Posts Tagged ‘cds’

In honor of their 25th anniversary and their new album "Back From the Dead," just released last month, Spinal Tap is asking the fans to get involved.

David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap are inviting fans to create an original video to be posted on YouTube for one of the following songs off of their album BACK FROM THE DEAD — Hell Hole, Warmer Than Hell, Big Bottom, Stonehenge, Back From The Dead and/or Short & Sweet. Judging the contest, will be Colman Hickey, who created the classic video for Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight using characters made of Legos.

One lucky winner will receive an autographed, limited edition Spinal Tap prize pack!

No idea what the autographed prize pack consists of, but what the hell. More details available at YouTube and you can see a sample contest entry here.

Also they've produced an official Spinal Tap iPhone app. Listen to music, watch videos, get the latest Tap news, and see what other fans are writing on their wall. Free app, but it looks like you'll need to be connected to get anything from it so put it on the phone or keep your iPod Touch near a wifi connection.

If you haven't picked up the new CD "Back From the Dead," you should. Amazon has it for just $10.99 and you get 19 original songs, a one-hour DVD, and a "unique pop-up diorama package that unveils three 12-inch action figures (courtesy of Sideshow Collectibles) of the band along with a proportionally sized Stonehenge." What's not to love?

Kids Need to Read announced that they're auctioning off some autographed items from Neil Gaiman's Coraline:

Neil has generously given KNTR an autographed copy of the original motion picture soundtrack of the big screen adaptation of his popular book, Coraline!  As if that weren’t enough, he also donated an autographed Coraline t-shirt (adult size extra large)!  Neil wrote a little note on the shirt that says, “Sweet Dreams”, along with his signature.

As always, proceeds go towards getting books on library shelves. Kids need to read!

Also, here's Neil and Amanda Palmer in a bathtub:

Remember this, from the end of the classic rockumentary This is Spinal Tap?

Derek Smalls: Remember at Luton Palace we were talking about writing a rock musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper.
David St. Hubbins: Yeah!
[singing]
David St. Hubbins: You're a naughty one…
Derek Smalls, David St. Hubbins: Saucy Jack…
David St. Hubbins: You're a haughty one, saucy Jack.

Now, only 25 years later, the title track "Saucy Jack" from that fateful, unproduced rock musical by the world's greatest fake* heavy metal band has finally been released as a free download to help celebrate (and, obviously, promote out the wazoo) Spinal Tap's 25th Anniversary CD, "Back from the Dead", which comes out June 16th.

And they're going all out for the CD:

Back From The Dead is a deluxe CD/DVD package containing 19 original Spinal Tap songs, a one-hour DVD and unique pop-up diorama package that unveils three 12-inch action figures (courtesy of Sideshow Collectibles) of the band along with a proportionally sized Stonehenge. Back From The Dead is destined to be a collector's item, especially among collectors.

* If they've released a documentary, go on tour, and release three albums, are they still a fake band? They've already outlasted Big Country, Twisted Sister and Flock of Seagulls.

Marian Call's "Got to Fly" geek tribute CD, just premiered at Creation Entertainment's Salute to Firefly and Serenity convention last weekend, is now available directly from QMx.

There were only 1,000 CDs pressed and they're signed and numbered by Marian herself. After they're gone you'll be able to buy the songs electronically.

Just $15.95 for a fantastic collection of 'Verse and BSG-inspired tunes. You can find sample tracks here.

And don't forget to check out my interview with Marian from last week.

Remember the "Sing a Song of Saffron" contest last year? It was won by Marian Call with her wonderful "It was Good For You Too."

Last year she also released a CD of her work called "Vanilla," with a special Browncoat edition that included the winning Saffron song along with her other amazing music.

And now QMx has declared her their "QMx Artist of the Month" in their latest Insider newsletter. Way to go Marian! And if you haven't gotten her CD yet, there's only about 30 left of the Browncoat version. E-mail her at mariancall@mac.com to get one, and ask about autographs. You can also visit her site at www.mariancall.com, or listen to her music at www.myspace.com/mariancall . And really, you should. She'll be big soon, and you'll want to get the CD now before it's going for hundreds on eBay.

On Aug. 17, 1982, our relationship with our music changed forever. The compact disc was born.

It’s hard to explain, for those of you who weren’t around then, how big a change this was. You just popped a CD into your player, and it played. That was it. No longer did we have to go through the rituals of cleaning and wiping our vinyl albums to reduce (but rarely eliminate) the hisses and pops. No longer did we have to wince as our 8-tracks clunked to the next track. No longer did we have to fast-forward our cassettes when they started making that straining, whining sound. Music appreciation was not for the faint-hearted.

CDs changed the way we stored our music, too. Records had to be kept in the sleeves, upright, away from damp areas, or we’d find we had a wonderful collection of big taco shells. 8-tracks never stacked well and quickly filled up your car’s passenger side floor, and eventually they’d wear out and play the same four songs over and over and over, driving your mom insane when you left one running all night. We all became amateur splicers and learned how to get spilled Coke of our cassettes, and I remember the panic when the sound would suddenly stop and I’d have to scramble to pop it out before the tape erupted like the stereo was throwing up.

For the most part CDs just… worked.

Read the rest of this entry »

Seen the torrent download of "Done the Impossible" yet? Then you know how great the soundtrack is.

ComicCon guests got first crack, but it's now available from the Done the Impossible website for $14.95.

Done The Impossible – The Fans' Tale of Firefly & Serenity Soundtrack

1.  "Done The Impossible (Ballad Of Serenity)"    by Rob Kuhlman
2.  "Autumn In Asheville"    by Emerald Rose  
3.  "Gwydion's Song To Lleu"    by Emerald Rose
4.  "The Fall Of Serenity Valley"    by Brobdingnagian Bards
5. "Take Me Down (To Her Water)"    by  Emerald Rose
6.  "Urania Sings"    by  Emerald Rose
7.  "Deventure"    by Vitulari
8.  "Big Damn Heroes (Instrumental)"    by Emerald Rose
9.  "Firefly Main Title – The Ballad Of Serenity"    by Emerald Rose
10.  "Big Damn Trilogy (Instrumental)"    by The Bedlam Bards
11.  "Come To The Dance"    by Emerald Rose
12.  "Sail The Sky (Instrumental)"    by The Bedlam Bards
13.  "The Rock Garden"    by The Bedlam Bards
14.  "I'm Gonna See Serenity"    by Dan Sehane
15.  "Big Damn Trilogy"    by The Bedlam Bards
16.  "Mal's Song"    by Michelle Dockrey
17.  "Big Damn Heroes"    by Emerald Rose
18.  "The Ballad Of Lux"    by The Bedlam Bards
19.  "Mal's Song (instrumental)"    by Tony Fabris
20.  "Done The Impossible (Ballad Of Serenity) Instrumental"    by Rob Kuhlman

"On the Drift," the eagerly-awaited CD of Firefly and Serenity-inspired songs by The Bedlam Bards, has come and gone, selling out within the first hour. But DBaby is getting them back in stock and you can order now.

Read more about it here. In the meantime, the Bards would like you to enjoy an absolutely free MP3-postcard of "Sail the Sky," a Browncoat anthem they used to conclude the album.

If you were happy with FOX's downloadable version but wished you could have a little more, here you go.

Track Listings
1. Firefly – Main Title
2. Big Bar Fight
3. Heart of Gold Montage
4. Whitefall / Book
5. Early Takes Serenity
6. The Funeral
7. River’s Perception / Saffron
8. Mal Fights Niska / Back Home
9. River Tricks Early
10. River Understands Simon
11. Leaving / Caper / Spaceball
12. River’s Afraid / Niska / Torture
13. In My Bunk / Jayne’s Statue / Boom
14. Inara’s Suite
15. Out Of Gas / Empty Derelict
16. Book’s Hair / Ready For Battle
17. Tears / River’s Eyes
18. Cows / New Dress / My Crew
19. Boarding The Serenity / Derelict
20. Burgess Kills / Captain & Ship
21. Saved / Isn’t Home? / Reavers
22. Reavers Chase Serenity
23. River’s Dance
24. Inside The Tam House
25. Dying Ship / Naked Mal

Currently #18 in music at Amazon, and climbing fast…

FOX Music just put a Firefly soundtrack up for digital download, $9.99.

Downsides: The songs are in WMA format, you have to have a US credit card to buy them, IE to download them, and a Microsoft-approved player to play them. Also, no "The Hero of Canton," no Serenity Valley music, no Riverdance music from "Safe." I'm guessing they didn't have a dialogue-free copy of Jayne's song, dunno about Serenity Valley, and Greg Edmondson said in an interview that the music they used for River's dance in "Safe" was something they pulled from a music library.

Upsides: Firefly soundtrack! Sure I'm going to have to burn it to CD and then rip it to MP3s to play it the way I want to, and yeah, FOX is capitalizing on the movie to make money, but so what? We asked for this! And the Angel sountrack started out the same way before getting released as a CD. I'm hopeful. And c'mon, it sounds great.