How do you think The B-Sides album would have fared if it had been released as a stand alone album rather than as part of The Hits package? Maybe including the new songs - Pink Cashmere, Peach, Nothing Compares 2 U (I could leave Pope!)

In my opinion it has some of his strongest ever material on and could have been huge. Unfortunately I think the casual fan / general population missed out on this treat as they would have been put off by buying the 3 CD Hits boxset.

What are your thoughts?

The casual fans never knew our treat..until now.

I think if it had a standalone release, his B-sides might have been acknowledged earlier.

I certainly think he made a mistake in the final years of his life by not releasing the full versions digitally. I hope the Estate doesn't make that mistake.

It is easily one of the most enjoyable discs of music he has released - a contender for top 3 for me. There's not a single song on there that I don't like.

I don't know how well it would have fared commercially, but it is top notch.

I don't think it would have been a major hit. There are a lot of good songs on it, no doubt. The problem if you released it as a stand alone album is that the songs don't especially work together well as a unit. I rarely play the B-sides in it's entirety for that reason. Instead, I make my own mixes with some of the songs. Another obstacle of it being a major hit is that it contains a number of wonderfully freaky songs that most of us love here but probably wouldn'tappear to the general public. God might be for the masses but not the song God .

gandorb said:

I don't think it would have been a major hit. There are a lot of good songs on it, no doubt. The problem if you released it as a stand alone album is that the songs don't especially work together well as a unit. I rarely play the B-sides in it's entirety for that reason.

Instead, I make my own mixes with some of the songs. Another obstacle of it being a major hit is that it contains a number of wonderfully freaky songs that most of us love here but probably wouldn'tappear to the general public. God might be for the masses but not the song God .

Well, based on that idea, The Hits 1 or The Hits 2 aren't necessarily a cohesive set of songs either, other than one is a bit more R-rated than the other.

I think we hear it as cohesive because it's what we know now. We're familiar with it, and used to it.

The B-Sides could have been an interesting release, because even the casual fan knew songs like "Erotic City" or possibly "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore" (because of Stephanie Mills' version 10 years prior). They could also market things like "previously unreleased on CD - the love theme from Purple Rain", and "never released on audio song from LiveAid / We Are The World" type thing. And the non-album single "Gotta Stop (Messin' About)" that was only a secondary b-side a year later. Those are interesting notes to a casual listener, plus "Erotic City'.

So, who knows.