Best B-Sides Album/Boxsets

[Soot and Stars]

O.K., Simple thread! No explanation needed and mine is a given:

The Pumpkins were the first band to prove to me that a band can be so great and amazing that even their extra "throwaway" tracks can be better than most bands regular material. I love every track on this five disc set which has each single from Melloncollie lead off each disc. Every disc has a different feel as well. The "Tonight, Tonight" disc has a great sparse, spacy acoustic set. The "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" disc has a collection of great rocking covers, The "Zero" disc has the darkest songs, The "Thirty-Three" disc with the exception of the Aeroplane title track has a retro feel to it and the "1979" disc has the fluffiest pop with a couple dark tracks thrown in for contrast! I listen to this collection as much as I do any regular album by them!

What are your B-side collections?

 

[Lynch]

B-sides are for elitist jerks who deep down are afraid of the conformity known as "the A-sides".


(even though we all know they play the A-sides deep in the dead of night, in the darkest corners of their homes, curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth... back and forth)

(yes, I said rocking)

 

[Soot and Stars]

B-sides are for elitist jerks who deep down are afraid of the conformity known as "the A-sides".


(even though we all know they play the A-sides deep in the dead of night, in the darkest corners of their homes, curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth... back and forth)

(yes, I said rocking)

Hey, each disc in my collection contains an A-Side so there! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

 

[Nololob]

Nazareth apart from having a big number of studio albums they released lots of B-Side singles of non-album tracks. All of them were included in the latest Naz reissues. Here are some of B-Side tracks off "From The Vaults" album

Hard Living (B-Side of Bad Bad Boy)

Spinning Top (B-Side of Bad Bad Boy)
[GROOVESHARK]25043392[/GROOVESHARK]
Down (B-Side of Love Hurts)

Railroad Boy (B-Side of Holy Roller)

Greens

Desolation Road

 

[Lynch]

Hey, each disc in my collection contains an A-Side so there!

Same here. Side A has the label, track list, artist, etc. Side B has the music.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

 

[LG]

^^

I am staying out of that one gentlemen.

I am not a fan of B-sides generally speaking. There was a reason in the 60's - 80's that those tracks were not released on regular studio albums. In some cases a few gems have come to light over the last few years as Record Companies try to do anything they can to sell us yet more copies of old material. For newer bands I don't think B-sides should ever be a problem, you have 80's minutes on a CD, and unlimited time on i-tunes on the download side.

This is about marketing and money more than artistic merit. For fans like Sooty who are so passionate about a particular band, all the power to him if he Has to Have all their material, A - Z sides included.

For me, among all the great old albums converted to CD that I have bought over the years, I can't think of One instance where one of the "Demo's" was better than the original finished version. I have no problem with them adding filler to the CD, but I simply "Eject" the CD when the original tracks are done.

There are exceptions, deceased artists who have left numerous recordings behind, unfinished or rough drafts, but I don't need to buy them myself. The Hendrix archives recently released comes to mind.