Monthly Archives: January 2012

Christmas, Volume 2 – Playlists on Parade

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By Chris Moore:

This is the second installment in my Christmas music playlist series, perhaps my most brilliantly titled one yet!  😉

As you’ll notice, I’ve done my best to present a wide span of time periods and topic matter, including songs that touch on winter in general, the legendary figures of Christmas (such as Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, etc.), and the spiritual music honed in on the “reason for the season” (i.e. the celebration of the birth of Christ).

Perhaps my greatest failing in this list (and, with a subject as broad as Christmas, I am sure to have many) is the lack of traditional Christmas songs, hymns and otherwise.  I have two comments about this: first, it is simply a fact that many, if not most, artists have tended to pour more of their creative energy into non-denominational tracks, perhaps hoping to avoid alienating their audiences, and second, there is also a tendency for truly great bands to record some of their best performances on their own original holiday music.

For this reason, you’ll see a lot of contemporary classics of the Christmas genre represented here.

If you’re a person who appreciates and perhaps even prefers traditional music, I would strongly recommend checking out the original Beach Boys Christmas album for “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” which was cut from this list only because “We Three Kings” is included in the BnL/Sarah McLachlan version of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.”  Brian Wilson recorded some fine renditions of traditional tracks on his 2005 solo release What I Really Want for Christmas, including “O Holy Night,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “The First Noel,” and “Silent Night.”

And, if you can get beyond the gravel in his voice, Bob Dylan gives a bang-up, wannabe 1940’s treatment to many of these tracks, plus “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The track listing below is another assortment of Christmas songs, fast and slow, happy and sad.  In fact, starting with the hopeful but tentative tenor of Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas,” I plugged in several of my favorite somber yuletide tunes: BnL’s “Green Christmas,” the Moody Blues’ “A Winter’s Tale,” and Ben Fold’s Grinch soundtrack offering “Lonely Christmas Eve.”

Don’t fret, though, there are plenty of upbeat tracks to balance it all out.  Consider the typically punky/poppy Weezer take on “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” the disaster-averted hilarity of Relient K’s “Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town,” and the Temptations’ excellent and unique arrangement of “Rudoplph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

As always, I hope you enjoy reading through this playlist, and that I’m able in some small way to nudge you toward getting into the spirit of the season, despite how busy or how burdened you may be.

Check back next week for the third installment in the series!

1. “Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)” – Elvis Presley

2. “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” – Weezer

3. “Jingle Bells” – The Brian Setzer Orchestra

4. “The Man with All the Toys” – Brian Wilson

5. “Someday at Christmas” – Stevie Wonder

6. “Green Christmas” – Barenaked Ladies

7. “A Winter’s Tale” – The Moody Blues

8. “Lonely Christmas Eve” – Ben Folds

9. “Away in a Manger” – Johnny Cash

10. “Wonderful Christmastime” – Paul McCartney

11. “Feliz Navidad” – Jose Feliciano

12. “Christmas All Over Again” – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

13. “Santa Claus is Thumbing to Town” – Relient K

14. “I Wanna Be Santa Claus” – Ringo Starr

15. “Hey Santa!” – The Wilsons

16. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – The Temptations

17. “Frosty the Snowman” – The Beach Boys

18. “Merry Christmas, Baby” – The Beach Boys

19. “Christmas Evening” – Jim Fusco

20. “Auld Lang Syne” – Barenaked Ladies

“Don’t Give Up” (Jim Fusco Original Acoustic Rock Song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome everyone to a very special edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!  Today, I bring you a brand-new song off of my forthcoming album, “Those Around Us”!  The album is being released this Friday, January 13th and today’s acoustic music video is your first taste of the album.  The album will be available on CD for purchase on my website at http://jimfusco.com, so make sure to go over and check it out.  As with all of my albums, you can hear the entire disc online for free before you buy!  The album will also be available for download on iTunes in the coming weeks- I’ll be sure to post links when the album gets on iTunes.

“Those Around Us” is a collection of my latest songs- I’m extremely happy with the way it came out.  I utilized some new instruments and techniques that really took my sound to next level. I even got the album professionally mastered!  So, now when you put the CD into your player, it’ll be the same volume as the rest of the CDs you purchase.  Plus, the sound is crystal clear with plenty of bass.  It’s how I’ve always imagined my albums would sound if I had the technology and means to do it.  Realizing this goal was a big accomplishment for me.

Like I mentioned, I used some new instruments on this album, including a lap steel guitar and a 12-string electric guitar.  With the 12-string, I was able to get the Byrds/Beatles sound I love so much.  It also opened up a new way of playing for me.  The 12-string forces you to play riffs and finger-pick instead of just strumming chords.  To me, this new technique makes each song sound more interesting with a lot more “hooks” that get stuck in your head!   The other big musical addition to the album is the Wurlitzer 200A electric piano (sampled) I integrated into most songs.  This classic sound filled-out my mixes without having to add an extra rhythm guitar.  Again, it makes the songs all sound unique- you don’t hear the same instruments in every single song.  And that’s why I’m so happy with the variety of instruments and techniques I now have at my fingertips.  Of course, my new home studio (completed last February) is the perfect place to craft music.  It’s comfortable and has everything I need…organized just the way I like it!

I’m trying my hardest to make “Those Around Us” my most successful album.  But, that requires the help of my friends, family, and fans online.  I need help getting the word out about the album.  So, please send a link to your friends and share today’s Laptop Sessions acoustic video on Twitter and Facebook.  Speaking of those, did you know you can follow me on Twitter @jimfuscomusic?  You can also like my Facebook page.  I really hope “Those Around Us” will be heard by a ton of people.  That’s one of the reasons why I record my music- to share it with as many people as I can.  But, it’s a tough job for one person (with a full-time job, a house, a wife, etc.) to do.  So, please get in contact with me if you’re willing to help!

“Don’t Give Up”, tonight’s music video, is an original song I wrote a little while back.  It was instantly one of my favorite ones to play and sing.  I feel as if I’ve had this song in me for quite a while now.  But, “Don’t Give Up” has a more mature sound to it, plus it’s sung in a slightly different (more confident) style.  Now that I feel so confident with my instrumentation and vocals, I feel I can expand my songwriting more and take on more challenging subjects and vocal parts.  You know, I never thought much about people who sing with “soul”, but honestly, that takes a lot of guts.  It’s so much more comfortable to sing songs in your normal range.  On songs like “Don’t Give Up”, I had to sing with a lot of passion to get my message across.  I hope it worked!

And I hope you’ll check out “Those Around Us”- I’m sure you’ll love the album upon first listen and agree that it’s by far my best effort yet.  Check back here on Friday for the announcement of my eighth solo album!

The Weekend Review: December 2011

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By Chris Moore:

Here they are: the final two reviews of the year!  It’s taken me a week, but I’ve prepared all my “end of the year” lists, and they’ll be going live a day at a time, starting tomorrow…

 

El Camino (The Black Keys)

Producer: Danger Mouse & The Black Keys

Released: December 6, 2011

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “Little Black Submarines” & “Lonely Boy”

Instantly accessible, this new Black Keys album picks up more or less where its predecessor, Brothers, left off, though this time around some of the nuances have been dumped in favor of a streamlined, more formulaic sound.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it does create a sort of unity on the album, but it also tends to make the tracks run together a bit too seamlessly.  “Little Black Submarines” is the standout here, if only for its use of acoustic guitar to establish the track before picking up, though “Lonely Boy” was the perfect choice for a lead-off single (you’ll get no argument from me there).  Others, like “Run Right Back” and “Nova Baby,” are notable for their hooks, but the remainder of the songs generally feed into one album-length grunge/blues-rock fest that is, again, instantly accessible for the tracks’ consistent tightness, brevity, and catchiness.

 

Cloud Maintenance (Kevin Hearn)

Producer: Kevin Hearn & Michael Phillip Wojewoda

Released: December 20, 2011

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Top Two Tracks: “Always Changing” & “Northland Train”

Cloud Maintenance is about what you would expect from a Thin Buckle or a Kevin Hearn solo album, with an added sense of sonic and thematic unity that hasn’t always been present on previous releases.  Perhaps due to his soothing vocals or to the overwhelming sense of utter calm his instrumentation often projects, Hearn’s releases have the potential to be overlooked, or simply admired for their quirkiness yet denied the honor of future listens.  Here, however, there is a thread that weaves each track together, and the lyrics, though quite simple in most cases, tell a story for those willing to listen.  From the opening refrain of “Northland  Train,” there is a theme of departure and loss — of presence, of position — that pervades the first several tracks.  “She Waved” adds a bus to the transportational imagery (not to mention a gorgeous barrage of lush vocal harmonies), just as “Don’t Shuffle Me Back” brings in playing card imagery to express, again, the loss of a position once held dear.  “Grey Garden” delves deeper into the sense of loss, and “Tell Me Tell Me” ponders, albeit from afar, on what Hearn has disclosed as the cover painting by artist Don Porcella.  In “The House of Invention,” the tone begins to shift to a brighter, fairy tale-esque perspective.  The touching, beautiful “Always Changing” settles the contemplation explored earlier in a sturdier, life-encompassing paradigm that suggests wisdom and ease arriving at last.  “The City of Love” opens up a brief window that hints at fresh possibilities in a world that was previously possessed by the “could have been” and the “once was.”  Finally, “Monsters Anonymous” takes a twist, adding the humorous MA meeting introductions of seven classic scary fellows, each suggestive of a deeper layering of underlying thoughts, concerns, and regrets.  In this sense, there is the same positive, if pensive, energy here on Cloud Maintenance: you just need to experience the indecision and sad feelings of loss to reach it.  (And, with only eleven days to share, Hearn offers up my favorite stanza of lyrics of 2011: “I’m Frankenstein’s creation / and here’s my explanation, / why I’m bad at pro-creation: / my nuts are in my neck.”  So, there’s that.)

Music Reviews – Meade Skelton’s “My Loudoun County Home” Single

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By Chris Moore:

The notes for Meade Skelton’s 2003 release They Can’t Keep Me Down declare, “In an era of serious singer-songwriters with overly pretentious lyrics, Meade Skelton keeps it simple and sincere.”

This indeed continues to be true for the music he is making five years later.

His new single, “My Loudoun County Home,” is a lyrical stroll down memory lane, recalling and reminiscing about people, places, and events of importance in Skelton’s life.  There is a bittersweet combination of love and sadness in his words.  Truly, Skelton’s voice brings this song to life.  His voice is clear and crisp; clearly he has been classically trained.  And yet this training has not affected his ability to sing with the sort of emotion that one cannot be trained to project.  His vocals have a soaring quality that conjure John Denver at his best.

Meade Skelton

Meade Skelton

Skelton is clearly singing from his heart, and when he sings, “No matter where I roam, I’ll always love my Loudon County home,” it does not come across as too simple or trite — it translates as true and heartfelt.

And this song holds true to that claim made in 2003 — he sounds far from pretentious.  Quite to the contrary, his lyrics are straightforward and his sound is perfectly matched to the tone of this single.  In addition to his pitch-perfect, emotive vocals, the instrumental accompaniment is simple, but full.  Predominant in the mix are Skelton’s piano, a violin, bass, and drums.  The piano may be the grounding force in this track, but the violin accents the tone of the song in all the places that his voice does not, the string instrument holding back as he sings only to come to full and vibrant life as his singing pauses in between lines.

“Moved By The Spirit,” the second track (the B-side if you decide to purchase the vinyl edition of this single instead of the CD), delves into the spiritual overtones referenced in “My Loudoun County Home.”  Here, the lyrics are even simpler and more straightforward.  The instrumentation is sparse to match, highlighting Skelton’s abilities on the keyboards, which have been — perhaps purposely — set to an organ tone.  This is, of course, fitting for a song about the Holy Spirit.

Meade Skelton

Meade Skelton

Overall, this seems a very appropriate time for Skelton to release a fairly serious, autobiographical song.  After all, he has been performing music since childhood and has been “playing the scene” (as his YouTube page states) since 2001.  His two releases in the past five years have included an album of standards, which is of course the traditional way to gain people’s interest in your own work.  Now, as he pays tribute to his “Loudoun County Home,” Skelton sounds confident in his work.

As well he should be, considering the amount of time and energy he has dedicated to this endeavor.  Even a quick stop at Meade Skelton’s YouTube page will reveal a virtual treasure trove of life performances, as well as a video promo for this, his latest single.

Whether you are a fan of Skelton already or a newcomer to his music, this new single is an excellent opportunity to acquaint (or re-acquaint, as the case may be) yourself with the sound and the background of this talented performer.