Best of British 2 - Free Streaming Music

As promised, I have another Best of British playable playlist for your listening pleasure! Like the first one, it contains what I consider to be among the best music, in many genres, to come out of the British Isles.

It kicks off with New Order's Blue Monday. I remember this being one of the first tracks to come out with multiple 12" remix versions. That is followed, in the same synthpop vein, with tracks by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Pet Shop Boys.

When I was in Junior school in the 1970s, one was either a Slade fan or a T-Rex fan. At that time, I preferred Slade, although I grew to love Marc Bolan and T-Rex. Here, you don't have to choose; I've included tracks by both. Listening to Get it On by T-Rex reminded me of Power Station's awesome cover, with Robert Palmer handling vocals, so I had to include Palmer's classic Simply Irresistible. After all that adrenaline, I calmed things down with an often overlooked track by Eurythmics: the stunningly beautiful Julia.

After I released the first edition of Best of British, I had some feedback via Twitter, asking me whether I planned to add music from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in future editions. The first one was rather anglo-centric, so I tried to correct that it a little. From Scotland, I have songs from Paolo Nutini, The Proclaimers and KT Tunstall, and from Wales, I've included some Manic Street Preachers. I'm really interested in including more music from the rest of the British Isles, so please do let me know if you think of someone I should be listening to.

We follow that with some English folk: Artisan is an a cappella group, who disbanded a little while back, but have recently reformed for a tour. Their What's the Use Of Wings? is a beautiful song about letting our children leave the nest. Richard Thompson, originally with Folk-Rock group Fairport Convention, appears here solo, with his classic 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. Finally, Something in the Wine is a haunting song from a relative newcomer, Helen Lawson, who I think is destined for great things.

The home stretch includes more synthpop, some rockers from The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, something from the first British Invasion of the 1960s, and a favorite from Goldfrapp to finish off with.

You can listen to Best of British 2 using the player below. Please let me know what you think, by posting a comment and tell me if there are any songs or artists you think I should include in a future Best of British. I also would like to use a logo on my blog for future Best of British episodes. If you're handy with a graphics program and think you could create one, please let me know. I would be happy to give you full credit!

Grooveshark and The Best of British

In a recent article in this blog, I talked about my use of BlueBeat.com, a free streaming music service that I had been using. Unfortunately, BlueBeat.com changed its service recently. They had started offering MP3 downloads at a much cheaper price than iTunes and other services. When they started advertising Beatles tracks at 25 cents each, they drew the attention of EMI and their attorneys. They forced the service to close down for a brief period, and when it returned, it had changed. No longer could one stream songs or entire albums on-demand, which was a feature I used a lot. BlueBeat.com is still a good service, however, and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should.

I recently heard about another free streaming music site called Grooveshark. Having checked it out, I decided I really liked it, and have been using it a lot. You can listen to tracks on-demand, and they have an extensive library. What's more, if they do not have a track in their library, you can upload it. According to their Help information, they pay the record company whenever you play a song. They are supported financially via advertisements you see when you use their browser-based player. You can also pay a small monthly fee to remove the advertisements.

In addition to playing individual tracks, you can build playlists of songs. Also, they have a "Radio" feature, where they will automatically play songs based on what you're already listening to. This is a great way to discover new music. Grooveshark seems to understand the importance of "social" features, and you can share songs and playlists via Twitter, Facebook, and even post them to your blog or website. Seeing these features inspired me to put together a Best of British playlist to share with readers of this blog. I hope to make an entire series of these playlists, containing what I consider to be among the best music, in many genres, to come out of the British Isles.

So, in Best of British 1, I've included artists I've been listening to a lot recently (see my recent blog post, Couch Potatoes: England 2010 Part 3), such as Lily Allen, Goldfrapp, Paloma Faith, Florence and The Machine and La Roux. Vince Clark, who I consider to be one of the most talented musicians to come out of England, is represented by Yazoo (Yaz in the US) and Erasure tracks. The playlist kicks off with a great Kinks track, and while we're talking about quintessentially English artists, you don't have to choose between Oasis and Blur, because they're both represented here. For the folkies, there is a classic from Fairport Convention. I'm particularly proud of the juxtaposition of Amy Winehouse's Rehab with Ian Dury's Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Please do let me know what you think of it, by posting a comment. If you have suggestions of tracks or artists I could include in a future Best of British, do speak out.