Soundtrack4Life: B-Sides Special

A little something for the weekend. Have been trawling my collection and have put together a Playlist of Thirty of the best Punk/New Wave B-Sides!

The Prisoner - The Clash.

Flip side of (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais and just one of many great B-Sides by The Clash.

The Butterfly Collector - The Jam.

Strange Town was the A-Side and like a lot of bands around these times The Jam had some brilliant B-Sides.

The video is a live performance from Paris in 1981.

Society - The Ruts.

A real gem of a B-Side. Babylon's Burning is the A-Side and this track is a fine compliment to it. Also worth checking out is a version of this with Henry Rollins on lead vocals and also a performance from a couple of years ago of the Ruts DC playing it live when they were out supporting The Damned.

Soda Pressing - They Boys.

B-Side of I Don't Care and like a number of other B-Sides by The Boys it could quite easily have been an A-Side.

Bored Teenagers - The Adverts.

This probably could have been an A-Side because it is a real cracker of a song. It ended up on the flip side of Gary Gilmore's Eyes. The video is from a performance on the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test.

I Wanna Be Sedated - Ramones.

From the Road to Ruin album and on the B-Side of She's the One. A real classic Ramones tune this one and deserved better than to be a humble B-Side.

Can't Keep My Eyes On You - The Heartbreakers.

One of the tracks on the B-Side of One Track Mind, it also featured on The Heartbreakers one and only Studio album L.A.M.F.

20th Century Boy - Siouxsie and the Banshees.

B-Side of The Staircase (Mystery) and a great rocking version of a fab T-Rex tune.

Noise Annoys - Buzzcocks.

Buzzcocks were another band who had great B-Sides and this one is the flip to Love You More. This particular version is actually the John Peel Session version which I think is superior.

Noise Noise Noise - The Damned.

B-Side of Smash It Up and another great B-Side from The Damned. I actually can't think of a bad one that they released back in those days between 1976-1979.

My Mind Ain't So Open - Magazine.

B-Side to the most excellent Shot By Both Sides. Howard Devoto at his finest.

Pills - The Lurkers.
B-Side to I Don't Need To Tell Her that came in four different picture sleeves (one of each member of the band Howard Wall - vocals, Pete Stride - Guitar, Esso - Drums and Nigel Moore - Bass). It was the 9th single released on Beggars Banquet label back in 1978 (The Lurkers have the honour of the first two releases on the label set up by the a South London record shop in 1977)
 

Action - 999.
 This was on a Free 7" given away with Mail Order copies of 'Seperates', the second studio album from 999. It was essentially a Double A-Side with Waiting.

Down in Flames - Dead Boys.
This one's the B-Side to one of the all-time classic Punk singles Sonic Reducer. The Dead Boys often get a mention when talk turns to CBGB's etc but I think there's not nearly enough respect given to them that they deserve.

Runaway - Slaughter and the Dogs.
Runaway actually first appeared on the The Roxy London WC2 album that was released in 1977 on Harvest Records (EMI). The single You Ready Now came out in November 1979 and should have been a hit.

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - The Slits.
I cannot think how many times I saw The Slits before they got signed but they were always a sight to behold, blessed chaos and some cool songs. Their first Peel Session still stands as a great record of what they were like prior to getting a decent producer in their lives. This probably should have been the A-Side but Typical Girls won out on that.

No Faith - Suburban Studs.
Questions was the A-Side of the debut single from Birmingham band Suburban Studs on Pogo Records. There's actually two versions of the B-Side No Faith, the second one has a Saxophone in it. They only released two singles and an album before splitting.

No No No - Generation X.
B-Side to Ready Steady Go the third single from Generation X. Not all their singles had great B-Sides but the first three releases were great in my opinion.

You're Not Blank - The Dils.
I Hate The Rich was a cracking little slice of Vinyl from early Californian Punk band The Dils. I can remember buying this from HMV in Oxford Street as an Import when it was released.

Fade Away and Radiate - Blondie.
B-Side to Picture This and great gem from New Yorkers Blondie. Once again (as with a lot of the bands at the time) they had quite a number of brilliant B-Sides in their early days.

Solitary Confinement - The Members.
I always loved the Stiff Records version of this song that was originally released in 1977. This got a nice reboot when it showed up on the reverse of Offshore Banking Business and on their debut album At Chelsea Nightclub.

Do The Rat - Boomtown Rats.
Second Single by The Boomtown Rats was Mary of the 4th Form and this sat on the flip side. I did love some of their early singles and the first album still sounds great to my ears.

I'll Have To Dance Then (On My Own) - The Mekons.
Surprisingly this was a Double A-Side with Where Were You but hardly ever got played and therefore it was treated pretty much like a B-Side. Giving it the kudos it deserves by being part of this playlist.

Love Like Anthrax - Gang of Four.
Damaged Goods EP on Fast Product is a classic release and housed on the B-Side alongside Armalite Rifle is our chosen track. First saw these in 1978 supporting Buzzcocks at the Lyceum in London.

Never - Penetration.
Firing Squad is one of my favourite Penetration singles (though Danger Signs tops the list) and they always had these little pithy B-Sides that could be deemed as just throwaway tracks but I'm quite taken with Never myself and wouldn't think of tossing it in the bin!

12XU - Wire.
Another band who first turned up on The Roxy London WC2 album were Wire and 12XU was one of their two tracks. B-Side to the single Mannequin on Harvest Records from 1977.

Man of the Year - The Models.
Back when Punk was in its infancy there seemed to be a lot of bands who made a record and then promptly broke up. The Models were one of those bands. Freeze was the third single released by Step Forward Records and I contend that Man of the Year is probably one of the greatest B-Sides to stem from these times.

Ignore Them (Always Crashing in the Same Bar) - Eddie and the Hot Rods.
The flip side to one of the many excellent singles by Eddie and the Hot Rods - I Might Be Lying. It's almost criminal having a song this good only as a B-Side!

I'm Waiting For The Man - UK Subs.
Decided not to go for the usual B-Sides that get thrown up when talking about the UK Subs and have gone for their version of the Velvets classic that appeared as the B-Side to Warhead.

Blockheads - Ian Dury and The Blockheads.
B-Side of Wake Up and a real belter it is to. The anthem for The Blockheads set against the backdrop of real stomper of a tune.