It's all about the b-side (a journey through some of my favourite b-sides)

Back in the days when vinyl was king, and I was spending all my pocket money and paper round money on records, there was nothing more exciting than going into town after school and coming home with a handful of 7" singles where typically I had only heard the a-side, and then being completely blown away by the track, or tracks, on the b-side. For today's post I've decided to share a few of my favourites, along with their cover artwork.

I'm going to start with one of my absolute favourite tracks, Pssyche, by Killing Joke. The a-side of this 7" single, Wardance, is mighty enough, but the b-side, with even more angry, snarling energy is, to my mind, even better. It was released on the Malicious Damage label in 1980. Early copies included a reproduction army call up paper with the words 'Killing Joke' stamped across it. It's had a recent re-release as a red and black splattered 12" vinyl single on Killing Joke records, with 3 versions of Wardance and 2 versions of Pssyche. As with all recently pressed vinyl it will set you back over £20. The 7" version of the single is quite hard to track down. Ebay has a few copies, most without the call up insert, at various price points.

Killing Joke - Wardance / Pssyche, Malicious Damage records, c.1980

The only problem with my first choice is that is makes it hard to follow, but I like to think I've managed with this next track. The Prisoner, was the b-side to White Man in Hammersmith Palais, by The Clash, released, in four different colour sleeves, on CBS records in 1978. There are of course plenty of other worthy Clash b-sides, but I've decided to restrict myself to one per band for this post.

The Clash - (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais / The Prisoner, CBS records, c.1978

Next up we have another band, The Jam, who had a string of great b-sides to choose from and it wasn't an easy choice. Perhaps Butterfly Collector would have been the most obvious, but instead I've decided to go with See-Saw, which was the b-side to their 1979 release Eton Rifles. A bitter-sweet love song, which lyrically reminds me of The Who's So Sad About Us which The Jam also covered as a b-side appearing on their Down In The Tube Station at Midnight single from 1978.

The Jam - Eton Rifles / See-Saw, Polydor records, c.1979

Moving on now to the first band I ever saw, The Rezillos, although I think by the time I saw them they had morphed into The Revillos. The b-side I've chosen here is Mystery Action which was the b-side to their 1978 single, Destination Venus, released on Sire records. Both outstanding tracks, but for me the b-side nails it. Their first studio album, released on Sire records in 1978, Can't Stand the Rezillos, is an incredible debut album and worth checking out if you've never heard it.

The Rezillos - Destination Venus / Mystery Action, Sire records, c.1978

Next up I've chosen Leyton Buzzards and the b-side to their 1979 single, Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees single, Through With You. This is a great piece of snarly punk rock. If only they had continued in this vein, but seems some of the band had other plans and formed Modern Romance (who won't be featured here).

Leyton Buzzards - Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees / Through With You, Chrysalis records, c.1979

Before forming Shriekback, former XTC member, Barry Andrews, released a couple of solo singles in the early 1980's, the Town and Country EP and Rossmore Road. Both are great singles but I'm picking the b-side of Rossmore Road, with its wonderful title of Win a Night Out With a Well-Known Paranoic

Barry Andrews - Rossmore Road / Win a Night Out With a Well Known Paranoic, Virgin records, c.1980

Again this is one of those blog posts which could go on for considerably longer, but I'm stopping here with My Mind Ain't So Open, by Magazine, which was the b-side of their 1978 debut single, Shot By Both Sides.

Magazine - Shot By Both Sides / My Mind Ain't So Open, Virgin records, c.1978

As always, many thanks for reading and I hope you liked the post.

Cover versions

 In today's blog post I thought I'd share a few of my favourite versions of tracks covered by artists in the punk, post-punk and new wave genre. In no particular order

Let's start with Generation X and their cover version of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates Shakin' All Over which appeared on the b-side of 1979's Valley of the Dolls single. A simply great cover version, showing Generation X's rock roots rather than their punk sensibilities. Their first two albums still get regular airtime at mine, with the self-titled 1978 debut just pipping the 1979 Ian Hunter produced Valley of the Dolls album.

I was aware of Captain Beefheart, from John Peel I'm guessing, but I never really listened to him until relatively recently, and certainly no more than 10 years ago. I was delighted to find however that the post-punk band, Magazine, formed by Howard Devoto after leaving the Buzzcocks, had covered his I Love You You Big Dummy on the b-side of their 1978 single Give Me Everything.

I struggled to choose just one Clash cover version, so have listed a few of them. From the reggae of Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves from the Clash's 1977 debut album, Toots and the Maytal's Pressure Drop released as the b-side of English Civil War and Eddie Grant's Police on My Back, which appeared on 1980's triple album Sandinista, to the rockier covers of Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac, from the 1979 double album London Calling and Sonny Curtis' I Fought the Law, they are all, to my mind anyway, simply wonderful. But ah, I almost forgot the cover / interpretations of Willie William's masterpiece Armagideon Time, which appeared as the b-side of the London Calling single, which is another gem in the Clash's cover repertoire.

And finally, for a bit of fun, I've chosen the Dickies cover version of Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song), mainly because as a kid I loved the Banana Splits TV show, but also because The Dickies do a mean cover version.

Other worthy contenders would be

The Jam - So Sad About Us (originally by The Who)

The Damned - Looking At You (originally by MC5)

A Certain Ratio - Shack Up

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Helter Skelter (originally by The Beatles)

Skids - All The Young Dudes (originally by David Bowie, and then Mott The Hoople)

Check out my previous blog post about my short(ish) love affair with Manchester's Factory records label and my regret in having sold some of them many years ago for less than a pint of beer.