Tag Archives: 2010 project

“The One For Me” (Chris Moore original) – Original Wednesday

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By Chris Moore:

Welcome to September, a truly promising month for new music from the likes of Steven Page, Ben Folds, and Weezer!

Today, I’m taking a break from our regularly scheduled Original Wednesday program of previews from The 2010 Project to bring you a song I just wrote last week.

Specifically, a song I wrote on Monday of last week.

You may be wondering, why Monday?  Well, August 23rd — aside from being my friend and sometimes-collaborator Alberto Distefano’s birthday — marked the fifth anniversary of my first date with my girlfriend Nicole.  Because we broke up for three months in late 2008, we’ve decided to officially celebrate our anniversary on the day we got back together for the first time, January 2nd.  (I’m personally a fan of this date for all its implications of the new year, fresh beginnings, resolutions to be made, and all the promise this invokes.  And, although it’s only a week after Christmas, the original date was only a week before her birthday, so proximity to other occasions is not a factor.)

Thus, August 23rd has become the anniversary that we’ve promised to honor, but without monetary expense in the name of gifts.

We never said anything about not spending time to make something like, say, a song!

I spent the better part of my morning last Monday writing, playing, and perfecting “The One For Me.”  It is one of the — if not the — best love songs I’ve written, in my opinion.  And, for those that don’t know, my opinion is that my love songs are generally sub-par.  The version which you will hear in the video below is the first full performance I committed to tape last week.  I’ve been playing it numerous times each day since and it has progressed considerably from the form it is in on this session.

Why post an out-of-date version?

For one, I like the idea of showing off a fresh song, without having practiced it or worked on it.  What is Original Wednesday, after all, if it is not a place to celebrate the writing process?  In addition, I’m trying to imagine a spot for this song on The 2010 Project, so it may show up there.  If it does, you will hopefully be able to tell how much it has progressed since this video.  (And, it will have turned out that today is indeed another installment of the preview series.)

So, without further ado, I give you “The One For Me.”  I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’ll tune back in for more exciting new material here at the Laptop Sessions as we move into the fall season.

See you next session!

“Socrates’ Gulps” (Chris Moore original)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to the third installment of the 2010 Project preview series.  If you’ve been around the blog recently, you’ve seen the unveiling of both the opener “No Lights, No Sound” and the second track “I Would Prefer Not To.”

Now, on to track three…

“Socrates’ Gulps” is a fairly recent song, one that knocked the older “No More” down to the fourth slot.  It features one of my more ambitious vocals in the chorus, which guaranteed its place in the third slot.  I won’t say much about it, other than to note that it is the song I plan on recording tomorrow and/or Saturday.  For once, I’ll have the song speak for itself.

Outside of tonight’s video, I’d like to emphasize that I haven’t forgotten about the Weekend Review.  In fact, I have the next six reviews lined up and ready to be written.  Finding time is the issue.  I did finish my class, which has freed up a lot of time, but I have been spending a lot of time hanging out with friends, reading books that I want to finish before the summer is out, and kicking off recording sessions for my first album in four years, The 2010 Project.

In other words, I’ve been enjoying the latter half of my summer break!

But stay tuned here, as I’ve pledged to post 52 of my 2010 music reviews here at the Laptop Sessions, and I am confident that I will be able to do so.  (As for my Bob Dylan review-writing goal, I’ve shifted that to included his sixties releases only…)

As a final note, be sure to glance behind me in the video tonight and check out the Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin lithograph that has covered up my previous Dead Weather Sea of Cowards poster.  I mention this, first, to give Wilson’s new album a shout-out (it just may end up being the seventh review on my list), and second, to re-iterate how much I love Newbury Comics, whose coupon brought the album price down to a reasonable $9.99 and included the poster for free.

At that, I’ll leave you to this Original Wednesday video and turn my attention back to the increasingly depressing Mets game, currently in the bottom of the twelfth inning.  With any “luck,” Ollie Perez is getting warmed up.  I mean, his role is as the twelfth inning specialist, isn’t it?

See you next session!

“Threshold” (Chris Moore) – Original Wednesday

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to my first true Laptop Session in quite a while — since December, to be specific, when I covered the Goo Goo Dolls song “Laughing.”  Well, I’m back today with an original song from my new album, The 2010 Project, which was released just a couple weeks ago.  In fact, the day after my album hit the web for download, Mike Fusco (who mixed and produced it) and I went to see the Goo Goo Dolls.  This was our second time seeing them — and I won’t repeat what I wrote about them back in December — but suffice it to say that it was exciting going to see a band with so many anthemic songs, a group that can create such energy and drive the audience so masterfully.  And look like they’re having the time of their lives on stage.

We left the concert revved up: proud of the project we had just completed the day before and excited for new music to come.

So, now that a couple weeks have passed and I’ve had the opportunity to play The 2010 Project songs live again, thinking of them as whole songs to perform rather than in pieces (as I did during the recording sessions), I had the itch to return to the Laptop Sessions and debut those songs that haven’t been seen and heard here yet.

This is the second track on the album, “Threshold,” and one which stands out from the rest for the fast delivery during the verses and the statement of purpose in the chorus that could very well be the thesis statement for the entire album.  For this video, I (for obvious reasons) couldn’t include the guitar solo performed on the studio version, so I broke out my “E” harmonica and worked out a simple solo and added some flares to the beginning and end of the performance.  It clocks in at under three minutes, and is a good example of the type of music I’m making these days.

And, for those who have heard the demo version, this is a significantly improved arrangement!

I also recorded “You Will Thank Me” as well as the single from the album “It All Comes Around,” so check back for those videos in the coming weeks.

See you next session!

 

“You Will Thank Me” (Chris Moore) – Original Wednesday

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By Chris Moore:

Where once it was “a session-a-day,” it’s become more like “a session-a-month” for me.

I’m back today with another installment in my 2010 Project acoustic music video series.  Today’s selection is one of the most recently written songs, “You Will Thank Me.”  It’s an escapist song, one written from the point of view of someone who’s getting out of town, leaving it all behind.  I sing “I’m sellin’ out, son,” but I think it’s less of a cop-out or giving up than it is of literally selling out — cashing in and walking away from a table that’s lost any possibility for good fortune.

I love singing and playing this one — it’s probably one of the simplest I wrote for this album — although I did have some trouble playing it, so I recruited Nicole to come sit on the couch and act as audience so that I felt some pressure, like there was something on the line in this performance.

Speaking of performance, I’ve been feeling the itch to play live recently.  I’ll go on record here saying that I would be very disappointed if I didn’t play at least one show before December 31 comes and goes.  I’ve been playing acoustic and electric, and even practicing bass, so that I’ll be ready to fit in wherever and however the gig calls for.

Have a happy “Hump Day” and hurry back for more soon.  (Really: who ever thought of that nickname for Wednesday??)

See you next session!