Singles. Back in the day, they were exciting previews of albums to come or a chance for collectors to pick up some unreleased b-sides. Now, any tracks that don't make the cut on albums seem to end up as bonus tracks on the record itself and rarely do bands release singles before the album itself is out. Its a shame.
Apparently, radio stations won't actually play songs sent to them as promos unless the track is released commercially in some form. AMC wanted some promotion for their UK tour and so, 'All The Lost Souls...' is releaed as a digital only single. The song itself is a good choice, being one of the more upbeat and memorable songs from 'The Golden Age', although not in the same classic league as 'Sleeping Beauty' or 'The Dance'. The 'b sides' (such as they are) are demos of 'Stars' and 'Who You Are'. Both are nice enough, just Eitzel singing and playing acoustic guitar. In the case of 'The Stars', it just leaves you wanting to listen again to the superb fuzzy distortion on the LP version, but 'Who You Are' is actually an improvement on the album version; delicate and sad whereas the 'Golden Age' offering is upbeat in a forced way and a touch repetitve. Probably the weakest track on a great album.
So, if you're a fan its probably worth a couple of quid as you'll probably listen to the demos a couple of times. Its sad though that singles have come to this point- fans buying mp3 files with a couple of clicks of the mouse just to hear a couple of demos, so that a radio station will give a song a few spins.
Single of the year so far incidentally, and a sign that the old days haven't gone completely, is Beck's 'Chemtrails'. A stunning single even out of the context of the album with a brand new unreleased song as the b side....and available on vinyl!
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