The B-sides and remixes collection just emphasizes that could have just as easily been called Damon Days. Even though worked with collaborators like on the second album, was its main sonic architect, and this is made even clearer by the songs that didn't make it onto . Where the album honed a paranoid, melancholy -- but always accessible -- vibe, is charmingly loose and eclectic; the stoned, rag-tag shuffle of is far more engaging, or at least immediate, than the choir and strings-bedecked version that appeared on . The layered, doo wop-inspired harmonies and pianos on bear the marks of fiddling around in the studio, but appealingly so -- and that goes double for the new wave/electro ramble on which makes "blah blah blah" sound almost profound. finds him working in styles he couldn't fit on the album (although ' dubby gloom comes the closest to ' final cut): 's moody synth noodling could soundtrack an anime dystopia; fuses dub and music hall; and could be the mutant offspring of Britpop and synth pop. While many of ' tracks are sketches, the full-fledged songs are just as good as what ultimately appeared on . er, swaggers from retro-futuristic pop to messy, freewheeling rock, fulfilling the promise of rowdy snippets like also finds room for some surprisingly vulnerable moments; with its strings and shamisen, feels like a distant cousin of 's and closes ' first disc on a quiet, heartfelt note. For longtime fans, this part of the collection is a lot of fun -- a trip through his scraps and oddities is still more rewarding than many other artists' magnum opuses. ' remix disc is, somewhat surprisingly, more focused than the actual B-sides are. It's no surprise that has gathered an on-point cast of remixers, including , , and , who begin the disc with its best track, a belligerent, percussive version of that strips the song down to little more than 's voice, percussion, and the odd buzzing synth. inspired two of the disc's other standouts, a remix by and one by . While not all of the remixes hit these heights, overall it's a fun set, and a good complement to the eclecticism of ' first disc. ~ Heather Phares