Daily Archives: September 9, 2013

“Promises” (Eric Clapton Cover)

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By Jeremy Hammond:

My cover of “Promises” by Eric Clapton. A bit of my own interpretation, I end it with an improvised solo. The video consists of two tracks. For the first track, I recorded the rhythm and vocals in a single take. Then I laid down a second track over the first for the solo.

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

Eric Clapton is arguably one of the greatest electric guitar players of all time.  Over the first ten years or so of his career, he played in a number of influential rock bands, not the least of which was Cream.  Once he formed Derek and the Dominoes, he went on to release perhaps his most famous song, “Layla.”  As he proved with his famous acoustic rendition of “Layla” during an MTV Unplugged performance, he also has a knack for acoustic performances.

“Promises,” a track from the 1978 Eric Clapton album Backless, is an excellent choice for an acoustic cover.  As you’ll hear, Jeremy has brought another great addition to the Laptop Sessions storehouse of cover song music videos, adding to the woefully meager portion of Clapton that we currently offer.  Admittedly, the solo at the end strays from the Laptop Sessions format, but for those of you purists out there, simply hit stop at the three minute mark.  Otherwise, sit back and enjoy a great improv at the end to top off this excellent performance!

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“The Man Who Sold The World” (David Bowie Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen.  It’s that time…that’s right…Thumpin’ Thursday!  Who doesn’t enjoy a great dose of their Laptop Sessions on the second best day of the week – and it’s right after the best day of the week!

This next song is sort of by request – Jim mentioned it in recent correspondence that this song was covered by Nirvana, and we have not done either Nirvana, or the guy who wrote the song David Bowie.

What better day than Thumpin’ Thursday to fix both of those things in one session?

Therefore, here comes Jeff Copperthite with the “cover of a cover” version of David Bowie’s classic “The Man Who Sold The World” from his album of the same name.  The cover version was featured on the widely played Nirvana edition of the show “MTV Unplugged”.  I thoroughly enjoyed that series when it was on the air, and some of my favorite bands were lucky enough to be featured on that show while it lasted.

I recorded this in the same session as my previous U2 video, and again, I look tired.  I feel a lot better today than how I look in this video.  I couldn’t get a solid take where I played the riff cleanly, and eventually cut out some parts with the riff.  I also came in just a bit too early on one part.  Nobody has pointed it out in my recent video (what I did wrong), but I am very pleased on the positive feedback I have gotten from that video.

But now, you get to enjoy this version on a great Thursday.  I hope you enjoy it — and explore the archives for more Laptop Sessions covers!

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!

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Jim Fusco wins the national Sam Ash Open Mic Night Instagram video contest!

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Out of hundreds of applicants, Jim Fusco’s Instagram video of his original song “Halfway There” was chosen as a Top-3 finalist for the Same Ash music stores’ Open Mic Night video contest.

After a week of online voting on Facebook, Jim’s video was voted the winner!

He won a $100 Sam Ash gift card and a featured spot on Sam Ash’s homepage at http://samashmusic.com!

Here’s a screenshot of the posting:

Jim Fusco featured on the Sam Ash homepage.

Jim Fusco featured on the Sam Ash homepage.

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New Web Series: The Open Mic Sessions with Jim Fusco!

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone- It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten to sit down and record more Laptop  Sessions cover song music videos for you.  I have a bunch of great ideas saved-up, but my focus lately has been more on my original music.  I have a newfound passion for guitar tone, so I’ve learned to rewire my collection of electric guitars and put new pickups in almost all of them.  I want to get as many great sounds as possible for the recording of my next batch of songs.

I also realized that I have more than 250 videos on YouTube- mostly cover songs from bands like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Moody Blues, the Monkees, and many, many more.  Instead of increasing that number even more, I’ll be promoting all of my older videos to give them new life!

While I’m doing that, I’ll be driving around Connecticut playing at various Open Mic Nights.  I have my great Seagull acoustic-electric Entourage Rustic guitar, and I’ll even bring my electric guitars (and future small tube-amps) around with me.  My goal is to record videos of a different original song each time I go out.  I’ve already done a few.

Sure, the quality is so-so (iPhone video), the crowds are small and/or non-existent, and some of the videos are only part of the song (for instance, when my phone ran out of storage space on “Halfway There” a couple weeks ago).  But, I think these videos will be a valuable addition to the work I’ve done here for the Laptop Sessions music blog.  After all, we recorded all of these cover song videos in an attempt to make people curious about our original music, too.  So, now it’s finally time to implement phase two!

The Open Mic Sessions debuted new videos as I recorded them.  I put them on the music blog on Wednesdays, like our old “Original Wednesday” posts from back in the cover-song-heyday.  I hoe you enjoy the videos and will share them with your friends!

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