Rock Advent Calendar

Should have posted this a couple of weeks ago... my Rock Advent Calendar is back... I admit, it is very similar to last year's but there are a couple of new tracks in there. Feel free to make suggestions on tracks I should have included.

Day one is an obvious choice... and I don't care what anyone says, they are a rock band! As the days go on though, I hope you will find a diverse and occasionally bizarre mix of Rock and Blues Christmas songs. Enjoy!

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.

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.

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

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?

Free Music Friday #84: Happy Christmas from the girls

Last week's post was Free Music Friday #83: Happy Christmas from the boys, or at least from mostly male vocalists. This week it's the turn of the girls, or at least mostly female vocalists.

Not much time today since there is loads to do with it being Christmas Eve (It's a Wonderful Life at the GFT and choir at the Watchnight Service among other things) so without further ado...

• Sweet Bells by Kate Rusby. A few years ago, a friend won tickets for Celtic Connections. What I remember mostly is that there was a lot of fiddling about on fiddles. Mostly it's a style of music I don't listen to, so I'm ashamed to say I remember nothing about any of the artists or the tunes they played. The one exception is Kate Rusby, who played a belter of a set. Just her, and acoustic guitar and her distinctive and memorable voice. This Christmas track reminded me why I was impressed the first time I heard her.
• Last Christmas by The Puppini Sisters. A 1940s, Andrews Sisters-style, retro version of this Wham Christmas song. (The page linked to from the song title has a couple of other downloads you might want to check out too.)
• Santa's On His Way by The Pipettes. You wait all Christmas for one retro female vocal band to come along... but this time it's more Phil Spector than 1940s.
• No Cure For The Common Christmas by Saint Etienne. Great title and breathy vocals. Another fine free download from those nice people at RCRD.LBL.
• O Holy Night by Trin-i-tee 5:7. A gospel trio sing too many notes... but it sounds good anyway.

That's all I've got time for just now. Off to see Jimmy Stewart.

Hope you have enjoyed the Advent posts and that you have a great Christms.

Another Christmas Bonus

Nearly two weeks ago, Jeff over at Free Christmas Music linked to the Canadian 12 Days of HMVDigital site and a day or two ago, they gave away a track from Straight No Chaser - an a cappella group. The track was Who Spiked the Eggnog? I was pleased because I already had a track from the same group that I got last year which I really liked but I must admit, I found the new download a bit of a disappointment.

Straight No Chaser - 04172010
Originally uploaded by kate.gardiner

It made me go back and look at the source of the track I enjoyed last year; a track called Hark The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard On High. It is from a site called Feels Like Christmas and I think it was Jeff that led me to it originally. I realised that there were a few tracks on the site that I'd enjoyed last year but that I hadn't linked to it. If you read Jeff's site, perhaps you already know about these tracks but in case you don't, here are some of my favourites. (Note, there is no easy way to link directly to the specific section with the download, so the link takes you to the right page but once there, you'll need to look for the track yourself!)

• Angels We Have Heard On High by Sixpence None The Richer (First one on the page.)
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Jars Of Clay. (Third one after the Google ads in the middle of the page.)
• Hark The Herald Angels Sing/Angels We Have Heard On High by Straight No Chaser. (Last one on the page.)
• Joy To The World by Tonic Sol-fa. (Just above the Google ads in the middle of the page.)

That's some of the tracks that caught my attention. Do you have any favourites I've missed?

Credit Where Credit Is Due...

A few posts ago, I complained that Amazon UK had very few free MP3s for download compared to Amazon USA (see Christmas @ Amazon - Bah. Humbug!).

Free place to sleep
Originally uploaded by Brad Stabler

Well, credit where credit is due because today I saw the following Tweet from @AmazonUK:

For a limited time only, we've got over 1,200 free tracks now live on site. Yes, over 1,200. Take a look. http://amzn.to/fluniI

Let's get the negatives out the way first. The vast majority of the free tracks are from artists that I've never heard of and, given the lack of customer reviews on most pages, it looks like hardly anyone else has heard of them either. This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing - giving unsigned/little-known artists a major platform like Amazon to set out their stall is good. But, compared to the many well known names available on the US site, it's a bit frustrating to see so many pages of artists that you don't know.

Now the positive; there's good stuff in there - including a few Christmas tunes. First, some non-Christmas tunes that caught my eye:

• I Know and I Know (Reprise) by The Proclaimers. Leith's finest protesting against war.
• Burning Hell by Tom Jones. I wrote about this before (Free Download Friday #70: Amazon MP3s). If you didn't download it then, get it now!
• That's All [Live From Rock Werchter 2009] by Seasick Steve. Brilliant Blues track number 1.
  
• It's Bad You Know by R.L. Burnside. Brilliant Blues track number 2!
  

And some Christmas tracks:

• A Christmas EP from KT Tunstall. Three tracks for free. I like the cover of 2000 Miles the best.
• Very Merry Christmas by Dave Barnes. I'm afraid I've never heard of him but this is track has a good swing to it.
• Angels We Have Heard On High by Chanticleer. Traditional take on a traditional carol from an unaccompanied choir.
• Hark The Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Ye Faithful and O Little Town Of Bethlehem by The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge. As you would expect - high quality rendition of classic carols.

Thought I should post theses now rather than wait until Friday because of the "limited time" comment. Let me know if I've missed any I should be downloading.

Free Music Friday #83: Happy Christmas from the boys

Second last Friday in Advent and, although I was worried about not having four songs when I started this year, I now find I have a load of downloads and only two weeks to go. I'm therefore going to give a pile of links with minimal review. This week, I'll start with downloads from the boys and next week, it will be the turn of the girls. (Unless I come across something really interesting between now and then!)

But I'm going to start with a streamed track rather than one for download. Last week I embedded a video from Black Stone Cherry singing Santa Claus Is Back In Town (see Free Music Friday #82: Happy Christmas from Joe Bonamassa). I said at the time, I couldn't find the track for download but it is now being streamed on their record company's site. This is an out and out Rock version of a Blues classic and I love it... but I think I would have preferred a version with the Blues harp like they performed in the video I posted last week!

So on with the list of downloads:

• Downhere: I really like their version of Good King Wenceslas (apart from the odd beginning). Sign up with the widget below to get the free download.

• Casting Crowns: While You Were Sleeping. A bit of politics and a bit USA-centric, slightly over produved... but it has a nice feel to it. (Also, the band has a couple women in it but it's a male vocal, so I'm including it in this weeks downloads.)
• 33 Miles: Joy To The World. Upbeat and slightly updated take on this song. Almost completely wrecked though, by cute kid section at the end! (Note, you need to create a login before you can download.)
• Mercyme: If you create a login to get the 33 Miles track, you might as well get Silent Night while you are there. It's alright but not my cup of tea.
• Great Transparency: O Holy Night. Driving guitars and good fun.
• Miaoux Miaoux: Snow and Snow (Remix). Electronica pop/rock - Not sure if it is about Christmas but certainly winterish.

• Rockapella: A capella version of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. I think this is my favourite out of this week's downloads.

A bit of something for everyone this week? What's your favourite? (Or do you dislike them all?)

Free Download Friday #81: Poly Styrene - First Friday in Advent

It looks like last week's pre-advent Christmas download from Paul Simon (see Free Download Friday #80) is still active, so I guess the site that told me it was only going to be available for four days was wrong... which is excellent news. This means that you will get five Christmas themed Free Friday Downloads this year instead of four!

The first official Advent download though comes from Poly Styrene. If you are about my age, and from the UK, you might just recognise the name. She was the lead singer in X-Ray Specs in the mid to late seventies. Unfortunately, although I recognise the name, I am not familiar with her back catalogue. The problem is, when I was a teenager in the seventies, you could either like Punk or Rock... and I liked Rock.

It seems though that Ms Styrene is about to launch a new album and to whet our appetites, she is giving away a Christmas track that will not feature on her album. The track is called Black Christmas and you should be able to get it from this widget:

Or failing that, you can hear it streamed from the wonderful RCRD.LBL site:

And, you can also download it from the RCRD.LBL site.

It is a great track although the lyrics are quite dark in places:

I never knew a very merry Christmas

Santa Claus was a real bad guy

I’m dreaming of a Black Black Christmas

But the darkness is undercut by a the bouncing Reggae beat - try listening to it without bobbing your head! And if you turn up the volume, prepare to have your teeth rattled by the bass line.

Something Old

As well as giving a link to something new, I thought I'd link to something from last year that I didn't manage to feature. Or at least, this time, it's something I thought I'd missed last year. (See What a nightmare! I missed it.) In 2009, Nightmare Records gave away an album, or rather a double album, called Merry Metal Christmas, with more than two hours of free music. I thought I'd missed it but either, they've re-instated it or I was looking in the wrong place.

I am not a huge fan of the screaming "Wooorrrarrghh!" style of Metal but the tracks on this album are very much in the Melodic Metal mould and some are even a bit Progressive.

Although it is called Merry Metal Christmas, there are only three tracks that are Christmas themed. I guess the rest are Christmas presents rather than about Christmas. You have to download the lot because they come bundled together in two zip files but the three Christmas tracks are:

1. Bethlehem by Theocracy
2. Wicked Land of Winter by Sacred Dawn
3. The Chronicles of Jacob Marley by Order of Nine

And all of them are jolly good. I did think Kings will Come by Narnia might have been about the journey of the Magi but it seems to be about kingdoms rising and falling instead and, despite not being a Christmas song, I think it is one of my favourites. Although most of the album is not really Christmassy, there is still good stuff there that will be worth listening to in January.

What a nightmare! I missed it.

I think I did fairly well on the run up to Christmas with free festive music. There was a good mix of different styles with. something for everyone I hope. However I was looking for something a bit heavy - a bit of Christmas Rock or Metal but didn't find any. ...Until this week that is. Typical!

I discovered this week (thanks to catching up with stuff on the Classic Rock website) that Nightmare Records were giving away twenty-five free tracks with "were" being the operative word. It's difficult to tell from the titles of the tracks on offer but I think some at least would have fitted the Christmas bill perfectly. The offer was was reported on plenty of sites but somehow I missed it completely. Bah!

I'm more than a little miffed to have come to the party too late to get the freebie but I'll be keeping an eye on this site and will hopefully catch any future frees downloads in time.

Did you miss any freebies this Christmas?

More Christmas Music

I love Christmas music and will listen to all sorts of stuff at Christmas that I wouldn't normally entertain. For example, I am quite happy to Step Into Christmas with Mr John and sometimes I will be simply, having a Wonderful Christmastime with Mr McCartney. (I do however draw the line at stupid songs about travelling spacemen with Mr De Burgh - everyone has to draw the line somewhere!) As far as I'm concerned, you cannot hear Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade often enough - despite a claim by the Performing Rights Society that almost half the world has heard it! In case you are in the 58% who have avoided this gem so far, here are the boys from Slade showing how to do the perfect Christmas single:



If however, you are looking for something a bit different in the last few days before Christmas, the radio station XFM could come to your rescue. This year, they have links to what they call the Twelve Videos of Christmas. This list includes U2, The Killers and The Darkness - excellent! Last year, they provided an alternative Christmas playlist with some interesting, not to say downright bizarre choices. (One of my favourites from this list has to be Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas from Eels.) Unfortunately, the player widget doesn't seem to be working so I created a Spotify Playlist with as many of the tracks as I could find. I've shared the playlist, so feel free to add your own off the wall Christmas tracks - you may get some ideas on the BBC playlist from 2006.

What are your Christmas favourites?

Free Download Friday #40: Final Friday in Advent

Here are a few Christmas tracks from a variety of sources. I hope you enjoy them.

332/365: Has anyone seen Santa?
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

First up, I make no apologies for linking agan to Joe Bonamassa's version of Merry Christmas Baby. The man is a genius and one of the greatest Blues guitarists alive (in my humble opinion).

Next is a jazzy take on Jingle Bells from Ayiesha Woods. If you like what you hear, there are another couple of tracks for free download from Aliesha on the same page.

And finally, a link to the NME Daily Download page for Christmas which gives an interesting mix of indie, rock and downright weird Christmas tracks. (As an added bonus, they link to last year's Christmas page - I don't think all the links are still working but there's still a good few that are.)

So, from Blues, to Jazz, to Indie, to weird... hopefully you'll find something to enjoy.

This is the last of my Advent Friday downloads this year. I hope you have enjoyed the music I've posted links to and that you enjoy the Free Download Friday posts. Let me know what your favourites are and I'll try to find more like that for future posts.

Free Download Friday #39: iTunes Holiday Sampler

I'm not sure how long this will be available but the UK iTunes store is currently offering an eight track Holiday Sampler as a free download.

331/365: Lights
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

It does its best to provide something for everyone with artists ranging from Classical (Charlotte Church) to Country (Rascal Flatts) and Gospel (Aretha Franklin) to... er... Glaswegian (Glasvegas)! I must admit that I found it hard to dislike any of these tracks. Even the ones I didn't think I would enjoy have something to commend them. For example, I was not familiar with the name Rascal Flatts but I found their version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen to be surprisingly good. Similarly, Charlotte Church's Dream a Dream is a bit over-cooked for my taste, but it's Christmas, and if you can't over-cook things at Christmas, when can you?

The stand-out tracks for me are Aretha Franklin's Angels We Have Heard On High and Glasvegas with A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss). However, as I said, just about something for everyone, so, what are your favourites?

Summary
iTunes Holiday Sampler (UK only?)

Free Download Friday #38: Classical Christmas

Second download Friday in advent and this time it's gone all classical. Magnatune is giving away a free Christmas compilation with 24 tracks. There are some great classical guitar tracks from James Edwards, some beautiful choir pieces and some tracks that on first listen I thought was a cello but is apparently a viola da gamba.

What's your favourite track?

Summary:
Magnatune Compilation

P.S. If you want something a bit more contemporary, can I suggest the following? It's not a download, but it is a suitably festive music stream. Thanks to Jim from Aye Tunes, I found that Miss The Occupier did a version of Christmas Wrapping for Radio Scotland's Vic Galloway Show. Enjoy!

Free Download Friday #37: It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas...

"A Christmas download? But it's still November!" I hear you cry. Yes, this is true and I normally have a rule not to play Christmas music before December (well it's more of a guideline really...) but I realised that there are now only four Fridays to Christmas. By my reckoning, that makes this the first free download Friday in advent. :-)

349/365: Aunt Catherine's Lights
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

For the first Christmas download, I offer you John Wesley Harding singing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. It's a fairly traditional take on a Christmas classic. In fact it starts with a sample from the Phil Spector version - and it doesn't get more classic than that. He drives it along at a fair lick and, while not exactly wall of sound, it is well produced and it sounds like he had fun recording it.

Normally, I'd link to the artist's site rather than directly to the download. Unfortunately, the navigation of the site is not reflected in the web addressed displayed, so I can't link directly to the page. However, if you go to the Music page, click on the LIVE MP3s & RARE SINGLES ARCHIVE link and then use the triangular arrow at the bottom of the left hand navigation panel, you will find other, non-Christmas links to sample and hopefully enjoy. Remember to let me know if you find any tracks you particularly like.

Disclaimer: Having announced that this is the first free download Friday in advent, I realise I have created the expectation that there will be four free Christmas download between now and Christmas. While that is my intention, at the moment, I only have one other up my sleeve at the moment. I'll do my best, but I may just resort to my old trick of stealing some ideas from Jeff (sometime contributor to this blog, good chap and maintainer of the Free Christmas Music blog - which is outstandingly good).

Summary:

John Wesley Harding singing: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.