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

Posted by Shellie written and composed mostly by JD.

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!