Secrets Of The Witching Hour - The Crimea

We'd just come back from holiday last night and, while I was trawling through my backlog of mail, I noticed a message about Secrets Of The Witching Hour, the second album by The Crimea. What was unusual about it was the fact that the band have released the album for free over the internet. So off I went straight away and downloaded it as I already had their debut album, Tragedy Rocks, which I really liked.

If you want to download Secrets Of The Witching Hour just go to The Crimea official site and follow the obvious links. It's not a huge download, with 11 tracks and lasting just under 37 minutes, it comes in at under 35Mb and it even comes with CD cover artwork. However, if you want the better audio quality offered from a CD version, and of course the option to digitize it to a format other than MP3, it's on sale from the band's official site shop. Here's the track list…

• All Conquering
• The 48A Waiting Steps
• Raining Planets
• Man
• Bombay Sapphire Coma
• Don’t Close Your Eyes On Me
• Loop A Loop
• Light Brigade
• Several Thousand Years Of Talking Nonsense
• Requiem Aeternam
• Weird

The band, who don't currently have a record label, have basically financed the album by themselves and are releasing it for free in a bold move to try and widen their fan base and in so doing increase sales of upcoming concert tickets and merchandise. They're the first reasonably well known band to do this and with the record sales industry facing serious changes, it may be a trend other artists follow if it proves successful.

As for the music, if you liked the excellent Tragedy Rocks, then I don't doubt that you'll like this too. My daughter saw them at T In The Park last year, bought the first album right away and got me hooked as well. I suppose I'd class The Crimea as a pop-rock band and Secrets Of The Witching Hour has a pretty catchy mix of beautifully melodic tunes with great vocals and lyrics. I'm listening to it (again) as I write this and my head's bobbing away.

It's one of those albums that grows on you as you listen to it more and more. Give it a try, it's free!

Enya, AC/DC, Meat Loaf and The Postal Service

Bit of a mixed bag this week, but that's pretty common for me…

Enya: A Day Without Rain

A very nice atmospheric and relaxing mix of tracks and great stuff for calming you down after a stressful day in the office.

1. A Day Without Rain
2. Wild Child
3. Only Time
4. Tempus Vernum
5. Deora Ar Mo Chroi
6. Flora's Secret
7. Fallen Embers
8. Silver Inches
9. Pilgrim
10. One By One
11. Lazy Days

AC/DC: Back In Black

Back to my roots here - a classic rock album from a classic rock band. Great, loud vocals from Brian Johnson and stonking guitar riffs from Angus Young. This is definitely one of their best albums and great music to drive to.

1. Hells Bells
2. Shoot To Thrill
3. What Do You Do For Money Honey
4. Givin The Dog A Bone
5. Let Me Put My Love Into You
6. Back In Black
7. You Shook Me All Night Long
8. Have A Drink On Me
9. Shake A Leg
10. Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

Meat Loaf: Bat Out Of Hell

The AC/DC album got me in the mood for more classic rock music and this is definitely one of the milestone albums of that genre. Written by Jim Steinman, most of these tracks are now legendary and seeing them performed live on stage by Meat Loaf is even better. I first saw him perform Paradise by the Dashboard Light on The Old Grey Whistle Test back in the 70's but we saw him at the SECC a few years ago and it was still an amazing show.

1. Bat Out Of Hell
2. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth
3. Heaven Can Wait
4. All Revved Up With No Place To Go
5. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad
6. Paradise By The Dashboard Light
7. Bolero
8. Bat Out Of Hell
9. Dead Ringer For Love

The Postal Service: Give Up

A new band for me, got this from my daughter. This is the debut album of the band formed between Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) and Jimmy Tamborello (Figurine, Dntel). Mostly synthetic electronica but it works brilliantly to produce a great mix of dreamy, melancholic tracks with beautiful lyrics. Hope they do some more together.

1. District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. Such Great Heights
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. We Will Become Silhouettes
8. This Place Is A Prison
9. Brand New Colony
10. Natural Anthem

Moby, Coldplay, Genesis, Kings Of Leon and Steve Vai

We were at our old office this week, breaking down the equipment so it was a great opportunity to listen to some more music. I'm not one for playlists - life's too short to spend time on stuff like that. Besides, a well produced album should be listened to in its entirety to experience the full story of the piece...

Moby: 18

This is the follow up to the amazingly successful Play and it follows much the same lines as that title - a relaxing and ambient mix of strings, keyboards and sampled vocals. Great stuff to lose yourself in.

1. We Are All Made Of Stars
2. In This World
3. In My Heart
4. Great Escape
5. Signs Of Love
6. One Of These Mornings
7. Another Woman
8. Fireworks
9. Extreme Ways
10. Jam For The Ladies - featuring Angie Stone and MC Lyte
11. Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)
12. 18
13. Sleep Alone
14. At Least We Tried
15. Harbour - featuring Sinead O�Connor
16. Look Back In
17. The Rafters
18. I'm Not Worried At All

Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Another excellent album from Coldplay and a great follow up to Parachutes. A classic mix of melodic and hypnotic songs and a definite hit.

1. Politik
2. In My Place
3. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
4. The Scientist
5. Clocks
6. Daylight
7. Green Eyes
8. Warning Sign
9. A Whisper
10. A Rush of Blood To The Head
11. Amsterdam

Genesis: A Trick Of The Tail

This one takes me back to my youth. I was at the Trick Of The Tail concert at the Glasgow Apollo in 1976, which was just after Peter Gabriel left and Phil Collins took over lead vocals. The stage act was amazing for the time - lasers, inflatable flowers and they had the brilliant Bill Bruford supporting on drums. Pity the CD is so short but at the time it was released, vinyl could only manage about 40 minutes of music on an album.

1. Dance On A Volcano
2. Entangled
3. Squonk
4. Mad Man Moon
5. Robbery, Assault And Battery
6. Ripples
7. A Trick Of The Tail
8. Los Endos

Kings Of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak

One of my daughter's collection but very listenable to. Not a bad mix of modern rock music with good vocals.

1. Slow Night, So Long
2. King Of The Rodeo
3. Taper Jean Girl
4. Pistol Of Fire
5. Milk
6. The Bucket
7. Soft
8. Razz
9. Day Old Blues
10. Four Kicks
11. Velvet Snow
12. Rememo
13. Where Nobody Knows (Bonus Track)

Steve Vai: Alien Love Secrets

There's no disputing that Vai is one of the world's best and fastest rock guitarists and this is full of his usual amazing guitar playing. There are some cracking tracks on here but Ya Yo Gakk and Kill The Guy With The Ball may only appeal to purists.

1. Bad Horsie
2. Juice
3. Die To Live
4. Boy From Seattle
5. Ya Yo Gakk
6. Kill The Guy With The Ball
7. The God Eaters
8. Tender Surrender

10cc, Alice Cooper and Dragonforce

Now that my work has moved offices and we have to get there using public transport, an iPod is essential and I thought it'd give me a chance to listen to music I hadn't heard for ages. So this is what I've been listening to this week...

10cc: The Very Best Of 10cc

This takes me back a few years to when 10cc were a top band. I've been to see them live at the Glasgow Apollo in 1975 and their stage act was pretty good - Une Nuit A Paris and I'm Not In Love were excellent as were the classic pop numbers like Donna, Rubber Bullets and Wall Street Shuffle. Who said pop music would never last, I bought Sheet Music in 1974? Anyway, this CD is a good representation of their best music...

1. Donna
2. Rubber Bullets
3. Dean And I
4. Wall Street Shuffle
5. Silly Love
6. Life Is A Minestrone
7. Une Nuit Paris
8. I'm Not In Love
9. Art For Art's Sake
10. I'm Mandy Fly Me
11. Things We Do For Love
12. Good Morning Judge
13. Dreadlock Holiday
14. People In Love
15. Under Your Thumb - Godley & Creme
16. Wedding Bells - Godley & Creme
17. Cry - Godley & Creme
18. Neanderthal Man - Hotlegs

Alice Cooper: The Definitive Alice Cooper

Going even further back with some of these tracks, I was still at school when some of these came out and I remember buying School's Out as a present for a girl I had a crush on at the time. Rock classics like School's Out, Elected, Hello Hooray, Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr Nice Guy and Poison still sound great even now. I'd always wanted to see Alice live but never managed it. He's still touring so maybe someday...

1. I'm Eighteen
2. Desperado
3. Under My Wheels
4. Halo Of Flies
5. School's Out
6. Elected
7. Hello Hooray
8. Generation Landslide
9. No More Mr Nice Guy
10. Billion Dollar Babies
11. Teenage Lament '74
12. Muscle Of Love
13. Only Women Bleed
14. Welcome To My Nightmare
15. Department Of Love
16. I Never Cry
17. You And Me
18. How You Gonna See Me Now
19. From The Inside
20. Poison
21. Hey Stoopid

Dragonforce: Inhuman Rampage

On a totally different track, my son David bought Dragonforce's latest CD so, still trying to retain a vestige of my youthful rebellious nature, I have to keep up with the latest rock bands. Mind you David, who's a damn good guitarist himself and can shred tracks by the likes of Vai and Satriani, says these guys play guitar so fast that they can't be human ....

1. Through The Fire And Flames
2. Revolution Deathsquad
3. Storming The Burning Fields
4. Operation Ground And Pound
5. Body Breakdown
6. Cry For Eternity
7. Flame Of Youth
8. Trail Of Broken Hearts
9. Backstage Rockumentary