W.E.T. - W.E.T. (2009) (feat. Jeff Scott Soto of Talisman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Axel Rudi Pell, Trans Siberian Orchestra)

Genre: Melodic Rock / AOR
Quality: 192kbps MP3
About: I have no idea why this isn't on my blog. Quite simply the greatest Melodic Rock album ever. It features a lot of things not in most melodic rock, such as a great atmosphere, powerful vocals and great guitar solos resembling those found in heavy metal. Rather than me talk your face off, you should just give it a try! I hope they make a W.E.T. 2 (or perhaps W.E.T.T.E.R.) soon!

In-depth track-by-track review.

W.E.T. is a supergroup featuring:
Robert Sall (Work of Art)
Erik Martensson (Eclipse)
Jeff Scott Soto (Talisman, and: Yngwie Malmsteen, Axel Rudi Pell, Takara, solo, Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Finally, here is a music video of "One Love" i just found. I actually dig the 90s-esque green screen and kaleidoscope effects.



Mediafire Download


Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
You owe it to yourself to buy this on vinyl; Digital media doesn't do it justice.
Buy Picture LP from Inner Wound Recordings (Pictured above, limited to 299 copies (because I have one of them :D))
Buy CD from Frontiers Records
Buy MP3s on iTunes

Alex Band - We've all been there (2010) (v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue)

Genre: Alternative/Pop Rock
Quality: v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue
About: It's kind of a long story how I came to own a signed copy of this album. A while back I heard The Calling's "Wherever You Will Go" on the radio and I was like, oh crap I remember this, I love this song and this guy's voice makes me melt into butter. That doesn't make sense but who cares. So I got both of The Calling's albums but found out they broke up in 2005. But I found out the vocalist, Alex Band was doing a solo album so I followed him on twitter. I didn't give it much attention even until one day I saw "Get a signed copy of my album now..." on my twitter feed. So I listened to the album, loved it, and thought it was good enough to deserve my hard earned money. I got a signed copy off his official website, since the collector in me needed it.

Since I got it I have listened 100 more times. I thought it was worthwhile to go through the PITA process of setting up EAC for V0. While I'm not a music quality elitist, I appreciate that v0 is the best trade off between quality and compact file sizes. I don't honestly know what to do with a .cue (something about burning it back to CD, not that you'd do that anyway *AHEM AHEM*) but I provided it anyway in case someone might want it. And let me know if it does work as I'm curious.

Enough techno babble, on to the album. It's alternative rock at it's core but not like the majority of alternative rock on the radio where people are like "I'M GROWLING CAUSE IM SO HARDCOREEEE" and generic riffs. Here we have really melodic guitar and vocal lines, tons of unique ideas all over the place. At the same time it seems like one coherent thought process and all the songs fit together like a puzzle to make a great album. It's difficult to listen to just one song cause I always end up listening to the whole album.

Stand outs are "We've All Been There" "Euphoria" "Never Let You Go" "Start Over Again".

I also included "Cruel One (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk & Emmy Rossum)" which is not v0 because it is an iTunes-only bonus track (why??????). Enjoy, let me know what you think, and let Alex know by buying it!

4shared Download - removed by request 8/9/10. But you can preview at the iTunes link below!

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy signed album (CD) - 14.99
Buy iTunes - 7.99

A Very Special Christmas 1,2,3,4,5 (Compilations 1987-2001) (CORRECT ID3 TAGS!)

Genre: Rock, Pop, Christmas
About: Hope you all had a great Christmas! (Or whatever holiday you may celebrate) This is a really good compilation of Christmas songs that I just found thanks to a song I wanted from Die Hard (1988). The song was "Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC. No worries, this is the only rap artist in the entire series. Most of it is classic rock, such as Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton, Pointer Sisters, Extreme... Then there are also more recent artists such as Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Eve 6, Dido, Sheryl Crow, etc. Highly recommended by me!

(I have a problem with terrible, incorrect tags. Get these compilations anywhere else and you will likely be listening to the song "O Christmas Tree - Aretha Fra" by the artist "Christmas" with no track numbers so you do not know the order of the tracks on an album. You have to purposely enter in that incorrect stuff to mess it up that badly. What is wrong with people?? Ugh! Anyway...)

Full Track lists, and Buy on Amazon if you like what you hear!
(~8 dollars per CD... perhaps buy them for gifts for your relatives for next Christmas! :D)

Mediafire Download - part 1
Mediafire Download - part 2
Mediafire Download - part 3

EQXClusives (25 Years 1984-2009) (Live alternative/indie rock compilation)

Genre: Alternative/Indie Rock
About: This is a compilation by a local radio station, 102.7 WEQX, released for free (at local bars) for a 25th anniversary. I don't even like indie rock in general, but I like these. Some are local bands, some are international phenomenons. The latter includes (ones i have heard of before) Bell X1, Ludo, They Might Be Giants, OK Go, World Party, Metric, Eric Hutchinson, etc. They are live, but most of them have no audience sounds and are recorded so well they sound like studio. I actually saw track 19 performed live back in September, also for free. Free stuff is nice. So here you go! :D

(Apologies, I think there's something wrong with my particular CD... about 2:45 in track 18, the ripping slowed to a crawl there, and the actual ripped audio file has a very small skip. I may try again using the EAC program in the future but I doubt it'd be any better. Just another reason I do not like CDs...)

Mediafire Download - part 1
Mediafire Download - part 2

Mars Electric - Beautiful Something (2000)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Melodic Rock
About: The number of people that listen to this band is a crime. You should be arrested if you have never listened to this album. I found it through an Alternative Times compilation, and it was love at first sight (listen). They have these beautiful melodic ballads, and also these perfect alternative rocking songs. The singer is soothing yet powerful. 1,000 listeners in the entire world on last.fm. What the hell is wrong with people? I'm going to submit this to rolling stone if possible, because it deserves to be mainstream as fuck. I hate that magazine with a passion, but it has such a great sphere of influence that drives/defines what is "mainstream".

My two favorites are Someday and Feels Like June, but the whole album is great. "Someday" just runs through the back of my head at this point, it's just one of the most solid songs I have ever heard, of any genre. They were dropped from the label which ultimately caused them to break up. I cannot describe in words how much i hate labels, because they are the reason my two favorite bands, Angra and Rhapsody of Fire are not releasing more albums. I started supporting Radiohead even though i used to hate them because they released an album on their website with a "pay what you think it is worth." I wish every band did that. They recorded one more album before they broke up, and i will likely have that up this evening. After the break up, the singer formed "Lynam", which is equally unknown and I will find it and put that on here too.

Anyway, download this NOW!!!11111111


Download

Reviews (4.5 on Amazon (from the only 24 people who have ever listened to this album, lol))

Like A Storm - Chemical Infatuation (2009) (Single) (256kbps)

(Click above image to buy (from Amazon, because iTunes may have finally gone DRM-free back in March but they still essentially have a monopoly on the digital music industry. (However, their free music player is nice. (However again, ipods and related products have always and will always suck. (And macs are overrated as sh*t (and all apple products are overpriced like mad; you can build your own pc for half the price of the same performance Mac))))))


(Click above image for their official Myspace)

Genre: Hard/Heavy/Alternative Rock/Metal (seriously these genres just blend together by now)
About: This is alt rock done right. From New Zealand but now residing in Vancouver. I had the good fortune of seeing them live on the Creed Reunion Tour this summer. Their full album "The End of the Beginning" is coming 'soon' and I've messaged them about an exact date which i will write here if i get one. I cannot wait.


"HD" Music Video:



Purchase song from Amazon.com

Download from Mediafire

Mr. Big - Reunion Tour Live! (2009) (2009/06/17 Hiroshima, Japan (Bootleg))

Then:

& Now:


Genre: Rock (classic/hard/hair rock)
About: The (imho) best American Rock band of all time are back with a vengeance. In Japan. lol. American watered down music tastes cannot handle this band's prowess, so they instead became popular in japan. Hopefully they will have a US tour as well, because I will drive 200 miles to see them if necessary. Anyway...

The quality is absolutely amazing, and thanks goes to the bootlegger! This was converted from FLAC lossless to V0 mp3 using foobar and lame 3.98, so it has a minimal amount of lost data, but the size was cut about 400%, and it will play in all music programs/players. I put correct id3 tags on all the files.

This setlist is amazing as well... except, nothing from "Actual Size" (my personal favorite) because Ritchie Koetzen was guitar in the band for that album instead of Paul Gilbert. Instead, there are a lot of older classics, a lot of jams, covers and unexpected things.


Mr. Big is:
Eric Martin (vocals)
Paul Gilbert (guitar)
Billy Sheehan (bass)
Pat Torpey (drums)


Set list: (For convenience, * indicates cover song, ** indicates solo, etc)

Disc 1
1.Opening **
2.Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy
3.Take Cover
4.Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
5.Alive And Kickin'
6.Next Time Around
7.Hold Your Head Up *
8.Just Take My Heart
9.Temperamental
10.It's For You - The Planets Op.32: Mars (Billy, Paul, Pat) *
11.Pat Torpey Solo (Inc: The Long And Winding Road) *
12.Price You Gotta Pay
13.Stay Together *

Disc 2
1.Wild World (Acoustic) *
2.Goin' Where The Wind Blows (Acoustic)
3.Take A Walk (Acoustic - Electric)
4.Paul Gilbert Solo **
5.Inst. (Billy + Paul) **
6.The Whole World's Gonna Know
7.Promise Her The Moon
8.Rock & Roll Over
9.Billy Sheehan Solo **
10.Addicted To That Rush
11.To Be With You
12.Colorado Bulldog
13.Smoke On The Water *
14.I Love You Japan **
15.Baba O'riley *

Mediafire Download

U2 - No Line on the Horizon (2009)

Genre: Rock, Pop, Classic Rock
About: This album seems to be a little more pop-oriented than their past few albums, but it's still the same old U2. No Line on the Horizon is an amazing song. Also, i really like the cover. Very minimalistic, yet clever. Highly recommended to anyone.

Download part 1
Download part 2

Burnout 2: Point of Impact Unofficial Sound track (2002) - Criterion Games

Genre: Rock, Hard Rock, Instrumental
About: If you're a fan of these genres of music, or if you've played any games in the Burnout series (specifically the first two), you will love this. I ripped these myself since this was never officially released. My favorite song, and track, is Big Surf Shores. My favorite car is Custom Roadster. I think my best score on that track was 350 million or so. Try and beat it! (It's very possible, but difficult)

Download

Jimmy Eat World - Always Be (Instrumental) (256kbps AAC / m4a) (Chase this Light Single)

Genre: rock, emo, alternative, alternative rock, indie
About: This is my favorite song off of their 2007 album, Chase this Light. Unfortunately the instrumental version is only available in Tiger Woods 2009. Ripped by myself through a 3.5mm cable and a Creative Audigy 2 sound card, converted from WAV to AAC through iTunes. I apologize since the quality isn't perfect but I tend to be an audiophile and it's acceptable to me.

Download

Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream (2009) (plus My Lucky Day video!)

Genre: rock, classic rock, singer-songwriter, folk
About: Bruce Springsteen returns from a continuation of his work from his last album, released in 2007. He sounds better than ever.

This is one of those albums that will likely need to grow on you. All that means is it is a completely original work and so your brain needs time to adjust. You may hate track 4 but then come back and like it then the third time love it. Etc.

My Lucky Day Video:

My Lucky Day


Buy - Amazon.com

Download pt 1
Download pt 2

The Toll - Sticks And Stones And Broken Bones

Genre: Rock, Hard Rock
About: A classic example of a great band that is never discovered for whatever reasons. I found this in a 25 cent bargain bin a few years ago. It's hard rock how it should be. They only had one other album before they broke up, "The Price of Progression".
Stand-outs are "Tongue-Tied River", "Standing on the Ledge" and "Colorblind".

Album: Sticks And Stones And Broken Bones
Year: 1991
Download

Eagles - One of These Nights (Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy)

Genre: Classic Rock, Rock, elements of Country
About: First, look at the similarity between those two pictures!
Second, listen to "Journey of the Sorcerer", its the theme song for The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy TV series, and a new version of the song is in the 2005 movie as well. This whole album is great.

Album: One of These Nights
Year: 1975
Download

Album: Jody Talbot - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Year: 2005
Download new version of "Journey of the Sorcerer"

Ronnie James Dio's rare early works! (1958 - 1965, 1974)

Artist: Various (See below)
Album: Various (See below)
Year: 1958-1974 (See below)
Genre: Classic Rock, Rock

Includes:
Ronnie And The Red Caps - An Angel Is Missing (1958)
Ronnie And The Red Caps - Lover/Conquest (1960)
Ronnie Dio And The Prophets - Dio at Domino's (1963)
Ronnie Dio And The Prophets - Ronnie Dio and the Prophets (Various Releases and Singles, 1960-1965)
Roger Glover - The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast (Only two tracks w/ Dio, 1974)

This is all his pre-Dio, Pre-Black Sabbath, Pre-Rainbow, Pre-Elf, Pre-The Elves, Pre-The Electric Elves songs. :)
I thought these albums should be freely available since they would be nearly, if not completely, impossible to get your hands on the physical media.

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