Deftones - B-Sides & Rarities

Like the trail of stones left by Hansel and Gretel through the forest, sometimes you can follow the history of a band as well by the songs they discard along the way as those that get carried with them. As a compilation, the Deftones B-Sides & Rarities is unlikely to reach as far as a proper album from the band. But paradoxically, this may be one of their most accessible albums to date. I took this disc on holidays last week with some friends who generally shy away from what the Deftones are known for (loud drums, distorted guitars and screaming vocals – for all their subtleties and melodies the Deftones are a metal band after all), but all were quietly taken in and surprised by how much they enjoyed what was on show here.

As songs that were left off the official albums for whatever reasons, these B-sides & Rarities cover a very varied lot of ground. There are acoustic versions, covers, collaborations with other bands and other experiments throughout. The first stop for most fans will be the acoustic versions of old favourites. Be Quite and Drive (Far Away) is given a complete work over with help from DJ Crook (Team Sleep), while tracks from White Pony such as Change (In The House of Flies) and Digital Bath prove their ability to retain suspense and tension without the bludgeoning distortion.

Savory is a combined jam session between the Deftones and Far, another band from their hometown of Sacramento, and the first of many varied collaborations on the album. B-Real from Cypress Hill provides vocals for Black Moon, a left over from the White Pony sessions. Unsurprisingly DJ Crook and the members of Team Sleep (vocalist Chino Moreno’s other band) pop up on a few of the tracks, as do members of Far, while Teenager (Idiot Version) sees Chino join the band Idiot Pilot for a “real instruments” version of the song which was originally built from a drum loop and a sample provided by Crook.

The covers chosen are as varied as the original works on display, proving that this is caused by a band who are willing to draw from a broad range of areas. From the suspense of If Only Tonight We Could Sleep, recorded live for the MTV Icons tribute to The Cure, to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man, to songs by Duran Duran and The Smiths and back to the more predictable like Helmet’s Sinatra. “We did this one just to play loud/hard.” States guitarist Stef Carpenter in the liner notes. It’s not the only heavy song on the album though, although overall it is a surprisingly mellow collection for the band. A left over from the Around The Fur sessions, Crenshaw Punch/I’ll Throw Rocks At You is what the band do best, grinding guitars, tight rhythms and mysterious vocals which hint at as much as they say.

The album also comes with an accompanying DVD, featuring video clips for every single the band has released, plus two new clips for Engine no. 9 and Root from the debut album Adreneline. The video for Bored (also of that album) is the archetypal mid-’90s rock video. Grainy/damaged footage, the band playing in an abandoned house, skating and bikes, it’s all here courtesy of director Nick Egan. Breakthrough single My Own Summer (Shove It) is given a bizarre shark cage/underwater treatment by Dean Karr which never quite works, but follow up Be Quite and Drive (Far Away) shows the band playing in an empty car park with a simplistic style courtesy of Purge which lets the strength of the song come to the forefront. Change (In The House of Flies), directed by Liz Friedlander, is a visual work of art which fits perfectly to the song as the band play in various rooms throughout a party full of decadence where everyone seems slightly removed from the “reality” around them. Minerva from the self-titled Deftones album is another well directed video by Paul Fedor, which shows the band playing in a desert which accentuates the epic sound of the song.

Generally Rarities compilations are for hardcore fans only, and there’s no doubt the Deftones faithful will love everything on offer here. But considering the DVD is essentially a “Best Of”, with all the singles and well known songs, and the accessible and varied nature of the songs on the CD, this compilation may also be the perfect introduction for new fans as well to what makes the Deftones stand out above so many of their peers in the world of modern heavy music.

(Originally published on FasterLouder)