The mystical music of Simon Ball, download free mp3s. To download songs, just click on the links below. If that doesn't work, right click on them, then "Save Target As". If you like any of the songs, then please vote for them on the SIMON TOP 10 COUNTDOWN. Some of them have samples of the full versions of about 300k if you don't have broadband. Please email me or leave a note in the guestbook if there are any dead links, and CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE MAIN PAGE. (All songs by Simon Ball, that's me (unless it says otherwise)).

I've colour coded them as to whether they kick ass (red) or are chilled out (yellow).

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FOLLOW MY LEAD - Here comes the Executioner; I've just finished recording my latest album (2006) - there's 11 new(ish) songs. In listening to them all, you will experience the full range of guitarring emotions from dirty bluesrock to heart-felt balladry. If you decide that you like it enough to listen to it more than once, then let me know and I'll sort you a cd. Alternatively, make a cd yourself and you can get the album cover here!

1_interlude.mp3 (0.98M) - It starts off ueber-chilled out with this tune that I wrote years ago. You have to breathe in time with it to get into the right state of mind before the lovin' starts.

2_matter_of_time.mp3 (3.54M) - I remember, when I was about 12 or whatever, wondering what it would be like when I was older - like 70 or 21 or 40 or whatever, and I also remember thinking that in the future when I am 70, I might look back to when I was 12 and wish I could go back there. But I realised this when I was 12, so it was if the wish had already come true and so I appreciated my existence just a little bit more for my future-self. I have this feeling every now and then and it challenges the perception of time being linear and it is a bit like a time machine. Anyway, that's what this song is about.

3_sammy_zee.mp3 (4.66M) - This song rocks! It is an ode to a quality girl I met, who is my cousin's girlfriend's cousin. These are the lyrics. It is a wall of noise, and the solo is pretty wild.

4_lovesick.mp3 (2.89M) - Bit bluesy, but it's not that depressing. Actually, the lyrics are pretty down - watch out for the classic rhyme of "insane" and "brain". The drums are a bit shit in the middle, but I had only been playing about a week when I did them.

5_fool_s_gold.mp3 (3.58M) - Now we're talking some proper cheap keyboard porn music. This is actually called "the streets of London are paved with fool's gold" and I'm still going through my ocarina-strings-no-quarter-phase here. This is the radio-edit, because the extended version was a bit indulgent.

6_banshee_boardwalk.mp3 (4.96M) - This is a lot more Radioheady than the stuff I normally write. I invented a whole new scale for this one, which I call, "Humphrey". There are some chorus lyrics.

7_just_the_way_you_are.mp3 (4.02M) - A girl called Carys Jones wrote the lyrics, and then I put the music to them. My 12-string gets an outing on this nice acoustic song, but beware - there are some insanely huge bass fills lurking in the 2nd verse!

8_1984_film_score.mp3 (2.00M) - Wait 'til the strings kick in! Woah ho ho ha ooh yeah. You'd betta turn up da bass on dis track -star! This song is seriously pissed off at something; I think it sounds like it could be in a film.

9_scandal_in_soho.mp3 (3.52M) - LISTEN TO THIS ONE!! You are forgiven for thinking that Geeza Butler is guest appearing on this badboy, because the lead bass is ripping the shit out of your speakers. I think "Follow My Lead" is an appropriate name for an album containing this song. Oooh yeah, the divebomb in the third chorus is immense. I don't like the thing where you have to put all the A-sides at the start of a record, because then it just gets weak towards the end, so this is number 9 number 9 number 9. Carys also wrote the lyrics to this one. I think I stole the run down at the end of the chorus off Headshrinker, but what goes around comes around!

10_eleonora.mp3 (2.98M) - I might be embarking on a bit of a folk project this Summer, so here is my traditional folk offering. It is a ballad (a story, not Aerosmith/Bon Jovi-esque type stuff) about a chance encounter with a girl.

11_move_on.mp3 (4.16M) - There are some pretty far out chords in this one. I don't know what else to do with it now, so it has just got the one guitar.

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FOLK PROJECT - This Summer... Steve, Matt and Si are going to take on the cider folk festivals of Somerset... and conquer them like a bitch. Here is the first draft of our songs. Steve wrote the lyrics and melodies and me and Matt put some chords to them.

my_fat_girl.mp3 - my_fat_girl_no_vox.mp3 - check out the free-styling beat-box of a penny whistle solo!

anchor.mp3 - anchor_no_vox.mp3 - bit of an epic sing-a-long-karaoke-classic and a great bit of ocarina.

fox.mp3 - fox_no_vox.mp3 - the perilous fox.

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BUCA IS MY FRIEND - YES! the long-awaited arrival of the buca brothers is now upon us; this is the dawning of the new age of rock n roll, the history books are going to have to be burnt and re-written due to this rock revolution. There may well be a guest appearance from the man dj cling film himself...

youre_buca_d.mp3 (3.82M) - this song is actually more likely going to be called "88 bucas per hour", but this limited edition buca demo features mr stuart smith on buca backing vocals (and he shouts you're buca'd at various points in the demo). my bro, matt, is on lead guitar and also buca backing vocals. and me on drums playing shit.

1.mp3 (1.2M) - 2.mp3 (1.8M) - 3.mp3 (0.8M) - 4.mp3 (1.0M) - i think maybe this will be the secret track on the buca album - it is time to play " guess that christmas song from the dodgy keyboard bass line" - it is my new musical direction. listen to each of the 4 short christmas classics, and answers on a postcard to: simon's christmas music competition, Blue Peter, Television Centre, London, W12 7RJ.

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METAL - 2005 was the year of heavy metal; i was living and working in london and i was fed up with all this acoustic stuff and so i played bass in a good old fashioned metal band. it mainly sounds like metallica, zakk wylde, iron maiden and a bit of sabbath; we didn't really bother with a band name or song names. the third and fourth song aren't that tight in this recording, because we were still sorting out the order of the riffs etc at this point. i've selected my favourite bit of each song, because they are quite long. andre wrote pretty much all of the riffs. there are some stupid pictures of the band on the link at the bottom of the page with all my other old bands.

firstsong.mp3 (3.69M) - my favourite bit (1.06M) - this song was brutal; it is quite heavy.
secondsong.mp3 (6.44M) - my favourite bit (0.88M) - this song was quite mean. it has a nice introduction, which was boubou's, and then it goes a bit psycho after that.
thirdsong.mp3 (5.04M) - my favourite bit (1.06M) - i actually went through a period where i refused to play this one, because screaming voices started coming out of the amp.
fourthsong.mp3 (5.31M) - my favourite bit (1.03M) - there is a nice bit in the middle of this one and then it is surrounded by a load of riffs that sound a bit sad.

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SUMMER 2004 - the axeman is back!! hi i've only recorded about one song in the last two years and that was shit anyway. but i'm back in the studio (my bedroom) to rock.

may_day_song.mp3 (3.55M) - may_day_song_sample.mp3 (0.28M) - this one has got two blues riffs and it's a bit like those stupid rap songs, where it's called "brian vs kevin" or whatever and you get two guys on the decks trying out do each other; here it is the verse riff and the chorus riff that are having a battle for supremacy. there's an acoustic 12 string solo, which means i am hardcore. and i made a drum kit for this one, so i'm excited about having real drums for a change. yeh it is a may day song, because i wrote it on may day when weird things happen, and it is funny because someone might think that it could have the double meaning and that it is a cry for help, but it is not really about that.

medieval_madness.mp3 (3.44M) - medieval_madness_sample.mp3 (0.28M) - taketh a walk with me through medieval england to explore the unknown horizons of your mind... i was inspired by the rain song bit of the song remains the same video where robert plant is on his horse fighting evil medieval soldiers to claim the hand of his fair maiden etc. i invented a new instrument for this song, which i call the ocardiona. it is a cross between an accordion and an ocarina, and you have to harness merlin's magical powers to be able to play it.

the_dawn_of_beltane.mp3 (4.06M) - the_dawn_of_beltane_sample.mp3 (0.27M) - yeh this song is proper chilled: i'm talking putting your trainers in the fridge level of chilledness. this might be my new direction, because i've been listening to loads of chilled out shit. but i'm trying hard not to forget how to rock.

hanging_out.mp3 (4.17M) - hanging_out_sample.mp3 (0.29M) - i don't normally bother with lyrics much, but i am certainly dropping some lyrical bombs on this bad boy. it is about finding more and more ingenious ways of wasting time and just hanging out with your mates. the singing is a bit shit, but the lyrics make up for it. it sounded a bit rolling stones-esque until i put a big guitar over it, and now it is as mean as a lunch-money-stealing mafia boss who is listening to acdc.

dendermonde.mp3 (2.34M) - acoustic tune. the lyrics are funny, because they are taking the piss, but being sincere at the same time.

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SUMMER 2002

travelling_riverside.mp3 (5.16M) - travelling_riverside_sample.mp3 (0.36M) - there is an unhealthy amount of riffage in this one. it is a museum to all of my best blues riffs, so noone had better steal any of them. it has only got guitar, bass, and drums at the mo, but i'll put some harmonica, and singing on it at some point. there's a mint bass solo all the way through as well (it's not a cover of the robert johnson / led zeppelin song, but i stole the name).

belgium.mp3 (0.76M) - my only experimentation with computer based music, includes rather psychedelic drum loops.

hillbilly_blues.mp3 (1.97M) - hillbilly_blues_sample.mp3 (0.24M) - a cookin bluesy tune telling the ballad of a geeza on the run from the law after stealing the whiskey off the girl of ol' big joe (co-written with rob).

intro.mp3 (1.86M) - mellow acoustic instrumental.

summertime.mp3 (2.21M) - acoustic-happy-sun-is-shining-kind-of-a-tune.

music_meadow.mp3 (3.27M) - acoustic song about a place called music meadow.

nanaue.mp3 (3.59M) - nanaue_sample.mp3 (0.40M) - this was my "expressive arts gcse" coursework, it wasn't summer 2002, but i didn't have anywhere else to put it. it is some hardcore rocking shit. it was inspired by the ancient hawaiian tale of nanaue, the sharkman. it's a bit of a gruesome tale: basically there's this half man half shark dude and he likes to eat children then the villagers gang up on him and burn him alive.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS - i recorded 6 songs over summer 2001, and even though i've never seen an album with 6 songs on before, i'd like to claim that this is my first album. some of them are a bit soppy and depressing (you can probably tell by the titles), and the singing isn't amazing, but there's some phat bass solos. innit.

pyromania.mp3 (4.46M) - pyromania_sample.mp3 (0.24M) - piano music. i think that the lyrics are fantastic. and its got this crazy key change chorus thing.

life_stinks.mp3 (3.24M) - life_stinks_sample.mp3 (0.24M) - sad acoustic folky tune. there's a film called "life stinks" and there's one scene where a whole bunch of people start chanting, "life stinks" for no particular reason. (picking pattern courtesy of rob).

the_walls_of_my_life.mp3 (3.93M) - the_walls_of_my_life_sample.mp3 (0.23M) - i think that this song is a protest against losing our freedom, whether it some oppressive regime, or getting married etc.. some might say that the bass here "is wanking too much" or is "going off on one", but i'd like to say that it is "enjoying and exploring its freedom". there are some pretty crazy chords as well.

monday_mourning_blues.mp3 (3.38M) - monday_mourning_blues_sample.mp3 (0.24M) - this one started off as just a jamming track, some 12 bar blues with dodgy bass and keyboard drums, but it's got a phat guitar solo. admittedly its a bit indulgent, but i was listening to lynyrd skynyrd and zakk wylde quite a lot at the time.

blue_star.mp3 (3.60M) - blue_star_sample.mp3 (0.37M) - the rhythm in the chorus is pretty far out. and later in the song there is a crazy bass solo, and then an even crazier "ocarina" solo. i put this in inverted commas, because it is a keyboard ocarina, and sounds more like a chicken than an ocarina, but its cool to say i've got an ocarina solo in one of my songs.

another_depressing_spring.mp3 (6.46M) - another_depressing_spring_sample.mp3 (0.28M) - this was my first and last attempt at writing a sonnet. i think it summarises my hatred of daffodils. it's a bit of a long piano song, but the chords are nice, and its got a funky "classical epilogue".

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BANDS THAT I'VE BEEN IN - i've started uploading the legacy of my rock n roll childhood onto the internet. i've been in a few bands, mainly playing the bass, and eventually, i think it would be nice to have a little corner of cyberspace for each of them.

SILVERFRACTURE i'm drumming in this band with my bro on guitar and we rock. i worked the drums out pretty easily - all you have to do is hit the cymbals properly and stand up between songs.

THE MASTRANTONE GROUP early 2006, i gigged a bit more with si and steve from the clusterbombs with a bunch of new songs. it is kind of nu-indie.

METAL BAND 2005, london, i'm talking proper metal.

THE CLUSTERBOMB FAIRIES i think this was a cross between queen, radiohead and system of a down (if you can imagine that).

THE RATTLESNAKES were around from about 1999 to 2001. we were a true rock band and our influences included guns n roses, aerosmith, led zeppelin, black sabbath, ozzy, zakk wylde, jimi hendrix. i think the spirit of those bands comes through the music.

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SIMON TOP 10 COUNTDOWN

i've listed all of my songs on this page to get a top of the pops, so please vote for your favourite tunes by clicking on the links below. if you don't see the one you want, then click on "more links" and it will list the rest of them.

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