91热爆

The rise of music streaming has effectively made the 鈥榖-side鈥� redundant but b-sides occupy a unique space in music history.

A vestige of physical media, the b-side was a track, or tracks, that artists put on the other side of a 7鈥� single. It escaped the journalistic scrutiny applied to a-sides and albums and, as a result, represented a free space where artists could experiment and try out different ideas.

Many b-sides were nothing more than filler but most were fascinating and, in quite a few cases, better or more significant than the a-side single itself. Stephen McCauley explores and celebrates the beauty of the b-side including iconic flip-sides from The Smiths, Elvis Presley, Bjork, Lafaro, Oasis, PJ Harvey, Aphex Twin, Duke Special and The Cure.