Compiled by the band, the 16 track album is testament to their talent for recording top-notch B sides.Songs From The Other Side (2002)
Compiled by the band, the 16 track album is testament to their talent for recording top-notch B sides.
Reviews
Pete (thecharlatans.info 2002)
Imperial 109 (The Only One I Know) (7/10)
Broody atmospheric choice to intro the album, like the birth of something special, it all feels so right, the ingredients are in place, listen on. That's what it says to me anyway!
Everything Changed (The Only One I Know) (7/10)
Early charlatans, sounding young cool, sussed and 'with it'. Listening today, you realise it couldn't be anybody else. A fast groovy track, it's designed to make you smile and feel good.
Happen To Die (extended version - Tremelo Song) (9/10)
Oops! They did it again! This is fantastic, a shining light in their early career. Great, assured writing and playing make this a standout, its what surprised me most about getting Charlatans records, how come they have so many good songs up their sleeve? Check out this extended mix which takes it to its logical conclusion, one you have to dance to - I've said it before but you have to say it again - it makes you feel like Tim and forces you to dance!
Occupation h. Monster (Me. In Time) (8/10)
Everyone loves this track, with almost Shadows like guitar work and insistent Hammond, Tim in his earlier stages of lyric writing development, still sounds really good, even though I'm not sure what he's on about. The Jon Brookes drums at the end are class! I love this!
Stir It Up (Jesus Hairdo CD1) (9/10)
Voted the fans favourite B-side ever in a message groups poll, this is an obvious choice! Vibey, charlatans carve up, builds into a mighty, beautiful thing. Great guitars and dominating Hammond make this is one cool song, and I think for many, is a demonstration of what the band is all about.
Feel Flows (Van Basten mix - Jesus Hairdo CD1) (5/10)
Haunting, heavy mix of the album track, this doesn't really rattle my cage as much as it should, at 7mins 41secs it inevitably goes somewhere but nowhere near far enough for me!
Subterranean (Exclusive 109 charlatans CD) (5/10)
Sweet little charlatans groove that's worth a chance.
Backroom Window (Crashin' In) (8/10)
Oooo! Probably the best charlatans b-side so far, surprises us after Crashin' In - things must be looking promising for the next album, if they can put this out as a flip side! Lovely Hammond, upbeat lyrics and I have to say, very Oasis like guitar work make this top notch. Smiling!
Green Flashing Eyes (Crashin' In) (8/10)
Another really strong track from the great Crashin' In release, this demonstrated the renewed confidence in the camp after Up To Our Hips. It's fresh sounding, funky, fun filled and sunny. As good as Backroom Window, I can't fault this!
Nine Acre Dust (Chemical Brothers remix 9 The Charlatans UK v. The Chemical Brothers - US release only) (7/10)
Massive mix by the Chems turns the track into something wild! Great mix, turn up high.
Frinck (Just When you're Thinkin' Things Over) (6/10)
Spooky trade mark Charlatans instrumental.
Your Skies Are Mine (Just When you're Thinkin' Things Over) (6.5/10)
Loose limbed loungeabout in the sun sort of track, won't get you onto the dancefloor, but good to chill to. It lifts itself into a lovely little chorus - second half of the song improves on the first!
Two Of Us (One To Another) (7.5/10)
Up tempo guitar driven singalong, love song from Tim, great lyrics and vocals. It's one to lift your spirits. Top drawer stuff.
Don't Need A Gun (North Country Boy) (7/10)
Kurt Cobain once sang the title line, but the sentiment and spirit is different here. More genuine lyrics from Tim, who's singing from the heart again. Comfort music to wrap yourself up in, this has all the usual moves.
Title Fight (How High) (9/10)
One of their most loved B-sides it reminds me of the picture on the cover of NME with Tim playing the boxer (see the images page). It's a little gem that you should definitely hear. This is better than a few of the singles, which means great!
Clean Up Kid (Tellin' Stories) (10/10)
My favourite Charlatans b-side ever, it filled me with hope of what was to come, it was recorded after the Tellin' Stories sessions and proved to me, that even after Robs death, the band had a lot left - Tim exploring his voices potential and really chucking himself into it! Massive Hammond masterpiece showcasing a certain Tony Rogers, impressed was an understatement.
You must hear Tim laugh when he sings "I've been living a long, long time, only see the big picture, I drink cheap wine!"
Steve Lowe (Q May 2002)
What keeps people coming back to The Charlatans? Originality isn't their game, nor is startling progression; the singer's no Pavarotti; they never really "say" anything (ah, so love's the key, eh?). Still, one remaining asset, which hardly ever deserts them, involves producing what can only be called a "vibe" - a thick, groovy, slightly libidinal ambience. Somehow they just sound good together.
Hardly packed with shocks, this flipside companion to the 1990-1997 Melting Pot Best Of simply offers more Charlatans but with fewer catchy choruses. After some thin baggy gruel, the story comes into focus in 1994 with Frinck and Subterranean's rock take on Heavenly Social-era big beat. Then the later sticky-fingered likes of Two Of Us and Clean Up Kid rise above Dad-rock territory thanks to that mildly alluring air of sensuous sloppiness.
A curry's still a curry even if it's a middling one. Similarly these Songs From The Other Side, while not among The Charlatans' finest work, are certainly tasty enough for peckish fans.
Neil Davenport (Uncut June 2002)
Unlike Blur or Oasis, or even Suede (who put out an LP, Sci-Fi Lullabies, of B-sides), The Charlatans aren't renowned for giving away superlative extra tracks with their singles. That said, they have tended to use the opportunity to explore and experiment. Many of these 16 tracks are more like jams or exercises in sound development than thay are fully-fledged songs. "Occupation H. Monster" and "Stir It Up", for instance, give free rein to their druggy Hammond swirl, while "Two Of Us" is a sketchy dress rehearsal for their later country-rock anthems.
Yet without these mock-ups, it's doubtful whether The Charlatans' later albums would have been so consistent.
John Robinson (NME May 2002)
There's a bit in 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', where one of the villains ponders the nature of archaeology. You take something that's empirically worthless, he says, like a ten dollar watch, bury it for 2,000 years, and then when someone digs it up, it's priceless. So it is that we turn to 'Songs From The Other Side', a collection of B-sides from The Charlatans’ seven-year stint at Beggars Banquet. A retrospective excavation to see how time has treated the ten dollar watch that is, essentially, their songwriting.
True, it's not been 2,000 years, but priceless 'Songs From The Other Side' isn't. What we have here instead is a selection of songs that divide fairly neatly into three sections, each a revealing historical insight into what was fleetingly musically fashionable in the 1990s. Until 1993 The Charlies were Stone Roses fans trying to write 'Sympathy For The Devil', but sounding like The Bluetones ('Happen To Die'). Enlisting super-hippy producer Steve Hillage in 1994, they brought out their dark and heavy grooves ('Stir It Up', 'Backroom Window'). And for the next three years, the groove, pretty much unendingly, continued, with touches of Bob Dylan in the mix.
It's the bare bones of a story, obviously. The Charlatans are a popular group for a number reasons (to recap: they give it 110%, all the time, they've got a singer whose enthusiasm is undampened by the years, they are, how could you forget, 'doggged by tragedy', they are, by and large, a good singles band), and that's what fleshes out their tale – it's just that you can't find many of those qualities present here.
To deduce what we can from what's present, instead you'd have to draw the conclusion that until about 1997, The Charlatans found it difficult enough to write A-sides, never mind B-sides, and concentrated on stodgy atmosphere-heavy material which couldn't be any more difficult to consume if you were told to eat it. Things did get drastically better, happily, with the likes of 'Don't Need A Gun', 'Title Fight' and 'Clean Up Kid', but the moral of 'Songs From The Other Side' would seem to be that, rather than repackaging them and trying to sell them again, sometimes it's really rather better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Still – here's to the next 1,998 years.
Rating: 5