Saturday 24 December 2011

Part 3 - Rock Advent Calendar

And here's the final eight. Have a great Christmas!

Day Artist Video Download
17 Steve Lukather The Christmas Song Amazon (CD)
iTunes
18 Northern Light Orchestra Away In A Manger / 
Come Let Us Adore Him
NLO
Website
19 B. B. King Please Come Home For Christmas Amazon
iTunes
20 The Ramones Merry Christmas
(I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
Amazon
iTunes
21 Joe Perry Blue Christmas Amazon (CD)
iTunes
22 Keith Richards Run, Run, Rudolf Amazon
iTunes
23 AC/DC Mistress For Christmas Amazon (CD)
iTunes
24 The Darkness Christmas Time
(Don't Let The Bells End)
Amazon
iTunes

Let me know what you think of the selection and feel free to offer alternatives.

You can see all of these and more on the online Rock Christmas Advent calendar.

Free Download Friday #119: Fourth Download in Advent

A bit of a bonus this week. First the one I was going to do last week and then a couple of others I've come across, including the one I was going to do this week.

Sandi Thom @ O2 ABC2 Glasgow 7th May 2010 by Vhazza
Sandi Thom @ O2 ABC2 Glasgow 7th May 2010
a photo by Vhazza on Flickr
I suppose I must have been aware of Sandi Thom because, although I couldn't hum it to save myself, I at least recognised the title of her breakthrough single: I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair). It was, however, her album, Merchants And Thieves, that really caught my eye though because it features a collaboration with Joe Bonamassa.


When I heard that she was offering a free Christmas download, I was hopeful that it would be in the same Bluesy style as the track she did with Mr Bonamassa. Unfortunately, it's not,. But fortunately, it is still a good free Christmas download.

She has recorded a fairly gentle acoustic version of Merry Little Christmas which you can download when you enter an email address. (And unlike many of these offers, you don't have to wait to get an email and then follow a link back to get the download - the download button becomes active as soon as you enter your address.)

As I say, the track is fairly gentle and shows off her vocal ability. Personally, I would have liked the guitar to feature a bit more prominently in the mix but despite that reservation, I can see this track working really well as a late night listen. What do you think?

Next up is a Christmas song from Rob Halford - yes as in Judas Priest. On Halford's site you can buy a Christmas For Everyone from the site shop for the princely sum of $0.00. To me, it sounds a bit more Ramones-ish rather than Judas Priest-y but I like it. What do you think? If you like what you hear, check out his free music page where you can download a variety of non-Christmas tracks.

Finally, a couple of links that I've not had a chance to process properly so I offer them here without comment:
Hope you enjoy. And have a great Christmas and a happy New Year.

Friday 23 December 2011

Part 2 - Rock Advent Calendar

And here's the next eight:

Day Artist Video Download
9 Manowar Silent Night YouTube
only?
10 Joan Jett And The Blackhearts Little Drummer Boy Amazon
iTunes
11 August Burns Red O Come, O Come Emmanuel Amazon
iTunes
12 Seasick Steve Xmas Prison Blues Amazon
iTunes
13 Radwan Hoteit (?) Happy Xmas (War Is Over) Amazon
iTunes
14 The Black Crowes Back Door Santa
Black
Crowes
15 Jethro Tull Ring Out Solstice Bells Amazon
iTunes
16 Alice Cooper et al Santa Claws Is Coming To Town Amazon
iTunes

Let me know what you think of the selection and feel free to offer alternatives.

You can see all of these and more on the online Rock Christmas Advent calendar.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Part 1 - Rock Advent Calendar

File this one in the "It seemed like a good idea at the time..." category.

I like Rock music and I like Christmas music but Rock radio stations seem reluctant to play Christmas music... perhaps because it is generally associated with a high cheese factor. We were discussing this issue on a Rock Radio facebook page and I said that you could easily fill a couple of hours of programme with Christmas music that would appeal to Rock fans. Unfortunately, Don Macbeth called my bluff and challenged me to post a different Rock Christmas song every day in advent.

So that's what I've been doing. I only made two provisos: one, I didn't want any grumpy comments about this or that not being Rock; and two, I was going to include some Blues.

I noticed, however, that my daily posts don't seem to show up on my facebook wall, so if you don't go the the right page, you wont have noticed the songs. Therefore, I created an online music video Rock Advent Calendar and I wrote this post. This will be the first of three posts, taking me up to Christmas Eve, when I will list the last eight of the videos.

Let me know what you think of the selection and feel free to offer alternatives.

Day Artist Video Download
1 Slade Merry Xmas Everybody Amazon
iTunes
2 Bruce Springsteen Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Amazon
iTunes
3 The Greedies A Merry Jingle Amazon (Vinyl)
iTunes
4 Twisted Sister O Come All Ye Faithfull Amazon
iTunes
5 Joe Bonamassa Santa Claus Is Back In Town Try Joe's download
from last year
6 Joe Satriani Silent Night/Holy Night Jam Amazon (CD)
iTunes
7 Dio, Tony Iommi et. al God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Amazon
iTunes
8 Eric Clapton Christmas Tears Amazon
iTunes

Friday 16 December 2011

Free Download Friday #118: Third Download in Advent

I had another post lined up and ready to go... then I saw this advertised on the Roadrunner Records site:

It's gone. :-(

They say it will only be there for one weekend, so go get it now!  If you haven't already downloaded it, you're too late but you can still listen to Santa Claus Is Back In Town on Soundcloud:


I've posted a link to the Joe Bonamassa version of this track before (Free Music Friday #82: Happy Christmas from Joe Bonamassa). This version is much more raw and raucous - dirty even! Excellent!

Saturday 10 December 2011

Free Download Friday #117: Second Download in Advent

Given that I'm a teetotal Rock music fan, this is not my usual musical choice... But it's Christmas!

Under The Christmas Star from Stella Artois offers seven jazz flavoured Christmas songs. (Or possibly eight songs if you are still in the first so many hundred thousand downloads). Only restriction is you have to be over eighteen)

Check out the facebook page for more details.

As I said, not my usual taste but maybe I'm in a good mood because it's Christmas because I quite like this. And a whole album's worth of Christmas songs for free is not to be sneezed at.

Sunday 4 December 2011

Free Download Friday #116: First Download in Advent

Late again. I am therefore posting the first Friday in Advent download on the second Sunday in Advent...

First up though is a bonus. I have posted a link to this track before (see Free Download Friday #40: Final Friday in Advent) but in case you missed it, Mr Bonamassa has made Merry Christmas Baby available again. Just go to the Christmas page on his site, enter your email address and Joe's your uncle!

Now a new download from a band (duo?) I've never heard of before but I'm really impressed with what they have done with an old classic:



Baby It's Cold Outside - really simple acoustic arrangement, two voices that work well together, and a performance that isn't cheesy and doesn't have a forced coquettishness. I really like it.

Not very Rock or Blues but very Christmas. What do you think? A good start to the Advent downloads?