Rarities, B-Sides, & Slow, Sad Waltzes

Rarities, B-sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes offers exactly what the liner notes promise: a hodgepodge of songs that were written and recorded for various albums and projects but that somehow ended up on soundtracks, tribute albums, or simply on demos that never left their rehearsal room before this release. Echoing the driving tone of more recent albums, the opener, "I Saw Your Shoes," establishes an electric, fast-paced beginning to the album -- appropriate for a song about desire, but something of a non sequitur given the track that follows, "Five Room Love Story." A Junkies fan will likely be able to distinguish certain other tracks as if they were intended for specific albums. "Leaving Normal," for example (written as a theme song for a film by the same name, but never used), lyrically recalls Pale Sun Crescent Moon's spoken-word "Floorboard Blues." "To Lay Me Down," a beautiful cover, compelling and moving in its stillness, was included on Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead. The final, bonus (hidden) track, Bruce Springsteen's "My Father's House," offers listeners a peak into a rehearsal/soundcheck which turns into an a cappella, impromptu performance, capturing the band's characteristic sense of family and humor better than any of the other official tracks here. The album is, by definition, a brief jumble of contrasting periods in the band's evolution. As such, however, these "orphan" tracks are a treat to Junkies fans -- such a quantity of rarities and B-sides being put out during a band's active years, rather than posthumously, is a delightful rarity. ~ Deanne Briggs|