B Sides the point

Dave Woodhall takes issue with the B Sides announced yesterday.

The B Sides project finally came to fruition on Wednesday at the Glee Club as the 21 tracks were announced to a curious audience. It would have been nice to have some of the chosen musicians in attendance, but being (mostly) Brummies they probably thought the whole idea was a waste of time and couldn’t be arsed.

Those who did turn up, though, enjoyed themselves and the highlight of the afternoon was a stunning rendition of Love & Affection by Vix Vox.

As for the list, well, it was interesting. The idea behind the project was to plug Birmingham’s musical heritage as a way of boosting tourism, so it was strange to see Duran Duran, the Move and the Moody Blues, to name the most obvious, missing. Some of the songs by bands who did make the cut were a bit odd as well – War Pigs because, apparently, other Sabbath songs were too obvious, Dexy’s were represented by This Is What She’s Like for the same reason then Mr Blue Sky was chosen even though it wouldn’t make ELO’s top half-dozen tunes. There were a few oddly obscure selections which smacked of musical snobbery and if you want to be a Brummie purist there should be no place for the Specials, else you’re going down the road of Manchester’s elastic boundaries.

I hope this doesn’t come across as criticism for the sake of it, because that’s not what’s intended. It was a great idea and if it wasn’t exactly perfect then there’s always room for improvement when B Sides – Now That’s What I Call Birmingham 2 is released. The point of lists like these is to generate debate, and B Sides has certainly managed that. I do, though, defy anyone to explain why these tunes didn’t deserve a place.