Hi all! The Weekend Review returned to kick off summer the right way…
…with some awesome reviews!
That summer brought reviews of albums from the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and an album that had just come out that year.
As a side note, I was inspired this weekend by one of my friends to write a “top ten albums” list for the first half of 2010. I’ve copied my list below, and it was interesting to see what stayed the same and what changed by December 31st. For once, I’m including no commentary. Just the list. So, consider it a snapshot of the year at its halfway point!
Top Ten Albums of 2010 (so far)
1) All in Good Time – Barenaked Ladies
2) Sea of Cowards – The Dead Weather
3) Heaven is Whenever – The Hold Steady
4) Broken Bells – Broken Bells
5) Volume Two – She & Him
6) Transference – Spoon
7) Mojo – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
8) Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots
9) High Violet – The National
10) Be in Love – Locksley
This isn’t an acoustic cover as the previous ones that I used to submit here…
I played this song with my electric guitar with a light distorsion and I hope it does sound good! This is a great song from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie (1972).
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
I have a reason to be personally excited about this song — a while back, I recorded my first David Bowie cover, of “Hang on to Yourself.” That song is the one that precedes “Ziggy Stardust” on the aforementioned 1972 album.
Now, thanks to Federico, we’re happy to present the title track of the album, a song that ranked in the middle of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Best Rock Songs list recently. As usual, Federico has done an excellent job of stripping a song down to its basic elements, and electric guitar was a great choice for this one.
As a final note, I’m very happy to share another Federico Borluzzi session — he’s built up several songs in reserve.
Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!
I’m back again tonight after a short sabbatical. I’m glad to present a great song, “San Francisco” off of Brett Dennen’s 2009 album “Hope for the Hopeless”.
I’ve been in love with this album ever since my friend (and boss) Bill gave me the album to listen to. I’ve since purchased it on vinyl- you’ll see my copy behind me in the video.
I’ve also been purchasing a lot of new albums on vinyl, including Jack Johnson’s “To the Sea” and “Stone Temple Pilots”, both of which I haven’t listened to yet. I’m getting myself ready for the STP album by listening to their previous effort, “Shangri-La-Dee-Dah”. Jeff always used to talk about that album, so I asked for it for my birthday and I’m loving the album. I’m so excited about the new disc! Actually, I did listen to it once while transferring my vinyl copy over to the computer using my brother’s ION USB turntable. Mine’s on the fritz…of course…
I’ve been taking it a bit easier lately, which is good because it’s been BUSY. I’ve gotten a lot more done around the house and have been watching my Mets, who’ve been on a big roll lately.
I hope to keep up with this light Laptop Sessions schedule- I’ll definitely make it a point to.
Anyway, I’ve wanted to record “San Francisco” for a very long time now and was happy to get the opportunity now. What’s cool is that Brett Dennen himself used his Martin D-28 acoustic guitar to record this album. Hearing his great sound and great songs was a factor in my choosing a Martin, too. Even though mine cost about half the price of his, mine’s still all solid wood and (in my opinion) sounds just as good! Remember all the research I did? Well, I truly believe I got the best I could for the money.
Over the next few weeks, I plan on covering songs from Ringo Starr, Scissor Sisters, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Jack Johnson, and Stone Temple Pilots- ALL of whom have albums out this summer! So, the cover song list keeps on growing. So, have a great Tuesday and be sure to come back again for another Laptop Session with Jim Fusco soon!
Any album that deals its catchiest songs before track three begins is an album that’s bound to disappoint; it’s not so much that these songs are bad — they’re quite good, actually — it’s just that they threaten to put the listener to sleep after a while.
Top Two Tracks:
“Somewhere Only We Know” & “This is the Last Time”
