Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Free Song of the Day
There are a lot of good songs out there that have been released as free downloads. Most are available at Amazon or at the band's website (or sometimes MP3.com), while others have been taken off due to hosting problems but are still considered free. I hope to make this daily, but we'll see. I'll post the song title, artist, album if applicable, a snippet of the lyrics, a brief review, and a link to the download. Most of the songs aren't Christian, and some have language issues. I recommend songs purely on my own tastes, but will try and tell you the genre and let you know of any family-unfriendly issues in the song itself (or the artist, if that's the case). If you like, hate, or have some other opinion on the song, please let me know in the comments. And now, for the first entry...
Keasbey Nights by Catch-22, from the album "Keasbey Nights" (some language in song)
"When the come for me I'll be sittin' at my desk
With a gun in my hand, wearin' a bulletproof vest
Singin' 'mymymy how the time does fly
When you know you're gonna die by the end of the night.'"
This is a very good ska/punk song. Catch-22 no longer includes the members which made it special, with them having left after this album was released to work on other projects. What's so special about this is the fast and catchy lyrics, the effective use of horns throughout the song, and the subconscious realization that you're listening to some high-quality music. Like most ska, the lyrics are somewhat tragic while the music is upbeat (this doesn't necessarily mean happy, but rather that beats two and four are emphasized, which does tend to give a more optimistic sense to the music), but what's different is that the instrumental parts also convey tragedy, rather than being incongruously happy.
There are a lot of good songs out there that have been released as free downloads. Most are available at Amazon or at the band's website (or sometimes MP3.com), while others have been taken off due to hosting problems but are still considered free. I hope to make this daily, but we'll see. I'll post the song title, artist, album if applicable, a snippet of the lyrics, a brief review, and a link to the download. Most of the songs aren't Christian, and some have language issues. I recommend songs purely on my own tastes, but will try and tell you the genre and let you know of any family-unfriendly issues in the song itself (or the artist, if that's the case). If you like, hate, or have some other opinion on the song, please let me know in the comments. And now, for the first entry...
Keasbey Nights by Catch-22, from the album "Keasbey Nights" (some language in song)
"When the come for me I'll be sittin' at my desk
With a gun in my hand, wearin' a bulletproof vest
Singin' 'mymymy how the time does fly
When you know you're gonna die by the end of the night.'"
This is a very good ska/punk song. Catch-22 no longer includes the members which made it special, with them having left after this album was released to work on other projects. What's so special about this is the fast and catchy lyrics, the effective use of horns throughout the song, and the subconscious realization that you're listening to some high-quality music. Like most ska, the lyrics are somewhat tragic while the music is upbeat (this doesn't necessarily mean happy, but rather that beats two and four are emphasized, which does tend to give a more optimistic sense to the music), but what's different is that the instrumental parts also convey tragedy, rather than being incongruously happy.
