The 10 best B-side albums
By Niall Doherty published 12 hours ago
Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Oasis, The Smiths, Deftones, the Manics and more all had classics going spare, as these superlative compilations prove


Not to sound all “it used to be all fields round here, it was lovely” but if there’s one thing to be mourned about music in the digital age, it’s the loss of the B-side. As a 90s kid, the era of the maxi-single and two-disc single releases, you were constantly bombarded with brilliant B-sides. It's an artform without equivalent in the modern age – bonus tracks tagged onto the end of a record on streaming platforms doesn't cut it. Whereas they feel like some sort of shruggy, ‘added content’ after-thought, the best B-sides had something irrepressibly special about them. They were the perfect vehicle for artists in the midst of a purple patch to keep delivering, where some acts even produced work to match their main stream of output. You will never see a world-beating collection of Bonus Tracks in the way that the B-side has left us with a marvel of excellent B-side compilations. Here’s 10 top-grade B-sides albums that are up there with some of these bands’ best records…

Oasis – The Masterplan
The thing we have to thank for an Oasis B-side collection so majestic that it’s their third, possibly even second, best record is Noel Gallagher’s obvious impatience. The songs were just pouring out of him as Oasis broke through in the mid-90s and he just couldn’t bear to sit on them, it was imperative to him that they were released into the wild as soon as possible. That's why you’ve got Oasis classics such as Acquiesce and The Masterplan, career-defining songs for any other band, as B-sides. Such is the all-encompassing cultural impact of Oasis’ music that songs that seemed sweet, throwaway acoustic ditties at the time such as Talk Tonight and Half The World Away are now worshipped just as much as their big hits. Also features their raucous version of The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus for anyone miffed they didn’t play it at this summer’s shows.




Smashing Pumpkins – Pisces Iscariot
Noel Gallagher might well have regretted at sticking a load of would-be singles as B-sides when it came to writing Oasis’ below-par third album Be Here Now, but no such issues for Smashing Pumpkins’ leader Billy Corgan. He followed up their imperious B-side and outtakes album Pisces Iscariot with the monstrously successful double-album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. You could say the dynamic gear changes of that record, its swings between snarling hard-rock riffage and delicate acoustic numbers, had its blueprint in this compilation. The tone is set in the way fragile, stripped-down opener Soothe immediately dives head-first into the urgent rocker Frail And Bedazzled. There are some Pumpkins worldies on the record – and there forlorn take on Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide is one of the best covers ever.




R.E.M. – Dead Letter Office
R.E.M.’s 80s was a continuous upward curve which they began as an arty college-rock combo and ended as one of the biggest bands on the planet. Dead Letter Office, released in 1987, pulls from songs released in the midst of the transformation. Everything to be loved about R.E.M. is here: jangly riffs, lithe rhythmic grooves, sweetly captivating melodies, lyrics that don’t make any sense. A giddy cover of Aerosmith’s Toys In The Attic only adds to the allure.




-snip-