Deftones
B-Sides And Rarities

Frankly, I was a bit afraid to get this new album by the Deftones. I don't know how to explain, but I feared a great disappointment. Did the great disappointment arrive? Luckily, no. Oh well, it's nothing special, but I was pleased with the new work from the Sacramento band.

A particular aspect of “B-Sides and Rarities” was the huge presence of covers, eight tracks out of fourteen. They performed songs by Duran Duran (“The Chauffer”), Sade (“No Ordinary Life”), Helmet (“Sinatra”), The Cure (“Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want”, played live at the MTV Icon 2004 dedicated to Robert Smith's band), Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Simple Man”), Jawbox (“Savory”) and Cocteau Twins (“Wax And Wane”). All performed very well, especially the last one.
Four tracks are reworks of already known Deftones songs: the acoustic version of “Digital Bath,” “Be Quiet And Drive (far away),” “Change (in the house of flies)” and “Teenager”. There are two absolutely new entries in the album (although these tracks were recorded during the times of “Around The Fur” and “White Pony”), namely “Black Moon” and “Crenshaw Punch/I’ll Throw Rocks At You,” very interesting tracks.
Even the booklet is worth browsing through repeatedly: a full twenty-four pages with various photos plus a DVD containing videos made by the Deftones (“My Own Summer (shove it),” “Hexagram,” “Bored”...).

In my opinion, the fifth effort by Chino, Abe, Steph, Chi, and Frank deserves a lot. It's an exceptional product that once again emphasizes the skill of the Sacramento band. I highly recommend this album to those who declare themselves strong fans of the Deftones.