Monthly Archives: June 2008

“That’s Not Me” (The Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

“That’s Not Me” is track three of the pivotal album, “Pet Sounds” from 1966. My family got into the Beach Boys back in 1990 or 1991 because of this album. Of course, we listened to the greatest hits, but we were more interested in this well-crafted, deeper music that “Pet Sounds” brought to the table. Seventeen years later, “Pet Sounds” doesn’t stand as my favorite Beach Boys album- that title goes to a couple of others, including “Holland”, “Sunflower”, and “The Beach Boys (1985)”. But, I still love every single track off of “Pet Sounds”. One of the reasons I like those other albums better is because of the contributions from the other band members. On “Pet Sounds”, it’s really a Brian Wilson solo album, featuring Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson on backing vocals.

But, then you get songs like “God Only Knows” that clearly benefited from Carl’s lead vocals and “That’s Not Me”, which benefited from Mike Love’s great lyrics and singing. This song is a great one to play on acoustic guitar and do a cover of because I didn’t have that feeling of stripping too much away from the song. This is a very personal-sounding song and I think it works great as an intimate cover music video. Of course, I plan on doing pretty much every song from “Pet Sounds”, but I arrived at this choice now because it’s the track that still hung on to that Brian Wilson/Mike Love writing tandem that put them on top in the early 60s.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song and I hope you’ll come back to see another great cover music video from Chris Moore!

NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for improved video and sound.

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CD Review: Tegan and Sara’s “So Jealous”

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RATING:  3 / 5 stars

By Chris Moore:

So Jealous brings to mind the definition of a three star album.

If one star indicates one’s ability to record an album and five stars suggests one’s talent for producing superior, impressive music, then three stars is a rating for a good album. In this case, Tegan and Sara have found a unique sound for themselves and embraced it. It is a good album that I have enjoyed—I am arguably biased in their favor, as my first two listenings took place on a two and a half mile stretch of I-91 during a major traffic jam; they saved me from utter boredom and frustration.

Yes, it is a good album. Does it demonstrate the musical genius of Brian Wilson? Does it compete for poetic excellence with the Wallflowers? Does it draw you in entirely, body and soul, as Jack Johnson’s new album can? The answer to these questions is an honest “no.”

This being said, I have learned that one cannot expect miracles out of every album ever made.

Tegan and Sara’s greatest strength lies in their ability to combine acoustic and electric elements. The first track demonstrates their very catchy sound as it builds from an acoustic song to an all-out electrified jam. And they sound good together. The combination of their voices is a blend that is pleasing to the ear.

For the most part, the songs are successful—memorable, even. This is not an album with one or two good songs and the remainder a void of throwaways. After all, how can one resist their cries for the subject of one song to “take me anywhere”? Or ignore their quiet, though authoritative pleas for another not to “get so uptight,” then to “Go away!”?

They have chosen to incorporate basic harmonies, which is a good choice for their vocal blend. Even their slower songs have a backbeat that drives them simply—as is the case with their vocals—yet effectively.

The most significant factor in my mediocre rating of this album lies in their one notable flaw—repetition. On several tracks, they tend to take the same chorus, albeit a well-written, catchy chorus, and repeat it too many times. Ending some songs earlier or expanding the lyrics would have significantly improved the flow of the album.

I truly believe that they have it in them to write better songs. Actually, I should say they have it in them to better the songs they have already written. “You Wouldn’t Like Me,” “I Bet It Stung,” “I Won’t Be Left,” “Walking With A Ghost,” and “Fix You Up” are strong tracks and very good songs. They are performed in a heartfelt manner by two talented young songwriters who are perhaps a couple of the world’s last, best hopes for successful women artists in the music industry. They write their own songs, play their own instruments, are entirely clothed in all their pictures, and criticisms aside, have produced a thoroughly enjoyable album.

7/2005

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“I Can’t Tell You Why” (The Eagles Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good afternoon to you! Thank you for checking out today’s Laptop Session. I really am looking forward to your watching this session, as it is my third Eagles acoustic cover video. Today I bring you the awesome ballad “I Can’t Tell You Why” from their album “The Long Run”.

This song is among the few that are sung by bassist Timothy Schmit. His voice is very sweet and appropriate for this song. I feel I did a great job emulating his singing style, and I hope you agree. The guitar part I play is an adaptation of the synthesizer that is constant in the song.

Also, if you are wondering why i’m dressed up, it is because I went to a wedding today (and am going to a reception in a little while). I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Lisa & Tom Kapitan on their wedding today.

Thank you again for checking out today’s session. Your weekend has just started. Until then…

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up. We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session. We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future. But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

More Laptop Sessions covers

FMP Studios has its own domain name!

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Just a quick announcement:

I finally pulled the trigger and purchased a new domain name for FMP Studios, the premier music, video, graphics, marketing, and photo restoration studio: FMP-Studios.com!

I hope you’ll check it out. We offer a ton of great services, all of which you can read about right here on the Fusco-Moore Productions cover songs music video blog by searching “FMP Studios” in the search box on the top of the page. You’ll be blown away by our unique combination of: fast turnaround times, professional custom results, and lowest prices anywhere!

Let me just say, as well, that running this website (and the other six we have) isn’t easy. Working full time, doing a video every three days, and planning a wedding all contribute to the difficulty.

But, over the past few days, Chris Moore has really stepped-up and has done some great things for the site. You see, my job here on the video blog is to come up with ideas for new features and more ways to get us noticed. And then, I have to figure out how to make those ideas come to life. We’ve seen many examples of this over the past two months or so. We now have a full sitemap, an incredibly extensive directory, links to every category, and so much more. Plus, we post at least once a day.

Chris isn’t a coding kinda guy like me. But, he really wanted to help. So, I gave him some large tasks to do. With some help from Jeff, Chris wrote literally 50 pages worth of unique and informative content to put on ALL of our category pages! It was an incredible amount of work and I want him to know that it was appreciated. He also made great descriptions for the site and is making great posts for WCJM Radio and FMP Studios. I’ve had so much of the burden taken off of me. I usually have to come up with the ideas, DO ALL THE WORK, and THEN implement it all.

With Chris’ help, I’ve been able to do so many more unique things to the site because I don’t have to spend my time actually making the content, like I’ve always had to do in the past. Now, I can focus on making the site work properly and getting these enhancements to really make the site better in the end.

I also appreciate Jeff’s consistency here- I never have to bug him to do his Session. I never have to tell him to do a better job. He just does it. And now, since Chris should probably get a break from some of this stuff, I might have to start bugging Jeff soon! 🙂

What a team…

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