Further Furthermore

[daveid]

It's a good list though he omits the lockdown version of West End girls from Cricket Wife (commercially available digitally so a genuine b side)

Interestingly Geowayne doesn’t include any tracks from their three EPs either: Christmas, Agenda or Lost. The only other track you could arguably include would be A powerful friend: the b-side of the Love Life Record Store Day 7”.

One shouldn't stretch the b-side concept too much. There has to be a distinction between b-side collections and FL-discs.

Tracks on EPs are not strictly speaking b sides, although you could argue that as IDOSAC and AOTW were radio promos and that IDOSAC was on Smash, that My girl and the Coldplay mashup do qualify.

A powerful friend is not a proper b side as Love life was a limited RSD release.

The real mystery is why Sail away was left off Format.

[telys]

Interestingly Geowayne doesn’t include any tracks from their three EPs either: Christmas, Agenda or Lost. The only other track you could arguably include would be A powerful friend: the b-side of the Love Life Record Store Day 7”.

One shouldn't stretch the b-side concept too much. There has to be a distinction between b-side collections and FL-discs.

The real mystery is why Sail away was left off Format.

Weren't there some copyright issues with Sail Away?

[daveid]

One shouldn't stretch the b-side concept too much. There has to be a distinction between b-side collections and FL-discs.

The real mystery is why Sail away was left off Format.

Weren't there some copyright issues with Sail Away?

Not sure if that was confirmed but lots of speculation. It was evidently OK for the FL of Nightlife.

[daveid]

Inversely Disc 1

01. Fugitive 03:31
02. Glad all over 03:25
03. I cried for us 03:47
04. A certain ‘Je ne sais quoi’ 04:57
05. The way through the woods (long version) 05:41
06. I started a joke 03:16
07. Hell 03:35
08. In his imagination 04:56
09. Baby (demo) 03:45
10. Listening 04:19
11. One night 04:05
12. Inside 02:53
13. Entschuldigung! 05:03
14. Get it online 03:36
15. No more ballads 03:44
16. Odd man out 03:46
17. In bits 03:32
18. One-hit wonder 03:21
19. The white dress 03:33
20. Wiedersehen 04:16
78:06

Inversely Disc 2

01. A cloud in a box 04:09
02. The dead can dance 02:57
03. Left to my own devices (Super version) 05:31
04. An open mind 03:52
05. No boundaries 03:38
06. Decide 04:49
07. At rock bottom 03:17
08. New boy 04:11
09. West End girls (new lockdown version) 03:13
10. Party in the Blitz 03:09
11. Through you (extended mix) 07:01
45:47

Still a while before we get enough b-sides for the next collection...

[TwizzleUK]

Still a while before we get enough b-sides for the next collection...

I'm sure we'll get a third 2 x CD B-sides compilation at some point. Be interested to whether they include some or all of the EP tracks. My playlist does include EP tracks, but excludes what I see as the lead "A-sides" from both, which I classify as 'It Doesn't Often....' and 'All Over The World' from 'Christmas' (kind of double "A-sides"), and 'Give Stupidity A Chance' from' Agenda. I also don't include any of the re-recorded singles ('Left To My Own Devices', 'West End Girls'), as it feels a bit odd having what are (sort of) remixes of previous A-sides on a B-sides collection. Here's how it breaks down for me:

Bonus - Disc 1
1 Fugitive (Seven Inch Mix) 3:31
2 My Girl 3:43
3 Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing 5:34
4 Glad All Over 3:27
5 I Cried For Us 3:48
6 A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" 4:58
7 The Way Through The Woods (Long Version) 5:42
8 I Started A Joke 3:19
9 Hell 3:33
10 In His Imagination 4:55
11 Baby (2003 Demo) 3:49
12 Listening 4:19
13 One Night 4:06
14 Inside 2:54
15 Entschuldigung! 5:05
16 Get It Online 3:38
17 No More Ballads 3:47
18 Odd Man Out 3:48
19 In Bits 3:35
(77:31)

Bonus - Disc 2
1 One-Hit Wonder 3:24
2 The White Dress 3:35
3 Wiedersehen 4:19
4 A Cloud In A Box 4:10
5 The Dead Can Dance 2:57
6 On Social Media 3:33
7 What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? 3:04
8 The Forgotten Child 3:35
9 An Open Mind 3:52
10 No Boundaries 3:38
11 Decide 4:49
12 At Rock Bottom 3:17
13 New Boy 4:11
14 Party In The Blitz 3:09
15 Through You (Extended Mix) 7:01
(58:34)

Leaving about 20 minutes for the remaining 'Nonetheless' B-Sides. Maybe 'Bonus' could come out in 2025!

[daveid]

Technically, we don't yet know what their attitude to EP tracks is as Format cuts out at "Did you see me coming?" but I suspect, knowing Neil, he doesn't see them as traditional b sides. Fair enough - if we take EP tracks as b sides then that includes all the tracks from Agenda, Lost and My Beautiful Laundrette. I think Christmas is different as that was more of a traditional single.

[telys]

No EP tracks, as I said, there needs to be a distinction between FL and AlternativeFormat. I agree with Daveid's analysis of tracklist. A new bside compilation is 2025 earliest, probably 2026

[herts101]

Still a while before we get enough b-sides for the next collection...

I'm sure we'll get a third 2 x CD B-sides compilation at some point. Be interested to whether they include some or all of the EP tracks. My playlist does include EP tracks, but excludes what I see as the lead "A-sides" from both, which I classify as 'It Doesn't Often....' and 'All Over The World' from 'Christmas' (kind of double "A-sides"), and 'Give Stupidity A Chance' from' Agenda. I also don't include any of the re-recorded singles ('Left To My Own Devices', 'West End Girls'), as it feels a bit odd having what are (sort of) remixes of previous A-sides on a B-sides collection. Here's how it breaks down for me:

Bonus - Disc 1
1 Fugitive (Seven Inch Mix) 3:31
2 My Girl 3:43
3 Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing 5:34
4 Glad All Over 3:27
5 I Cried For Us 3:48
6 A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" 4:58
7 The Way Through The Woods (Long Version) 5:42
8 I Started A Joke 3:19
9 Hell 3:33
10 In His Imagination 4:55
11 Baby (2003 Demo) 3:49
12 Listening 4:19
13 One Night 4:06
14 Inside 2:54
15 Entschuldigung! 5:05
16 Get It Online 3:38
17 No More Ballads 3:47
18 Odd Man Out 3:48
19 In Bits 3:35
(77:31)

Bonus - Disc 2
1 One-Hit Wonder 3:24
2 The White Dress 3:35
3 Wiedersehen 4:19
4 A Cloud In A Box 4:10
5 The Dead Can Dance 2:57
6 On Social Media 3:33
7 What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? 3:04
8 The Forgotten Child 3:35
9 An Open Mind 3:52
10 No Boundaries 3:38
11 Decide 4:49
12 At Rock Bottom 3:17
13 New Boy 4:11
14 Party In The Blitz 3:09
15 Through You (Extended Mix) 7:01
(58:34)

Leaving about 20 minutes for the remaining 'Nonetheless' B-Sides. Maybe 'Bonus' could come out in 2025!

Exactly how I have made it on my iPhone - also called Bonus


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TwizzleUK]

Still a while before we get enough b-sides for the next collection...

I'm sure we'll get a third 2 x CD B-sides compilation at some point. Be interested to whether they include some or all of the EP tracks. My playlist does include EP tracks, but excludes what I see as the lead "A-sides" from both, which I classify as 'It Doesn't Often....' and 'All Over The World' from 'Christmas' (kind of double "A-sides"), and 'Give Stupidity A Chance' from' Agenda. I also don't include any of the re-recorded singles ('Left To My Own Devices', 'West End Girls'), as it feels a bit odd having what are (sort of) remixes of previous A-sides on a B-sides collection. Here's how it breaks down for me:

Bonus - Disc 1
1 Fugitive (Seven Inch Mix) 3:31
2 My Girl 3:43
3 Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing 5:34
4 Glad All Over 3:27
5 I Cried For Us 3:48
6 A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" 4:58
7 The Way Through The Woods (Long Version) 5:42
8 I Started A Joke 3:19
9 Hell 3:33
10 In His Imagination 4:55
11 Baby (2003 Demo) 3:49
12 Listening 4:19
13 One Night 4:06
14 Inside 2:54
15 Entschuldigung! 5:05
16 Get It Online 3:38
17 No More Ballads 3:47
18 Odd Man Out 3:48
19 In Bits 3:35
(77:31)

Bonus - Disc 2
1 One-Hit Wonder 3:24
2 The White Dress 3:35
3 Wiedersehen 4:19
4 A Cloud In A Box 4:10
5 The Dead Can Dance 2:57
6 On Social Media 3:33
7 What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? 3:04
8 The Forgotten Child 3:35
9 An Open Mind 3:52
10 No Boundaries 3:38
11 Decide 4:49
12 At Rock Bottom 3:17
13 New Boy 4:11
14 Party In The Blitz 3:09
15 Through You (Extended Mix) 7:01
(58:34)

Leaving about 20 minutes for the remaining 'Nonetheless' B-Sides. Maybe 'Bonus' could come out in 2025!

Exactly how I have made it on my iPhone - also called Bonus


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What a coincidence!

The EP tracks are certainly an anomoly. Wasn't sure whether to include all of them from 'Agenda', as we know 'Give Stupidity A Chance' isn't now officially considered a single due to its non-appearance on 'SMASH', but then again neither are 'Burning The Heather' or the single mix of 'How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously?' for the same reason, and they definitely wouldn't appear on a "B-sides" collection.

I guess ultimately, we all have our own curated playlists of what we consider singles, and mine do include the three mentioned above, so therefore my 'Bonus' playlist (and theoretical third 2 x CD collection) stays firmly as it is.

[Wish]

I'd use symbiosis of Daveid's and TwizzleUK's tracklists.
Smash showed to us that Christmas is rather single than EP. So My girl and Viva la vida/Domino dancing should be included.
Agenda, My Beautiful Laundrette and Lost tracks can't be on b-sides collection. I can't explain why, it just can't be

Also I'd exclude Left to my own devices (Super version) and West End girls (new lockdown version). I don't think Neil and Chris can consider using their hits reworks for compilation with second-best tracks.
For example proper b-side from Numb wasn't used on Format - West End girls (Live at Mermaid Theatre). If one might think it was because of live version, there is another example. Proper b-side from Paninaro'95 was used for Alternative (JP version) - Girls&Boys (Live in Rio).
And it doesn't apply to Viva la vida/Domino dancing as it's more Viva la vida than Domino dancing.

Disc 1
1 Fugitive (Seven Inch Mix) 3:31
2 My Girl 3:43
3 Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing 5:34
4 Glad All Over 3:27
5 I Cried For Us 3:48
6 A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" 4:58
7 The Way Through The Woods (Long Version) 5:42
8 I Started A Joke 3:19
9 Hell 3:33
10 In His Imagination 4:55
11 Baby (2003 Demo) 3:49
12 Listening 4:19
13 One Night 4:06
14 Inside 2:54
15 Entschuldigung! 5:05
16 Get It Online 3:38
17 No More Ballads 3:47
18 Odd Man Out 3:48
19 In Bits 3:35
(77:31)

Disc 2
1 One-Hit Wonder 3:24
2 The White Dress 3:35
3 Wiedersehen 4:19
4 A Cloud In A Box 4:10
5 The Dead Can Dance 2:57
6 An Open Mind 3:52
7 No Boundaries 3:38
8 Decide 4:49
9 At Rock Bottom 3:17
10 New Boy 4:11
11 Party In The Blitz 3:09
12 Through You (Extended Mix) 7:01
(48:22)

[TwizzleUK]

Technically, we don't yet know what their attitude to EP tracks is as Format cuts out at "Did you see me coming?" but I suspect, knowing Neil, he doesn't see them as traditional b sides. Fair enough - if we take EP tracks as b sides then that includes all the tracks from Agenda, Lost and My Beautiful Laundrette. I think Christmas is different as that was more of a traditional single.

I forgot about 'Lost'. B-sides are so difficult to define these days, aren't they? Particularly now we know the Boys release singles, but don't consider all of them official singles.

I suppose one way to rationalise the EPs is either as commercially released and promoted ('Christmas' and 'Agenda' prior to being an 'Annually' bonus disc); or purely an 'Annually' bonus disc, that also got released online at the same time or shortly afterwards ('Lost', 'My Beautiful Laundrette', 'Undertow'). I'm happy ignoring 'My Beautiful Launderette' from the B-side "canon", as it's more a very small soundtrack album (bar the exception of 'No Boundaries', which of course does feature as a 'Dreamland' B-side), but not sure how I feel about 'Lost'. I don't think I consider 'The Lost Room' as a track in my PSB "singles" playlist, so could perhaps consider all five tracks as B-side/bonus tracks. But think I'll exclude it from my 'Bonus' B-sides playlist, as I view it principally as an 'Annually' bonus CD.

Gosh, these things are hard to classify!

[Dog]

Don’t forget Format was officially “B-sides and bonus tracks” which also introduces some ambiguity, coupled with the fact that they left some tracks off. Following that logic, anything goes!

[TwizzleUK]

Don’t forget Format was officially “B-sides and bonus tracks” which also introduces some ambiguity, coupled with the fact that they left some tracks off. Following that logic, anything goes!

Yes, ultimately, when the Boys collate the next compilation, it's their call - just as it was for 'SMASH'. And we'll all still have our precious, private playlists.

Another thought. It's worth thinking about the definition of an 'EP'. I think iTunes and other streaming services may apply rules for what constitutes as an EP based on running time of the release, or perhaps number of tracks (not quite sure).

But if we consider the traditional definition of an 'EP' (or Extended Play single) to be one which contains four unique songs, rather than a single release containing remixes, I can think of three past CD singles that would today be considered an EP: 'Before', 'Winner' and 'Leaving'. There could well be more I haven't thought of. All the 'Before' B-sides were on 'Format, and no doubt the B-sides of 'Winner' and 'Leaving' will be on the next compilation.

My brain's definitely aching now!

[TwizzleUK]

If we add all EP tracks from 'Agenda' and 'Lost' to my 'Bonus' tracklist we've already filled up two CDs (unless they were to include a non-extended mix of 'Through You' that's less than 4:58 in length):

1 Fugitive (Seven Inch Mix) 3:31
2 My Girl 3:43
3 Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing 5:34
4 Glad All Over 3:27
5 I Cried For Us 3:48
6 A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" 4:58
7 The Way Through The Woods (Long Version) 5:42
8 I Started A Joke 3:19
9 Hell 3:33
10 In His Imagination 4:55
11 Baby (2003 Demo) 3:49
12 Listening 4:19
13 One Night 4:06
14 Inside 2:54
15 Entschuldigung! 5:05
16 Get It Online 3:38
17 No More Ballads 3:47
18 Odd Man Out 3:48
19 In Bits 3:35
(77:31)

1 One-Hit Wonder 3:24
2 The White Dress 3:35
3 Wiedersehen 4:19
4 A Cloud In A Box 4:10
5 The Dead Can Dance 2:57
6 Give Stupidity A Chance 3:00
7 On Social Media 3:33
8 What Are We Going To Do About The Rich? 3:04
9 The Forgotten Child 3:35
10 An Open Mind 3:52
11 No Boundaries 3:38
12 Decide 4:49
13 At Rock Bottom 3:17
14 New Boy 4:11
15 The Lost Room 4:12
16 I Will Fall 4:39
17 Skeletons In The Closet 3:03
18 Kaputnik 3:58
19 Living In The Past 4:36
20 Party In The Blitz 3:09
(75:01)

1 Through You (Extended Mix) 7:01

[Dog]

Just to make your brain ache even more… if the criteria is “b-sides and bonus tracks” then presumably All over the world (new version) would also be in the running alongside the other Christmas EP tracks, given it wasn’t on SMASH. And would Cricket wife be in the running too?