It’s easy to forget in today’s era of streaming and downloading just what a treasure trove of additional material the flipsides of vinyl singles offered in the creatively fertile 80s.
If you were unlucky, your favourite 45 would include either an instrumental, a live track, or, worse still, a previously released album cut, but for every dud there was a veritable gem. The humble B-side offered many acts the opportunity to experiment in the studio and present themselves in a different light, while others treated it as an art form, delivering exemplary non-album material in the tradition of their musical heroes.