“Where the Streets Have No Name” (U2 Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

I would like to wish all of you a Happy Mother’s Day out there, and I would like to thank you for taking time out of your day to visit www.guitarbucketlist.com. I am proud to introduce another specialty week, and it is “Album Starter Week”. All this week (except Wednesday of course) we will be playing songs that are album openers. A good album knows how to draw a listener in, so you know bands always want the first song to be a real good one.

We will kick off album starter week with another song by U2. One of their most famous albums is “The Joshua Tree” and the song “Where the Streets Have No Name” is the perfect opener. It has a long fade-in with a nifty lead guitar by Edge. It does exactly what it is supposed to do.

I really enjoyed playing this session and I really feel this is a great solid cover. Again, I comment about Bono’s vocal range and how I have to strain my voice a bit to hit some of the notes Bono can hit regularly. Still, it is a “live” cover and I think with all things considered, I sing my heart out on this one.

I chose to close the song with the chords rather than the lead guitar because I thought that it sounded “empty” without the bass backing that the album version has. It works quite well though so I have no complaints.

I also did this song in one take, and it is the 4th Laptop Session in a row that I have completed in a single take.

Well anyway, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there. Make sure you check back EVERY DAY to see the songs we have selected for Album Starter Week. Jim will bring you his first song tomorrow, so make sure you visit https://guitarbucketlist.com/ to see it!

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!

The Barenaked Ladies’ “Maroon” (2000) – The Weekend Review

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** This is the first in a five part series of music reviews, counting down from the #5 to the #1 albums of the decade, 2000-2009.  On January 2nd, 2010, the #1 album will be revealed, along with the complete Weekend Review picks for the Top Thirty Albums of the Decade. **

By Chris Moore:

RATING: 5/5 stars

Maroon is one of those rare albums that truly has it all.

There are catchy singles, mid-tempo numbers, and ballads.  The subject matter is at times serious, at others sentimental, but always with tongues planted (with various degrees of firmness) in cheek.  Indeed, the songwriting duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page is at their best — and arguably their most collaborative and exclusive — on this record.

There is a reason Page/Robertson should be remembered as one of rock’s all-time great pairings, and this album is the best support for that argument.

In most circles, it seems as though 1998’s Stunt, with the #1 hit single “One Week,” has been cemented as the essential disc from the Barenaked Ladies’ catalog, and yet that album has always seemed quirky and unique at the expense of true substance.

Maroon is the document of a band at the pinnacle of their success, having refined their work through various members, styles, and phases.

And it is truly one of the best albums of the decade.

The Barenaked Ladies' "Maroon" (2000)

The Barenaked Ladies' "Maroon" (2000)

From the first strums of “Too Little Too Late,” Maroon establishes its sonic landscape with crunchy, catchy electric guitar parts supported by crisp rhythm guitars and typically impressive work from both Jim Creegan on bass and Tyler Stewart on drums.  Whereas multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn had helped to redefine BnL’s sound on Stunt, the balance of power shifted somewhere between 1998 and 2000 to find Hearn truly taking a place as a Barenaked Lady, a member of the band rather than a catalyst for change.

And the contributions he makes to the band — his electric solos (take one listen to the end of “Pinch Me”) as well as more unique instrumental parts — make it difficult to return to earlier albums and not distinctly feel his absence.

And in front of it all, Steven Page and Ed Robertson share singing duties on an album that is noteworthy for its vocals alone.  On “Pinch Me,” Robertson and Page manage to recreate the magic of “One Week” in a more fully developed track.  It is easy to view this as an attempt to recapture the runaway success of the aforementioned #1 single (perhaps even more so with the Everything to Everyone lead single “Another Postcard”), but a closer listen will yield a respect for “Pinch Me” as a song that stands on its own.

The first five tracks are an adrenaline rush of catchy, upbeat songs.  Try not to gasp for air attempting to sing all the words.

And this is the type of album that compels one to learn the words, just to feel what it is like to be on the “in,” and to sing the words along with Page and Robertson.

Tracks six and seven take a different direction, slowing down the tempo and becoming very serious.  Still, they manage to be songs that simultaneously demand one’s attention and are entertaining at every turn.

The subsequent songs, “Humor of the Situation” and “Baby Seat,” pick up the pace and inject new life into the album before coming in for a final landing via three increasingly sobering tracks, all to be topped off by the bonus track: the touching, hauntingly beautiful Hearn-penned “Hidden Sun.”

By the time the hidden track has faded out, the listener’s first response must be to crank the volume up on “Too Little Too Late.”  There is a certain psychology attached to the sequencing of this album, which guides one into the depths of the human psyche, passing fears and concerns and regrets and startling revelations before returning to the top to begin the journey all over again.

Any album that can provide this type of experience, incorporate wordplay at all the right moments to suggest — if not prove — the band’s levity amongst all this serious subject matter, and do so all in the form of infectiously catchy and moving songs demands to be respected and recognized in the annals of rock history.

Short of that, it deserves a place on this writer’s top thirty best albums of the decade list.

Slot number five, to be exact.

Released only nine months into the decade, Maroon set the bar quite high for all other new rock music albums to come.

Returning for a listen today only confirms that the bar is still quite high and securely in place.

“Peacemaker” (Green Day Cover)

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For Green Day chords, tabs, and lyrics, click HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to your all-new Monday edition of the Laptop Sessions.  It’s been a while since I’ve featured a recently released song, so I’m going to put an end to that right now.

Tonight, I present to you “Peacemaker,” a track from Green Day’s 2009 album 21st Century Breakdown.  This is perhaps my quickest turnaround time from the release of a song to the recorded Laptop Session, as this album just hit the record store racks on Saturday.  I don’t know why Green Day opted for a “special Saturday release,” but it was kind of cool to have something brand new (and on sale!) on the shelves when I was browsing Newbury Comics this weekend.

What is my take on the album, you might ask?  Well, it DID knock Bob Dylan’s Together Through Life out of the number one spot in the UK, but I suppose I can overlook that…

Seriously, I don’t really know why I keep buying Green Day records.  One of my favorite lines from the movie Fracture is when a doctor asks the Ryan Gosling character, “Do you always keep asking the same question until you get a different answer?”  He responds, “I’m a lawyer.  That’s what I do.”  In this case, I’ve never been a fan of the band.  I liked early hits like “When I Come Around,” but I couldn’t get into their acclaimed album Dookie.  I’ve never really given it a fair shake, so it has ended up back in my “To Be Listened To” pile (currently housed in my Best Buy-exclusive Together Through Life crate — thank you, Mike!).

I finally picked up their 2004 album American Idiot after recommendations from several friends and critical acclaim from multiple music magazines, but I have yet to get into that album, as well.  I have consistently found it somehow too blunt.  Even the songs that I like — yes, mostly the overplayed radio hits — strike me as too formulated, too stamped out for the enjoyment of the average mainstream listener.  Who knows; perhaps someday I’ll be able to break the code of this concept album.

That is indeed why I picked up this latest installment in the Green Day catalog: it’s a concept album based loosely around the story of two characters named Christian and Gloria.  As with American Idiot, I much prefer to pay attention to the thematic threads.  Now, whereas in the 2004 album I have never been able to appreciate the lyrics, I have found several tracks on this new album that I like for several reasons — the lyrics, the overall instrumental sound, and Billie Joe Armstrong’s vocals.  Not to sound even more critical or anything, but Armstrong’s vocals on American Idiot have a tendency to get on my nerves.  That being said, he plays with his range and style in several different ways on this album.  Some songs are stripped down to basic piano or acoustic, and some songs are layered from top to bottom with spot-on vocal harmonies and distortion guitar blasts.  From start to finish, the album generally knows when to slow it down and when to kick it up a notch.

I have only heard the album three times in full, so I should reserve any final opinions for the future.  What I do know is that I like this concept album much more than American Idiot, from the sound all the way down to the album art.  Like their previous album, the cover artwork and liner notes are beautiful, carefully designed pages that feature the handwritten lyrics and various background designs.  If nothing else, this is a band that tries really hard to create an album that works as a whole.  And, after five years since their last album — more time between releases than ever before — they’ve certainly had enough time to perfect this one!

Without further ado, I’ll let you move on to my cover song music video of “Peacemaker.”  This is sure to be one of Jim’s favorite sessions of the year, so it may be difficult to outdo myself next week.  And yet, I suppose I’ll just have to try… 🙂

See you next session!

Super Bowl XLIV Halftime Show: The Who’s Set List

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This is a Weekend Review SPECIAL REPORT!

By Chris Moore:

SET LIST BELOW!!

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since the Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band Halftime Show, an event that inspired such a high degree of anticipation that people were literally placing bets on which songs would be played. There was a certain degree of mystery around what Springsteen would choose to play, and he gave very few clues as to what the set list would look like. Except, of course, that it would be an action-packed twelve minutes.

Well, we are rapidly approaching the Who’s twelve minutes of fame and they are much less concerned with such anticipation.

As Pete Townshend said earlier this week, “We’re doing kind of a compact medley, like a mash-up of stuff,” he says. “A bit of ‘Baba O’Riley,’ a bit of ‘Pinball Wizard,’ a bit of the close of ‘Tommy,’ a bit of ‘Who Are You’ and a bit of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ It works — it’s quite a saga. A lot of the stuff that we do has that kind of celebratory vibe about it — we’ve always tried to make music that allows the audience to go a bit wild if they want to. Hopefully it will hit the spot.”

And so, with no new album — either recent or upcoming — to promote, a medley it is!

The Who, performing an acoustic set the week before Super Bowl XLIV.

The Who go acoustic three days before Super Bowl XLIV.

There are certainly going to be those who poo-poo at The Who taking the stage before what is annually the largest crowd assembled for one television program. And yet, their age and the percentage of surviving members (50%) notwithstanding, we’re talking about the Who.

In the hierarchy of rock’n’roll, there aren’t too many who get billing above this band. The Beatles, to be certain. The Rolling Stones. Dylan.

Quite impressive company.

As Ray Waddell of the Macon Daly wrote in what is certainly the most interesting of the pre-Super Bowl articles, “The power and continued relevance of Townshend’s writing are obvious, but few could argue that Daltrey’s supercharged vocals don’t play a key role in the longevity of the songs.“

The Who Super Bowl T-Shirt!

The Who Super Bowl T-Shirt!

Even for an avid music fan like myself, the Who have passed beneath my radar save for their greatest hits (I have two of those, actually) and Tommy. The more I’ve been reading about them and listening to them this week, the more I’ve realized what a shame that is. The Who have repeatedly received that label that Dylan oh-so-despises — voice of a generation. They pioneered, albeit not initially on purpose, the so-called “instrument destruction” aspect of some emotional rock concerts. This band was among the first rock bands to incorporate synthesized sounds into their records, which were increasingly more conceptual throughout their career.

The list goes on.

And although by most standards they dropped off the map in the early to mid-eighties, here are Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey to take the stage in front of the largest single audience a band could hope for. Very fitting indeed, as this is, of course, the band that set the record for the largest indoor concert in 1975…

There’s not as much for me to predict, bet, or suggest as there was last year, but I can tell you that, while I am interested in tonight’s excellent match-up between the Colts and the Saints, I am very excited for the Who. Say what you will about their last album Endless Wire — and the critics panned it — but that album had its moments of strength. I can’t imagine that tonight will be anything less than one of those strong high points of their recent career.

I’m off to the Super Bowl party with my girlfriend, so that’s it for now. Stay tuned for the set list, or medley order, or whatever it ends up being… I’ll be updating it here, at guitarbucketlist.com, minute by minute.

THE WHO’s HALFTIME SET LIST

1 ) “Pinball Wizard”

2 ) “Baba O’Riley”

3 ) “Who Are You”

4 ) “See Me, Feel Me”

5 ) “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

REVIEW:

While the Who didn’t quite match the immediacy and the downright sweaty performance by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band last year, their set evoked a calm and a confidence that, although predictable, was nice to see. After all, this was a mere twelve minutes of playing hits that they’ve been touring with for decades.

In other words, there was nothing unpredictable about the Halftime Show.
I would have settled for just one guitar being smashed.

Or at least a microphone…

The staging was perhaps the most impressive aspect of the set, as the Who opted out of the by-now-typical mass of fans that crowd the field for the mini concert. Instead, their stage was expansive and incorporated a variety of light patterns – spelling out “The Who,” lyrics to songs, and more. With Townshend’s well-known hearing issues, I was surprised, but happy, to see the fireworks display.

And did you see those classic blue, white, and red cymbols on the transparent drum set?

Overall, this was a very entertaining show. Again, it was nothing phenomenal and there will undoubtedly be those who will disparage these sixty-something rockers, but there was never a dull moment. Most songs were — the theme of the night– predictable (Townshend told us, after all, and, come on, how could they avoid playing “Who Are You” on CBS??) but I didn’t see “See Me, Feel Me” coming.

The onside kick that followed the concert overshadowed the set, but it was fun to see the Who and I, for one, hope the Super Bowl continues to call on these classic acts!