The Weekend Review – A Weekday Report

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By Chris Moore:

Hi everyone.  I wanted to write a brief note to reassure everyone that my decreased volume of posts the past couple weeks is no cause for alarm.  Far from it — I want nothing more than to chip into the mounting number of posts that I have researched, rehearsed, planned out, and in some cases, started.

The school year ends a week from today, which means that I am officially in the grip of the craziest time of year for a teacher.  Grading is mounting almost as high as tensions among students trying to get their grades up and/or keep them as high as they are in the face of beautiful weather and a desire for summer to begin.  Come on, you remember those days…

So, I’m doing my best, but I simply refuse to rush through posts, particularly the Weekend Review articles.  As soon as school’s out (for the sum-mer, as Alice Cooper might sing), I’ll catch up with some non-weekend installments of the Weekend Review.  I know, I know… it flies in the face of all that is good and right!

But, rest assured, much more new and interesting material is on its way this summer.  For some, it’s a time to step back.  For me, I can’t think of anything I would rather do than immerse myself in the writing of songs, reviews, and more.  So, before I go, let me offer up some things to look forward to.

First, I’ll let you in on the upcoming Weekend Reviews.  In no particular order, I’ll be tackling Bob Dylan’s legendary Bringing It All Back Home, the much lesser-known 2002 Phantom Planet disc The Guest, and Jack Johnson’s most recent release, To The Sea.  The jury’s still out on if that one deserves the full Weekend Review treatment, or a more compact serving of “Yes, No, or Maybe So.”

Speaking of which, I will also be posting a one-sentence review for tomorrow.  It’s not much, but it’s a little morsel to hold you over until I get back into full swing.

For now, though, I’m going back to watching the Jack Johnson En Concert DVD — which is excellent, by the way, and makes me like the songs from 2008’s Sleep Through the Static even more than I like them individually and much, much more than I like them as an album — while washing dishes.  After dishes, it’s grading of some projects and then off to bed for me before my 5am wakeup call to the Star Trek: Voyager theme song.  Yes, that’s right.  You didn’t misread that.  Seriously, though, I highly recommend it.  I wake up much more peacefully and happily ever since I sprung for the ringtone.

Such a dork…

Okay, that’s all for now, but tune in tomorrow, perhaps as you’re waiting for your copy of the new Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, Mojo, to rip to your iTunes, and please be patient with me until school’s out next Monday night.

Take care until then!

“Nothingman” (Pearl Jam Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to Tuesday’s installment of The Laptop Sessions! I’m a bit late with this post because I had Dynamis in FFXI this evening, and the take I did before that didn’t come out very well. So I had to do it after that.

The song I chose tonight is called “Nothingman” by Pearl Jam. It is from their 3rd album “Vitalogy”. I love this album and plan on doing a couple more songs from Pearl Jam in future sessions.

Due to an index finger injury to my left hand two months ago, I still have some problems getting the Bb chord down on an acoustic guitar. It is getting better, but you may notice a sound quality difference when I play that chord.

Tomorrow is Original Wednesday (well, literally in 1 hour 15 minutes), so look for Jim to come out with another great original song. Stay tuned!

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 Last Time” (Rolling Stones Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Well, this just seems like deja vu too soon.  Even though I just posted a video on Tuesday, I’m back with not only another all-new acoustic cover song, but also to bring an all-new band to the Laptop Sessions!  And, by all-new, I guess I mean old…  That’s right: for once, Jim’s not the only person to dig out a classic from the sixties!

This is my first cover of a Rolling Stones song, “The Last Time.”  Today being Yom Kippur, I didn’t have to go to school, so I decided to sleep late, but record my cover video early.  As Jim mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had a late meeting on Tuesday, so I went back to my Dylan reserves.  Thus, I felt it was about time to bring in a new band.  So, I gathered all the necessary items from my room — my Rolling Stones greatest hits CD, my laptop, my iPod, a pick, and of course my acoustic guitar.  I sat downstairs and flipped through my iPod selections, reading along on the greatest hits CD.  Even though this is an early song, my iPod was on shuffle, so it took me about fifteen tracks before I got to “The Last Time.”  I immediately felt that this was the Stones song for me — simple, but catchy and right in my vocal range.  After all, I don’t want to embarrass myself on my first Stones video… I’ll save that for a later session!

And I learned a lot about this song that I didn’t know before.  I’ve always liked it, but I didn’t realize that it was the first single co-written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to reach #1 in England.  It was only a little less successful in America, reaching #9.  Reading through Wikipedia’s post about the song, I was interested to learn that the guitar riff (a Brian Jones contribution) running through the song was one of the earliest example of a song with a perpetually repeating riff.  Also, some say that the song is based on the traditional gospel song “This May Be The Last Time,” recorded in 1955 by the Staple Singers.

My recording of the song was easy to learn and fun to play.  I didn’t realize it at first, but following Jim’s mention of the three-chord song, I realized that this is also a three-chord song.  For any of you out there learning the guitar, this would be a great one to try — it’s written by the legendary Rolling Stones, it was a top ten hit in both the USA and Britain, and you need only know the chords E, D, and A!!

Now, if I understand correctly, I won’t be back until Monday to bring you another new song.  That will be Columbus Day, which is ironically another day that I will be off from school.  Maybe that’s a sign that I owe you loyal viewers and readers of the greatest acoustic cover song and original music blog on the web another all-new band.

Don’t be left wondering…  Hurry back to find out!

And you shouldn’t wait until Monday.  After all, you have two in a row to look forward to from Jeff Copperthite, and you can kick off your week with Jim Fusco’s Sunday cover song music video…

See you next session!

Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin'” (1963) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1963) – MAYBE

By Chris Moore:

Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)

Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1963)

(January 13, 1964)

Review:

There is no question that this is one of the all-time classic Dylan albums, its name giving a title to the general feeling shared by many in the sixties, but it is also an album that comes across as purposely topical, facts blurring in the name of poetic license at times; it may not be among his strongest albums, but it is an album that hosted several gems and made the great potential of this young singer/songwriter even clearer than before.

Top Two Tracks:

“With God on Our Side” & “Only a Pawn in Their Game”