Freegal Favorites

With the library closed and many of us self-isolating, I hope library patrons are taking advantage of the library’s digital offerings as much as I am. I’m a music fanatic, so use Freegal pretty regularly. I like to collect music, both physical and digital, and have a large amount of music stored on my computer. For those new to Freegal, it’s a service available to City of Dubuque Library card holders, where you can download 5 free songs a week and keep them. My family and I often browse what’s available and download songs on each of our cards weekly.

Freegal has a wide variety to choose from with a collection of over 3 millions songs. There are a lot of newer material as well as obscure releases. I download both. Here are some of my recent favorite albums I've collected.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

This is the new album from Fiona Apple. Apple came to the public eye in the mid 90s with the release of her first album, Tidal, and has continued to release strong albums that blend pop, jazz, and other forms with smart, personal, and often biting lyrics. This new album is getting a ton of positive reviews. It’s no wonder why – so far, after just a couple listens it's blown me away. It's very demanding of my attention. The arrangements are interesting, with Apple's voice and the piano often at the center with jazzy, and often understated, percussion and other effects—dogs barking, and lots of vocal overdubs. If that seems like an odd combo, it all blends together perfectly. I’m excited to continue to listen to this album.

The New Abnormal by the Strokes

This is the ambitious new album from the New York band, the Strokes. I was a big fan of this band when they came out in the early 00s. This album follows the trend in popular music of incorporating all things 80s. There’s a lot of synthesizers and electronic effects on the vocals. I’m liking it a lot so far. At times  it's similar to Daft Punk and other times it channels the rock side of the 80s, like Billy Idol. They are self-aware of their influences and embracing them unashamedly. Even with the apparent influences the album still sounds fresh while retaining that classic Strokes sound. Just take a look at one of their new music videos with animation sure to attract the children of the 80s. 


Someday My Prince Will Come by Miles Davis


This is an early 60s release from Miles. This might be one of his classic albums to fans, but it was new to me. The songs are very relaxed, romantic, and perfect to wind down to. The titular piece is an excellent instrumental rendition of the 1937 song from the Disney movie Snow White. The way that melody comes through on the trumpet gives me chills.






The Unexplained by Ataraxia

Ataraxia is the name of a project from musician/composer Mort Garson. Apparently Mr. Garson was a big producer of easy listening albums in the 50s and 60s. He was also a pioneer of the Moog synthesizer and did some incredible compositions of a wide variety including occult themed ones like this, a series of albums for each sign of the zodiac, a satire of the Wizard of Oz (The Wozard of Iz), and an album to play to your plants (Mother Earth's Plantasia—I know it sounds goofy, but this album is a lot of fun. I recommend checking it out!).

The Unexplained is a series of songs centered around different meditations (song titles include "Tarot," "I Ching," "Seance," "Cabala"...). This album came out in 1975 and sounds like the soundtrack to a horror or epic fantasy movie from the 70s or 80s. It's fun music to work to, or perhaps to accompany a board game with friends (or perhaps D&D?).


Halloween III: Season of the Witch Soundtrack by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth

I was on a kick of early electronic music for awhile. Here's another on the spooky side. I love John Carpenter movies and one of the main reasons is the music he (and frequent collaborator Alan Howarth) compose for them. They set a very distinctive mood and are very much of their time—but also stand outside of time in an odd way. I somehow never watched Carpenter's Halloween movies all the way through until I recently checked them out at the suggestion of a friend. This movie has nothing to do with Michael Myers. It ended up sticking with me though, and I would say it's my favorite of the three (I prefer science fiction horror over slasher films). Whether you've seen the movie or not, the soundtrack is great! I've noticed that Freegal has a lot of music soundtracks for both recent popular movies as well as older ones.

Old No. 1 and Texas Cookin' by Guy Clark

I love Guy Clark and these are two of his most popular albums. He’s an influential folk/country musician who helped to define the Americana style. These albums are his first two from the 70s, but he made albums up until his death in 2016. His lyrics are poignant and witty. Lyric-wise I can only think to compare him to Townes Van Zandt and John Prine. I play these albums a lot. They’re perfect for a lazy Sunday Morning.






There's such a wide variety on Freegal, enough to satisfy any taste. What gems have you downloaded?

~Ben, Adult Services