'B' Side as Good or Better than 'A' Side*

Presence-Distortion, 1991

 

Patenbrigade:Wolff-Die Ungenauigkeit, 2012

 

I had never heard Trudi. Being a Jeff Beck fan, I went directly to YouTube to listen to it. I have to report that Mr. Beck's talents were criminally underutilized.

 

I like Cities better than Nights in White Satin.

This YouTube person thankfully posted the 45 B-side, which I like better than the "cleaned up", slightly slower and not nearly so moody version with about half the instrumentation missing that unfortunately was used for the Voices in the Sky comp (which is otherwise rather flawless) ...

 

Erasure-Because You're So Sweet, 1994

 

Oasis - Acquiesce

 

Seabound-Without You, 2004

 

The Lightning Seeds-Everyday and Everynight (Unabridged), 1999

 

This song was not on the "Voices in the Sky" comp. but did appear in stereo on "Prelude".
(You may have been referring to this by memory, etc )
I don't think the stereo version is missing any instrumentation, but the song is definitely better served on the mono 45 especially with swirling harpsichord, backing vocals, and the drum sound.
The stereo version is rather dry and not nearly as haunting.

 

Toni Halliday-Get Out of The Rain, 1988

 

I'm sure this has been said but I'll see it again anyway



When John said the only thing you've done was yesterday and since you've gone you're just another day this was left on the cutting room Blur in between the how do you sleep you c#nt.. (Paul I love oh woman oh why)

Or he should have said that cuz it's great

 

Even if what you say is true, it has nothing to do with the b side being as good or better. Also, you should look up what vague means.

 

I just had to post this one because it's one of my all-time favorite B sides. Great live track but legendary introduction by Jerome Aniton.

 

Grammar corrections are against the forum rules.

 

indefinite or indistinct in nature or character

That makes no sense?

What is not true? HSB is not a rock classic? Dave Grohl was not Nirvana's drummer?
Imo Marigold is a mediocre song, indicative of the mediocrity Dave would go on to produce in Foo Fighters.

 

Past Masters Vol. 2.

Oasis was notorious for their b-sides.
As far as I know all the b-sides related to (What's The Story) Morning Glory are all a lot better than what made it to an, imo, fairly overhyped album.

 

I have an original issue of "Itchycoo Park" on 7". I haven't played the flipside yet and maybe I should play it tomorrow.

 

Sounds like it could've been an A-side. The intro sounds very similar to most of their hits.

 

This is hard because A sides, by function, are released to grab the listener or garner widespread success, and may or may not best represent the most crafted, or even enjoyable, song that the artist can offer. As a result, a single may have a B side one likes more, yet it can still be perfectly "right" for the A side to be the A side.

The biggest gray areas seemed to come about when singles were released that were literally double-sided hits. Both of the chosen songs might grab a listener about equally and were hoped to possibly be big hits. Thus, the charts often reflected that, with both songs charting within close or general proximity of each other.

There are a handful of exceptions (at least in retrospect they come off as exceptions), where I feel the "better"/more commercial song was initially put as the B side, but listeners quickly let the artist know that they weren't even aware of what their own best singles were! A couple classic ones are:

Kiss
Detroit Rock City / Beth
(Beth quickly started garnering all the attention, and radio requests, and the band wisely re-released it with Beth as the A side. It became a top ten hit, launched the band to true widespread household fame, and even today remains their biggest single. It seems perfectly logical now, but it didn't start out that way).

Rod Stewart
Reason To Believe / Maggie May
(I'm not sure what Rod or the label were thinking, any more than I knew what Kiss were thinking, but Maggie was the one that stole most all the spotlight and became one of the most played pop songs ever recorded).

None of this means that we can't personally like a flip side more than a "star song", of course. For instance, I just love the flip side to The Miracles 1965 hit, "The Tracks Of My Tears". It's a song called "A Fork In The Road". Yet I can definitely see why "Tracks" was the promoted song.

 

Abba-Should I Laugh or Cry, 1981

 

Hey, Hey What Can I Do is my favorite LZ song, so...yeah. B-Side to Immigrant Song, never had an official album release, poor thing.

 

PAUL ANKA 1972
Side A - While We're Still Young
Side B - This is Your Song

Side B is the better song and more popular.

 

The Bee Gees 1968

Side A - Jumbo
Side B - The Singer Sang His Song

'Jumbo' was aimed as the A-side worldwide, only in the UK it was changed to the flipside.
Side B is the stronger song.

 

Certainly the first one that comes to my mind is Paul McCartney's "Daytime Nightime Suffering", which is far superior to the A side "Goodnight Tonight".