So Sick Edits

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Announce ‘B-Sides & Rarities Part II’ Collection

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have announced 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.”


In Addition to the two-CD, two-LP and digital version of the second installment, the band will also package both the 2005 collection and the 2021 compilation as the limited edition B-Sides & Rarities Part I and Part II, a 7-LP box set featuring all 83 tracks and exclusive sleeve notes. All formats are available to preorder now ahead of the October 22nd release.

B-Sides & Rarities Part I and Part II Tracklist

PART I VINYL 1:
A1. Deanna (Acoustic Version)
A2. The Mercy Seat (Acoustic Version)
A3. City of Refuge (Acoustic Version)
A4. The Moon Is in the Gutter
A5. The Six Strings That Drew Blood
A6. Rye Whiskey
A7. Running Scared
B1. Black Betty
B2. Scum
B3. The Girl at the Bottom of My Glass
B4. The Train Song
B5. Cocks ‘n’ Asses
B6. Blue Bird

PART I VINYL 2:
A1. Helpless
A2. God’s Hotel
A3. (I’ll Love You) Till the End of the World
A4. Cassiel’s Song
A5. Tower of Song
A6. Rye Whiskey
B1. What Can I Give You?
B2. What a Wonderful World
B3. Rainy Night in Soho
B4. Lucy (Version #2)
B5. Jack the Ripper (Acoustic Version)

PART I VINYL 3
A1. The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane
A2. The Willow Garden
A3. King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O
A4. Knoxville Girl
A5. There’s No Night Out in the Jail
A6. That’s What Jazz Is to Me
B1. Where the Wild Roses Grow
B2. O’Malley’s Bar Pt. 1
B3. O’Malley’s Bar Pt. 2
B4. O’Malley’s Bar Pt. 3
B5. O’Malley’s Bar Reprise

PART I VINYL 4
A1. Red Right Hand
A2. Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum
A3. Little Empty Boat
A4. Right Now I’m a-Roaming
B1. Come Into My Sleep
B2. Black Hair
B3. Babe, I Got You Bad
B4. Sheep May Safely Graze
B5. Opium Tea

PART I VINYL 5
A1. Grief Came Riding
A2. Bless His Ever Loving Heart
A3. Good Good Day
A4. Little Janey’s Gone
A5. I Feel So Good
A6. Shoot Me Down
B1. Swing Low
B2. Little Ghost Song
B3. Everything Must Converge
B4. Nocturama
B5. She’s Leaving You
B6. Under This Moon


PART II VINYL 6
A1. Hey Little Firing Squad
A2. Fleeting Love
A3. Accidents Will Happen
A4. Free to Walk (With Debbie Harry)
A5. Avalanche*
A6. Vortex *
B1. Needle Boy
B2. Lightning Bolts
B3. Animal X
B4. Give Us a Kiss
B5. Push the Sky Away (Live with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)*

PART II VINYL 7
A1. First Skeleton Tree*
A2. King Sized Nick Cave Blues*
A3. Opium Eyes*
A4. Big Dream (With Sky)*
A5. Instrumental #33*
A6. Hell Villanelle*
A7. Euthanasia*
A8. Life Per Se*
B1. Steve McQueen*
B2. First Bright Horses*
B3. First Girl in Amber*
B4. Glacier*
B5. Heart that Kills You*
B6. First Waiting for You*
B7. Sudden Song*
B8. Earthlings*

*Unreleased