I recently had to take my acoustic/electric into the shop to get it looked at, since the “electric” half of it wasn’t working, and a Made in the U.S.A. Fender Strat was hanging on the wall. I couldn’t resist. I took it home (yes, I paid for it first). It feels great and has great tone and sustain, even out of my tiny little amp. So here’s “Bathtub Gin” by Phish. I laid down the rhythm and vocals first (single take), and then laid the solo over that track. This is a fun tune and I love the solo melody, particularly when played on my new ax.
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
Our favorite perennial format bending, Phish-covering Guest Sessions contributor is back, and this time, he’s brought a new guitar purchase to his cover song music video. We hope that your Friday may be a little brighter for this great, groovy rendition of a Phish deep track, originally recorded for their 1990 album Lawn Boy.
I’ll never forget the day I first read the biography of Mudcrutch.
It was a surreal set of circumstances — Mudcrutch was a band that had gone unnoticed by most and been forgotten by those few who had taken an interest during their five year run from 1970 to 1975. They had formed as a small town band, moved out to Los Angeles in pursuit of a record contract, and broken apart under the pressures of their record label and the departure of band members.
A year later, three of the Mudcrutch refugees would go on to form a band that you may have heard of…
It was a tantalizing tale, and I could barely contain my excitement for this music. In some small way, I felt like I would be able — for once! — to take part in the debut release of a band I felt truly passionate about. This was not simply the unveiling of a band’s first album; this was an opportunity to be transported back in time nearly four decades to an entirely different rock and roll landscape than I’ve grown accustomed to in the new millennium.
You get the idea.
And, at least initially, Mudcrutch held up to the hype.
Mudcrutch's self-titled debut (2008)
The first song that caught my attention was “Scare Easy,” a mid-tempo number that may have Petty’s trademark vocals on it, but is clearly not your typical Heartbreakers track. If anything, it sounds more like his previous solo album, but even then, it has a unique sound.
Other tracks on the album are standouts, even amongst the considerable catalog items that Petty, Campbell, and Tench have amassed over the years. Songs like “The Wrong Thing To Do” and “Bootleg Flyer” are unique, upbeat, and very promising. “Orphan of the Storm” may be one of the best examples of what this band sounds like, blending older country and blues textures with a seventies rock and roll mentality lurking in the backbeat.
These excellent tracks notwithstanding, there are a number of tracks that suffer from that middle-of-the-road, “so what?” stupor that few can induce like Tom Petty. In fact, most of the second half of the album is forgettable, populated by a pedestrian tune from Benmont Tench, a forgettable Tom Leadon track that confirms why he fell short of the success his brother (the former Eagle) and Petty achieved, “June Apple,” and “Topanga Cowgirl.”
In fact, two of the best tracks on the album are covers: “Six Days on the Road” and “Lover of the Bayou.” The former is a pretty straightforward number, but an exemplar for country rock. The latter, co-written by Roger McGuinn (of the Byrds) and Jacques Levy (popularly known for his collaborations with Bob Dylan on 1978’s “Street Legal”), is a candidate for the best Mudcrutch performance on tape to date. Even the traditional “Shady Grove” is beautifully translated as the perfect opener.
On first listen, Mudcrutch was a joy. Track by track, I loved it. It was only after repeated listens that it began to lose its luster and fade into mediocrity. This is a case where I think my excitement for the story surrounding the band colored my perception of the music they produced.
Each time I return to it, I try to feel what I did that first week after its release in 2008, but to no avail. Even though I’ve hesitated to admit it, Mudcrutch is a three star album from what could have been — and, at least, three fifths went on to be — a five star band.
Take note of that: in music, as in life, some combinations just weren’t meant to be, no matter how much you love the individuals. You may look back and ponder what could have been.
Trivia: Yes, the title is actually “High Water (For Charley Patton)” — but, that’s just too long for YouTube’s liking. Isn’t that just like Bob Dylan? Always breaking the rules…
Hello and welcome to Monday’s installment of the Laptop Sessions! Today, I bring you a song off of Dylan’s 2001 Love and Theft album. At first, it was one of my least favorite on the album, but the more I listened to it, the more I really got into its dark sound and interesting lyrics. I actually decided to record this one today because my voice is almost entirely shot (and I figured, hey, what better time to play a contemporary Dylan tune?). I recorded about five takes of this song, and four of the outtakes were due to coughing. Because I couldn’t really sing all that loud, I dropped the pick and moved closer to the microphone — I’m glad I did, since it seems to work for this song.
I’d like to say again how much fun it was to play some of MoU’s new songs live at the SCSU Talent Show at the Lyman Center last Wednesday. I really encourage you to do one of the following:
1 ) Watch the live videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/jimfusco.com/albums.html ,
2) Hear the recorded versions in full off the brand-new Homestead’s Revenge album at http://jimfusco.com/albums.html ,
or, if you like the songs,
3) Buy the album!
Okay, that’s enough shameless plugging for today… 🙂 Thanks again to all who have been watching my videos — it’s really exciting to keep seeing my total view count rising. It makes this project all the more fun!
Hello and welcome to an all-new week of cover songs at the best acoustic cover song music video blog in the universe — guaranteed, or your money back!
I guess the guilt falls to me for breaking the Beatles marathon…
It’s been a blast reviewing Beatles albums, recording Fab Four covers, and watching the Traveling Acai Berrys’ and Jeff’s renditions, but now it’s time for me to inject a little fresh music into the timeline of the Laptop Sessions.
“Just Breathe” is track five from the new Pearl Jam album Backspacer, and is truly a perfect fit for the Laptop Sessions format. The studio version is primarily Eddie Vedder singing and playing acoustic guitar, so it only took memorizing the words and transcribing the chords. As usual, I started online and found a site with chords and lyrics that were almost right.
Well, “almost right” doesn’t fly around here.
The middle is NOT comprised of C and F chords; that “C” simply didn’t sound quite right. It should be Am instead of C. In addition, there were some minor lyrical inaccuracies — “all” instead of “are,” “save” instead of “take,” etc. The person who transcribed the song included a personal note about the song at the bottom, and he seemed like a really nice guy who truly loved this song. And he made figuring out this song much easier than if I had simply started on my own.
But that’s what we at the Laptop Sessions pride ourselves about — our commitment to performing songs as faithfully as possible, cross-checking our facts to be certain what we write is accurate, and always knowing when a song has already been recorded as a session.
Oh, right. About that last one…
I need to apologize to Jeff for recording “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” as though he had never recorded it. The funny part is that, when I went back and read his post later, I clearly remembered reading it. I recalled his mention of Eddie Vedder (whose music I barely knew and wasn’t enthusiastic about at the time), and I remembered being intrigued by his “Semaphore” reference. Apparently, flag semaphore is a system of symbols for conveying information through waving flags or bare hands. Although photographer Robert Freeman had the idea to have John, Paul, George, and Ringo spell out “HELP” in semaphore, they decided on a different arrangement — “NUJV”– that was more aesthetically pleasing as the cover art for Help!
Going back to the song of the day, I should acknowledge that I originally planned to record “The End,” and I practiced it a number of times with that intention in mind. In fact, a former student of mine emailed me with the idea of recording it, so I was reluctant to admit to myself that the chorus is just too far out of my range. I still posted the chords and lyrics, though, so others might be able to enjoy learning and playing it. Guest session, anyone?
As I was preparing for my session last week, I had been listening back to some of my recent sessions and realized something. Since I moved from the Fusco-Moore Experience to my current apartment, I have never worn the same shirt twice while recording a music video. Here’s a quick retrospective:
July 13 – Bob Dylan Together Through Life t-shirt (thanks again, Fusc!)
July 20 – Vermont t-shirt (thanks, Mom & Dad!)
August 4 – plaid, western-looking collared shirt
August 4 (second video) – Dodge Charger t-shirt (thanks, Jim!)
August 31 – Abbey Road t-shirt from London (thanks, Nicole!)
September 28 -black Bass fishing t-shirt
Today marks my tenth video, and thus it is my tenth shirt. My goal is to never wear the same shirt twice. Even though I’m running out of t-shirts, we are heading into winter, so my long sleeve shirts will be featured soon. When spring comes, it should get interesting. I wonder if I can fit into Nicole’s shirts…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my video. This completes my recent Pearl Jam run, adding both a full album review and a one-sentence review of Backspacer, chords & lyrics to three songs, and now a full Laptop Sessions post.
Aside from an ever-increasing stack of grading on my desk at school, life has been hectic but good recently. I’ve been really excited about the music on my iPod and in my car this past month. After going through quite the dry spell during the summer — Third Eye Blind and Sister Hazel, anyone? — the Arctic Monkeys and Pearl Jam have added some excitement to my “Albums- 2009” playlist. In addition, my birthday weekend has been pretty laid back, but a lot of fun. I heard from just about all my closest friends, and Jaime even came up from New York to visit on Sunday and give me the beautifully designed “Chris Moore Birthday Bash!” mix CD! I’m itching to start tweeting about the FYE gift card that Mike got me, Nicole bought me (among other awesome items ranging from practical to academic to entertaining) a book of essays about Bob Dylan written by scholars, I got a text message from Alb that brought me back to our summer of video gaming, and I’m officially, finally having breakfast next week with one of my dearest friends who I haven’t seen for over a year. Good stuff all around.
