Earl Brutus 'Gypsy Camp Battle'

This is on the b-side to a single called 'Universal Plan'. One of the band looks like yer man from evil death film Old Boy. I think one of some of them used to be in World of Twist. This music is insistently beaty, but also perhaps intrinsically b-side material, so I cannot use it to recommend Earl Brutus to you.

AND THIS IS THE LAST IN MY B-SIDES SERIES. Just as well, b-sides are rubbish.

Sebadoh 'Hank Williams'

This is a b-side to 'Not Too Amused', and it is a Jason Lowenstein composition. It sounds wrong at both 33 & 1/3 and 45 rpm. You never get that kind of thing with Lou Barlow songs, illustrating why everyone in Sebadoh except Lou RoXoR. This track is crazy, man – crazy.

Hey wait, now it has turned into a rough version of the a-side… not so sure about this.

The Mountain Goats 'New Chevrolet In Flames'

This is a b-side to 'See America Right', and it features yer man from ILX delivering another lyrics heavy track, with the musical accompaniment having an almost bar band quality in its retro basicness. I'm not sure that I really get The Mountain Goats… can someone explain them to me?

Discordia 'Discordians Get Creative'

This track appears on the flip of 'Discordia's Brazilian Ambassador'. Does anyone know anything about this lot? I think I bought their record solely on the basis of the band name and its cover. It sounds like downbeat electronica track with some live instruments thrown in, but maybe I am completely misreading it.

The Wedding Present 'UFO'

When the Wedding Present were doing a 7" single every month for a year, they decided it would be a cracking jape to include cover versions as the b-side. With 'The Queen of Outer Space' they gave us this - the theme tune from the Gerry Anderson live action TV series. It is very short.

Manic Street Preachers 'Motown Junk'

This may originally have been their first single, but I have it as a b-side to 'Slash 'n' Burn'. I asked previously what people ever saw in the Manics. This is it – an incendiary piece of insistently irresistible glam metal that manages to be simultanaeously throwaway and epic. This is easily the best song the Manics ever recorded, and I don't think it is on any of their albums, not even the best ofs.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood 'One February Friday (diseased musos meet little charmers)'

This b-side to 'Two Tribes' allows The Lads from FGTH to expound their philosophy of life, answering questions from that cockfarmer Paul Morley over a semi-musical backing. Like Momus, these people were wasted as musicians, and it is small wonder they went on to far greater fame as men of letters and cultural commentators.

The Sugarcubes 'Christmas'

The Cubes are joined by The Jesus & Mary Chain for a new version of a-side 'Birthday', featuring fuzzy guitar and feedback. It is nice but maybe a bit redundant. Oh no wait – Einar comes in after a bit. That was always what was wrong with 'Birthday', the lack of any Einar action.

The Smiths 'Jeane'

I have this as a b-side to a reissue of 'This Charming Man', but it was of course originally the b-side to 'Hand In Glove', the band's first single. I don't think this has ever found itself onto a compilation, making it one of the rarest Smiths tunes I possess. It is an epic tale of kitchen sink misery, like something from the British cinema New Wave distilled into three minutes. I really like this song, although of course it is by The Smiths, a band with only three bad songs. Even among their oeuvre, I feel that this track deserves a higher reputation than its tucked away status earns it. That said, the production is maybe a bit murky.

Shakin' Stevens 'Let Me Show You How'

This is a b-side to 'This Ole House', and an S. Stevens composition. It is also an enjoyable enough piece of old-timey rock 'n' roll pastiche.

They throw these kind of things onto b-sides as a way of snaffling 50% of the song-writing royalties. It is funny the extent to which people bother with them - Shaky could just spend two minutes playing the spoons and burping, and the publishing money would still roll in.

Sheila B. Devotion 'Don't Go'

This b-side to 'Spacer' seems to be a pretty good minor Chic Organisation tune. OK, it is not as awesome as 'Spacer', but what is?

The Kingsmen 'Jolly Green Giant'

This is a b-side to the reissue I have of 'Louie Louie'. It is not the original b-side but a track the band released some time later. I remember this as being really bad, though listening to it again, it is a bearable minor beat track. Its big problem, apart from not being as good a song as 'Louie Louie', is that by the time the Kingsmen recorded this, their line-up had changed. The vocalist had left the band, and the drummer had been replaced on the drumkit so that he could take over on vocal chores. The band had thus lost their two great features. Small wonder that little more of them was ever heard.

Teenage Fanclub 'B-Side'

The most recent issue of Frank's APA has a b-sides theme. First up, let me talk about a song called 'B-side'. This was a b-side of the Teenage Fanclub single 'What You Do To Me' (the 12" also featured 'Filler' and 'Cover Version'). 'B-side' is probably still my favourite single song by Teenage Fanclub. It begins with a snippet of a radio interview with Big Star's Alex Chilton (in which he sounds amazingly camp), before launching into an epic tune about Big Star love. I occasionally shout for it at Fanclub gigs, and people look strangely at me.