the album is really great.
I really liked it
the cost is quite reasonable.
I also liked the packaging

I'm a huge fan of Damien, for out of most new acts he is the only one with the guts to really create something new, fresh and different. He tries to give us a taste of something we've never had the opportunity to experience before. 'B-Sides' is no exception. While not as solid as 'O', I say this only because it's not as long, for the musical selection here is still very strong.

Damien starts us off with 'The Professor & La Fille Danse' which is the most effective track here. It's musical arrangment perfectly fits the lyrical message about the using of women for pleasure. The song describes, in a somewhat explicit and disturbing nature, the fact that this man knows nothing about this woman. The line "and the d*ck left inside only half understood her" perfectly (while vulgarly) explains the predicament that this poor woman is being used for a purpose.

The next track is 'Lonelil y', which appeared on the single for Cannonball (another brilliant track) and this song, while not as strong as the previous, has a possitive message about love and being with the ones you love. None of us want to be lonely. I like the lyrical message in this song, almost as if they took their relationship for granted and then realized they'd rather be together. The chorus chanting "your coming home" and you believe that.

'Woman like a Man' is one of my favorite tracks by Damien. This song is ellegantly done with beautiful harmonizing. The song itself is a little difficult to follow, I'm still trying to figure out what he's getting at, but I think I got it. It appears as if he's pointing out the role-factors of the sexes today, how men and or women want the bennifits received by the other sex and that sex alone. That's just my take though...

I LOVE 'Moody Mooday' if not for the brilliant lyrics then for the way Damien tackles this song. There's a track on 'O' that makes me feel this same way, and that track is 'Cold Water'. On that song, Damien sings as if he were drowning. You believe him. Here it's the same. He sings "I find it hard to breath" and he sings this with such strain in his voice you know he's struggling to deliver each word. The lyrics are deep in their simplicity, and wording it the way he has, with "why d'you have to break free" almost as if she was his captive and then "why d'you have to phone" letting you know she left him in an impersonal mannor but then his comment "someone else you'd rather phone" leads you to believe it was never personal. I personally think she's a hooker...but that's just my take on the song.

The live cut of 'Delicate' is a little to soft. I just think it was poorly recorded. I know it's live but it's no where near as polished as the live cut of 'The Professor...' It's still a wonderful song, it just loses a bit in the translation.

The album closes out with an instrumental and demo version of 'Volcano' which suceeds on both efforts. The instrumental is beautiful but to me it's the demo that stands out as one of my favorite additions to this album. It's raw and downplayed, slow and passionate and it really adds to the umph you get from the powerful lyrics of an immature and maybe even quilty relationship. I just love the whole feel of it.

So there you have it. Yet another brilliant offering from Damien, and something that should hold us over until his next album...let's just pray it comes soon!

Damien Rice's "B-Sides", while not the best stand-alone album ever produced, contains a few reworked tracks that are certainly worth hearing. These B-Sides can't (and don't) really work as a stand-alone album. They lack a clear sense of purpose, the kind that's seen in his previous effort, "O." However, like the two hidden tracks at the end of that album, these tracks portray a much darker side of Rice's music, and significantly contribute to the listeners understanding of the artist and help his main work - "O" to stand apart as one of the greatest albums to be released in the past decade. These songs can almost be seen as the ones they were too dark for even "O." Tracks with vivid imagery and strong language like "Woman like a Man" exemplify this.

The songs on this album, even without context, on whole are not as strong as those on "O," The Professor & La Fille Danse, being a notable exception. In truth it is one of his best songs. The writing in this song is especially fresh, with explicit and somewhat disturbing lyrics. This song is almost just an excuse for Rice to wail on his guitar - yet the lyrics present the same helplessness seen in his music. It flows easily through movements in the song. Rice has a penchant for beginning with the best, and "The Professor..." is certainly the best song on the album. Additionally, the demos of "Delicate," and "Volcano" (as well as the instrumental version of "Volcano") are good songs.

The songs on this EP, while significantly simpler than the overall quality of his first effort, contain the same emotion and vocal strength of his other work. And while there are some spectacular moments, the music of "O" clearly outshines Rice's B-Sides. However, this collection of music is still a fine set of track, and this reviewer looks forward to more out of Damien Rice.

If you liked O, then you'll love B-Sides. I would never buy this album before O though.

Each song has is amazing in its own right, but by far the most compelling is Delicate (live in Dublin). I would buy the CD just for this amazing single. Incredible emotion and raw talent. You'll love it, trust me.

Typical Damien Rice. You'll enjoy the mood swing and be evened out by Lisa Hennigan. Not as good as "O" but you'll dig it.

Every once in a while I just get a "need" to hear Rice's "the Professor", because it is remarkable.

If you liked O, and I bet you did, B-sides is as if they took the restraints off Rice, and now he can just take us to another level of his creations, not only because of the curse words (which do add another dimension) but more because of the clearness.

I want to agree with the other reviews, and add that this album seems to be a bit of a filler beween "O" and whatever is next from Damien. It is soft, and vulgar, and apparently bi-lingual in all the ways Damien Rice has proven himself to be on "O". He is one artist with a serious following, able to release and sell an album full of semi-edited and poorly produced songs, and still we buy it, and love it, and can't wait to do it all again!!!

This is a beautiful compilation of some amazing songs. The Professor is so sweet and Woman Like a Man so bitter that they compliment each other perfectly. The instrumental version of Volcano is like a hard-rock symphony and definitely worth a listen. My favorite song is Lonelily, just for it's simple purity. All in all, a fantastic piece of work!

I thoroughly enjoyed this ep. The lyrics, guitar riff layout, and personal intimacy surpasses that of so many other artists I've heard. This is my favorite product that Damien Rice has put out, hope he does more simple ep's like this.

After finishing my first introduction into the world of Damien Rice with his Closer album, "O", I had to immerse myself into more. His music is lyrically beautiful and his sound will pull you from wherever your life is into a state of serenity and emotion. His music is like an addiction, and I couldn't just stop with one album, so, as a gift I was handed "the B-sides" which holds some of Rice's lesser-known songs.

What I loved the most about this album was the raw taste that Rice presented. There are a few more moments of profanity, less of a "album" feel, and so much more emotion that you can literally cut it with a knife. There is this sensation of going on an adventure without any money in your wallet when listening to this album. Rice unplugs himself for some of the songs like "Woman Like a Man" and "Volcano (DEMO)". For me, this gave me a deeper insight into the music of this great artist. I adored the instrumental version of "Volcano" because it showed me another side of his musical talent. If you listen to the "Volcano" version on "O" then listen to this instrumental version, I think you will feel two different things. The instrumental version seemed haunting and extremely sad, while the other was a bit more uplifting. This is what I love about his music, you can find yourself in two places while listening to the same song.

My personal favorites from this album were "Volcano (DEMO)" and "The Professor". I recommend this album to anyone wishing to explore more of what Rice has to offer. If this is your first taste of Rice, you may be a bit disappointed, but for those growing number of fans out there ... this is a perfect album to add to your collection!

Grade: ***** out of *****

Damien Rice was one of my favourite singers of 2004 because of his debut album "O." That album was a slow-burner up the UK album charts and spent most of 2004 in the Top 40, frequently climbing into the Top 10. I bought it in August 2004 the day after I saw Madonna in concert, and every time I listen to it, I'm always reminded of my day out in London. I was blown away by Damien and his amazing voice. There was something so relaxing about his music, and I instantly went out and bought "B-Sides," desperate to hear more material from him.

To begin with, I didn't really like this collection of songs too much, and it spent quite a few months on my shelf. It's only in the past few weeks that I forced myself to listen to it in an attempt to find something I would like about it, and to my surprise, I did. This record was released in the UK with a total of eight tracks, but there's only seven on the US version, apparently. The artwork for the covers of the different version are also different in America and the UK. This is a short and sweet collection of songs and the run time is only just over 30 minutes. Because of this I wouldn't consider it essential for casual fans, and only essential for those of you who are desperate to hear more of this Irish crooner.

The first song is the great "The Professor & La Fille Danse (Live At Cornucopia)" which is a light and gentle mid-tempo number. This is very typical of something you'd find on O, but not quite as good. That's why it's a b-side, obviously! The lyrics are good but a bit explicit which doesn't seem to suit Damien as much as you think it would. These gentle songs don't sound very appetising with all the expletives being thrown around. "Lonelily (Original Demo)" is an amazing song and probably my favourite on the album. It's quite short, but very beautiful. The verses are sung very well, and the raspy vocals in the chorus make this one of the best songs I've heard by Damien. "Woman Like A Man (Live Unplugged)" is another great song and is rather raw, primal and animalistic. Damien is joined by Lisa Hannigan on the vocals, as she serves as the haunting muse that dominated throughout O. The guitar on this song is really impressive and the high-pitch vocal duo between the two near the end is the highlight. "Moody Mooday" is a great song that features a distant wailing by Damien in the background as he cries "Moody!" This song swirls around in your mind like milk just added to a coffee, and the tortured vocals resound throughout.

"Delicate (Live In Dublin)" was recorded live in Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin on December 30th 2001. This is a great live version of easily one of my favourite songs of the past year. This is sung before Damien became a big name in Ireland and England, and to hear the raw talent is pretty amazing. "Volcano (Instrumental)" is a rather startling instrumental of one of Damien's most well-known songs. This sounds nothing like the version on O, because it is more upbeat and obviously because there's no vocals. I actually prefer the original version, but this is a pleasant enough listen. "Volcano ('97 Demo)" was recorded on December 3rd 1997 on a walkman just after the song was written. This is a rather rough production song but that's the point - the capture the essence of a great song the moment after it was written. From the date, this song is actually rather old so had been in the works years before it made it onto O. The final song is "Cannonball (Radio Edit)" which is the song that made Damien a household name here in the UK. This song wasn't exactly a huge hit in the charts, but it became the spark that ignited the Damien Rice frenzy last year and saw O sell 1 million copies.

OVERALL GRADE: 7/10

This collection of songs leaves you satisfied after wanting to hear more from Damien Rice. The disc is presented in a cardboard sleeve design much like the one for O, but slightly different. The eight songs here are all great for hardcore fans or people who want to hear more. If you were disappointed with O, then there's not much chance that you'll like what's on offer here, so I'd stay clear if that sounds like you. The only downside to this album is the amount of swearing in tracks one and three. If any artist wants to use swear words, that's fine with me, I don't object to it, but here with Damien Rice it doesn't seem to fit very well. Overall a great collection of songs.

_B-Sides_ is delightful. Vocally, Rice is absolutely flawless, and his acoustic guitar licks are vibrant. "Lonelily" shines above the rest here, though, being an extremely catchy ballad with a lush guitar melody. It's heartfelt, beautiful, and comes off as being quite an emotional tune. Normally, I wouldn't recommend checking out a b-side unless one an avid collector, but the songs on this release are gold.

This album is above and beyond what I expected. Of course I'm already blown away by Damien Rice, this only adds fuel to the fire.
Top tracks:
Most of them. I like The Professor, Lonelily, Woman Like a Man, Delicate, and Volcano (1997 Demo). That's most of the cd. I would highly reccomend this album if you already like Damien Rice or love good acoustic music.

This will have to satisfy those of us who are big fans of his first album "O". This companion EP of b sides is awesome. A bit more explicit in the lyrics, but awesome.

Damien's is absolutely amazing. He can do no wrong!!! I haven't heard a song I didn't love! From the covers he's done at concerts to the B-sides collected here the music is just beyond words. It had been so long since I heard true talent in a musician that I begun to think I would just have to live in the past but then Damien came along and with Lisa, Vivian, and Tomo has revived a raw natural music that is so awesome. It is so refreshing to hear something that is what it is. It's not synthetic, it's not fake or toyed with. It is pure brilliance at it's best!!!

Enough has been said, lauded, and expressed in amazement of this young man's talent, both musically and lyrically. Certainly "O" was one the greatest debut CDs in a long., long time, and wanting more from him is the inevitable feeling you probably were left with, after listening to his first full album.
Now comes, not the first, but possibly the best EP released in the wake of "O." Most selections included are either unreleased demos ("Lonelily"), sketches of songs you'll know ("Volcano"), great live stuff ("The Professor & La Fille Danse" or "Delicate"), and, probably, represent the best of this EP.
Among the several EPs Damien Rice has released over the last twelve months, I consider "b-sides" to be his most satisfying one, and representative of Rice's deep talent and promising career.