Slung

It's an age-old practice and a desperate measure, when a recording artist hasn't produced in a while, the label scoops up previous tracks that never made it into an album, packages it nicely and presents the industry with a "new" salable item.

A collection of, essentially, rejects.

Used to be such a body of works would be tritely entitled "B-sides". Bic Runga's release in September 2008 in her native Southern Hemisphere was cutely dubbed "B-sides and Rarities".

(Don't get me wrong. I love Bic. She's on my short list of favorite musicians of all time because i have unmistakably superb taste.)

By the time the album was available for purchase on iTunes it had been renamed "Rare and Unreleased".

Umm, is that license to be uncreative?

Who are they trying to fool, anyway? The public is aware of the nature of the goods.

Given, the goods can be plenty good. Case in point: Damien Rice's B-Sides, 2004. The man is a genius. His talent is freakish.

If i've walked away with one precious piece of advice from art school, it is:

You are only as good as the worst piece in your portfolio.

So be careful what you add in your discography. Unless you're one of the chosen few blessed to get away with it. One, perhaps, from my short list of god-awesome muses of all time.