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B-side/rarities compilations can be a tricky thing. There's a reason the songs ultimately didn't make the final cut of any LP but at the same time, an artist has an opportunity to get music out that hasn't been heard before, providing a nice compliment to an artist's discography. But it's a fine line to walk: the compilation can be either be tedious exercise in lackluster material or a fine addition to a catalog. Fortunately, Around the Well, the new two-disc compilation of previously unreleased songs from folk act Iron & Wine, hits all the right notes, literally and figuratively, providing fans with a nice fill-in-the-gaps collection.
The first disc is composed of Creek Drank the Cradle era songs, easily identifiable by the low-fi production and Beam’s hushed whispers. The cuts that make up the first disc are all solid. “Swans and the Swimming” bares a striking resemblance to Creek cut "Southern Anthem" and would have fit in well on the debut LP. Other choice selections include a pair of covers: the Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ for Superman” and The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” It’s easy to understand why these selections weren’t album releases but they still manage to achieve a high level of quality. While lacking the urgency of the Lips’ original version, Beam’s husky, quiet delivery on “Sumperman” imbues the song with a sense of calm amidst despair.
The second disc is occupied by songs from around 2004's Endless Numbered Days onward, when the band's sound shifted from the scratchy, lo-fi sound to a cleaner, crisper production without sacrificing any of the music's soul or emotion, proving even these supposedly "weaker" songs are still, in essence, Iron & Wine songs. Take for example, "Kingdom of the Animals," a Shepherd’s Dog b-side. Beneath the tinkling piano and a song that ultimately sounds something like a reggae/zydeco shuffle is a very distinct, sweet melody as well as lyrics that evoke a certain level of Southern gothic ("Jenny was gone/And the moon blooms/All shining/As we dragged our panic/Up and down the riverbed/Sweating wild and weird/In our Sunday clothes"). The set closes with perhaps the strongest song across either disc, “The Trapeze Swinger,” a contribution to the In Good Company soundtrack. Beam pleads to a lost lover - either through circumstance or time - "Please, remember me/Fondly/I heard from someone you're still pretty." If there’s a weakness to the song, it’s that it stretches on a bit too long and, at over 9 minutes, threatens to collapse beneath its own weight.
Each disc could stand alone as its own LP, representing two distinct modes of Iron & Wine, though they don't stand up to the records that have been released. Still, as far as compilations go, this one is strong and even this collection stands up to the best stuff of many similar bands out there.
Around the Well is out on Sub Pop records on May 19. The band's website also offers another exclusive: alternate versions of songs from the 2007 LP The Shepherd's Dog. And you can download dozens of the bands live shows - including the two recent intimate shows here in Chicago - for $9.95 or less at this website.
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