Anywhere but Home

One of my favorite things in Freegal is how it's helped me find some hidden gems that I never would have known about otherwise. Now, most of the time, when you hear the phrase "hidden gem," it's referring to a band or album that was overlooked despite being amazing. For me, however, there's another kind of hidden gem: songs or albums by some of my own favorite artists that I never knew existed. These are particularly exciting in my opinion because they blend the familiar with the unfamiliar, the new with the old. You get the excitement of discovering something new even though it still sounds comfortably familiar.

My hidden gem for today is "Anywhere but Home." It's a live album recording from Evanescence, recorded during a 2004 tour. Now, I'm a fan of live albums for several reasons; I think it's interesting (albeit sometimes sad) to hear the difference between a studio album and a live one. In my opinion, there's something more visceral about hearing the music without all the cleaning, modifying and other audio tricks that go into a studio work. Most importantly, however, is that you can usually find a hidden gem on a live album that didn't make it into the studio release.

Read more »