Saturday, March 30, 2013

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο. 39

Good morning! :)
Today it is Saturday, therefore it's the time to post here my Top-5 songs for this last week.
Very busy week that one, with lots of thigs to be done, and also a lot of preparations for tomorrow's radio
show.
Anyway, here is the list of my Top-5 songs for this last week of March...

Strawbs: Autumn (Hero & Heroine) - 1974
HP Lovecraft: The White Ship (HP Lovecraft I) - 1967
Anglagard : Jordrok (Hybris) - 1992
Styx: Boat on the River (Cornerstone) - 1980
Black Sabbath: Children of the Sea (Heaven & Hell) - 1980

Friday, March 29, 2013

Prog & Roll Special Radio Show on 31/3/2013

Hello all!
I'm posting this in order to inform you about our forthcoming special radio show, on Sunday night.
It is the last show of March, and we thought to make something different. So, on the first hour of our show everything will be as usual. But on the second hour, nothing will be the same! :)
The second hour will be dedicated to Fantasy Fiction. Which means we will play songs from movies, TV series, even games!
 As many of you already know, this Sunday is the premiere of the third season of the fantasy series 'Game of Thrones'. So we thought of making this show on this specific day for a reason. ;)
So, all of you who are interested in Fantasy fiction, join us this Sunday night, and I believe you will not regret it! Our show starts at 20.00GMT, and lasts for 2 hours. The Fantasy fiction part will start at 21.00GMT. And as usual, the broadcasting is in English and Greek language.
So, sharpen your swords, prepare your horses, and get ready to travel to magical lands through music! As for you who are more of a Sci-Fi fans, don't worry, we will have a few things for you as well! ;)
You can listen to our show by clicking on this link: www.justincaseradio.com
Thank you :)

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Goodies from GFreedom's Music Collection #2

                                        HP LOVECRAFT: I & II
    Here I will write about both records of the psychedelic band, 'HP Lovecraft'.
The main reason is that I can't separate these two albums. In my mind they are like one. And since HP Lovecraft didnt't release any other records, I thought of presenting them both.
   The band was formed in Chicago in 1967, and as you can understand they took their name from the famous American author of horrors stories, H.P Lovecraft. Soon after they moved to San Fransisco and became a part of the local psychedelic scene, playing live very often in places like 'The Fillmore', and 'Winterland Ballroom'. While in San Fransisco, they released their both records, and in 1969 they were disbanded.
  Their first album (HP Lovecraft I) was released in 1967, and it is maybe the best of the two.
It contains 10 songs in total, but almost half of them are cover versions. (very good ones though). 
In the recordings of the album they used  a 9-piece orchestra in order to give a unique style to their sound. The general style of the album is rather dark, with long almost haunting compositions, and a gloomy atmosphere. (Don't forget that it is a psychedelic album and it was recorded in 1967). 
The best songs here in my opinion are 'Wayfaring Stranger' (Traditional) , I've Been Wrong Before (Randy Newman's song cover version) and above all the wonderful 'The White Ship', which is based on HP Lovecraft's short story with the same name. The album achieved some decent sales, but failed to enter the charts.
   Their second album (HP Lovecraft II) released one year later, (1968), and it was very similar with the first in almost everything. Again many cover versions, the same gloomy atmosphere and again achieved good sales but failed to enter the charts. But there was one big difference. There isn't any composition equally to 'The White Ship' here.
The song 'At the Mountains of Madness' is again inspired from  HP Lovecraft's tale with the same name, but it has nothing to do with the quality of 'The White Ship'.
Best moments here I believe are the songs: Spin Spin Spin, High Flying Bird (yes, one more cover version of this song!), and Blue Jack of Diamonds.
   I believe that both records are very unique in style and sound, and I would recommend them both to anyone that is interested in the Psychedelic scene of the '60's. And if I'm not mistaken there has been a CD release including them both together.
 In the following videos you can listen to some of their songs from both records.
Enjoy! :)

                       

                                       
                   
                                       

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Four Tanks & a Healer...

Good morning! :)
Today I will post something very different.
Yesterday I discovered in YT this cartoon that is a parody of the Fantasy on-line games.
In the description says 'Lotro parody' (Lord Of The Rings Online), but I don't agree.
Being a player in Lotro for 4 years now, I see some elements from this game in the cartoon, but in general I think it's a parody of all the Fantasy games.
I was able to find only 2 episodes, (I don't think there are more so far), and I'm posting them here.
I'm sure that the people who are (or were) involved with some on-line game will find these episodes very funny! I hope you will like them folks! :)

                                                     
                                         

Monday, March 25, 2013

PROG & ROLL Radio Show: Last Night's Top-5 and Playlist...

Hello all and have a nice week! :)
Last night we had one more radio show, and now I'm posting this to inform those who are interested about our playlist, and also the Top-5 songs, as they were graded by our audience.
Last night we didn't have so much people as other times, but those who logged in helped to create a nice & warm atmosphere, and also to play our little 'game', with the grading of the songs.
In last night's playlist we thought of mixing up the songs and the music styles, in order to be more interesting for everybody. (In the sence that you don't know what to excpect next).
We also decided to play a song from Iron Maiden's first album, in order to honor Clive Burr's memory that he recently passed away.
I think that in general was a good show, and the people seemed to enjoy the music a lot.
Now, according to our audience's grades on the songs, these were the best 5 in our program:

1. Iron Maiden: Phantom of the Opera
2. Kansas: The Wall
3. Rush: The Trees
4. Cockney Rebel: Death Trip
5. Blind Guardian: Nightfall

From these 5 songs, only the first 2 achieved an average of 8.5 or higher, therefore these 2 are going on the list in order to claim the title as the 'Song of the month'. We have one more radio show in March, and after that we will have our big contest on the first show of April. We have already 10 excellent songs on that list, and one more show to do...
And here is the whole playlist:

Haggard: The Day as Heaven Wept / Therion: Linsalfheim / Pendragon: The Masquerade Overture / Steve Hackett: Shadow of Hierophant / Dunwich: Il Falso Principio / Queensryche: The Lady Wore Black / Adventure: The Swan / Clepsydra: God or Beggar / Iron Maiden: Phantom of the Opera / Supertramp: Babaji / Rush: The Trees / Kansas: The Wall / B.O.C: The Last Days of May (Live) / 
Mystery: The Silent Scream / Blind Guardian: Nightfall /  Sandy Denny: Like an Old Fashioned Waltz / 
Alan Parson's Project: Don't Let it Show / Marillion: Warm Wet Circles / Arena: Never Ending Night / Cockney Rebel: Death Trip.

I want to thank all of you who logged in last night, and stayed with us through the show. 
On our next radio show that it will be the last for March we will prepare something special.
But more info on that later... :)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Prog & Roll Radio Show on Sunday nights...

Hello folks!
Many of you know that already, but many don't. That's why I would like to inform you that every Sunday night 'GFreedom Team' (means me and my wife) are hosting a radio show at an internet radio station.
Our show is called 'Prog & Roll' and it starts at 20.00GMT (22.00 Greek time) an lasts for 2 hours. It is a live broadcast, with lots of good music, lots of fun in the chatbox, and we are speaking in English and Greek. (I'm doing the Greek part and my wife the English one). So everybody get to know what we are talking about. The music we play is Prog-orientated music but not in a strict way. You can listen many different kinds and types of bands from Metal, Folk, Neo-Prog, you name it! That means you can listen to songs from the '60's till nowadays. We always try to mix our program in such a way that  it will not get to be monotony and boring. We like making surprises from time to time, that's why we do theme shows that as it seems everybody enjoys a lot! We also play a 'game'. We are asking from our audience to grade the songs at the time we play them, and afterwards we calculate the points and the average numbers, and we have every show's Top-5 songs. But it is more than that. The songs that achieved an average of 8.5 or higher are going on a list and on the first show of every month we play them again and the audience is voting again. And the song with the highest average is the 'song of the month'! Just to get an idea, I'm informing you that for the year 2013 the songs of the month so far were: Eloy: The Sun-song (January), and
Queen: Death on two legs (February). 
Anyway, there is no point to make this longer. If tomorrow night (or afternoon) you are free and you are in the mood for some nice music, and a friendly and fun environment, you can listen to our show here: www.justincaseradio.com
You are surely welcome!
thank you all in advance :)

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο. 38

Good morning all! :)
Here I am again, in order to write here my top-5 songs from the previews week, as I'm doing every Saturday. This week I listened to many different things, and that's why this Top-5 is kind of mixed.
Anyway, from ALL the music I listened through this week, these are the 5 songs I liked the best:

Ayreon: Valley of the Queens
(Into the Electric Castle) - 1998
Iron Maiden: Phantom of the Opera
(Iron Maiden) - 1980
Dunwich: Il Falso Principio (Heilagmanoth) - 2008
Dead Can Dance: Sanvean (Toward the Within) - 1994
Cockney Rebel: Death Trip (The Human Menagerie) - 1973

Thursday, March 21, 2013

GFreedom Team presents: Eloy - Dawn

Goodmorning everybody! :)
   I just want to inform you for a couple of things.
Tonight at 20.00GMT, GFreedom Team's playlist will be playing on JustIn Case Prog Radio. The playlist has the title "Progin' 'Round the world", and it consists of known and unknown bands around the globe.
   After that, at 21.00GMT we will present in the "Full Album Hour" of the station, the masterpiece Eloy's album titled 'Dawn'. This will keep us company until 22.00GMT. So from 20.00 until 22.00 GMT we will be online, we will chat through the chatbox with the people that will log in, and we will share two hours with very good music! Have in your mind that none of these is a live show! We will just be on the chatbox giving info on bands or songs where needed, and chatting with you while the music plays. That's all...
For those who don't know Eloy's album, I must say that is a masterpiece in my opinion.
 One of the best albums that were recorded in the '70's...
   The ones that are familiar with the album , knows what I'm talking about...
As for the ones who have no idea about it, here's your chance to listen this whole record and see what you were missing by not knowing it...

Thank you... :)

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Game of Thrones (The third season)


Only a few days left for the long awaited third season of the epic series 'Game of Thrones' to start.
One of the most expensive productions, with the thousands of fans all over the world, is entering the 3rd and most important season. Those who have read the the books know exactly what I'm talking about... :)
From the first season of these series, I was waiting for this moment. The time that the series will enter the third book! (Each season is dealing with each one of the books of George R.R Martin). And as I wrote before, after the first two books (2 seasons so far), now is the time for the third and most important one!
And I seriously can't wait!
The production company (HBO) released a couple of trailers so far, and I'm posting one of them here for you to watch.
12 days remaining folks!
31/3/2013  'The winter is coming'! And this time it is closer than ever! :)

                                           


Monday, March 18, 2013

Prog & Roll Radio Show: The Top-5, the playlist & more...

Good Morning all!
   Last night we had one more radio show as we do on every Sunday night.
This time we thought to separate the 2 hours in 4-half hour parts, and have a different theme for each part.
And so we did. The first half hour was the 'Metal' one.
(We had one exception though). And here's why:
On some of our shows we make music contests. The winner of every contest has the right to choose a band with which we will start our next show. So, the winner of last week's show asked for Porcupine Tree. Therefore, we had to start with them. And that was the exception on the first half-hour.
The second half hour's theme was 'artists that made a solo career' (Regardless if they were members of a  band at some point). The third half hour's theme was 'Krautrock & German Progressive Rock'.
 And the fourth's was 'The UK Progressive Rock scene'.
   But further than this we had a surprise that we didn't expect. The singer of Galahad Stuart Nicholson, logged in (again) and listened to our show, while he was chatting with everybody on the chatbox.
That's the second time in a row that he is logging in to listen to us, and I must say that we are very honored and rather proud! Also this time we persuaded him to join the little 'game' we play, with the grading of the songs. The first time he didn't wanted to participate, but this time he did and I think he also enjoyed it!
And it was also very interesting to see him commenting on each song we were playing while he was grading it.We also played some songs he had no idea about, and with some of them he was pleasantly surprised.
In the last part we played a song from his band 'Galahad', that we didn't have on our playlist, just to thank  and honor him. (And I think he was rather pleased with that).
Anyway, the conclusion is that once more we all had 2 very pleasant hours with lots of fun and good music.
And that's the point, right?
   Now, I will post here the Top-5 songs as they were voted from our audience, and next I will post the whole playlist for you to see and get an idea...

  The Top-5!
 1. ELOY: Inside
2. CAMEL: Air Born
3. MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: Visionary Mountains
4. DAVID BOWIE: Time
5. PROCOL HARUM: Skating on Thin Ice.
From these 5 songs only the first two achieved an average of 8.5 & higher. Therefore these two are going on our list in order to participate in the last stage of the contest for the 'Song of the Month'.

And here you can see the whole playlist:
First Part: PORCUPINE TREE: Signify, MYTHODEA: Asia, DISTORTED HARMONY: Breath, METALLICA: The call of Ktulu (Live with the San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra).
Secord Part: PETER GABRIEL: Games without Frontiers, MIKE OLDFIELD: Shadow on the Wall, PAUL Mc CARTNEY: Let me Roll it, CARLOS SANTANA: Well Alright, DAVID BOWIE: Time, TIM BUCKLEY: Pleasant Street.
Third Part: CAN: Le Weekend, JANE: Out in the Rain, NOVALIS: Atlanto, ELOY: Inside, TRIUMVIRAT: The Deadly Dream of Freedom
Fourth Part: GALAHAD: Memories of an Africa Twin, GENESIS: Lilywhite Lilith, PINK FLOYD: Have a Cigar, MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: Visionary Mountains, CAMEL: Air Born, PROCOL HARUM: skating on Thin Ice.
A very big thanks to all of you that logged in last night, and I hope you enjoyed our show. 
We sure did! :)

Saturday, March 16, 2013

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο. 37

Good Morning all!
For those who are not familiar yet with these series of posts, here is the deal:
Every Saturday I'm posting here the 5 songs that in my opinion were the best from all the songs I listened during the whole week. And because I usually listen to many different styles, this top-5 is always kind of mixed up. But not always...
So, for this last week these are the songs that I think were the best:

David Bowie: Time (Alladin Sane) - 1973
Can: Le Weekend (Cannibalism 3) - 1990
Steven Wilson: Luminol (The Raven that Refused to Sing) - 2013
Tim Buckley: Pleasant Street (Goodbye & Hello) - 1967
Distorted Harmony: Breathe (Utopia) - 2012

Friday, March 15, 2013

Steven Wilson: "The Raven that Refused to Sing"



   About a month and a half ago, Steven Wilson (known from his long career with Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, and numerous other activities), presented his latest album with this weird title. I’m a fan of Porcupine Tree since their first albums. I have about 10 records of them, all 3 records from Blackfield, and a couple from No-Man. (Another project of Steven Wilson). But this is the first record I have from his solo career. (And this one is his 3rd). 
   I wanted to write this review almost right away, but I decided to wait some time before doing so. The reason? All these reviews I read about this album! I read about a “masterpiece”, about a “rare Jewel” etc etc…
(I believe that in our days the word 'masterpiece' is used very easily, and I don't really agree with this). Those critics and reviews made me listen to this album over and over again. And finally I think I’m ready to write this piece.
   The “Raven” contains 6 songs, and half of them are over 10 minutes long. The overall time of the record is about 55 minutes. So far so good. The production of the record is excellent, the musicians that surrounding Steven Wilson are very good, and the overall result is satisfying to say the least.
   But there was something that always bothered me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was!   
And then I read that Steven Wilson was working in the studio  re-mastering all the albums of King Crimson about a year prior to this album. And then it hit me! King Crimson! YES! That was the thing that was bothering me. Many parts of the songs resembling the bizarre and difficult sound of King Crimson, a band I never really liked. (With the exception of their first 1-2 records).  Another thing that bothered me was the many jazz influences here and there during the songs. (Not a fan of Jazz music either).
   Let’s go to the songs now… First track, the almost 14-minutes-long, “Luminol”. It could be a great piece of music but it contains ALL the ingredients I mentioned before. Although is a wonderful song in some parts, there are some other parts that annoys me. But the overall feeling is good. (Steven Wilson used Robert Fripp’s personal Mellotron in this song in order to give a ”retro” polish). If this song was 2-3 minutes shorter, leaving outside all these King Crimson Jazzy influences, it would be the best in the record by far! (For my music tastes and likings of course)
Next song is “Drive Home”. A song that could easily fit in any Porcupine Tree album. A 7-minute long slow song, that closes with a beautiful guitar solo. My favorite song from the record so far.
Third song, “Holy Drinker” has all the same ingredients I mentioned for ‘Luminol”. Maybe the most Jazzy song of the record. Great at some parts, weird and difficult in others. But even with these, it is maybe the second best song here.
The “Pin Drop” that follows, again it could fit in any Porcupine Tree album easily! Very catchy melodies, and short in length it is a nice song and it doesn’t make you tired while you listen to it.But I think is the weaker song in this album.
“The Watchmaker” that follows it reminds of Genesis older stuff in some parts, and although this could be a “plus” for me, it isn’t. I can’t explain it, but this song didn’t “fit” well in my ears.
And the closing piece is the “Raven”. Nice song, with very beautiful melodies, but there is something missing in order to become superb!
Finishing this really long review, I want to mention that all these things you read are my personal point of view and nothing more! You should definetly listen to the album yourselves and have your own opinion. You should need a minimum of 4-5 times before you have a clear picture.
As an overall result, I think “The raven that Refused to Sing” is a good record, that it contains so many different music styles and melodies, that everybody will find something that he/she will love here!
If I had to put a mark, it would be something between 3 and 4 stars.
Thank you for reading it!
                                            

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Clive Burr has passed...

If I want to be perfectly honest, I really hate writing these series of posts!
Writing about great musicians that I grew up with their music, and now they are dead...
And especially when I have to write for two of them in a row...
A few days ago (it is actually the previous post) was Peter Banks, and now Clive Burr.
   Clive Burr was the first drummer of Iron Maiden, and he participated in their first 3 records, (that happens to be my most beloved ones). 'Iron Maiden' 'Killers' and 'The Number of the Beast'.
He was suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years, and he died at his home on the night of 12th of March, at the age of 56.
   Because of the lengthy and expensive treatments, he was broke and in dedt. And at this point Iron Maiden showed that really good friends are there when you need them! A few years ago they announced a series of charity concerts in order to help him, and they were part of the founding of 'Clive Burr MS trust fund'.
Anyway, the point is that Clive is not among us anymore. He went to the 'musician's Paradise' and now he will be making rounds with all these great musicians that are already there.
R.I.P Clive, you will always live in our hearts...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Peter Banks 15/7/1947 - 8/3/2013

I just now learned the sad news of Peter Banks' death a few days ago, and decided to write a post about him.
Peter Banks was born  in England on the 15th of July 1947. For those who are not familiar with his name, I should say that he was the guitarist and founding member of the band 'YES'. And actually he was the one who suggested this name for the band.
He participated in the first two albums, and then he left the band and he was replaced by Steve Howe.
His last concert with 'YES' was on 18th of April 1970 at the Luton college of Technology.
After YES, he started his own band named 'FLASH' in 1971, but this band lasted only for 2-3 years.
The next step was to release his own material under his name. So in 1973 he released the record 'The two sides of Peter Banks' with a brilliant group of musicians, such as: Jan Akkerman, John Wetton, Phill Collins, Steve Hackett, and 2 members from 'Flash'.
After that, he continued his solo career, and he only participated in a a few concerts with YES, many years later, as a guest.
The BBC's journalists Danny Baker and Big George often called Peter Banks "The Architect of Progressive Music"
Peter Banks died at his home in London, on the 8th of March 2013, at the age of 65...
R.I.P Peter Banks...


                            

Monday, March 11, 2013

Prog & Roll Radio Show, with special guests...

Good morning all!
Last night we had one more radio program, as we always have on Sunday nights.
This time it was a bit different though.
   As I mentioned in a previous post, we were hoping that we would have a special guest listening on our show, and chatting through the chatbox with the people that would be online. Mr.Stuart Nicholson the singer and founding member of the band Galahad. On Thursday night, when we had the presentation of their album, he joined us, and he told us that he will be listening to our radio show on Sunday night. So based on that, we prepared a special kind of show that included some songs from Galahad, and also some others bands that we understood that he likes.
   But he was holding a surprise for us! He joined our show at the start (during the first song if I remember well), but he was not alone. After a few minutes the keyboard player of Galahad, Mr. Dean Baker logged in as well. So we had 2 members of Galahad on the chatbox, and listening to our program!
Many people joined last night, and I believe that in general it was a pleasant and interesting night.
  Stuart and Dean stayed with us through the whole 2 hours that our show lasted, and in the end they said that they had some really great time, and they will visit us again very soon! We spoke on many things, they made comments on some songs we played, they were pleasantly surprised by some bands they had no idea about, and I believe they had lots of fun.
  We continued our little "game", by asking our audience to grade the songs we play, and on the top of that we had also a music contest. The winner of every one of our contests has the right (or privilege, you name it), to choose the band that our next show will start with. So, last night's winner was Johnaslan (that was his nickname), and he chose the band Porcupine Tree. So, now you all know which will be the first band we will play on next Sunday's "Prog & Roll".
   According to our audience's grades, here is the Top-5 songs from last night's program:

1. Galahad: Empires Never Last
2. Galahad: Richelieu's Dream
3. Renaissance: A Song for all Seasons
4. Tarnation: Your Thoughts and Mine
5. Mostly Autumn: Mother Nature

From these 5 songs, the first 4 achieved an average points of 8.50 or higher, therefore are going on the list for "The Song of the Month".
And here you can see the whole playlist of our last night's show:

Psychotic Waltz: My Grave / Opeth: I Feel the Dark / Steven Wilson: Drive Home / Big Big Train: Swan Hunter / Galahad: Richelieu's Dream / Marillion: 3 Boats Down from the Candy (Live) / Galahad: Empires Never Last / Elf: Nevermore / Galahad: Dentist Song / Robert Plant: One More Cup of Coffee (Music contest) / Tarnation: Your Thoughts & Mine / Arion: True Love / Mostly Autumn: Mother Nature  / Renaissance: A Song for all Seasons / Jethro Tull: To Cry You a Song / Pavlov's Dog: Song Dance / Frank Zappa: Directly from My Heart to You.

Finishing this, I want to thank all of you who joined our company last night, and of course Stuart and Dean who gave a different 'note' with their presence to our show. I think it was a good show, and I hope everybody enjoyed it!
Thank you all! :)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Stairway to Heaven (Kennedy Center Honnors)

I just found this video and I thought to share it with you.
As a Rock music fan I don't like all these 'celebration concerts' on which all the celebrities are gathering wearing their thousands of dollars tuxedos and jewells, in order to 'honor' some rock band that they once use to spit on! In this case we have something of that sort. It is a live performance of the legendary 'Staıway to Heaven' by Led Zeppelin, being performed live by some members of the band 'Heart', plus Jason Bohnam on drums, (the son of the drummer of Led Zeppelin John Bohnam), and plus a whole orcestra and choir.
   Among the audience you can see some of the celebrities I just mentioned, and yes, there is also Barak Obama!
But at the same time you can mostly see the 3 remaining members of Led Zeppelin, (Rober Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page), watching the performance. And that is the reason I'm posting this. To see how these Rock legends  have become with the passing years, and also to see their expressions while watching their own song performed live. It is a very good version I have to admit, but...
Anyway, you can watch the video and judge by yourselves...

                                           

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο. 36

Good morning everybody! :)
After a really very busy and difficult week, I realised that today is Saturday.
Which means that now is the time for the usual Juke Box post.
So without further delay, I give you my best 5 songs for this week:

Steven Wilson: Drive Home (The Raven that Refused to Sing) - 2013
The Rolling Stones: 2000 Light Years from Home
(Their Satanic Majesties Request) - 1967
Eric Burdon & The Animals: San Fransiscan Nights
(Winds of Change) - 1967
Mostly Autumn: Mother Nature (The Last Bright Light) - 2001
Galahad: Guardian Angel (Beyond the Realms of Euphoria) - 2012

Friday, March 8, 2013

One Hour with Stu Nicholson from Galahad...

Good Morning everybody!
Last night as I mentioned in the previous post, GFreedom Team was presenting Galahad's album 'Empires Never Last' with special guest on the chatbox the singer and founding member Stuart Nicholson.
To be honest I wasn't sure if he was gonna show up, despite the fact that he had confirmed it through mails.
And finally not only did he showed up, but he also logged in half hour before the presentation! That was great, because we had the time to get to know each other, and discuss many subjects not concerning his band. We spoke even about football! hehehehe
  And at 21:05 (GMT) the presentation of the album started, and for the rest of the hour (until 22:00 GMT) we had a very good time altogether talking about his band. about live gigs. their records, even about funny incidents that happened in their shows. Stu was really very friendly, answering questions from everyone, participating in the jokes, and in general I must admit I enjoyed it a lot! But I think he did as well, because none of us left after the presentation had finished, and we all stayed for about half hour more and continue talking. That means he stayed with us for almost 2 hours, but then he had to go to enjoy his hot chocolate. :)
  The best part was when we asked him to join us again on Sunday's radio show, and he gladly accepted it!
Ok, that I didn"t expect! But since he said that he will join our show on this Sunday, we promised him that we will prepare a special radio show to honor him...
   So on this Sunday's "Prog & Roll" he will participate on the chatbox as our special guest, and we will give a special show that will contain some songs from Galahad, but also from other bands that we know that he likes as well... (Jethro Tull for example)...
On another note, there was also someone else with the nick "The Unknown One" whom we suspect to be a member of the band because Stu seemed to know him and he seemed to know a lot about Galahad and personal off-stage stuff. Both Stu and the Unknown one seemed to have a great time with us and so both will be on the chatbox this Sunday.
Finishing this, I want to say that last night we had a great fun, and I surely wait in anticipation for this Sunday's "Prog & Roll" radio show.
So if any of you is interested to listen to some good music, and at the same time be able to chat with the singer of Galahad, join us! You can log in by clicking here: www.justincaseradio.com
Our show starts at 20.00GMT, lasts for two hours, and the broadcast is in English & Greek.
For those that are not familar with Galahad, here is a song to listen. You can find one more in the previous post...
Have a nice day! :)

                                                       

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Prog & Roll radio show presents: 'Empires Never Last'...

Hello everybody!
I'm writing this post because I want to inform you about something.
Tomorrow night (7/3/2013) GFreedom Team will present Galahad's  record 'Empires Never Last' on the radio that we also have our show. This record was released on 2007, and it is maybe their best work in my opinion. And here is what's gonna happen: At 21.00GMT we will log in the radio station's site, and we will play the whole record song by song. We will be on the chatbox chating with anyone that will log in, (because it will be not a live broadcast), and in the same time we will be giving you info about the album, the band etc.
But we have a big surprise prepared as well. This time we will have a special guest: Stuart Nicholson, the singer and founding member of Galahad will join us in the chatbox for the presentation, and everyody that will be listening will be able to speak to him through the chatbox! 
I patricipated a couple of times in these kind of presentations myself (as a listener), and I have to say it's great fun! But this time we will be hosting the presentation...
Anyway, if tomorrow night at 21.00GMT you are in the mood to listen a really very good record, and at the same time to speak with the singer of Galahad, join us. I'm sure it will be a great experience for all of us!
The presentation will last for an hour. You can join us by clicking this link: http://www.justincaseradio.com/
And for all of you that are not familiar with Galahad, here is a song from the record we will present tomorrow...
Thank you all in advance, and hope to see you online...

                                           

The Rory Gallagher Documentary Vol.5

This is the 5th and last part of the documentary about Rory Gallagher that I have been posting the last days.
I hope some of you found it interesting, watched it, and enjoyed it.
I don't know, I felt I had to do something in order to honor the memory of this great musician.
R.I.P Rory, you will always be remembered!

                                                

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Rory Gallagher Documentary Vol.4

Here is the fourth part of the documentary about Rory Gallagher.
There is one more part left, and I will post it tomorrow.
Enjoy it!

                                 

Monday, March 4, 2013

Prog & Roll radio show: The song of February!

Good morning all, and have a nice week! :)
Last night we had our special radio show, on which we played all the best songs from month February (according to our audience's grades), and this time they had to grade them again in order to come up with the one absolute song of the month February.
We had many people tuned in for this program, and this time the chatbox was more serious.
The candidate songs for this title were 10 in total, and all of them very good ones, so once more the competition was fierce!
And 'The Song of the month' for February is.............. 
 Queen: Death on two Legs / Lazing on a Sunday afternoon!
Yes, I know these are two songs! But we had played them together as a medley, and the people gave one vote for both of them, as they were one song. After all, these 2 are a part of the medley in the album as well. (Only the third part is missing).
 And here is the list of the 10 songs, and the average points they achieved:

1. QUEEN: Death on two Legs / Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon  (8.78)
2. RAINBOW: Stargazer  (8.30)
3. URIAH HEEP: July Morning   (8.28)
4. MARILLION: Heart of Lothian  (8.25)
5. THE WHO: The Punk & the Godfather   (7.90)
6. MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND: Solar fire  (7.88)
7. KING CRIMSON: In the Wake of Poseidon  (7.85)
8. VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: Refugees  (7.75)
9. FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Crazy Man Michael  (7.40)
10. GENESIS: Twilight Alehouse  (7.30)

I want to thank you all that joined us last night, and all together had some very good time!
And in these two videos you can listen to these 2 parts of the medley.
(I couldn't find them together in one video)...

                                                               
                                                       

The Rory Gallagher Documentary Vol.3

Good morning all!
This is the third part of the documentary about Rory Gallagher.
2 more to come...
Enjoy! :)
  
                        

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Rory Gallagher documentary Vol.2

I as wrote in the previous post, I will be posting each day one episode from the documentary video about Rory Gallagher's life. (5 in total)
Today you can watch part.2. (3 more left)
I hope you'll find it inteesting.
Enjoy! :)
 
                                               

Saturday, March 2, 2013

2/3/1949. Rory was being born...

As today, 64 years before, a legend of Rock music came to life.
Rory Gallagher was born in Kork Ireland.
In the age of 9 saw Elvis Presley on TV, and there he decided to become a musician. He started playing guitar by himself without receiving any lessons. When he was 12, in a local music contest he won his first electric guitar. When he was 16 years old he founded his first blues band named Impact, and with them he toured a bit through Germany and Spain during the years 1965 & 1966. Before he reached 20 years of age, he had already become very known worldwide with his next band, Taste.
After Taste's disbanding he decided to follow a solo career, and he did that until the day he died.
He composed some of the most famous songs in Rock history such as: Shadow Play, Bad Penny, Do you Read me, etc etc...
In the end of the '80's he was facing serious health problems but that didn't stop him from releasing records and giving live performances. His last concert was in Holland on the 10th January of 1995.
After some serious problems with his liver (because of alcohol) he died on the 14th of June 1995.
He lies in Saint Oliver's cemetery in Kork Ireland.
In order to honor his memory I decided to post here every day one part of a documentary I found about his life. This documentary is in 5 parts, so in the next 4 days you will be able to watch it all.
And closing this, the only think I want to say is... R.I.P  Rory!

                                

Prog & Roll Special Show: The song on the month!

Hello folks! :)
As many of you know already, tomorrow night GFreedom Team will  present one more Prog & Roll radio show. And because it is the first show of the month, we have the "Song of the month" contest!
Which means that we have collected all the songs that our audience voted with the highest points through February, (all these songs have an average point of 8.5 or higher), and we will play them again tomorrow night, at the second hour of our show, during the final stage.
So, our audience will grade them again, and the one song with the highest average number will be declared as the song of February. And at the same time it will be the second song in our annual Top-12.If you are interested in seeing which song was declared as the "Song of the Month" for January, and which other songs participated in that contest, please click here:
http://gfreedomathina.blogspot.com/2013/02/prog-roll-radio-show-song-of-month_4.html
  Our radio show starts at 20.00GMT, and lasts for 2 hours. (the contest will start at about 20.50GMT)
I'm reminding here that the broadcasting is in two languages. English and Greek.
So, the conclusion is that if tomorrow night you are in the mood for some really very good music, and a very friendly environment, then we will be happy to have you at our show! :)
You can log in by clicking to the following link: http://www.justincaseradio.com/

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο. 35

Hello folks!
 As many of you know already, since sometime now I have decided that every Saturday I will be writing here the best 5 of all the songs I have listened during the week.
Well, in this last week I was very busy preparing tomorrow's radio program, because it will be a special one, and furthermore I had to write a couple of album reviews, etc...
So I listened to lots of music, and here is the list with the 5 songs that in my opinion were the best:

Love: The Castle (Da Capo) - 1967
Dodson & Fogg: Flying high (Derring Do) - 2013
Donovan: Atlantis (Barabajagal) - 1969
Van Morrison: See Me Through (Hymns to the Silence) - 1991
Galahad: Empires Never Last (Empires Never Last) - 2007

Friday, March 1, 2013

The Beatles Cartoon: Strawberry Fields Forever

Here is a really very old cartoon I found, and I wanted to share it with all of you.
It is an episode from the Beatles cartoon series that were shown in the English TV (I guess) for a couple of years. Ok, the graphics are kind of lame, but we are talking about a cartoon more than 40 years old!
The song is the famous 'Strawberry Fields forever', and it starts at about 1:35.
If you don't like the cartoon, enjoy the song at least... ;)

                                         

Spring is here!

Good morning everybody, and have a nice month! :)
Yesterday was officially the last day of winter, and today spring is starting!
Well, maybe it will take sometime for the good weather to respond, but according to the calendar today we have officially entered spring.
That's why I changed the look of my blog from this dark & gloomy winter background, to a new more happy and colorful one. I hope you will find the change nice. At least it is easier to read with these new colors, as far as I saw myself.
Anyway, have a great spring-time everybody! :)