B-Sides

This digital-only collection features previously unreleased material, songs that were only previously available as bonus tracks on CDs for various Nada Surf albums (often foreign releases) and stray tracks that landed in unlikely places. The excellent power pop tune “No Quick Fix,” with guest harmonies from Rachel Haden, was on the original U.K./European Union versions of the band’s esteemed 2002 album Let Go. Covers of Peter Perret’s “Fools” (with harmonies from Lianne Smith) and Françoise Hardy’s “Au Fond Du Revere Dore” intermingle with originals like “I Wanna Take You” (with guest vocals from Juliana Hatfield) and acoustic versions of “Whose Authority,” “I Like What You Say,” “Looking Through,” “When I Was Young,” and others. Everyone knows that a great pop-rock band is one whose B-sides are as interesting and rewarding as its A-sides. Nada Surf obviously understood that rule—and due to its eclecticism, B-Sides might be the New York guitar-pop band’s most remarkable album of all.