Best Wildhearts b-side set?

[WiredOut]

For me, it's the 'Just In Lust' b-sides. This was the point where I went 'Whaaaaat? Holy shit! This is everything I've been waiting for!' as they assauged the (mild) doubts I had after hearing PHUQ (Despite 'I Wanna Go...' being one of the most deceptively profound/ transcendent songs I'd ever heard).

'Mindslide'/'Friend For 5 Minutes'/ 'Sin (in sin)' changed my fucking (musical) life and outlook. 'My heart's in the song, but my head's in the battle....' Life's joys celebrated and its vicissitudes condemned within a couplet. Set the stage for the rest.....

The 'Caffeine Bomb' b-sides run a close second, though. 'Shut Your Fucking Mouth....' represented the often misunderstood/ignored intelligence of the band; in a way that would be routinely misunderstood/ignored, while 'And The Bullshit...' was the most articulate poison-guitared hate-mail message to a record company I'd ever heard (and still have heard to this day). And all the while broiling with the sheer joy of melodic rock'n'roll invention. Meanwhile, 'Girlfriend Clothes ' was in the mould of Pulp's social satire, if only Pulp were capable of truly rocking.

You?

[Ady]

Tough call this, but i'd probably say the Suckerpunch EP. 'Beautiful Thing You' is great, and 'Two-way idiot mirror' should have had more exposure, could have easily been a single in it's own right. And as for 29x the pain, well that speaks for itself really.

Saying that though the Lovebank/Geordie EP is great too.

[fireup]

I think Suckerpunch is way out in front... but having said that I've always thought that some of the phuq bsides were better than the album. and really i only ever thought redlight-greenlight was a bit of a let down. but Suckerpunch is just 17 perfect minutes!

[Dave C]

I just love the Wildies B-sides, most of them are pure genius. Hell some are better than other bands singles.
For me the best B-side is OCD, I just love that song!

[Damian]

The whole Caffeine Bomb EP. But I loved all the stuff from the '...Must Be Destroyed' era too. You got a (relatively) pop album (which I loved) and then the B-sides were all riff-monsters. Why so many people complained about that time is beyond me.

[Nickinvincible]

I've gotta go with Suckerpunch, not only for the quality of the songs but also the variety contained within...i think Beautiful Thing You and 29X are both amazing but really contrasting songs, it shows off the range of ginger's songwriting.

TV Tan is a notable second as well I reckon. and 'So Into You' as well - i thought the mix of the single version of SIY was quite poor and thus it got a bit overlooked, but I'm a massive fan of Action Panza. Judging by the apparent heaviness of the new album I reckon that would fit quite nicely into a new setlist. Hurrah!

[Chris Norway]

When they released Suckerpunch EP, was the day I knew this was the greatest rock band ever. Listening to those non-album tracks and thinking: "This is way better than any other rockbands Greatest-Hits collection".

I think all the b-sides from the Tv Tan EP and right up to Just in Lust EP are 100% perfect. Brilliant tunes that could easily match the best tracks from the album.

First time I was dissapointed by the b-sides was when they released Sick of Drugs. The b-sides on Red Light Green Light was better, but not Suckerpunch quality.

Endless Nameless era was not my favorite b-sides. Only tracks I really liked was Genius Penis and The Song Formally Known As? And a band that writes so much good tunes dont need to do cover-versions! Boring.

The b-sides quality after the "reunion" with Vanilla, So into U and Top of The World EPs are extremly good IMO. Some of this stuff is right up there with the best they´ve ever done.

Hopefully they can deliver the gods on forthcoming singles this time around

Chris Norway

http://www.myspace.com/cetunes[/url]

[Nickinvincible]

The b-sides quality after the "reunion" with Vanilla, So into U and Top of The World EPs are extremly good IMO. Some of this stuff is right up there with the best they´ve ever done.

Yep - 6:30 Onwards and Eager to Leave 'Er are very very strong songs to have in a b-side catalogue!

[kriscoverdale]

First time I was dissapointed by the b-sides was when they released Sick of Drugs. The b-sides on Red Light Green Light was better, but not Suckerpunch quality.

Personally I thought the SOD b-sides were great, but maybe in part because they hit out into unexpected territory with 'Bad Time...' and Skychaser High, along with a Just In Lust era classic recording in Underkill. Top stuff.

[SteveP]

Tough call this, but i'd probably say the Suckerpunch EP. 'Beautiful Thing You' is great, and 'Two-way idiot mirror' should have had more exposure, could have easily been a single in it's own right. And as for 29x the pain, well that speaks for itself really.

Agreed.

I suppose it's how you decipher what was going through Ginger's head when he was writing it, but Two Way Idiot Mirror always gets me after a break up with a woman, the things you go through when getting over it and sudden reminders when you find things about them or of them.

First time I was dissapointed by the b-sides was when they released Sick of Drugs

Whoa there Jackson.....all three songs on there are total classics, and how good are they when Ginger does them on acoustic shows

[Chris Davies]

Yeah Suckerpunch for me aswell. The ep has everything you could ever want from a band with just 4 songs, pretty much says it all about how good the wildies are.

Prob least fav is the red light-green light single , the b-sides werent bad at all , but its hard to reach the standard of every b-side that had been released before it , which were all amazing.

[Ean]

Yeah Suckerpunch for me aswell. The ep has everything you could ever want from a band with just 4 songs, pretty much says it all about how good the wildies are.

Prob least fav is the red light-green light single , the b-sides werent bad at all , but its hard to reach the standard of every b-side that had been released before it , which were all amazing.

Erm, probably Suckerpunch edges it for me too (just a touch over all the others up to Just In Lust). I'd love to hear those three done live and in order.

Three quarters of Red Light... is great - Do anything is one of my favourite songs (great live too), It's just let down by TBA-AHC.

I'm not a big fan of the I Wanna Go... B-sides though, apart from Can't Do Right.... Shandy Bang is pretty average, and Give The Girl A Gun is just a bit boring - I'm not knocking the intention, just the execution.

The new ones are pretty universally great too, although I prefer them in the order they are on Coupled WIth to the order they were released.

[benwalton]

for me it's either Suckerpunch (i play two-way idiot mirror to people i'm trying to introduce to the wildhearts) or caffeine bomb for the pure class of girlfriend clothes, shut your fucking mouth and use your fucking brain, and And the bullshit goes on...
hell, most of the b-sides are as good as the singles they appeared on!

[seventieslord]

The Suckerpunch b-sides as a group take the cake.

[whatevermort]

See, I always loved the Lovebank single. I couldn't get the original FFL when it first came out due to the postal only thing, and so made sure to buy the Wallet version of the lovebank single. It was, therefore, four songs that I had never heard before, and I loved them all. To this day I think that Hate The World Day and Fire Up are amongst the best songs Ginger's ever written, and they really don't get their dues. And it's when listening to those that I think of how amazing the double album that FFL and PHUQ were meant to have been a part of would have been...