B-Sides, The Point

In some people, the term inspires about as much excitement as the idea of day-old donuts. For other listeners, it can quicken the pulse rate and make the mouth water. Call them what you will: "non-album tracks", "rarities" ... to put it bluntly, B-sides are the leftovers of the music world.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. As a not-quite-rabid collector of those sometimes rare recordings of the select few artists of whom I simply cannot get by without anything short of an absolutely complete discography (not counting bootleg concert recordings or the occasionally underhwleming cover song), I can tell you that I've heard B-sides for which it's glaringly obvious why they didn't make the final track listing of the album ... and I've heard songs that are so damn good that they should have been not only included on the album, but even released as singles.

Here is a list of my favorite B-sides ever, in no particular order. Some are fairly easy to find, some are needles in haystacks, but all are worth the hunt, especially if you're fond of the artist to begin with.

"Paint a Pretty Picture" by Tal Bachman -- Some musicians just use guitars that sound like bagpipes in their songs ... Tal Bachman went all the way and used actual bagpipes! Maybe the producer, Bob Rock, thought that some listeners might find the song too grating to include as a track on Tal's 1999 self-titled album, but I love its unique sound, more than most of the songs on the album ... and it's a fantastic album, so that's really saying something. It's available in two mixes: as a B-side on his UK "She's So High" single, and with toned-down percussion (the version I like more) on a hard-to-find 3-track promotional disc that I somehow managed to get a hold of.

"Over My Head" by Taxiride -- For some reason, I didn't care all that much for Australian rock band Taxiride's third album, "Axiomatic", but I kept the single of the song I enjoyed the most, "Oh Yeah", on which this moody, atmospheric ballad can be found. I think it's also included on the Japanese version of "Axiomatic" as a bonus track ... either way, it's worth having.

"Anything" by D-Side -- One of the new wave of boybands that hit the UK music scene in 2003, D-Side was originally a five-piece group who put out a good debut album, but lost two of its members and switched gears to a ballad-heavy sound for its second album. This upbeat gem manages to deliver a fresh sound (for a boyband), and can be found on their "Real World" single, or as one of two bonus tracks on the Japanese edition of their debut album, "Stronger Together".

"Dangerous" by Kavana -- I've loved the gorgeous voice of British pop singer Kavana for years, and have been waiting and hoping for him to make a comeback, so I can have more than two albums and a smattering of B-sides to enjoy from him. This is one of his better songs ... a lush, darkly sexy ballad, whose instrumental version (which I also have) is just as captivating as the vocal edit. You'll find it on his "I Can Make You Feel Good" single.

"Ya Ya" by The Moffatts -- The philosophical side of Canadian pop-rockers The Moffatts comes through in the uplifting "Ya Ya" ... an odd name for a really good and catchy song. An acoustic-guitar version is the easier-to-find one, on one of their UK singles (I can't remember which ... sorry!), but my favorite is the full-band "plugged-in" version, for which it's worth hunting down their 4-track JC Penney promotional EP from 2000.

"Delicious" by Ben Adams -- As I said in my "Thnairg's Hit Parade 2006" post, this one is a guilty pleasure ... kind-of cheesy lyrics, but you'll have it running through your head long after the first listen. It's the kind of thing that would have fit right in on Justin Timberlake's first album, if he took his image a bit less seriously. It's on CD1 of Ben Adams' "Sorry" single.

"Easy Way Out" by McFly -- McFly is one of those bands who's so good, they've never really had a "bad" B-side. For this list, it was a pretty close race between this breezy ditty (which could easily be a single in its own right) and their great cover of The Kinks' "Lola", but originals win out over covers nearly every time. This one is on their "I Wanna Hold You" single.

"Fairytales Sandcastles" by Lifehouse -- I'm really just a slightly more than lukewarm fan of Lifehouse, and I picked up their Australian "Hanging By a Moment" single primarily because it was backed by a whopping three non-album tracks. Little did I know I'd grow so fond of this energetic number ... complete with a toy piano. (Anybody who tells you a toy piano has no place in a rock or pop song, don't believe them!)

"Sun Is Shining" by The Feeling -- Anyone who's familiar with The Feeling knows how bouncy and fun their songs can be. This is one of their bounciest and funnest (is that a word?) of all! I'm not sure if it's on any of their singles, but you'll definitely find it on the Japanese release of their "Twelve Stops And Home" album. I spent a pretty penny to get it, but it was worth it!

"If You Knew What I Knew" by Backstreet Boys -- I've always liked NSYNC a bit more than Backstreet Boys, but songs like this make me momentarily second-guess that preference. It's a ballad, but with a bit of a funk/R&B twist. I ripped it to an MP3 before I traded in the "Larger Than Life" single it was on ... but, being more of an old-school, "physical CD" kind of guy, I like it so much that I'm thinking of hunting down another copy of it on eBay!