Hello there,

who in your opinion makes a great effort to release great B-sides? Obviously Prince is way up there, but I think some other artists are pretty cool in that respect as well. Top of my heads are Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, Depeche Mode, and even Mariah Carey has some cool "alternative" versions (although not really B-sides in the sense of new, unreleased songs).

Your favourites?

B-sides take an artist to the next level, in my opinion. They are a fan's wet dream!

Here are some of my favorite "B-side" artists:

The Cure ( Join the Dots )
Eurythmics
Björk
Kylie Minogue
New Order
The Smiths

quoted for emphasis...as a former cure completist, i had real mixed feelings when this came out. it completed my collection, at the same time making it obsolete. the b-sides from the wish album are some of my favorite cure songs ever.

believe it or not: wendy and lisa

Moonbeam said:

Man, good point.

tori amos

radiohead

suede

sosgemini said:

Siouxsie too.

My favorite B-Sides come from the Pet SHop Boys.

Pet Shop Boys.....check out their 'ALTERNATIVE' cd....fab

Depeche Mode also....especially instrumentals such as St Jarna, the b-side to Little 15

peppeken said:

Alternative is VERY old. They need to come up with a follow up to that.

The Cure
The Banshees
Tori Amos
Lush

They all have tons of tracks that would fill multiple discs.

Hands Down Pet Shop Boys.

Hell some of the B sides are better than the A sides.

lazycrockett said:

That's very true. I'll bet that they struggle with what to put on and what to leave off. Fundamental was a strange oddity as ALL of the B-sides would have sounded better on the album than some of the songs that were on there. I think there is always a reason like not liking how the vocals come out i.e Party Song.

yeah, I would say Pet Shop Boys...

well, my favorite B-Side Band is the Beatles!!! Revolution, Strawberry Fields Forever, I'm Down, Rain, I Am The Walrus...

but they're B-Sides are too known to be considered b-sides I guess..

PSB has some great b-sides BUT Neil said they won't release a follow up to Alternative since the b-sides will be featured in the Further Listening CDs

graecophilos said:

I think the Beatles released Double A-sides. Yeah it's a shame that there will be no follow up to alternative.

Suede

superspaceboy, most of the singles were not Double A-Sides. As far as I know We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper and Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever were.

suede/sci-fi lullabies

Gorillaz

Crowded House
The Cure
Travis

PJ HARVEY!

InsatiableCream said:

good call. their last b-side compilation could have been a new gorillaz album in itself, it's so full of good stuff.

i agree with the cure too, especially with the statement that as cool as the 'join the dots' box set is, it does kinda take the shine out of a lot of our hard-earned rarities collections. not that i'm complaining. i'm still digging through that box set!

the pixies did a pretty good job with b-sides too, for as brief as their recording history was. i have a b-sides compilation of theirs, and it's pretty solid. the bowie geek in me was tickled to discover the pixies covered neil young's "i've been waiting for you", which bowie also covered on the "heathen" album (bowie also covered a pixies song on that album...coincidence?).

I forgot to mention Duran Duran.

Krid said:

Beside Prince, the only other "B-Sides" artist I ever care about was Janet.

TonyVanDam said:

"You Need Me," "The Skin Game," "And On and On"...

AlexdeParis said:

I like "Rock 'n' Roll".

every mentioned some good ones, i think, smashing pumpkins. t.rex perhaps as well?

baroque said:

Smashing Pumpkins definitely