Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Squeezing away from end of the school year capers to sneak in an entry... Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in tons of music all next week as some kind of countdown to Christmas! YES!!!! I get to do another band that rests in my top 4 favorite bands of all time and they have a free song!



Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a great many things; a perennial holiday favorite, a radio mainstay during the winter, the most kick-ass rock rendition of Christmas tunes. Yeah, it fits those descriptions easily but most people don't realize that the radio-friendly instrumental tracks are only a fraction of what this band has to offer. The albums also contain some well-developed symphonic rock songs from covers of Christmas classics to beautiful originals. Each album also has its own full story to accompany the music (what?) often being great stories that the music only helps build into a greater symphony of sound. This past month, my family saw them in concert and it blew my mind. Best light show I've seen, best atmosphere, amazing narration of the story and a full replaying of the entire "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" albums (except "A Star to Follow..." Strange.)

The bigger surprise to a lot of people is that they don't always do Christmas music. The two non-Christmas albums are vastly different with their separate themes. The first is "Beethoven's Last Night" which tells the story of Beethoven's last night as he is dying and analyzing his life to see if anything was worth it. Great stuff. The newest album is simply called "Night Castle" a two disc medley of all kinds of music. There are a few Christmas songs but mostly original tracks. TSO held a official contest where people could use one of the new songs "Believe" in a created video medley of something you were passionate about. Winners would be chosen and the contest ended 6 months ago... But they still left the mp3 active! On the contest page both the original track and a separate radio edit are available for free download. The song is great but not a normal Christmas track that one would expect from TSO. Please download and enjoy!! Merry Week-Before-Christmas!!!

Arbor Records (Christmas!)

December has begun and the inevitability of Christmas music has arrived. I've heard a lot of badmouthing for Christmas music among critics and intense music fans saying that it is some kind of perversion of the talent that is present in many of artists. And to that point I say that not all christmas music is shallow and hopefully all of the posts I make this month will be quality (or at least decent) Christmas music. Some of the artists I have already covered have quality free Christmas music including Jonathan Coulton ("Podsafe Christmas Song" and "Chiron Beta Prime"), The Aquabats ("Holiday Road"), He Is We ("O Holy Night" from the purevolume link), and Los Straitjackets ("I Deck The Halls.")

Okay so maybe this first example isn't the best for "quality" Christmas music but there is a lot available. Arbor Records has been holding a Christmas show with the bands in the label for the past ten years with free recordings of each show. To make that clear, 10 FULL FREE ALBUMS of Christmas music. The music can be really rough and very hit-&-miss but considering that it was a live recording and that it's all free... Not so much of a problem really. The later albums are definitely higher quality music so I would start with Year 10 and work your way back.

I could not find a video or enough songs to make a playlist so this will have to be a step of faith. Enjoy!