Monday, September 28, 2009

100th Reader Give Away Contest – Our First Give Away and its not a book!

Posted by Shellie written and composed mostly by JD.

musicnotes2

To Celebrate our 100th reader you can win a Radiohead CD!

We have almost reached a milestone – 100 readers (which is 11 more.) When it happens, due to unforeseen circumstances (a.k.a. John’s bad memory and a disorganized music collection) we have a brand new copy of Radiohead’s Kid A to give away – still wrapped in cellophane to send to one lucky reader.

For the uninitiated, Radiohead are one of the best groups to come out of England in the last 20 years – innovative, powerful, moving and unique. Kid A was their fourth album, released in 2000. Despite it being a big departure from their acclaimed previous album, OK Computer, Kid A became their most successful release to date and topped the album charts in the UK, the US and many other countries. It also appeared on various “best of” lists for the year and won a Grammy award for Best Alternative Album. Suffice to say, it’s a pretty neat album.

What do you have to do to try and win the CD?

Easy, 1.) send us a list of your five favorite albums of all time, 2.) tell us which of the five is your absolute favorite, and 3.) explain in a paragraph why you think it’s so good or what makes it special to you. We will put all entries in a metaphorical hat and pick out the winner. Then we’ll send out the CD, a lucky person will have some very cool music on the way to them and John will get to feel a bit better about messing up! (By the way – a big thanks to Logan whose post about his favorite albums was the catalyst for this idea.)

The winner’s music selection will be included with the give away winner’s announcement post, along with a few other entries which are particularly creative.

And to help get things rolling, below are John’s top five favorites of all time, along with his thoughts on what makes his number 1 pick so special.

  1. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
  2. Jeff Buckley – Grace
  3. The Clash – London Calling
  4. The Who – Quadrophenia
  5. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

(If you would like to listen to these artists, albums, and their songs we recommend Pandora.)

This was a tough exercise. Or, more accurately, picking my number one was easy but filling in the rest of the top five was extremely difficult. I’ve been a music nut for years and I like a wide variety of music – and there are many people whose music I love that I just can’t fit into the list. But the number one I chose without any hesitation. Since the day I bought it many years ago, The Dark Side of the Moon has captivated me. There are so many things about it I like – the overall sound, it has some great songs, its dramatic, it’s got a hard edge to it in places, there are some fabulous mood pieces, it’s got neat lyrics, it’s clever, it creates an atmosphere, it all builds up to a wonderful musical climax, and it’s just so different to everything else out there. 36 years after its release and I never get bored of hearing it. It still gives me a chill every time. For the perfect experience, get a glass of wine (or two), put the lights down low, turn up the volume, hit “play” and just listen undisturbed from beginning to end. Musical bliss.

This giveaway is worldwide, it ends when Layers of Thought hits 100 readers/followers. Please, all musical entries emailed to layersofthought(nospamthingy)@gmail.com – just remove the no spam thingy. Please don’t forget to include contact information so that we can notify you and get an address for mailing the CD.

Looking forward to your personal favorites. Good luck and thanks for reading Layers of Thought!

22 comments:

logankstewart said...

Awesome contest you guys got here. I won't be entering, but I'll heartily endorse Kid A. It contains my favorite (current) favorite Radiohead song, "Idioteque," which I think I could listen to all day long and never grow bored with it.

Good luck to everyone who enters.

(By the way, I'm considering getting London Calling, but I haven't decided yet. As for Pink Floyd, I only have The Wall, but I love Dark Side of the Moon, too.)

John D said...

Hi Logan,

Thanks for your inspiration. I got a big kick out of your top 25; not to mention the associated file with all 280 albums on it!

London Calling is a tremendous album, especially side one (I have it on vinyl!). A combination of some very cool songs, a fierce energy, edgy attitude and some great grooves. I think they were the best think to come out of the punk rock movement by far. A unique group.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Hi, I just came by to visit and see what you're up to, but I won't be entering the contest.

Too many to keep track of! lol

Unknown said...

Laurel -
Thanks for commenting.
I found one of your blogs by your tweet. How do you keep track of them all - you blogs I mean? :)
Which one is for your books?
Take Care.

Andrea said...

That's great. Radiohead is my bf's favourite band, so that makes them important to me too:) I like their OK Computer album best.

Unknown said...

Alpha -
Great we will be looking forward to your top 5 albums. :)
Thanks for coming by.

David Wagner said...

Top 5, eh?

I'm on it!

David Wagner said...

By the way, any chance John could pick up, say, an extra set of Band of Brothers on DVD, and you could give it away to those who submit their top 5 favorite movies?

Go John Go!

logankstewart said...

JD,

What got me inspired to listen to the Clash was an interview they gave on NPR a few months ago. (It's probably archived on NPR.org if your interested.) It was a great interview, filled with music samples and clips, and I knew that I'd want to hear that album. I'll let you know my thoughts once I listen to it. (And I'm glad you liked my list of music, too. It was fun, to say the least.)

Crystal said...

This is a great idea for a contest!

Shellie - what are your top 5 favorite albums?

John D said...

Hi David,

Band of Brothers, eh? I suppose I could do the same "trick", accidentally buy two of them and then I'd just have to give one away. Give me some time, and I'm sure my colander-like memory will work it's magic.

Having said that, I'm not even sure what Band of Brothers is! So here's another little challenge - you're going to have to tell us what is so good about it, and try to persuade us to buy it the first time. ;-)

Cheers,
John

John D said...

Hi Logan,

Yes, they were special. Joe Strummer was a bit of a tortured soul but he had a very sharp mind. Right from the outset they made some excellent singles that really pushed the boundaries. Their first three albums are all very different and all are great.

Unknown said...

Crystal -
This is fun way for John to rid himself of the guilt of buying two cds that are identical. lol.
Thanks for asking - I was going to include my favs in the post but it would have taken too long and I have this back log of stuff to do for the blog... oh dear. So I will post it with the winnings.
You are going to enter too. Even if you don't win you could give it away as a X-mas present to a friend. :)

David Wagner said...

Band of Brothers is an amazing HBO series (one season long), that follows a company of airborn infantry in WW2 from boot camp through the end of the war. Loved it, not just because I'm fascinated by the war itself, but the action, acting, dialog, the stories and characters... terrific on just about every level.

Of course, it might be hard to "accidentally" buy two copies of this one... cheapest I can find it new (on Amazon) at the moment is about $45...

But, hey, if you do accidentally buy 2 sets, I'll be the first to submit my top 5 movies! I'd love to add that set to my collection!

John D said...

Hi David,

OK, I'm sold (though Shellie might not be!). We'll add this one to our request list at the local library - which is how we get to watch most movies/TV shows.

P.S. For "I'm sold" read "we'll watch it", not buy it. Not even once. Sorry.

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

generous giveaway; good luck ! 100 is just around the corner :)

BTW: thanks for the Vista feedback.

Unknown said...

Diane -
I hope those two recommendations work out for you. There will be a learning curve with both.
Take Care!

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Hey, Shellie, I apologize for tagging you! LOL

For Sassy Brit's "What's On Your Desk?" meme.

Check mine out on:

http://laurelrainsnowcreations.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Laurel -
I have been waiting for one of these to drop in my lap. lol!
It couldn't have happened at a better time. I have to take a picture of my sad old computer chair as well for a post coming up.
I won't thank you. :)

Unknown said...

Hey Dannie -
Very cool, we will be waiting for your email on your favorites. :)

Krista said...

Oh, I love radiohead! I do have this CD already though but this is an awesome giveaway! Good Luck to those entering! 100th follower, eh? Awesome!

Unknown said...

Krista -
Well I would have liked to see your top choices for albums.

We have yet to get an entry in the email! So perhaps we will have to extend it since I got 4 new readers yesterday.

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