The Shins - Nothing at All b/w Spilt Needles (alt. version)

This is a promo that I was given for free with my purchase of Wincing the Night Away. It features the non-album track "Nothing at All" and an alternate version of "Spilt Needles" (okay, is it "split" or "spilt?" The label on the record says "spilt" but CDDB seems to think it's "split." I'm going with "spilt" until I'm told otherwise. Was this a waste of words? You betcha.)

Here's the beauty of this 45 (other than the fact that I got it for free and can sell it on ebay for upwards of $5): both songs are fantastic and are not taken from the album they promote. "Spilt Needles" is on the album but not in the version on this record. Sometimes an alternate version of a track is so similar that its inclusion is redundant and unnecessary. That's not the case here. The album version of "Spilt Needles" is a brooding classic Shins song. The alternate version sounds like the same song if it were performed by The Police circa Ghost in the Machine. It's a night and day difference. "Nothing at All" seems good enough for the album to my ears. All told this is a delightful 45 whose value is only bolstered by the fact that I didn't have to pay for it.