I’ll admit that until about six month ago, I just knew a handful of Grateful Dead songs mainly from the radio.  Then I discovered Internet Archive’s Grateful Dead Collection.  There’s literally thousands of Dead shows available–some streaming audio and many in downloadable mp3 or FLAC format. 

Please note to read other reviewers comments before downloading as audio quality varies greatly on these.  Some are soundboard recordings and others are audience recordings which generally (but not always) of a lower quality.

I’m posting a link to my personal favorite Grateful Dead Live at Hollywood Palladium on 1971-08-06.  This is an excellent quality recording, perhaps one of the best available.  Features a rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Hard to Handle” (I thought this was a Black Crowes original), and classics “Truckin’,”  “Casey Jones,” and “Sugar Magnolia” as well as others.

I’ll be featuring more gems from Internet Archive periodically, but until next time . . .

Fast forward a couple decades, and I am a person of meager means who still loves music.  With today’s economy, I know that leisure income has disappeared for most, so spending $10-20 on the latest popular releases just isn’t happening for the majority of us.  So I found a solution.

In the past year, I’ve discovered sites such as Free Metal Albums, Free Albums Galore, Totally Free Music and Digital Meltdown.  There are literally thousands of albums out there for free.  Many are from up and coming bands but you’ll also find some well-known acts too.

I’ll be showcasing some other sites of interest in the near future too.

Please note that I do check all links immediately after posting, but if you should find a link that is invalid, or incorrect, please post in the comment and I will fix it ASAP.

Until next time . . .

With Halloween upon us, I thought it only fitting to provide you with a classic sound fx album.

I was ecstatic the day I received Disney’s “Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of The Haunted House.”  About 25 years ago, my uncle was thinning out his record collection and presented me with a stack of goodies including this one.  My copy is likely buried deep in a box from a move several years ago, so I was thrilled to find this over at Forbidden Crypts.

Released in 1964, it’s not filled with high-tech state-of-the-art effects, but not as cheesy as some of the cheaply produced Halloween albums available in the department stores. 

Side one is narrated, while side two is simply sound fx.  Please note that it is a vinyl rip, so you’ll hear some cracking and popping.  Individual mp3s are available in 128k. 

Note that to download each track, you have to hover over the track name in the bottom image of the album.  Directions on the page tell you to “right click” and then “save as,” but I had problems with that.  I simply clicked on the titles and my download accelerator took over from there.

If you like the album, you may want to check out Ray Keim’s Haunted Dimensions site, where you can download a paper model of the Phantom Manor from the album cover.  Check out his other Disney Haunted Mansion models while you’re there

Download it here

You have the option of using their Java based download manager or downloading the file manually.  I opted for the latter as my hard drive space is rather limited at the moment.  I was rather surprised to have the option of downloading each track individually or the concert in its entirety.

Of course Metallica offers practically every concert ranging from 2004 to present day for purchase.  Single tracks are .99 while the entire concert runs $9.95 for mp3 or $12.95 for FLAC.  Artwork and CD inserts are available for download for the purchased concerts too.

So grab one or all of the free ones while you can, and if you’re a diehard fan spring for one of the later too.

Download it here

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