Vegas released three singles, and between them they carried six songs you couldn’t get on the UK album. Most people never heard them. That is a shame, because some of them are among the best things Vegas did.
Here is our ranking. It is completely subjective, and we fully expect you to disagree.
6. Tip Of My Tongue
B-side to “She”. This is less a song and more a sketch. The lyric is just a few lines about having a rhyme and a reason on the tip of your tongue, and asking why talk forever when forever is too long.
It is charming, and that last line is a good one. But it feels like an idea that was never quite finished. Bottom of the list, but still worth a listen.
5. Infectious
B-side to “Possessed”, and a bonus track on the Japanese album. The lyric is a short chain of words: infected, resurrected, injected, corrected, all by your love.
The fun part is that it then repeats in different languages. There are sections in Chinese, Spanish, French, German and Italian. It ends with a spoken line declaring that was most devastating. It is daft, very playful and a bit of a curiosity. You can imagine them having enormous fun making it.
4. Art Blind
B-side to “Walk Into The Wind”. This is a little satire about people who buy art without understanding it. He’ll always listen, but he doesn’t think your opinion’s that funny. You just don’t know what you’re buying with that money.
“Ignorance prevails when all else fails” is a great line, and it sounds like something Terry would say about the music business as much as the art world. Short, sharp and pleasingly grumpy.
3. Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
Also on the “Walk Into The Wind” CD. This is one of the most romantic and slightly unsettling songs in the whole Vegas catalogue. There is blood on someone’s lips, a wish that one kiss could last forever, and a narrator lost on an ocean of thoughts and emotions.
The best moment is a plea to be told lies that heal instead of truths that only wound. It is a very grown up idea for a B-side. It could easily have been on the album.
2. If You Kill My Cat, I’ll Kill Your Dog
B-side to “She”, with the best title in the Vegas story. It sounds like a joke, and partly it is. But underneath, it is a love song about two people making a pact as they crawl through the fog.
Terry rhymes monastic with elastic and fantastic, which makes us smile every time. He has a road and a car, and they are chasing the moon on a falling star. The future, he says, is not what it was. It is funny, odd and surprisingly tender.
1. Lying In Bed Barefoot
B-side on the Dave Stewart picture CD of “Possessed”. For us, this is the hidden gem.
It is a perfect little picture of a lazy, slightly hungover morning. The kids next door are banging and shouting. A man at the door is trying to sell him a brush. The alarm clock is singing to the milk on the step. And through all of it, he is lying in bed barefoot, refusing to move.
Then the last verse turns. He can’t remember what happened last night, and he has a sneaky suspicion you brought someone home. Suddenly the cosy morning has a sting in it. It is pure Terry Hall: funny, very British and quietly sad.
Where to find them
None of these were on the UK album, and they have never been gathered together in one place. To hear them all, you need the “Possessed” CDs (both of them), the “She” CD single and the “Walk Into The Wind” CD single. Our discography shows exactly which pressing has which song, and every lyric is on the lyrics page.
So, what’s your number one?