Customer Reviews

Tru Thoughts Amazon MP3 Sampler

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Even free albums deserve a review: while they do not cost money, they do demand time, at least enough to download it and sample its fare, and space, particularly if like me you have a tendency to download freebies and then just abandon them to the hundreds of other tunes on your hard drive or mp3 player that you never actually listen to. Most important is the question of whether there are any hidden gems here really worth your attention.

The answer to that question is an unqualified yes. The best free albums on Amazon aren't mash-ups of songs in the same genre or style (if they even have that much in common); they are samples of the catalog of a single publisher that give you a chance to sample new and exciting artists. This is Daptone Records (another free album on Amazon) is a perfect example. Tru Thoughts is another.

Arianta: light jazz with a basso nova beat, not typical of the album as a whole. Bring It Home: R&B/Funk, from Bamboos. This is what you want a sampler to do: get you to click through and explore more work by the artists represented. Check out the Bamboos, Quantic (more latin dance although you can't tell from this sample), Belleruche. Stonephase has more electro/funk on their own album than the turgid mess represented here. Lizzy Parks is competent white soul.

Now that I've looked at more of the catalog, I think the choices on the album are, in some instances, poor examples of the artists' work. Nevertheless, on the whole, if you're into modern funk/r&b/soul the album is worth downloading and sampling more work of the Tru Thoughts artists, which is all you could want from a free album.

I found this sampler went well with itself, a consistent theme of dance/rhythm selections, with some variety in the "roots" I hear in the songs and note below (these are 'influence' notes, not a main type). High quality production which could be used "as is" for a party or when you need something for 'atmosphere' to get your blood moving. Every track has a consistent beat, all are musical with varied elements within each to maintain interest. Dance & DJ is not a genre I have much familiarity with, but I ended up marking 1-8 four stars (9=5 10=3) in my personal catalogue which earns the collection as a whole 5 stars for a freebie.

1. Instrumental (plus a touch of dah-dah-duh-dup chorus) - international/swing band; piano & brass, jazz elements (piano), 2/2 medium-fast samba(?)
2. Vocal - rhythm & blues; brass, electric guitar and keyboards, fine female singer, 4/4 R&B medium fast.
3. Vocal - R&B and jazz; fine female singer, brass, electric rhythm guitar, strong bass, 4/4 R&B medium speed.
4. Instrumental - trance/electronic/jazz; atmospherics, piano, string bass, brushed drums, flutes, saxophone, 3/4 jazz waltz medium slow.
5. Vocal - rhythm & blues; bass & reeds (oboe? sax?), percussion, jazzy female singer, steel guitar for 'decoration', 2/2 syncopated medium.
6. Vocal - jazzy big band; piano, brass, strings, plain drums, intimate female vocals, medium-fast 4/4 back beat - much 'gentler' song than "Raise the roof" sounds like.
7. Instrumental - trance/swing band; brass, strings, atmospherics, piano, varied percussion instruments, banjo or guitar, complex 4/4 medium bossa-nova(?)
8. Mainly instrumental (female lyrics repetitive) - swing band/international jazz; varied 'light' percussion, deep bass has a woodwind sound (digiridoo??), rhythmic keyboard, brass and lyrics alternate decorating, medium 2/2 (or maybe 8/8)
9. Instrumental - jazz/electronica; percussion, rhythm piano, various electric organs throughout, complex percussion, medium fast 4/4
10. Mainly instrumental (vocals repetitive) - rap/club; varied light percussion, bass, varied electric keyboards, male voice spoken line 'scratched', medium-fast 2/2.

#9 was the most interesting to me because it opens with a strange drum beat, and I rather didn't like it during the first few bars; then the keyboards informed me as to where the measures were, and the drum became very interesting and made sense. I like different when it makes sense to me. #10 was the least interesting to me because I suppose I'm not that interested in 'scratching'. Perhaps I rate these more highly than others might because they are 'new' to me, so they all sound fresh and interesting (as well as musical).

This is a nice little album from Amazon, it's full of happy songs guaranteed to put you in a good mood. But best of all it's free! And who can argue with a price like that? I liked listening to it. All in all it's a pretty good deal and a pretty good album. And there is really no reason not to download it after all it's free, so if you don't care for it you can just get rid of it.

More than just an odd track or two that's good - this is a sampler that's not going to waste drive space!

I don't know why this happens but it's pretty common--I go to a page marked for "free downloads" and all the songs are listed "album only." I understand when something is 6 months old, but this was released less than 3 weeks ago. I'm running a new computer with Vistas Premium and IE8, so it's not my browser or OS. Anybody know why this happens?