(Updated on 22/01/2017 to include the Ghost of the Navigator playlist as well)
I’ll give a hat tip to S.A Hunt for this one – he makes Spotify playlists for his books. I’m reading Malus Domestica at the moment, and I haven’t tried the playlist yet, but on the basis that I’ve been obsessed with music and writing ages, I had to do the same thing myself.
If you’re a Spotify subscriber, you can check out the playlist here . Alternatively, if you don’t subscribe yet or don’t want to, I’ve put the track list at the bottom of this post for you to check out on your retailer or subscription service of your choice.
The songs here are ‘companions’ of sorts. Some of them are songs I listened to when writing the book, some of them are songs Shadow would listen to, some are songs that remind me of him, or parts of the story, or other characters.
But just for fun, I’m offering a contest with a prize here…
Four of the tracks on this playlist are referenced in the book itself. Two of them are easy, as Shadow mentions them by title. The other two are referenced. I originally had lyrics in the manuscript, but removed them because of copyright. That didn’t stop me paraphrasing them though, and putting in a couple of descriptions of them. The first person to post in the comments here, or tweet me, naming all four of these tracks correctly, will get the entire series of books for free. Okay, so I haven’t written two of them yet, but give me time! Yes, you could get that anyway if you sign up to become an ARC reader, but not everyone’s into that…
Go for it…read the book if you haven’t already and hunt the big four!
Can’t resist it, I’ll eliminate one track for you as a teaser: ‘Sirius’ by Clannad is included in this list because it’s the song I had playing when I pressed ‘Submit’ and launched the book on Smashwords two years ago. I did also write some sections of the book to it. It’s been a favourite of mine since childhood. For a folk band, they do occasionally come up with a pretty awesome guitar solo.
A while ago I wrote this article about music I use for writing. The list is partly a hybrid of this. And yeah, smartarse, I do remember saying in that post that I don’t use Spotify. So times change.
Keep reading, -T.
***
Shadow’s Talent Track List
Rush – Kid Gloves
Shed Seven – Standby
The Smiths – Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before
Idlewild – Live in a Hiding Place
Wishbone Ash – Blowin’ Free
Joe Satriani – Starry Night
The Smashing Pumpkins – Muzzle
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – ‘Jupiter’ – Part 4 of The Planets by Gustav Holst
Steve Vai – The Moon and I
Prefab Sprout – Life’s a Miracle
Prefab Sprout – Cornfield Ablaze
Metallica – Astronomy
Clannad – Sirius
Clannad – Second Nature
Joe Satriani – Motorcycle Driver
The Rolling Stones – Too Much Blood
Faith No More – Malpractice
Dream Theater – Goodnight Kiss
Dream Theater – Solitary Shell
Green Day – Loss of Control
Rush – Emotion Detector
Pink Floyd – The Final Cut
Joni Mitchell – A Case of You (Orchestral version)
Shed Seven – Ladyman
Ghost of the Navigator Track List
The Gin Blossoms – Lost Horizons
Guns n Roses – Mr Brownstone
Green Day – Lazy Bones
Garbage – Special
Pearl Jam – Sleeping by Myself
REO Speedwagon – Keep Pushin’
Coldplay – Life in Technicolour ii
Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt
Eric Johnson – Elevator Sky Movie
Eric Johnson – Shape I’m In
Joe Satriani – If I could fly
Roxy Music – Oh Yeah
Hole – Pacific Coast Highway
The Smashing Pumpkins – With Every Light
Alice In Chains – The Rooster
Iron Maiden – At the Speed of Light
John Mayer – Whiskey Whiskey Whiskey
The Smashing Pumpkins – Wound
Alter Bridge – Rise Today
Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators – Shots Fired
Garbage – Drive you Home
Joe Bonamassa – Midnight Blues (Live – Beacon Theatre, New York version)
The Smashing Pumpkins – Soma
Megadeth – Captive Honour
Alter Bridge – Watch over you
The Gin Blossoms – Found out about you