Bands cannot always be trusted to make the correct decision. They’re artistes, you see, and artistes sometimes have wonky temperaments and make baffling choices that the rest of us mere mortals shake our heads at. This is especially obvious when you cast an eye over the number of would-be classic songs that never quite got the exposure they deserved. Sometimes they languished away as a B-side or got put on a shelf and eventually surfaced as an extra on a reissue or never even got an official release at all, only heard via a leaked bootleg. This is a tale as old as time: back in the Paleolithic Era, there was probably a caveman refusing to stick the painting everyone knew was his best one on a wall because, like I said, artistes. Here’s ten songs from the 90s that found their way out into the wild in one way or another but really deserved to take pride of place on an album proper:
Radiohead - Lift
A huge one for Radiohead fans, this. Lift dates back to the era between The Bends and OK Computer, a soaring anthem that was too much of a soaring anthem for the Oxford quintet, the band opting to head in a more inventive, exploratory direction for their masterpiece third album. Imagine how much bigger it would have been if it had this on it. A version was eventually released on 2007’s OK Computer OKNOTOK box set but the definitive take is this, from their Minidiscs (Hacked) compilation.
Alice In Chains - Nutshell
One of the finest moments in AIC’s recorded history is the layered, poignant version of Nutshell that opens their MTV Unplugged set. That meant the song has been given a proper spotlight to shine under, which is handy because the original is squirrelled away as second track on the Jar Of Flies EP, an acoustic interlude made in the aftermath of Dirt’s success. A fragile ballad that somehow fashions an odd euphoria from its minor chord strums (thanks, perhaps, to a powerhouse vocal from Layne Staley), it really should’ve been saved as the centrepiece for their self-titled 1995 third album.
Manic Street Preachers - Prologue To History
Oh dear, here we have a massive booboo from the Welsh trio. The second half of 1998’s This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours, the Manics’ multi-million-selling but a little bit too one-paced fifth album, was crying out for Prologue To History to give it a kick up the arse. Instead, its cavorting groove and crunching chorus was relegated to the B-side of If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. Bad Manics!
Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser - All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun
It’s harsh to say it was barmy of Buckley to leave this off a record when he was midway through making his second one at the point of the his untimely passing in 1997. But All Flowers In Time… is one of the finest outtakes ever and has to be here. A lovelorn, dreamy duet between Buckley and his girlfriend at the time Fraser, singer in the Cocteau Twins, this acoustic demo is the only version that exists and has never had an official release. Still absolutely magical, though.
Smashing Pumpkins - Let Me Give The World To You
The Pumpkins recorded a version of this epic anthem with shoe-averse beardyman Rick Rubin whilst making 1998’s Adore and obviously decided it was far too tuneful to sit next to the other songs on that record. Odder still, and perhaps realising their mistake, they chose to play it live on the Adore tour. It was eventually released as part of the record’s fancy-pants box set in 2014. Too little, too late.
Oasis - Acquiesce
This could just be a list of all the songs Oasis were crazy not to put on a record, even if they did slightly make up for it with the B-sides compilation The Masterplan. That record collated the many majestic B-sides they’d got through in their first two records, a bit of a problem when it came to Noel Gallagher writing third album Be Here Now and realising none of it was as good as the songs he’d already given away to back up their A-sides. This is the pick of the bunch, a rousing rock’n’roll classic with Noel and Liam taking turns on the vocals.
Suede - Stay Together
Britpop pioneers Suede have always been down on this non-album single released at the start of 1994. But maybe that’s got more to do in intra-band turmoil at the time than it does the actual song – it was the last thing released before the departure of original guitarist Bernard Butler and didn’t feature on their second record Dog Man Star. It should have, though, a louche, grandiose epic elevated by Brett Anderson’s yearning croon and Butler’s gleaming guitar lines.
The Cure - Burn
Musically, things had become a little patchy for The Cure in the mid-90s. Maybe it was to be expected, considering they’d released a classic album every five minutes in the previous decade. It makes it all the more strange that 1994’s Burn, a widescreen, menacing marvel, never featured on one of their albums. It was written and recorded for 1994 goth-action flick The Crow and wipes the floor with anything on their 1992 record Wish and its 1996 follow-up Wild Mood Swings.
Nine Inch Nails - The Perfect Drug
In a 2005 interview, NIN leader Trent Reznor dismissed 1997 single The Perfect Drug as a misstep in the industrial-rock titans’ output, saying it ended up rushed and not to his liking. Maybe it's something to do with his catastrophic facial hair in the video, because its choppy, electronic-rock glitches, drum’n’bass beats and surging chorus surely could’ve found a home on 1999’s sprawling The Fragile. The way its bright, major chord chorus emerges from the sonic murkiness never fails to please. Reznor's stance has obviously softened, with NIN giving it a live airing now and then over the past few years.
Depeche Mode - My Joy
The late, great vibesman of Depeche Mode Andy “Fletch” Fletcher once told me that the band’s 1990 record Violator was a “perfect 10”. He wasn’t wrong. Its 1993 follow-up Songs Of Faith And Devotion was a more mixed affair – I don’t think Fletch would look down and tut if I said it was more of a “solid 7”. But it could’ve been better if the band had stuck B-side My Joy on it, a sumptuous, synth-pop groove that is close as they’ve ever got to doing a Bond theme.
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