Category: Song of the Week

James K. Polk by They Might Be Giants: Great B-Sides

John Flansburgh and John Linnell have been making nerdy pop music as They Might Be Giants since 1982. The Massachusetts … Continue Reading James K. Polk by They Might Be Giants: Great B-Sides

Little Richard emerged in the first wave of rock and roll in the 1950s, with hits like ‘Tutti Frutti’ and … Continue Reading Great B-Sides: I Don’t Know What You’ve Got But It’s Got Me (Part 2) by Little Richard

James Murphy always intended to be a drummer or a sound technician, but ended up fronting a dance-rock band New … Continue Reading Yr City’s A Sucker by LCD Soundsystem – Great B-sides

In 1967, The Rolling Stones followed The Beatles into baroque psychedelia. While the resulting album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, has … Continue Reading Child of the Moon by The Rolling Stones: Great B-Sides

There are b-sides that are of high quality, that should never have been left off their parent albums. And then … Continue Reading The End of the Affair by Prefab Sprout – Great B-sides

Rock chameleon David Bowie experienced two separate career peaks. Most artists improve with experience then run out of ideas, but … Continue Reading Velvet Goldmine by David Bowie: Great B-sides

I spent many happy hours in my late teens and twenties trawling used bins for CD bargains. I gained a … Continue Reading Needle Hits E by Sugar: Great B-Sides

The b-side is largely a 20th century commodity – from around 2005, singles charts began to count digital downloads, and … Continue Reading Fever by Carly Rae Jepsen: Great B-Sides

It’s counter-intuitive to include The Smiths‘ most iconic song in a b-side series, but it was first released as the … Continue Reading Great B-Sides: How Soon is Now? by The Smiths

So far, in this b-sides series, there have been four scenarios in which good songs find themselves languishing on the … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Find the Cost of Freedom by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

As much as I love The Beatles, their solo careers have always mildly disappointed me. If you put ten years … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Daytime Nighttime Suffering by Wings

The Replacements started as a bratty punk band, but as the 1980s wore on they lost their rough edges. They … Continue Reading Great B-sides: If Only You Were Lonely by The Replacements

The late Tom Petty was a brilliant singles artist – he wrote hit after hit of likeable, jangle rock. Contemporaries … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Girl on LSD by Tom Petty

The untimely passing of Talk Talk mastermind Mark Hollis this week has sent many fans back to re-examine his masterpieces. … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Pictures of Bernadette by Talk Talk

Kate Bush‘s 1982 album The Dreaming was excellent, but it wasn’t especially commercially successful. She’d previously enjoyed ground-breaking UK success; … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Under the Ivy by Kate Bush

B-sides are a relatively rare commodity for progressive rock bands. They often refused to stoop to the level of those … Continue Reading Great B-sides: Twilight Alehouse by Genesis