October is a month about which I really can't think of much to say… Apart from Halloween - where we have the chance to re-enact some, extremely suspicious, ( possibly pagan?) ritualistic practices and (if we want to) dress up as various "horrific" icons (mostly from Hollywood movies from the 30's, 40's and 50's) - there is not much that really happens (as far as I am aware). Of course, you may be attending (or even calling at) a Halloween Dance somewhere - and if you are then I hope that you have a great time but - other than that what is there about October that is worth a mention?

Of course this October is a great month for us on the Sting and Snow labels, as I have just returned from our annual trip to Nashville with another batch of great new music. We've recorded many different types of tune, everything from Gospel through both "old" Country and "new" Country as well as Swing and Progressive Rock. Tunes from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's 70's, 80's, 90's and the "noughties" (I don't know how to write that in numbers): a great selection of superb songs that will soon start to become available.

Digital / 45RPM Vinyl - multiple instrumental versions
If there is a serious shortcoming to a vinyl 45RPM record, it has to be that it only offers two sides; one will contain the vocal track - carefully recorded over the instrumental, whilst the other will be the instrumental track - with or without a back-up or harmony vocal. Now - if there is only one version of the instrumental - then two sides will be enough. However, on many occasions there will be more than one version of the instrumental available, some with back-up or harmony vocals, some with sound effects etc.; we released a track recently that had six different versions! Obviously we cannot offer all of these on vinyl - unless we were to release LPs or several different versions of the vinyl (which would be a financial "non-starter") - but we can offer these multiple alternatives on the digital versions (CD or MP3).

One of our two new releases for this month - "Golden Ring" offers three versions of the instrumental; these comprise: the music only, music and back-up vocals (at a high level) and music and back-up vocals (at a lower level). If you check out our releases, you will find that several of them do offer more than one version of the instrumental. So - to get the full range of options on our music - you will need to obtain the digital version (where extra music tracks are available). I am currently working on producing a list of all of our tracks where these alternatives exist; hopefully, this will be ready for next month's News-Letter - keep watching…

Now for the other news:

BEST SELLER LISTING (positions on the August 2008 listing)
No.4 - Don't Stop - SIR 712
No.5 - As Long As She Needs Me - SIR 376

NEW RELEASES (October 2008):
Carmelita - SIR 1103 - vocal by: Anders Blom
Golden Ring - SIR 364 - Vocal by Paul & Cherish Bristow

NEW CD RELEASES - also available on MP3 & Vinyl (in most cases) / (October 2008):
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone - SIR 705 - Vocal by Thorsten Geppert
Blanket On The Ground - SIR 314 - Vocal by Paul Bristow
Toad-In-The-Hole / Spam Fritter - SIR 515 - Double Instrumental Patter

INDIVIDUAL RECORD HISTORIES including ALL THE ADDITIONAL LYRICS:
To find these, just click on the book symbol next to the title on the Catalogue, Future Releases or Latest Releases pages, this month's record histories features our newest singing call releases: Carmelita and Golden Ring.

If you want to hear how these top-selling recordings sound, just click on the musical note symbol.

Okay, now I have to go "apple bobbing", or "trick-or-treating", or something similar… Now where did I put that Ouija board and the Tarot cards? "Speak" with you next month!

Go Squareful! - Paul Bristow (Owner and Producer Sting and Snow Records)