Giving an album the title The B-Sides creates a certain stigma over what to expect of the album. Ultimately, you consider these being the collection of songs that didn’t cut it to be previously released, and unfortunately, this album holds true to the stereotype and expectation of its name.
Featuring an interesting mix of tracks that are earthy and raw, the sequence makes no sense. Opening with ‘She Loves You’ seemed out of place and not a strong opening song. ‘State of Love & Trust’ being a live-recorded song seemed out of place being the third song on the track list. While ‘Once Upon A Time’ had a great guitar and drum intro, it was not memorable nor did it entice you to play the album through again.
The songs that did stand out were ‘The ’59 Sound’, ‘The Queen of Lower Chealsea’ and ‘Songs for Teenagers’ where the vocals and the acoustic guitar sounded sweet and complimented each other. ‘State of Love & Trust’ was recorded poorly with the vocals unclear and challenging to understand, it also sounded like lyrics were mumbled through in ‘Antonia Jane’.
While hardcore loyal and dedicated fans will no doubted find things they love about this album, it is not the place to start if you have not listened to their material before.
5/10
Reviewer: Courtney Laura