully agree, great pop, all those), but just the thought of all those beautiful A-sides then in turn becoming B-sides... ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 2 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But "Always On My Mind" and "Domino Dancing" sucked.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But you're WRONG. (Argument continues to the sounding of the last trump)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

In what universe is "Domino Dancing" a good song, Ned? It's tacky, tawdry, painful, boring, undanceable, and stupid. It's the type of song that, if it was a person, would be the greasy guy that hovers outside your back windo and exposes his atrophied genitalia at your grandmother while she was trying to enjoy her soup.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's tacky, tawdry, painful, boring, undanceable, and stupid.

Like MEMEMEMEMEMEMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

I like the horns, the guitar and the salsa piano, so sue me. The guy who did all those great Expose tunes cowrote the music = it is worthy. And if we're talking general PSB elements, I like the way Neil's voice just softly comes down from the heights on the chorus. Nice.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

But it works on the Expose tunes. Imagine Neil Tennant singing "Let Me Be The One" and you'll start to see why I detest "Domino Dancing" so much. If only I'd known that "Don Juan" was so brilliant back then, I wouldn't have written the Boys off for several years...

― Dan Perry, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All right, I'll allow for that argument, I thought you were dismissing the song out of hand, see...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 3 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

Hi. I just discovered this page becuase I was searching info about the Boo Radleys. A great discussion, since I absolutely love b-sides. It has something romantic, and originally a british thing. Lots of great sixties bands already had b-sides. I agree with a lot of you people about suede, blur, radiohead, pulp, etc., etc. having great b- sides. Some of my favorite b-sides: Uncle love and Young and lovely by Blur, Violins and happy endings by dEUS, Child of the moon by the Rolling Stones, Rain by the Beatles (best b-side ever?), Belle and Sebastian by Belle and Sebastian :), Do you believe in me and You can by Catatonia, 4th of july by Daryll Ann, 20 years in the dakota by Hole, Open up your eyes by the Hollies, I need you by the Kinks, 17 Days by Prince, Lull by Radiohead, Manta ray by the Pixies, too many to mention by Pulp, Starla and Meladori magpie by the Smashing Pumpkins, Stalker by Sonic Youth, Sam and Another no one by Suede and Imagine the swan by the Zombies.

― Freek Claassen, Friday, 19 July 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

five years pass...

"Into The Groove" was originally a European A-side, but was introduced in the U.S. as a B-side of the "Angel" single. I was just being Yankcentric as usual. Sorry.

My copy of "Angel" has an extended remix of "Angel" as the b-side.

― billstevejim, Sunday, 4 November 2007 21:59 (seventeen years ago)

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