ChordStrike

Warner Music Group MP3s Now Available at Amazon MP3

Over at Amazon MP3, we're super excited to now have music from Warner Music Group available for sale as DRM-free MP3s that will play on virtually any device including those iPods™ and Zunes™ you may have been lucky enough to get as a holiday gift.

We now have music from megastars like Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Linkin Park, Eric Clapton, Metallica, Faith Hill and the White Stripes and we'll be adding the rest of the Warner Music catalog over the next few days. With that much music it can be hard to decide where to start, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite hits and hidden gems from thiese newly added MP3s so you can have a decent jumping-off point.

Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You
Aretha announced her arrival at Atlantic by recording her version of a hit by the great Otis Redding and forever thereafter making it her own. Even without "Respect," this would still be a game-changing soul album thanks to slow-burning bedtime jams like "Dr. Feelgood," "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" and the title track. You can pick up the whole thing for just $7.99.

Otis Redding – Otis Blue

Let's not forget that Aretha's ownership of "Respect" is only notable because of how phenomenally talented Otis Redding was. Listen to his version of William Bell's "You Don't Miss Your Water" here and hear not only the raw power of his voice, but also exactly how much he directly influenced the Queen of Soul.

Sam Phillips – A Boot and A Shoe

I'm only marginally embarrassed to admit I discovered Sam Phillips' music through her work on the dearly departed Gilmore Girls, but, frankly, I'm just glad I heard her at all. The arrangements on A Boot and A Shoe are dusty and spare, the lyrics economical and to-the-point. The result is an album without even a note of filler. Thanks to songs like "Reflecting Light" and "If I Could Write," it's also an excellent rainy day album, which living in Seattle has only made me appreciate more.

Prince – Purple Rain
Aside from this masterpiece from the Purple One, there may not be a bigger discrepancy between the quality of a movie and its soundtrack. While most people watch Purple Rain for kitsch value, we turn to the soundtrack because it's all awesome all the time. The Linn Drum sound this album brought into the mainstream is still being bitten by popular songs today. Even Diddy made it work for him on the fantastic "Last Night." You can bet, though, that no amount of imitation will ever yield something nearly as good as "When Doves Cry."

Devin The Dude featuring Andre 3000 and Snoop Dogg – "What a Job"
This slinky song about music-as-work is one of a handful of 2007 Andre 3000 guest verses where he reminds us he's still capable of being a genius rapper. He also gives his perspective on why stealing music is wrong which, as you might guess, is a message we can get behind. For the record, Devin and Snoop's stoney, ultra-chill verses ain't so bad either.

Dragonforce – Inhuman Rampage
They've been called the Journey of speed metal, which, honestly, sounds pretty terrible. Regardless, this video should make you a Dragonforce believer:

E-40 – My Ghetto Report Card
Though the hyphy movement didn't really pop off on the national scale like some speculated it would when this album dropped, inventive linguist and Bay Area rap stalwart E-40 still scored a couple of hits including "Tell Me When To Go" and "U and Dat," which, thankfully or not, opened the doors for T-Pain to appear on every song you hear on urban radio over the next 18 months.

Handsome Boy Modeling School featuring Cat Power – "I've Been Thinking"
Prince Paul and Dan the Automator have pulled some impressive performances out of the guests on their Handsome Boy Modeling School albums, but this heavy-eyelidded boudoir ballad featuring Chan Marshall is one of their best collaborations, regardless of the song's sorta goofy lyrics.

Ol' Dirty Bastard featuring Kelis – "Got Your Money"
It's pretty much guaranteed I'll stop whatever I'm doing and yell along to this song when I hear it, but I have a serious soft spot for early Neptunes beats and ODB's particular brand of demented brilliance.

Old 97's – Satellite Rides
Among fans of the band, this is certainly not the most popular Old 97's album, but songs like "Rollerskate Skinny," "Buick City Complex" and "Question," which frontman Rhett Miller rerecorded on one of his solo albums, make Satellite Rides an easy favorite for me.

Silk – "Freak Me"
I could listen to nothing but '90s R&B jams all day and be perfectly happy. This is a particular favorite, maybe because the lyrics are both lascivious and polite (i.e. they want to lick you up and down, but you say the word and they'll stop). I appreciate that sort of straight shootin'.

All-4-One – "I Swear"
If you prefer your '90s soulful harmonizing to be more on the PG tip, All-4-One might make a better starting point than Silk. Country singer John Michael Montgomery made it a hit first in 1994, but later that year, it charted a second time thanks to All-4-One. Dudes who slow danced to it at their eighth grade end-of-the-year dance are eternally grateful.

The Magnetic Fields – "I Don't Believe You"
I'm happy to have the Magnetic Fields' Nonesuch output if only for this song, which is three-and-a-half minutes of low self-esteem glazed in biting wit— a refrain for people who date out of their league and use humor as a defense mechanism. That's admittedly a pretty small niche, but everyone needs an anthem.

Wilco – "Jesus, etc."

It's hard to believe almost six years have passed since the controversial release of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. You might think critics overvalued the album because of the uplifting story (i.e. big label rejects artist's album because it's not commercial, album eventually releases to great fanfare and success when it's rescued by a subsidiary of the same big label that initially rejected it), but when small, charming numbers like this still stand up so well, it makes me wonder if it wasn't properly valued after all.

Do you have other favorites from the Warner catalog? Share them in the comments.

~ Jeff Reguilon, Amazon MP3

Holiday Music: The Good, The Bad, and the Huh?!?

It’s that time of year, again. The stores fill up with shoppers and our ears are exposed to what some wait all year for, and what many others consider a curse: holiday music. That is of course, unless you do your holiday shopping on Amazon.com – where you can listen to whatever you want.

I had the distinct pleasure(?) this year of constructing the Amazon MP3 Holiday Music Store, where I personally sampled hundreds of holiday albums, so you wouldn’t have to. What I’d like to share with you now are some gems, some oddities, and some that made me wish it was June.

The Good:
There’s actually quite a lot of good Christmas music out there. These are some of my favorites.

1. Nat King Cole-- The Christmas Song

This album has *all* of Nat King Cole’s classic Christmas songs--every single last one of them. You cannot go wrong with this collection. It's perfect for Christmas dinner, unwrapping gifts, holiday parties, you name it. Absolutely essential.






2.Sufjan Stevens – Songs for Christmas
The prolific and multi-talented Sufjan Stevens recorded a Christmas EP for friends and family every year for 5 years, then unleashed them onto the world in this 5 EP collection. With both traditional and original compositions, you won’t find a better bang for your holiday music buck than this excellent collection.





3.Various – Christmas Stars
This collection of classic Christmas songs fits it’s title as it is indeed packed with “Stars”, including Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and a fantastic rendition of “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt.






4. The Carpenters – Christmas Portrait
This one never gets old for me. Pure Christmas bliss featuring the timeless voice of Karen Carpenter. My favorite on the album is “Merry Christmas Darling” , a perfect song for that loved one that's far away during the holidays.





Honorable mentions: “Holiday Twist” – a FREE download from Los Straitjackets, Amy Grant’s first two Christmas albums ( A Christmas Album, Home For Christmas), John Fahey's The New Possibility: John Fahey's Guitar Soli Christmas Album/Christmas With John Fahey, Vol. II, and 100 Best Carols --possibly the only Christmas Carol collection you will ever need.

The Bad:
I didn’t want to get too negative in this, but sometimes my conscience reminds me that people should be warned if they’re about to be assaulted.

1. Ali Lohan – Lohan Holiday

Yes, this is a Christmas album from Lindsay Lohan's younger sister. Terrible from front to back, but most notably on the title track, “Lohan Holiday”. She’s going to regret this someday—a lot. Almost so bad it’s good, but only almost.





2. Twisted Sister – A Twisted Christmas: Live

Some genres don’t exactly lend themselves to Christmas interpretations. Hair Metal is one of them.









3. The Brady Bunch – Christmas With The Brady Bunch

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Brady Bunch, but this out-of-tune, thrown together cash-in leaves me wishing for “A Sunshine Day” instead of a winter wonderland. Case in point: Greg’s verse in “O Holy Night” – to say this was butchered is a gross understatement and an insult to butchered songs.





The Huh?!?:

We all know the egg nog goes around at Christmas, but something tells me these folks had a little too much. I found so many of these weird and bizarre Christmas albums that I made them their own page. And now, I present the best of “what were they thinking?” Christmas music, and remember -- it's not cheap to make records, and someone paid a lot of money to make these albums.

1. Dan Foley - Dan Foley fredonne Noël: un homme au sommet de son art This year’s clear winner for me.Upon first listening to this album I was literally stunned.At once festive and intensely creepy, Dan Foley wordlessly interprets Christmas favorites as you might imagine them performed by a sleeping guy, a troll living under your bed, a serial killer, your computer or your drunk uncle after he’s already half passed out. Christmas has never been weirder. Ever.





2. Laffy – Laughing All The Way Wow. Laffy *really* likes to laugh, probably more than anything else in the whole world. On this album she laughs her way through all your holiday favorites. I can listen to this for about 2 minutes before my brain finally shuts down and I want to scream.








3. Dirk Keysser – Happy Clucking Holidays

This has been done a bunch before, and the animal sounds are fake, but with it’s variety of cheesy yet still sincere backing tracks elevates this one to the best of the bunch. It would be a great album to put on right before opening presents to fake out your family and make them crack up.





There's one more song I'd like to add to this list, but I'm not sure if it belongs in the “Huh?!?” category or the “Good” category, but either way, to me, it's the Christmas song of the year. It's cute, and funny, a little crass, and it's sung by a whole bunch little kids. It's...“I Farted on Santa's Lap (Now Christmas is Gonna Stink for Me)” by the Little Stinkers. Believe me when I tell you, this song is destined to become a Christmas classic.

Happy Holidays everybody!

--Alan      

Amazon Idol (or... He Sold, She Sold)

Here in Seattle, we love us some Blake Lewis. And since Lewis spent years cutting his teeth as a beat-box battler before soaking up some serious spotlight in a prime-time competition, we've set him up in a little face-off of our own. That's right, Earworm-ers, it's our own in-house Idol competition.



The "Idolatry at Stake" meter, updated hourly on the Pop Music homepage, compares sales of Lewis's album, Audio Day Dream, with those of the self-titled debut from American Idol's season-six winner, Jordin Sparks.

With two weeks' head start, Sparks took the early lead, but now that Lewis's debut has finally been released, he's hot on her heels. Click here to check out both albums and the growing pile of related discussions.

~Jason