JACK BRUCE Passed Away... (1943-2014)

I deleyed a lot to sit down and write these sad news, but I was on a travel lately, and I couldn't deal with my blog a lot.
 Jack Bruce, the legendary bass player & singer of the band 'Cream' passed away on Saturday 25/10/2014 from liver disease at the age of 71.
 He was one of the most influential bass players in Rock music, and he left behind some wonderful songs as his heritage, such as 'Sunshine of your love' 'White Room' and 'I Feel Free', just to name a few.
 His musical career started in 1962 when he became a member on 'Blues Incorporated' which were led by Alexis Korner. There he met with the drummer Ginger Baker, and together they formed 'Cream' a few years later, having as a third member Eric Clapton of course. With his Gibson EB-3 he became one of the most famous bass players in Rock music, and he influenced hundreds of musicians, such as 'Sting' and Geddy Lee (Rush).
R.I.P Jack Bruce, Rock music just lost one more legend...

P.S: In the following video you can see the song 'White Room' performed live from Cream's farewell concert in 1968.

SAXON Live in Athens 25/10/2014

If there are some bands that refuse to get old, one of them is Saxon for sure.
Once more they visited Greece for 2 concerts in Athens and Thessaloniki on the 25th and 26th of October.
This time they had a really great setlist prepared, based in 3 of their best albums: 'Wheels of Steel' 'Strong Arm of the Law' and 'Denim and Leather'.
As you can see in the poster, in the whole tour they had 'Skid Row' as support act. Well, in Athens they didn't! For some reason 'Skid Row' where replaced by the local band 'Inner Wish'. Not that I mind to be honest, but maybe there were some people who wanted to see Skid Row.
 Anyway, let's move on to the concert. The place was really full, and the support band appeared on stage exactly on time. The gave a very good performance, and played for almost 45 minutes.
And a little after 22.00 was time for 'Saxon' to come on stage. The sound wasn't so good at first, but that lasted for only 1-2 songs. After that was really good!
The band played for almost 2 hours, and they proved that they still "got it". The playlist was a really great one, based on their top songs from the '80's mostly.
  Despite the fact that I'm not and never been a fan of Saxon, I must admit that I had a really great time, and the two hours passed really quick.
Here you can see the whole playlist:

Motorcycle Man
Sacrifice
Power And The Glory
And The Bands Played On
20,000 Feet
Rock 'N' Roll Gypsy
The Eagle Has Landed
Heavy Metal Thunder
Ride Like The Wind
Broken Heroes
Strong Arm Of The Law
Crusader
Dallas 1 PM
747 (Strangers In The Night)
Princess Of The Night
ENCORE
Wheels Of Steel
Never Surrender
Denim And Leather

PROG & ROLL & PLAY IT LOUD radio shows: The Full Playlists...

Hello all!
  As I mentioned in a previous post, yesterday I travelled to the beautiful town of Pylos in order to meet with my friend John Alslan who has his own radio show as well. Together we had a "Special Radio Sunday" on which I participated as a guest in his show 'Play it Loud' at noon, and he participated as a guest in 'Prog & Roll' at night. My co-host Nihal wasn't able to be there due to a travel, so we were just us.
  I have to admit it was a lot of fun for us, and the hours didn't seem enough. But ok, maybe we will do it again in the future. As for the shows, I'm very pleased to see that many people logged in and listened to the shows, and many of them were participating in the chatbox as well. I believe that everybody (including us) had a really good time.
As for the music, well... we tried to combine many different music styles in both shows, and in 'Play it Loud' we played mostly upbeat and "noisy" songs let's say, because that is the style of John's show. In 'Prog & Roll' we played more classic songs, but we kept a few surprises for the end. This time 'Prog & Roll' was extended for half an hour, and on this extra time we played songs from bands nobody was expecting to listen to, because they don't actually much the style of the show. But that was the fun in it!

Anyway, I really believe we did 2 good shows yesterday, and that is very pleasing because we did put a lot of effort in them.
Here you can take a look at both playlists.
'PLAY IT LOUD':
1st part: CREAM: White Room / PINK FLOYD: Welcome to the Machine / SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES: Melt! / THE TEA PARTY: Sister Awake / THE KINKS: Days.
2nd Part: TEENACIOUS D: The Metal / RAINBOW: Kill the King / METALLICA: Sabra Cadabra / TWISTED SISTER: Under the Blade / RIOT: Running from the Law / AC DC: If You Want Blood / SKYCLAD: Emerald.
3rd Part: CHARLIE DANIELS BAND: The Devil Went to Georgia / LUTHER ALLISON: Rock me Baby / SIMON & GARFUNKEL: The Only Living boy in New York / ALICE COOPER: Desperado / SCORPIONS: We'll Burn the Sky / THIN LIZZY: Angel of Death.
4th Part: LED ZEPPELIN: Thank You / JUDAS PRIEST: Victim of Changes / BLACK SABBATH: Snowblind / RAMMSTEIN: Sonne / MANOWAR: Hail to England / MOTORHEAD: Ace of Spades.
And here is Prog & Roll's full playlist:
1st Part: BLUE OYSTER CULT: Astronomy / QUEEN: Spread Yuor Wings / SERJ TANKIAN: Sky is Over / TOOL: The Pot.
2nd Part: LED ZEPPELIN: Battle of Evermore / TRAFFIC: John Barleycorn / JETHRO TULL: Mother Goose / CARAVAN: In the Land of Grey and Pink / MANFRED MAN'S EARTH BAND: Solar Fire. 
3rd Part: BLACK SABBATH: Black Sabbath / RAINBOW: Gates of Bablon / NIGHTWISH: Ever Dream / SAVATAGE: Gutter Ballet / RANDONE: Soy Peregrino.
4rth Part: PROCOL HARUM: Something Magic / JOHN LEES: Untitled No.1 - Heritage / PINK FLOYD: High Hopes.
5th Part: QUEENSRYCH: Silent Lucidity / VIRGIN STEELE: A Cry in the Night / MANOWAR: Heart of Steel / METALLICA: Fade to Black / MONTY PYTHON: always Look on the Bright Side of Life.  
Both me and John want to thank everybody who logged in yesterday to listen to one or both shows. We were glad to see so many people listening and participating, and surely this gives us courage to continue doing our best.
Thank you all! :) 

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο.105

Hello all!
 As I mentioned in the previous post, tomorrow we have a special "Radio Sunday" prepared.
I will participate in two radio shows, in two different radio stations. (You can read the details in the post below).
During this week I spend many hours listening to music in order to choose the songs for both shows.
 Therefore it is impossible to choose only 5 songs as my best ones. I could write easily 10, and still I'll have to leave many great songs out of the list.
That's why I picked 5 songs and that's it. There are many more, but...
And in order to give you a small hint about the two radio shows, I should inform you that this time all the songs from my list are included in tomorrow's playlists. Maybe that's why the list is kind of mixed up...
So, these are some of my best songs for this week:
BLACK SABBATH: Snowblind (Vol.4 - 1972)
CURVED AIR: Metamorphosis (Air cut - 1974)
MADRUGADA: The Frontman (The nightly disease - 2001)
PROCOL HARUM: Something magic (Something magic - 1977)
SIMON & GARFUNKEL: The only living boy in New York (Bridge over troubled water - 1970)
And as usual, i'll conclude this post by adding 2 videos from my list, for you to listen to.
Have a great weekend, and I hope I'll "see you" tomorrow in one or both radio shows.
Thank you!

'PROG & ROLL' welcomes 'PLAY IT LOUD' welcomes 'PROG & ROLL...

  Hello everybody!
I'm writing this post in order to inform you about this Sunday's special event that we are planning.
  I will travel to a town in Greece named 'Pylos' in order to meet with my good friend and also radio producer John Aslan and togerher we will have a 'Special Radio Sunday'.
Which means that I will be as "guest" in his radio show 'Play it Loud' on Sunday noon, and he will be "guest" in my radio show 'Prog & Roll' on Sunday night. We are preparing these 2 shows for almost a week now, and I think that both will be something not to miss!
 These 2 shows will be musically different let's say, but they will include some songs that might surprise you. We will play songs from Classic rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Progressive Rock, Neo-Prog, Neo Rock etc etc, covering almost 5 decades of Rock music.
  So if you are free, and in the mood for some good music and a friendly environment in the chatbox, we will be glad to have you there with us, listening, chating, and in general spend some quality time together with our music choices.
'PLAY IT LOUD' will be online at 12.00 (UK time), (14.00 Greek time), and 'PROG & ROLL' will start as usual at 20.00 (UK time) (22.00 Greek time), but this time it will end half hour later, at almost 22.30 (UK time).
  So, what we have to offer is almost 4.5 hours of great music from many different music genres, in two different shows, and two producers with different musical backgrounds. I think it sounds interesting...
If you want to log in and listen, here are the links:
PLAY IT LOUD (Sunday noon): www.pyloslive.gr
PROG & ROLL: (Sunday night): www.justincareradio.com
Thank you for reading this, and I hope to "see" you online on Sunday.
Enjoy your weekend! :-)

"BORN TO BE WILD" The golden age of American Rock. Part 3: The '80's

As far as I saw, enough people were interested in the first two parts of this BBC documentary in the previous days.
So today I'm posting here the 3rd and last part, which deals with the '80's, and the rise of Heavy Metal...
Many important bands are absent though. (Metallica for example).
Sit back and enjoy! :)

"BORN TO BE WILD" The golden age of American Rock. Part 2: The '70's

Two days ago I uploaded a post with the first part of this very interesting BBC documentary about the rise of Rock music in America, and today I'm uploading the second part. The first part was dealing exclusively with the '60's, and this one is about the '70's. The style of the documentary is the same more or less. Interviews with many famous musicians, DJ's, journalists etc, plus many songs in live versions from rare (or not) footage.
The documentary has a total running time of almost an hour, and I believe is a very interesting one.
So, whenever you got an hour to spare, sit back and enjoy it!

"BORN TO BE WILD" The golden age of American Rock. Part 1: The '60's

I found this documentary the other day, and I thought of posting it here for you to take a look.
It is a really great documentary about the rise of Rock music in America, covering almost 3 decades, and it is split in 3 parts.
Today I'm posting here the 1st part which deals with the '60's exclusively.
It has a running time of almost an hour, and inside you'll find rare live footage, interesting interviews from legendary musicians, and you'll learn about "Flower Power" among other things. And of course all these are covered with lots of great music!
My recomendation would be to sit down, relax and spend a really pleasant hour with this documentary.
I hope you'll like it.
Enjoy! :)

Last night's 'Prog & Roll' radio show. (19/10/2014). The full playlist...

Hello all!
Since today is Monday,here I am once more writting this post about last night's radio show which is called 'Prog &Roll' and it's been presented by GFreedom Team. (Which is me and my wife).
I believe it was a good one last night, at least judging from our audience's reactions. Everybody seemed to enjoy the music, and the fun atmosphere in the chatbox. Specially last night the chatbox was on fire, with many interesting and fun converstions going on. 
As for the playlist, it was including 19 songs in total, having as "Grand Finale" the usual 'epic' song which we always keep for last. (So far at least). You can take a look at the playlist here:

BEARDFISH:Sunrise / KANSAS:The Wall / ELOY:Child Migration / DEEP PURPLE:Demon’s Eye / WHITESNAKE:Walking in the Shadow of the Blues / MANFRED MAN’S EARTH BAND:Blinded by the Light / STRAWBS:Witchwood / FAIRPORT CONVENTION:Genesis Hall / FISH:Internal Exile / DODSON & FOGG:Flying High / DONOVAN:Universal Soldier / DEMON:The Spell / GARY MOORE & PHILL LYNOTT:Out in the Fields / RUSH:2112 (Overture – Temples of Syrinx) / PORCUPINE TREE:Signify / IQ:Frequency / PHIDEUX:Helix / RIVERSEA:Wiser / ARENA:Sirens.

I want to thank all of you who logged in during the show, hoping you had some good time. As for next's week's PROG & ROLL, it will be a special one, having two producers from 2 different radio stations behind the microphone. But more on that later on...

GFreedom's Juke Box Nο.104

Hello all!
Another Saturday morning is here, and I'm writting this post which is nothing more than my weekly Top-5 songlist.
From all the music I've listened during the week I chose the 5 best songs which are the following:
KING CRIMSON: Starless (Red - 1974)
NIGHTWISH: Ever Dream (Century Child - 2002)
TRAFFIC: John Barleycorn (John Barleycorn Must Die - 1970)
RUSH: 2112 Overture/Temples of Syrinx (2112 - 1976)
PSYCHOTIC WALTZ: My Grave (Bleeding - 1996)
I'll conclude this post by adding 2 videos with songs from the Top-5 list.
On the first video you can listen to 'Ever Dream' by Nightwish, and on the second onethe really beautiful 'My Grave' by Psychotic Waltz.
Enjoy the music and have a wonderful weekend! :)

Goodies from GFreedom's Music Collection # 16

              TRAFFIC: John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
'Traffic' was an english band formed in 1967, by some great musicians such as: Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason and Chris Wood. They begun as a psychedelic band heavily influenced by The Beatles, but soon they diversified their sound by adding more instruments like Sitar, Mellotron, Harpsichord etc, and by incorporating Jazz and improvisational techniques to their music. They were disbanded for the first time in 1969 and Steve Winwood joined 'Blind Faith', but that didn't last for long. They were reformed in 1970 and their first release was the excellent album with the title 'John Barleycorn Must Die'. For those who don't know who 'John Barleycorn' was here's an article taken from wiki:
[John Barleycorn is a British Folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley, and from the alcoholic drinks made from it, such as beer and whisky. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting. Jack London gave the title John Barleycorn to his 1913 autobiographical novel that tells of his struggle with alcoholism.]
 The original version of the album includes 6 songs and has a total running time of 35 minutes. All the songs are really excellent works, but the "masterpiece" here in my opinion is the self-titled song, which is a 6-minute-long Folk ballad with guitar and flute as basic instruments. But as I mention above all the songs are excellent, starting from the instrumental 'Glad' up to the closing song 'Every Mother's Son'. Very important ingredient in their music are the woodwind instruments that are being used, such as flutes and saxophones. The album's music style is Rock of course, but with many Jazz and Folk influences. 
  My personal opininon is that 'John Barleycorn' is maybe the most important album 'Traffic' ever released, and it is surely a starting point for those who are interested in their music. If I had to rate it I would give a minimum of 4 stars out of 5.
Here you can see the original version's songlist:
1. Glad
2. Freedom Rider
3. Empty Pages
4. Stranger to Himself
5. John Barleycorn
6. Every Mother's son 
In the following video you can listen to the song 'John Barleycorn'.
I hope you found this post interesting and informative.
Thank you for reading... 

 

My channel in Youtube reached 30.000 views.

Hello all!
I'm writing this post in order to thank you for visiting my channel, sharing songs, etc.
A few days ago my channel reached at 30.000 views, which is a very good number in my opininon, considering that I opened it almost 6 months ago.
 I did a lot of work in these months in order to upload as many songs as possible, and have a small music "library" ready for all of you.
So, up to this moment my chanel includes almost 280 songs, divided in 5 playlists (Some songs are included in more than one playlist).
 The playlists are the following:
FOLK ROCK: (25 songs), ROCK IN GENERAL: (85 songs), HARD & HEAVY: (31 songs), PROGRESSIVE: (160 songs) and OTHER: (12 songs).
So far 65 people has subscribed, and the songs received 270 likes and 2 dislikes in total. (Not bad at all).
Another important fact is the number of shares, which is 450 in total, and it shows that many people like what they find in the channel and are sharing the songs they think are interesting and good ones.
 Speaking for myself, I will continue uploading songs in order to make a bigger and more interesting music library for all of you, and I hope you will continue supporting my channel by visiting, subscribing, commenting, sharing etc.
Thank you all very much!
P.S: In case you want to find my channel, go to YouTube's main page, then to 'search channels' and write George Eleftheriou. You will recognise mine from the 'Jester' which I have as avatar.

Prog & Roll radio show on 12/10/2014. The full playlist...

Hello all!
  Last night one more Prog & Roll radio show was on air, and here I am today to write down this post about it. Once more we had a very good cround gathered, including both members of the band 'Salander'.
The only small "problem" was that I have the impression we made the playlist kind of downbeat  this time. But further than that, there was a lot of participation on the chatbox, and from time to time we had lots of fun. 
 In the first half four we played mostly Symphonic Rock songs, and in the second one we did a small tribute to the album releases of 1967. As for the end, we concluded our show with the classic 'epic' song of the night, which this time was from Van Der Graaf Generator.
Here you can see last night's playlist:

THE ENID: The One and the Many / BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST: Galadriel (BBC Live 1972) / RHAPSODY (OF FIRE): The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream / HOSTSONATEN: On the Sea / THE BEATLES: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / THE MOODY BLUES: Tuesday Afternoon / PROCOL HARUM: Conquistador / BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD: For What it’s worth / THE KINKS: Death of a Clown / THE DOORS: Strange Days / THE ROLLING STONES: She’s a Rainbow / TRANSATLANTIC: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road / RIVERSIDE: Panic Room / ORPHANED LAND: Brother / CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX: Hold on / SPRING: The Prisoner / CRESSIDA: To Play Your Little Game / GENESIS: The Fountain of Salmacis / VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: Childlike Faith in Childhood’s End. 

I want to thank all of you who logged in and listen to our show, hoping you had some nice time.

We will "see" you again on next Sunday the same time.