Hangin' Out In 100b

I’m a bit of a sucker for b-sides. Sometimes there’s a reason songs were left to be b-sides, but sometimes they’re a great opportunity to hear a band you love do something they might never do otherwise. Maybe a nifty cover, occasionally a bit of a different style, perhaps a remix that’s actually worth bothering with (I may love b-sides, but I’m not often a fan of remixes). In any case, it’s always nice to hear more of a band you love, and the idea that there’s songs out there that I don’t have makes me crazy. So I download them with total abandon. I stick them in this b-sides folder I have, until there’s enough to make a CD or playlist – and I almost never listen to them until then.

This morning I meant to listen to Cold War Kids’ Robbers and Cowards but accidentally stuck their “We Used To Vacation” single in my cd player instead. Which reminded me of all these potentially great songs just waiting around for me. So here’s a few I dug up.

I may as well start with Cold War Kids’ version of John Lennon’s classic, “Well Well Well” – one of the b-sides from their “Hang Me Up To Dry” single. We heard them play this live in Amsterdam earlier this year – as with every cover these guys do, this one is fantastic, gut-wrenching, and funky.

   Cold War Kids – Well Well Well

The Raconteurs haven’t, as far as I know, blessed us with that many extras yet. But here’s a lo-fi acoustic version of “Steady, As She Goes” (b-side of, unsurprisingly, the “Steady, As She Goes” single). It shows off the beautiful oddness of Jack White’s voice, which I love, and it’s got a bit of a sweetness to it that the original doesn’t.

   The Raconteurs – Steady, As She Goes (Acoustic)

And finally, this Arcade Fire track was released with “Keep The Car Running” – it’s pretty much what we expect from them, but you can’t have too much of a good thing, right?

   Arcade Fire – Broken Window