AC/DC Competition

I wrote about Justin Sandercoe's awesome AC/DC contest a few weeks ago (see Guitar Lessons: A New Challenge). I had a great time trying to learn AC/DC's Shoot To Thrill and, although I could barely play the opening two riffs, I decided to post a video anyway:

I will keep plugging away and hopefully post a complete version at some point in the future.

At the closing date there were 186 entries for this awesome competition. I haven't looked at them all (yet) and I don't envy Justin and the other judges' job: the standard is exceptionally high and choosing the winners will be extraordinarily difficult.

Before I tell you my favourites, I think it's worth noting how few women have entered - I've seen two so far. Also interesting is the number that appear to have been recorded in bedrooms - presumably family rooms are not ready for novice renditions of Rock classics! However, what's amazing is the number of very young guitarists that have recorded astoundingly good versions. (Although it's fair to say there are a reasonable number of fat old baldy blokes like me too!)

There are four prizes on offer. The main prize of a customised Iron Man themed Gibson SG is for the Best Performance. Choosing the best will be very difficult but my favourite so far is probably MyTwangyGuitar's version. His solos are especially impressive but I think it's a shame you only see the guitar. For that reason, I might be tempted to go for someone like FrankSenese who seems to be playing all four parts himself.

The Most Entertaining category might be easier as I have yet to see anything that comes close to billbailey88's mini soap opera:

I don't understand why more people are not watching and commenting on this video. For a runner up, I'd go for a real underdog: clickthelink92. They are clearly having a blast in this video - great fun!

The next category is Best Dressed. Many people have worked hard on the Angus Young look but I think I'd go for stouder18 for the sheer energy he puts into the performance.

Finally, Most In Need Of Encouragement. I hope this goes to one of the really young guitarists (assuming the rules allow them to enter). For example guitarman98100 who has only been playing ten months and yet he puts my efforts to shame.

So what do you think of the entries? Who do you rate and who would you have in the top spots?

Free Download Friday #57: Another charity download

Omar Rodríguez-López (The Mars Volta) and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) recorded a seven track instrumental album which they have made available for download.

The Mars Volta@Teatro Romano di Ostia Antica 29/07/08
Originally uploaded by redbanshee

Like the Music for Haiti charity download (Free Download Friday #43: Music for Relief - Haiti Earthquake), you have the option of downloading the tracks for free. If though, you choose to make a donation, all money raised will be given to the "Keep Music In Schools" programme. My only problem with this is that I can't find any information on that charity. Can anyone shed any light?

The tracks are... interesting. Definitely more Volta-style progy than Chilli-style funky. It's not exactly easy listening or background music but it is interesting and I suspect you will find that it rewards repeated listens. My favourite track is 0. (Yes, that's the title - 0.) I don't really get the track names so I'll be much obliged if anyone can explain the significance to me!

Let me know what you think of this charity download. Does it work for you or is it too odd?

Metal Goes To The Moves

The Music Radar website has published a list of Eleven Great Metal Movies. And if you are asking why it goes up to eleven rather than the traditional ten, you clearly haven't seen the movie they have at number ten!

I have a couple of questions about this list. one is, why does it not include The Song Remains The Same? (I would have bumped Bad News Tour on the grounds that it's not a film to make room for The Song.) And, is the list in any order? If so, why is This Is Spinal Tap not at the top (or the bottom depending on how you look at it)?

However, I am grateful that it introduced me to Airheads. Normally I'd avoid a film with either Brendan Fraser (who should be ashamed of the car crash that was the remake of Bedazzled) or Adam Sandler (who I've never seen in film I liked). But in this case, the wonderful Steve Buscemi seems to compensate for Brendan and Adam Sandler is not too prominent and so does OK. Also, it has a cameo from Lemmy - what's not to like?

So what do you think? What's your favourite metal movie? Are there any other gems I've missed?

Free Download Friday #56: Shinedown

Sometimes you hear a track on the radio and, even though you don't know the band, it catches your ear. That happened to me recently with a track called Sound of Madness from the band Shinedown.

Brent Smith & Eric Bass, Shinedown
Originally uploaded by Tomi Mikola

Rock Radio has been playing this track for a while now and the first couple of times I heard it I thought, "I like this. I wonder who it is?" but this changed fairly quickly to, "Excellent. The Shinedown track again. I must find out more about these chaps.". So I went for a sniff about the Internet and was pleased to discover they have a four track package available as a free download from the wonderfully named Grabatrack service. Even better, one of the four tracks is Sound Of Madness!

The band hails from Florida and I can detect a Southern Rock element in their sound but it's Southern Rock delivered with Hard Rock power and passion. I have seen their style described as melodic rock and post-grunge (not sure what that means!) but from what I've heard I'd just go for hard rock.

Before going any further, it is worth noting that AllMusic is pretty sniffy about the band claiming that they "...play every post-grunge cliché as if it were dogma", "Nothing is left to chance so nothing surprises..." and "Shinedown serve up what they always have: active modern rock embodying the sound of post-grunge in the new millennium without offering much that is memorable, either for better or for worse." It is clear that the AllMusic reviewer is less than impressed! There may or may not be some truth in their criticism but I find I disagree completely with their conclusion. Clearly, for me, Shinedown were memorable and distinctive otherwise they would never have attracted my attention on Rock Radio in the first place.

So, I am saying AllMusic is wrong. You can make up your own mind by checking out the free download... and if you disagree with me, you're wrong too!

Brief review:

There are four tracks for download: one from each of their first two albums and two from their most recent release.

Fly From The Inside comes from their first album (Leave a Whisper) and there is an element of power ballad here but concentrate on the music rather than the lyrics for a while and you'll hear a solid rock track underpining it. I like Brent Smith's vocals - a rough edge to them that works well with the strong guitar sound.

Save Me comes from their second album (Us and Them). This has a (relatively) quite start and a brooding hook that draws you in to a soaring chorus.

Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide and Sound Of Madness round off the package and both come from Sound of Madness. Cyanide blasts off at full pelt and sweeps you along at that pace only slowing down for a feedback filled conclusion. For me though, the standout track is Sound Of Madness. Brent's vocals sound positively menacing. The guitar solo leads into a section where Brent almost chants the lyrics as the rest of the band fades down in the mix before coming back for a final, noisy, run at the chorus. Time money and effort has clearly gone into the production.

Package problems:

Far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth but there are one or two problems with this download. On the plus side, the four tracks are bundled into a single zip file which makes downloading easy. However, the mp3 files are not tagged in any way: no album art; no artist name; no nothing! In fact, even the file names are mixed up with the names of the two tracks from Sound Of Madness swapped. A bit disappointing but not disastrous.

Summary

Four great free tracks from Shinedown. Download them and enjoy!

Rock and Roll!

Trashing a hotel room? Pah! That's nothing... AC/DC tore down an 800 year old castle!

A Good Year For Rush Fans

One of my earliest posts on this blog was about Rush (My favourite band). Another Rush related post is long overdue.

Recently, Rush had a countdown clock on their website (see Rush: Countdown To… What?). Clearly an announcement was immanent and when it ran out, they announced their Time Machine Tour. On this tour (among other things I assume) they will play the whole of their Moving Pictures album - great news as this is still one of my favourite Rush albums. Not so good news is that it is a tour of North America and, unfortunately, Glasgow, Scotland doesn't qualify as being in North America. Curse!

However, there is the good news that they are working on their 20th studio album, so hopefully when that is released a European tour will follow.

Even more immanent though is the release of the new Rush documentary film: Beyond the Lighted Stage. The trailer should give you a flavour of what it will be like:

I especially like it that Closer To The Heart features so prominently at the start of the trailer. This is a track that means a lot to Glaswegian Rush fans of a certain age!

Free Download Friday #55: Gospel Legends

I'm either going to have to get more organised or change the name of this feature - Skinflint Download Saturday?

The Blind Boys of Alabama
Originally uploaded by Scott Penner

I've linked to a Daytrotter Session before in Free Download Friday 35 (the Cary Simon session). Somehow though I seem to have missed the Daytrotter Sessions website. It is stuffed to the gunnels with mp3s and videos from all sorts of artists. I will redoubtably return in the future but today I'm going to highlight a session from The Blind Boys of Alabama.

I think I first heard The Blind Boys of Alabama on Peter Gabriel's album Up where they sing with him on Sky Blue. The sound they contribute is awe inspiring as their voices have a raw, almost elemental quality, and the sound they add to Gabriel's track is real "hair on the back of the neck" stuff.

Now I realise that this means I've come a bit late to this particular party since the "Boys" (all very senior citizens now) have been singing together since before I was born, however, I took advice from a friend and tracked down a couple of their CDs. I like what I heard and was therefore pleased to discover there was a Daytrotter Session from The Blind Boys of Alabama.

The session has a spoken intro and then four tracks and they deliver Gospel the way it should be sung: with passion and conviction. There is an emotional depth in their performance as a lifetime of experience and faith pours out in their vocals. I especially like the last track in the session: Free At Last. "Can I get a witness?" they ask to which the response has to be "Hallelujah!".

So what do you think?

Are you a convert to The Blind Boys of Alabama's Gospel music?

Who else is worth checking out on the Daytrotter Session site?