I Love Free Goodies

Why a good single can sometimes beat an album…

I love getting free things, whether its from a magazine, inside a new CD or just from a selection of free samples in a shop; no matter where they’re from, its always good to get something for nothing every once in a while. What’s even better, though, is when this ‘free gift’ is completely unexpected, as was the case earlier this week.

The reason for that sub-heading is that on Friday, when shopping in Manchester, I bought the much-talked-about, triple A side single from the Moths. This single contains the tracks Games, Wild Birds and Valentine, each of which is as fantastic as the last and I could happily listen to it all day. For this reason, I’d rather have that, a kind of 3-track mini-album that’s got nothing but incredible songs on it, than a sub-standard LP that last 45+ minutes and only has four or five decent tracks on it. In addition to the amazing songs, my little treat was that the single comes signed. How cool is that, eh?

My second purchase was the new 12″ single from the Whip, Sister Siam, and I was pleased to see that this also came with something of a free gift; a four track promo CD with two tracks and two remixes on it. It doesn’t matter that I’ve already got 3 out of these 4 tracks, it just means I have a nice little CD as well as my various other singles from this band so that I have quite a neat little collection building up of their material. As for the song itself, I heard Sister Siam a little while ago by watching a video of one of their live shows, the link for which is here. When I first heard it, I wasn’t at all impressed and wondered whether it was all going downhill a bit but I’m pleased to say that giving it a second chance by buying this single, which I bought purely for the purpose of having a complete set, the song has really grown on me and I appreciate it as much as Muzzle No.1, my personal favourite of theirs. Anyway, they say an album is in the works and should be released February/March 2008 if all goes well.

So, all in all, I was very impressed with my purchases this Friday and everything was made just that little bit sweeter by a selection of free goodies. This isn’t the first time it’s happened, though, as when I bough the Leni single by GoodBooks, I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of sheets of stickers in there. I’ve never used the stickers, obviously, but the point is that they were in there. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I’m easily bought.

Finally, in keeping with the theme of this post, here’s some free goodies for you. Just take a listen to two of the songs I mentioned in this post. I’m sure you’ll enjoy them.

Wild Birds - The Moths! (Games 7″ single)

Sister Siam - The Whip (Sister Siam 12″ Single)