is this a bootleg or an official release?

smashing pumpkins - pisces iscariot
lotta nirvana boots compiling b-sides

nobody has brought up oasis - masterplan yet?

Official. It was a bonus disc to Different Class.

oh yes, i think i got this from you on slsk.... it's only like 8 or 9 songs, right?

it's an official release. there are two versions - german/australian & japanese. the german one comes as a bonus disc with different class and the aussie one is separate, but they have the same tracklistings. the japanese edition has an extra mix of "common people" instead of "PTA", which is on the japanese different class.

smashing pumpkins - pisces iscariot
any one of a number of nirvana b-side compilation boots

oh yeah -- their last good release, imo

I'll second The Cure, Gomez and Smashing Pumpkins. Lately I've been listening to Morcheeba "Beats and B-Sides" that came as a bundle along with "Who Can You Trust?" That's a good one too.

XTC - Rag & Bone Buffet is choice, but most of their best B-sides became bonus cuts on the individual CDs.

Squeeze needs to put out a comprehensive B-sides collection instead of sprinkling them at random across 15 redundant Best Of comps.

Sugar - Besides

Sires "Attack Of The Killer B's" Vols 1 & 2 are pretty decent as well. Lump's got it right, though, most b-sides make it as bonus tracks on individual cd's.

The Undertones, The Clash, The Stranglers, XTC all did this. Else, there songs were released on an overall singles comp, a la Squeeze, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Joy Division, New Order, etc.

Personally, I'm not a fan of "B-Sides" compilations. I prefer that the b-side remain a rarity, something to be enjoyed only by the fans who could be bothered to buy the single. Compilations tend to cheapen the material.

R.E.M's Dead Letter Office is sweet. The Velvet Underground covers are worth the price of admission alone. And the U2 b-sides from the '80's were great too. The greatest hits package did a good job of compiling them.

two more.

so far most people have mentioned some interesting stuff...though:

where can i gets me some b-sides from Garbage's first album-era? that's the only album of their that i like.

Morcheeba's B-sides album is really just remixes i think, does that even count?

as far as b-side comps that have not been mentioned yet:
NOFX's "45 or 46 songs that wouldn't fit on the albums" compilation is great simply because of it's comprehensiveness, and there's hardly any filler to boot.

...as opposed to cub's "Mauler" album which i think is great but unfortunately a very incomplete B-sides collection.

It'd have to be a bootleg, they didn't officially compile anything...but there was this one Japanese 5-track EP...Special something?

There needs to be a Matthew Sweet B-sides collection sometime, too. Between the singles, compilation tracks, tribute albums, covers on soundtracks (yay "Magnet and Steel" on Sabrina the Teenage Witch!), Best Buy-exclusive EP-with-purchase, and what have you, there's gotta be a double CDs worth.

I forgot 'Lost Dogs" by Pearl Jam. There's some good shit on there.

My fav album is pretty much a B-side comp...



allmusic.com review

5 stars

What is most remarkable about Sticks and Stones, far and away the strongest record The 77's ever produced, is that it is essentially a compilation of rejects. Though it is comprised entirely of aborted singles and stray studio recordings, Sticks and Stones is as masterful and fluid as any proper album. From the clattering, rambunctious opener "MT" to the stark, harrowing "God Sends Quails," The 77's combine elements of classic pop and obstinate new wave around Michael Roe's aching tenor and desperate lyrics. The anthemic tendencies that upstaged the songwriting on The 77's are here reined in and controlled, leaving large, open spaces for Roe and Mark Tootle to flood with melody. "Don't, This Way," a haunting contemplation of mortality, is carried along on a single, sorrowful guitar line. "Nowhere Else" is a dazzling pop number buttressed by the Shirelles-like backing vocals of the Nurk Sisters. But perhaps the record's most trenchant, compelling feature is the way that Roe's longtime preoccupation with human failure here gives way to a naked yearning for love. Having spent the bulk of The 77's in remorse, Roe turns Sticks and Stones into a plea for compassion, pleading at one point to "release the past" lest it pollute the future. Though they were culled from disparate sources, the songs on Sticks and Stones together form a compelling portrait of sorrow and renewal, as affecting as it is timeless.

by J. Edward Keyes

this is the correct answer, as e-stone and some others have attested. Two cd's of pure ecstacy. not a bad track in the lot.