The first disc is dominated by tracks written by the Brett Anderson/Bernard Butler songwriting partnership (the exceptions are "Together," "Bentswood Boys" and "Europe is Our Playground") while the second showcases the various intra-band songwriting variations (Anderson/Richard Oakes and Anderson/Neil Codling, plus Anderson solo and compositions contributed to by the whole band) that emerged following Butler's departure and the subsequent recruitment of a new guitarist, Richard Oakes and keyboardist Neil Codling.

The album is not entirely comprehensive, missing out around half a dozen exclusive songs released as B-sides by the band during the period it covers.

[6] In Hindsight, in a 2016 interview with Canadian magazine Vice, Anderson revealed some regrets over the content of the collection, which he felt could have been better and possibly his favourite of all Suede albums.

Tom Lanham of Entertainment Weekly said that Anderson is a "tireless diarist, judging from this anthology of 27 U.K.-single B sides, each one—like the grim concert staple 'Killing of a Flash Boy'—as fey, somber, and solid as any album track.

"[14] Kurt B. Reighley of CMJ New Music Monthly found the compilation to be overlong and, in contrast to other writers, pointed to the second disc as the strongest.

He conceded, however, that "there's nary a track among these 27 that wouldn't have made a worthwhile album cut, and a few that merit A-side status.

"[15] Writing for Vox, Simon Price felt that Anderson wrote some of his funniest lyrics on CD2, on the tracks "Young Men" and "Jumble Sale Mums".

Club and Scott Plagenhoef of Stylus Magazine spoke of the effort invested in Suede's B-sides, with the band discarding "failed" ideas or experiments in favour of high quality tracks.

"[1] Kevin Courtney of The Irish Times expressed similar views of the album's quality, while admitting that only The Smiths' Hatful Of Hollow could supersede it.

[28] The 1995 book, Spin Alternative Record Guide wrote: "Like the Smiths, Suede littered many of its best songs on its B-sides, a case in point being the fine 'My Insatiable One'.

Favourites from disc one include "The Living Dead" and "Killing of a Flash Boy", which were performed at Suede's March 2010 reunion shows in London.

[31][32] Anderson and Butler made their last TV appearance on MTV's Most Wanted in March 1994, where they performed the popular "Stay Together" B-sides "The Living Dead" and "My Dark Star".

The front cover, whose artistic similarities to J. G. Ballard were noted by the BBC's Stephen Dowling,[33] features a destroyed English Electric Lightning aircraft abandoned and used for target practice at the Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland.