Those of you who regularly check the Laptop Sessions homepage for fresh material may have noticed that I have been writing a music review once a week, posting it on either Saturday or Sunday. Since we shifted away from the “session-a-day” format, these two days have generally been a dry spot for new material on the website.
And why shouldn’t there be something new to look forward to as you’re kicking back on the weekend and wishing you had something new to read or watch?
Starting now, the Laptop Sessions will be posting a music review once every week on either Saturday or Sunday. This segment, titled “The Weekend Review,” will focus on new albums that have just been released, classic albums that transcend time, “deep racks reports” on albums that have been underrated and/or forgotten about, and live acoustic and rock music in the tri-state area.
This Turkey Day, if you’re searching your shelves or mp3 player for some appropriate music, then look no further. This morning, as I was preparing to seize the Thanksgiving Day, I began thinking about songs that I would like to hear throughout the day. After some brainstorming of relevant topics and themes, and a great deal of musical exploration via my iTunes, I came up with the following list.
As you read through the list, you’ll notice the dual take on thanksgiving — the first set of songs are positive songs of “thanks,” while the second segment is devoted to more sarcastic takes on the sentiment. Then come the songs about pilgrims and Native Americans, followed by tracks about food — what else? Top it all off with a final set of songs about the family and Marcy Playground’s “Thank You,” and you’ve got yourself a Thanksgiving day playlist!
1) “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)” -Sly & The Family Stone
2) “Thank You Girl” – The Beatles
3) “Photo (The Thanksgiving Song)” – Mike Fusco
4) “The Thanks I Get” – Wilco
5) “Thank You for Sharing” – The Vanity Project
6) “You To Thank” – Ben Folds
7) “Thanks a Lot” – Third Eye Blind
8) “Pilgrimage” – R.E.M.
9) “Indian Reservation” – Paul Revere & the Raiders
Welcome, one and all, to the new and improved Laptop Sessions Cover Songs Music Blog! If you’re a regular viewer, make sure to check out the homepage of guitarbucketlist.com and see our new features and new redesign. It may not seem that different at first, but I think you’ll agree that it’s much easier to navigate, especially if you were a first-time viewer. And, for a limited time, you can get a free mp3 download of my album, “What About Today?” by subscribing to the music blog! That’s right- just enter your name and email address and we’ll send you new acoustic cover song music videos every week- cancel at any time, but keep the free mp3 download as our gift to you. Sounds like an infomercial, doesn’t it? 🙂
Tonight’s video will also be the last one in HD (there may be a couple of instances where I can’t get the HD camera, though). Today, after a scare, I got our new HD video camcorder! It’s a Canon HV10 and man, what a good deal we got on it. I found it on eBay in Canada and paid literally a third of the price for it. It’s basically brand-new and came with a whole bunch of accessories and extra tapes. But, don’t go thinking I went out and bought a camera just for this- I got it to finally play back our wedding videos (which were shot in HD) and edit them onto Blu-Ray. I can’t wait to see how it came out! Not too many people these days gettin’ married in HD.
I’m also posting this relatively early tonight in hopes that my music partner Steve will be able to see it before he goes to bed.
Tonight’s video is a slightly obscure one from Paul McCartney from his 1997 album, Flaming Pie. What a great album. Steve and I played for about a half hour extra last Thursday, just going through every song on that album. I’ve written about my love for Flaming Pie in the past (click on the Paul McCartney category in the upper left on the sidebar to see my other posts), but this is actually good timing because I haven’t recorded a McCartney song for months. Plus, I have Steve with me, playing his usual great guitar and singing the bridge with me.
“If You Wanna” is just a good driving song- when Paul McCartney got together with Steve Miller for a writing session, he promised himself he wouldn’t write an Americana driving song….so much for that idea. But, it was really fun recording this one- Steve and I always get so pumped after a good take. And this one was ONE TAKE! We had never even practiced it before! We just went over the structure once and hit record. Such is life when you’re running on a tight schedule. I keep hoping for the days when we can have a lot of time to just jam and record a bunch of tunes.
Of course, you’ll see me playing our colleague Noreen’s beautiful Gibson 1967 12-string acoustic, which never sounded better. I’m hoping she’ll let me borrow it next week so I can record a song from a sorely underrated band. That song will usher in the “holiday” (there’s a clue) season nicely. Speaking of the upcoming holiday, I’m incredibly excited!! I can’t wait to finally play some video games, eat, and go shopping for someone else for a change! We’re hoping to do the midnight madness at our local chain of outlet stores. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on trampling anyone for a TV at Wal-Mart or anything. We’re just looking forward to a really cool opportunity to ring in my favorite time of year: Christmastime! You know, we’ve recorded many Christmas songs already- you should check out some of those acoustic videos by choosing the “Christmas Songs” category up top.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s collaborative effort and I’ll be back next Tuesday with an all-new video in HD for the first time! See you then.
It’s true, folks- after a false start a few months ago, Jim Fusco’s Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music videos will be broadcast in full HD (high definition) on YouTube!
We here at the best music video blog ever created want to keep up with the times an create new, nicer-looking videos that you’ll love to watch.
With Jim’s new higher speed Internet, professional stereo microphone, and HD video capability, you’ll feel like you’re in the room with Jim while he’s recording your favorite songs acoustically!
Look for the first HD cover song in a couple weeks on YouTube and right here on the Laptop Session video blog!
And, stay tuned for more exciting things to come, as the views and popularity of the site are increasing every day!
