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Welcome to “On The Flippity-Flop,” where your Idolators spotlight unjustly ignored B-sides, bonus tracks, and EP cuts. Send your suggestions to tips@idolator.com.
ARTIST: The Afghan Whigs
SONG: “Miles Iz Ded”
FIRST APPEARANCE: Turn On The Water EP, 1/92
WHY IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN A-SIDE: “Miles Iz Ded” was all over the Afghan Whigs’ last few Sub Pop releases, although it was only mentioned by name once; the song was an untitled bonus track on Congregation, and it was remixed and retitled “Rebirth Of The Cool” for the Uptown Avondale EP. But it always deserved its day in the sun: It’s a towering, bleak track, and its very NSFW video echoes its last-call despair. It’s one of the band’s best songs by far, and we’re flabbergasted that it won’t appear on the Whigs’ forthcoming retrospective–come on, there’s no way it isn’t better than “66.”
Afghan Whigs – Miles Iz Ded [MP3, link expired]
ANOTHER CURIOUS OMISSION: Afghan Whigs – Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love Babe [MP3, link expired]
How can you forget the Whigs’ cover of TLC’s “Creep?” Skeevy hipster glory, from the “Honky’s Ladder” CD single.
http://pressrandom.com/2006/07/12/covers/
Screw “Creep,” which always bordered on camp in my opinion.
But what about the extraordinary “My Curse” with Marcy Mays from Scrawl on vocals?
Let’s just say that I look forward to buying the 2 new tracks from iTunes and creating my own Whigs best-of.
And what up with that track order? Very schizo.
“My Curse” is also amazing. Seriously, who put this together? It could have easily stretched to two discs, or at least a full CD and an EP of soundtrack cuts and B-sides.
(Also, “Beware” is a better representative song off of Uptown Avondale.)
Here’s one vote for Mr. Superlove off of the What Jail Is Like e.p. I heard that one for the first time in a long time last week, and immediately had to buy a download of it. It had to be driving my downstairs neighbors nutty when that track was on repeat. I considered it revenge for the all repeat Fleetwood Mac weekend they subjected me to.
Fleetwood Mac? I would have KILLED for Fleetwood Mac when my neighbor broke up with her boyfriend and attempted to get over it by playing Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor” approximately 10 bazillion times, singing along very loud and very off-key every time.
I vote for their cover of “If I Only Had a Heart” from the Honky’s Ladder single. Ditto on “My Curse.”
Thanks for this, you just saved me a post.
(PS, I’m the one guy who thinks that they peaked with Congregation.)
Oh, thank you! I don’t have any Whigs on my new work computer. Much, much appreciated.
And, in the immortal words of Mr. Dulli, “You don’t get chicks covering ‘Freebird.’”
He would know.
Thanks for posting these tracks! But c’mon, why’d you have to hate on “66″? Sure, it’s poppy as fuck and was included on some lame teen movie’s soundtrack and maybe the lyrics are kinda lazy, but it’s easily one of the most accessible Afghan Whigs songs … hell, even my mom likes it.
Also, it makes people want to do it! (Not that this doesn’t apply to practically every AW song ever.)
Speaking of underappreciated… “Mr. Superlove” is the title track to the absolutely killer twang-rock debut LP from the Ass Ponys, another band out of Cincinnati. That release (like many others) got lost in the 1991-92 Rough Trade US bankruptcy and then had a smallish reissue a few years back. The Ponys’ Chuck Cleaver now has another unfortunately-named band, “Wussy,” that mines similar rock territory just outside the “No Depression” sweet spot.
Marcy Mays and the Whigs also released a single under the name “Ornament” that’s certainly worth the price of admission.
maura, you totally got it right: Rhino should’ve done a 2-disc set of hits/b-sides & covers. They’ve done too damn many amazing covers and random b-sides to just let ‘em drift away into the mists of time.
And I thought their “Creep” was, well, creepy, which fits the song’s subject matter a little better, in my opinion.
I love, love, love this song. Thanks for the post.
Most surreal Whigs moment ever: Gentleman Tour, show at Metro. Some kid had Dulli ask a girl to prom for him. Even Dulli was like, ‘Do you know who I am and what I sing?’
This is definitely one of their best songs, especially live. This makes me reminice about how carefree Dulli used to be. I’ve seen several Twilight Singers shows, and he’s usually pretty edgy now. He never hangs out after the shows anymore and he’s prone to on-stage meltdowns like in Kentucky this past November 3.