Daily Archives: September 21, 2014

“Must Be Santa” (Bob Dylan / Christmas Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

It’s official: the Christmas season is upon us yet again!  I, for one, found it difficult to concentrate on the work I brought home this weekend, choosing instead to listen to Christmas music — specifically that on Bob Dylan’s new 2009 holiday album Christmas in the Heart (see my review here!) — and playing some of my favorite seasonal songs on acoustic guitar.  One of my new favorites is a song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredricks titled “Must Be Santa.”

Now, before you get too excited, I should begin by making it very clear that tonight I am covering Bob Dylan’s rendition of “Must Be Santa” and NOT the performance “popularized” by Mr. Music and the Cool Kids Chorus.

Please don’t be disappointed…

Seriously, though, if you would like to hear that rocking version, you’ll just have to download it for yourself.  Or the versions by Mitch Miller, Raffi, Point Sebago Resort, Glen Burtnik, Miss Lisa, Miss Molly, The Friel Brothers, The Angel Choir, The Holly Players Orchestra, The Hit Crew, Mary Lambert, Bob McGrath, Kids Sing’n, the Pokemon Christmas Bash band, or Lorne Greene with the Jimmy Joyce Children’s Choir — good luck finding that last one.

If you’re craving a good polka, then don’t miss out on the Brave Combo version (which, ironically, is the closest in style and arrangement to Dylan’s).

And who could forget the Kids Rap’n the Christmas Hits version?

These cover songs range from boring to funny to vomit-inducing and back again.  This brings me to the Bob Dylan version, which is a breath of fresh air when played beside these other covers.  Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” is a frantic, polka-inspired three minutes of Christmas spirit, accordions, and bright choral vocals built up around Dylan’s gruff lead.  Recorded nearly half a century after Mitch Miller first recorded the song in 1961, it is interesting to see how our image of Santa and the general sound and style of Christmas music (i.e. both sets of chord changes as the song progresses a la so many other seasonal favorites) really haven’t changed much in all this time.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Dylan’s album — and his recent work in general — is an homage to a simpler time in American popular music.

That is perhaps why Dylan’s new album, time-ravaged vocals and all, has slipped in so quickly among my favorite Christmas albums of all time.  Although it was recorded earlier this year, there is a sense of nostalgia and even timelessness in each of its tracks.  Somehow, he has managed to record the songs in a style that seems very natural from his current studio band.  Indeed, Dylan has seemingly reached further and further into the past for the styles of his past several albums.  In this sense, 2009 was the ideal year for him to record an album of traditional favorites and holiday songs from earlier in the century.

I don’t think any music will ever usurp the positions that The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album and the Moody Blues’ December currently hold in my heart.  The Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays, Brian Wilson’s What I Really Want For Christmas, and America’s Harmony are certainly the next runners up.  Some of my attachment to this music is admittedly due to my own personal memories, such as listening to the Beach Boys each year as my family decorated the tree and attending a Moody Blues Christmas concert with two of my dearest friends several years ago.  That being said, there is also a universal element to the music on these records that I can’t imagine any fan of rock music being able to deny.  Somehow, these aforementioned bands have managed to incorporate religious hymns, classic rock Christmas songs, and originals into unified works that I look forward to dusting off each and every year.

For now, I’m wading into the music of season via this new Dylan album.  After all, this is the punchline of a joke I’ve been making for as many years as I’ve loved Bob Dylan — “Imagine if Dylan recorded a Christmas album!”  My friends and I would laugh, but I was always privately jealous that their favorite bands — the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, etc. — had recorded Christmas albums or at least a Christmas song or two.

Now, I have my secret wish, and I couldn’t be happier!

Yes, Dylan’s voice is rugged, and truth be told, I was a bit hesitant to embrace this album when I gave it one listen upon its release a month ago.  However, it only took a second listen for me to get hooked.

Whatever music you may enjoy listening to at this time of the year, I hope you’re enjoying it, and I hope you’ll come back throughout the week for Jim’s music video tomorrow, a guest session(!) on Friday, and another installment of Weekend Review.

See you next session!

“All The Things” (Byrds Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Happy Friday and happy 4th to everyone! I hope today finds you ready to celebrate and watch some fireworks, eat some hamburgers and hot dogs, and just relax and enjoy the long weekend. I’m happy to see that you have selected guitarbucketlist.com as a place to visit today, and we thank you for that.

And no, I don’t have a cheesy patriotic song to bring you today, but I do have a cool cover song video to show you today. For the second time, I am covering a song by The Byrds called “All The Things” from their untitled album. I kid you not, that’s the name that is known by – (Untitled). It is a collection of live and studio tracks, and this is one of the studio tracks.

I first heard this song on a WCJM radio show called “Song for the New Millenium” which was a countdown style show that this song won. It really is a good tune and I think it has a good message for the holiday today.

Again, enjoy your holiday and come back tomorrow for another session by Jim Fusco. By the way, if you haven’t watched his original song from Wednesday, do so. It really is something else!

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!

The Scissor Sisters’ “Night Work” (2010) – The Weekend Review

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By Chris Moore:

RATING:  4 / 5 stars

In this age of increasing separation between genres, particularly alternative (i.e. music comprised of basic rock instruments) and experimental/indie (i.e. that relying on dance beats, synthesized instruments, and other technology), the Scissor Sisters are one of the few acts cutting through all those distinctions without compromising their sound.

On the one hand, Night Work is hard-core dance music, drawing largely from instruments that require programming.  One look at their attire would be enough to mistakenly situate this band in the heart of the eighties.  With names like Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Babydaddy (who handles the aforementioned programming), and Del Marquis, it might be difficult to take the Scissor Sisters as anything more than a fun, even a novelty, act.

However, this would be a misguided reaction.  It would be folly to minimize their craft, weaving in strong rock components — like Marquis’ guitars — and complex harmonies as they do.  There are moments of pure rock bliss, electric solos being delivered over a bed of other accompaniments, drums being layered in at all the right moments, and additional sounds like strings — synthesized though they may be — accenting the arrangements in all the right places.

This is what is perhaps most impressive about Night Work: it is an exceedingly busy album, with little opportunity for the listener to become bored with the instrumentation or the vocal deliveries, and yet I would hesitate to label it as overproduced.  If anything, the Scissor Sisters have embraced this set of instruments and aren’t afraid to fill their tracks to the brim with all manner of sounds.

Night Work cover (Scissor Sisters, 2010)

Night Work cover (Scissor Sisters, 2010)

This is certainly the band’s most overtly sexual album, a release characterized by provocative phrasings, erotic voice-overs, and carnal beats.  It’s difficult to interpret such lines as “grabbing apples” or doing it “in front of my parents” otherwise, and, with titles like “Skintight” and “Sex and Violence,” it doesn’t seem as though we are being invited to read such lyricism at a deeper level.

There is something to be said for such openness.  At first, I wasn’t sure how to take this album.  I certainly enjoyed it from the first listen onward, but I wasn’t sure if these were provocative songs or songs that simply went for the “shock” factor.  After multiple returns to this record, I find it difficult to view it as anything other than a brilliant collection of songs.  The tracks are smartly arranged, and the shift from “Night Work” (track one) to “Night Life” (the penultimate track) can be read in a number of ways, not least of which as a study of the seamier side of human nature.

Lyrically sharp — “opiate utopia,” “I had a dream we were holding on / And tomorrow has become today,” “Sex and violence / Never let you see them / Hand in hand / And one is just the other / The softest touch is / Deeper than the ocean” — and thematically tight, Night Work is an impressive third effort, making good on all the promise of their debut and all the progression of Ta-Dah!

So, chalk this one up to the “don’t judge a book by its cover” cliche.  If a man grabbing his tight-adorned backside was enough to dissuade you from giving this one a listen, take this as a warning not to miss out on one of the strongest albums of the year.  It sounds modern and yet retro, intelligent and yet sensual, poppy yet with a strong basis in basic rock.

There aren’t many things like this, so run out and have a listen.

“All At Once” (Jack Johnson Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to your weekend retreat from the real world…the best cover song music blog in the universe…a great place to post comments… the Laptop Sessions! I, for one, am really excited for what’s on the horizon here for the music video blog, as the coming week (starting with Jeff tomorrow) is another “New Bands Week.” Basically this is a week when every session — except for Original Wednesday, of course — features a song by a band that we’ve never covered in the history of the blog. I think it’ll be interesting to see what great new music comes to the blog! I actually have one band I plan to do that surprises even me; I’m honestly not sure why I chose this artist, but I’ll figure it out and let you know when I post my video.

Okay, now down to business. Today, I chose “All At Once,” Jack Johnson’s first track on his 2008 album Sleep Through the Static. This is an album that came out early in the year, and it was one of the first that I was really anticipating with excitement. Well, you know what they say about expectations. I don’t know what I expected, but I really wasn’t bowled over by this new release. It was billed as “Jack Johnson goes electric,” but if anything, he got slower and more mellow with the addition of the electricity. The joke circulated, at least among friends, that this more subdued sound wasn’t helped by the fact he recorded the album with natural power. Mike was similarly disappointed in the record, and as a result of our reviews, I believe Jim never even put the disc in his CD player. When he does get to it, I’d be curious to know what he thinks.

So, you may be wondering why I chose to play a song from this album. Well, my favorite playlist on my iTunes is my “New Music from 2008” playlist, so Johnson’s songs have been coming up for months and months, and this one in particular grew on me. I hope you understand — it’s not that the music is bad; far from it, in fact. I love this song. But as an album opener? The other tracks on the album never really get more upbeat and rocking than this one, which is disappointing. After an amazing album like In Between Dreams, I couldn’t help but become one of those fans that expects something. Slowly but surely these songs are growing on me, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy this one (and that I’ve done it justice!).

Well, that’s enough for me for one post. But, before I go, I need to pass on a really interesting tidbit of BnL trivia. Mike just called me today when he couldn’t get in touch with Jim to spread the news… He just learned in class that 9.8 meters per second squared is the rate of gravitational acceleration. It’s a mouthful, right? Well, this finally explains Ed Robertson’s line in the Barenaked Ladies’ song “When I Fall.” He’s talking about being up high and contemplating jumping, and he sings, “It’s 9.8 straight down…” Wow. I can’t believe I never knew what it meant!

Don’t miss another great cover of a new band by Jeff tomorrow, a new acoustic cover by Jim on Monday, then I’ll be back on Tuesday for my first installment in New Bands Week…

See you next session!