I really wanted to keep this until Friday for a Free Download Friday post but I'm not sure exactly how long the offer will be available. The first time I read about it, I thought it was only going to be a week but Tom Russell seemed to suggest today that it was going to be available for a fortnight...
What am I taking about? Rock Radio are currently offering the new GUN single - Let Your Hair Down as a free download. Follow the link, enter your email address and download their new single. Excellent!
I generally like GUN's stuff but I must admit that on first listen, this one is only OK. Three stars on my iPod - which means it's earned it's place but isn't particularly special. However, as I say, it's only had one listen so far. It may be a grower...
The other reason I wanted to keep this until Friday is that the Rock Radio link takes you to the Townsend Records' site, which is currently offering a thirteen track sampler album as a free download. I've not had a chance to listen to more than a couple of tracks yet, but the names of the artists I recognise makes it look promising. For example, it has two tracks from Thunder and one from Ian Hunter. Interested?
Update: I added the following in a comment...
On subsequent listens, I decided I did like the GUN track and I'm not sure why I was so grumpy after the first listen. Of the Sampler album, I'd say the two Thunder tracks are the best but I really like the Toby Jepson track too.
8 comments:
Ah, Thunder. Finally saw them live on their "farewell" tour some years ago. Glad to hear they're back. "Back Street Symphony" is great but simply *has* to be heard live to appreciate it at its best.
Were they really giving out free air guitars where that picture was taken?
< /envious>
(haha, I love this error message that I got: Your HTML cannot be accepted: Tag is not allowed: ENVIOUS. I'll have to be careful with that tag in the future!)
Hello Mr Mosher
I only have one Thunder album - Robert Johnson's Tomb (a download from eMusic as it happens). I like it and always meant to get more...
Hello Jeff
Good to see you back here. Yes, I picked up my free air guitar when I went into Rock Radio to collect my prize. (You can see I had to sneak out during a work day - so I'm not exactly dressed for Rock!) Not only did I get the air guitar but those nice people at Elixir Strings sent me a set of air guitar strings too. Excellent. And if you want proof, you can see me playing them in this Air Guitar Hero picture. :-)
I think I have two Thunder albums, but I can't recall the second. I admit that memories made me go and download BSS last night on uTorrent. In my defence I have *two* copies of the album (CD and vinyl!) sat in storage that I can't get to.
I still can't work out the (il)legality of that...
Thanks, I will check this out.
Hello again Mr Mosher
Well, it's definitely against the letter of the law...
Hello Barbara
You are welcome. On subsequently listens, I decided I did like the GUN track and I'm not sure why I was so grumpy after the first listen. Of the Sampler album, I'd say the two Thunder tracks are the best but I really like the Toby Jepson track too.
Yes, letter of law is one thing but this goes full circle to the question you raised in class the other day - who's losing out?
I recall then the recording industry threatened to sue Amstrad when they introduced the first twin tape deck machines as they could obviously only be used for piracy. Not backups. Or running off your own material.
And then they jumped on that kid from Sweden (if memory serves) for breaking the encryption on DVDs allowing them to be ripped off... or legally backed up for personal use.
I own two copies of the album and paid for one (the vinyl was a competition prize). I can - I believe - legally rip my CD to MP3 and listen to it in the car. Or at least that's deemed as "acceptable use". However, if I *download* that album I'm apparently breaking the law. Despite ending up with the same files on my hard drive.
Someone really has to sit down with the industry heads and the legal beagles and bring them up to date on technology!
Oh, and:
Toby Jepson? What? Where? I've still not heard any of his stuff since the Little Angels split up! I hitched from Bradford to London and back to see their last three gigs *sigh*
Hello Mr Mosher
"...Someone really has to sit down with the industry heads and the legal beagles and bring them up to date on technology!"
Agreed but it seems unlikely that this will happen... and it seems equally likely that the movie and TV industries are making all the same mistakes as the music industry... and probably adding a few more of their own. Hurumph!
As for Mr Jepson, you obviously didn't read the Rock Radio page. I quote:
"We helped bring the band back into the limelight when Rock Jock Tom Russell suggested to Joolz and Dante Gizzi they should hook up with ex Little Angels singer Toby Jepson for our birthday bash in 2008.
The show went so well the brothers put the band back together with Toby, along with drummer Gordon McNeil – announcing the news on Tom’s Rock Radio show in April 2008.
They recently went into the studio to record a single, but the session went so well the result is the five-track release Popkiller, which will be out in time for the band’s UK tour in November."
So the GUN download is the first recorded output from the new, Toby-ised GUN. :-)
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