Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released B-Sides & Rarities Part II, a second collection of rare and unreleased tracks that the group recorded over the past decade and a half. The band released their first B-Sides & Rarities compilation in 2005. Since then, he and the Bad Seeds have recorded two more discs’ worth of B-sides and rarities, both released and unheard.
In total, the 27-song B-Sides & Rarities Part II boasts 19 unreleased tracks – compiled by Cave and Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis – including the first recordings of album cuts like “Skeleton Tree,” “Girl in Amber,” and “Bright Horses,” the studio version of the quarantine-penned “Euthanasia,” Cave’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche,” an official version of the spoken-word…
…piece “Steve McQueen,” an orchestral take on “Push the Sky Away,” and more. Ahead of the October 22nd release of B-Sides & Rarities Part II, Cave and the Bad Seeds have shared “Vortex,” an unreleased track recorded in 2006 and written by Cave, Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos. After working on the song, Cave couldn’t decide if it was a Bad Seeds track or more for his Grinderman project, so “Vertigo” itself remained in the vault until this compilation.
“I always liked the original B-Sides & Rarities more than any of our other albums. It’s the only one I’d listen to willingly. It seems more relaxed, even a bit nonsensical in places, but with some beautiful songs throughout. There is something, too, about the smallness of certain songs that is closer to their original spirit,” Cave said in a statement. “B-Sides & Rarities Part II continues this strange and beautiful collection of lost songs from the Bad Seeds. I love the final side of the last disc because it reveals the small and fragile beginnings of some of my favorite Bad Seeds songs. ‘Waiting for You’ complete with bizarre ‘canning factory’ rhythm track, a gorgeous ‘Life Per Se’ deemed too sad for Skeleton Tree, and ‘Earthlings’ that some consider the finest track of the Ghosteen sessions.”
CD1:
1. Hey Little Firing Squad
2. Fleeting Love
3. Accidents Will Happen
4. Free To Walk (With Debbie Harry)
5. Avalanche*
6. Vortex *
7. Needle Boy
8. Lightning Bolts
9. Animal X
10. Give Us A Kiss
11. Push The Sky Away (Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)*
CD2:
1. First Skeleton Tree*
2. King Sized Nick Cave Blues*
3. Opium Eyes*
4. Big Dream (With Sky)*
5. Instrumental #33*
6. Hell Villanelle*
7. Euthanasia*
8. Life Per Se*
9. Steve McQueen*
10. First Bright Horses*
11. First Girl In Amber*
12. Glacier*
13. Heart That Kills You*
14. First Waiting For You*
15. Sudden Song*
16. Earthlings*
*previously Unreleased