The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

Radiohead – “Faithless The Wonderboy”
Anyone Can Play Guitar (1993)
Parlophone/Capitol

“I’ve had these jeans since i was born
And now they’re ripped and now they’re torn
And all my friends have skateboards
I want the toys of other boys
I want a knife and a gun and things
But mom and dad will not give in”

It’s that time once again, friends. Another look at my favourite flip-sides. Those songs that the band either felt weren’t good enough or simply didn’t fit the overall theme of the record that end up relegated to afterthought status or bonus tracks. Oftentimes, a great band will have so many great songs that a lot of their b-sides are just as wonderful if not more so than the singles they accompany or other tracks on the record. Radiohead are the one band in recent times that fit this to a tee. You want to talk about a band in need of a box set or at the very least a b-sides/rarities compilation, it’s the band that in my opinion is still the best band in the world going today. The amount of sterling material to be found that has yet to even be released by the band is startling in a very good way. Maybe one day, the band or Capitol will see fit to let us take a deep look inside this treasure trove but in the meantime, I’ll simply gush about one of the first tracks I heard from the band after the ubiquitous loser anthem Creep that forever cemented my eternal love for the band.

Faithless The Wonderboy is short, sweet and a lyric drenched in melancholy. The combination that would evolve over time and make the bands legends in their time but in 1993, they were simply somewhat disturbing. A boy lamenting the fact he simply cannot do the same things as the other kids because of an affliction he suffers from. Granted one could make the case and many critics at the time did that Radiohead was cut from the same cloth as a lot of the grunge noise that was bandied about in 1994 but luckily for us Radiohead would prove them all wrong. In my estimation, it’s songs like Faithless that showed the depth that Radiohead would reveal in greater detail one record later. While Faithless itself with its loud/soft dynamic changes is a simple song, it always stuck with me because within the state of flux suggested by the music, the core of the song itself, the pain and hurt this boy is feeling as described by Thom simply tears the heart out of me. That’s what great songs do.

“Faithless The Wonderboy” by Radiohead

Last we heard from Lucas and Kyle, the duo also known as Visitor had given the blogosphere a jolt with their fantastic single Los Feeling. A scintillating slice of electro-pop with a dynamic chorus that pays off in spades. News of the duo’s bright future spread far and wide as the band would come to the attention of French remix king, Alan Braxe, who quickly snatched them up and signed them to his Vulture label. Now the partnership is about to bear fruit as Visitor is about ready to give Los Feeling a proper release for even more fans of all things synthy and sweet to enjoy.

The single is out on the 21st of June and I trust you all will be waiting with anticipation. I know I will be!

“Love (Club Edit)” by Visitor, taken from the forthcoming Vulture release, “Los Feeling”

The debut single by Hurts has finally come upon us in the form of  Better Than Love. The uptempo toe-tapper should hopefully find itself racing up the UK charts pretty quickly with a little help from their friends. The band throws us a bit of a curveball on the flipside of the single as the b-side Mother Nature could be aptly described as nothing short of a hidden treasure. A piano ballad that reminds a bit of Depeche Mode from the Music For The Masses era, Mother Nature showcases Theo’s vocal range quite nicely. A little piano, throw in some strings and choir chant patches and we have a track that should display the duo’s versatility to those not yet enthralled by their excellence. Simply put, Hurts just keeps getting better and better.

“Mother Nature” by Hurts, taken from the Major Label release, “Better Than Love”

The Smiths – “Jeane”
This Charming Man (1983)
Rough Trade/WEA

“Jeane
I’m not sure what happiness means
But I look in your eyes
And I know
That it isn’t there”

Call me biased. It’s fine. I can take it. It’s of my opinion and should be recognized as incontrovertible fact that when you’re talking about the quality of b-sides, no one did it better than the Smiths. In their brief five year career which included nineteen singles, it’s pretty easy to see that each and every b-side was a thing of immaculated crafted beauty. Granted, one may quibble over the production of the early singles but there can be no debate over just how brilliant the songs were.

Case in point, I bring you quite possibly my favourite Smiths b-side and to take it a step further, one of my favourite Smiths songs ever, Jeane. Originally a song to appear on what was supposed to be the first Smiths record now known as the Troy Tate sessions, Jeane is a perfect primer into the essence of Manchester’s finest. The incomparable Johnny Marr’s melodic jangly guitar riffs, the most underappreciated rhythm section of the last thirty years in Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce providing the Motown-esque backdrop, topped off by the Mozzer’s kitchen-sink tale of a relationship gone horribly sour with no resolution in sight.  Sadly, a treasure such as this lay hidden in a 1983 7 inch single on the back of the indie classic This Charming Man. Luckily it’s now readily available on the latest Smiths compilation, 2008’s The Sound Of The Smiths. Definitely worth picking up for the uninitiated and rabid disciples alike.

Where would music be without the Smiths…? I shudder at the thought.

“Jeane” by The Smiths, taken from the Rough Trade/WEA release, “This Charming Man”

“You say that you’re really sorry
But sorry don’t work when you’ve heard it
For the fifty-second time
You should be ready to say goodbye”

Keeping with the Erasure vibe, here’s one of my favourite b-sides from the band called Paradise. This song can be found on the Drama! single which was the leadoff single from Erasure’s fourth record, 1989’s Wild.  Following the massive success of their previous release, 1988’s The Innocents, it appeared that Andy and Vince decided to branch out a bit with their sound. The results were well..wild indeed. The singles introduced audiences to a more confident and daring band who realised they had been handed the baton of success and were not afraid to run with it. The b-sides, especially in the case of Paradise, showed us a more playful side of the band as well.

Paradise is simply a mini kitchen-sink drama in which blue-eyed soul and Motown collide. Vince’s melodic genius drives the car while Andy rails against a lover who takes him for granted every way possible and he’s frankly had it. What makes this song so perfect is how joyous it sounds. You can tell Vince and Andy had a ton of fun in the studio, writing and recording. So much so, the song itself sounds effortless. No muss, no fuss. Just pure unadulterated pop music. Thank heavens for Erasure. Bless their hearts.

“Paradise” by Erasure, taken from the Mute/Sire release, “Drama!”