Tag Archives: 70s

“Goin’ Up The Country” (Canned Heat Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Well, tonight I’m bringing you yet another piece of archival evidence to prove that I have no shame.  I am apparently not interested in impressing anyone, or if I am, then it’s impressing them with how willing I am to make a fool of myself… 🙂

But, seriously, I bring you this video tonight — another all-new cover by an all-new band to the sessions — in the hope that you’ll enjoy listening to it and remembering it as much as I have enjoyed learning to play it.

I actually heard it this weekend, as my friends and I watched the film Into the Wild.  This song came on during one of the scenes.  Instantly, I was reminded of my father’s tape collection again, as I had been for “Dead Skunk” and other cover songs that I’ve done.  One of his old tapes has this Canned Heat single, “Goin’ Up the Country,” on it.

Of course,  the first aspect that you’ll most likely notice is my falsetto delivery.  You may even think it sounds goofy.  Well, even though I wouldn’t classify the original vocal as goofy, it is certainly in a distinct voice.  If you don’t know the song, then you should most likely search YouTube or iTunes for it as a companion to my Laptop Session.  Or, just take my word that there is a good reason for the otherwise ridiculous vocals I have recorded here…

“Goin’ Up The Country” is how my night ends.  Allow me to share the rest of the evening, which was interesting and indeed, I hope, a kickstart to a relaxing, fun, and productive Thanksgiving week.  First of al, I stayed at school until six, entering grades and reading college essays.  By the time I got home and changed, Becky was napping, and Jim and Dana were in the kitchen getting ready for the first Fusco-Moore Pre-Turkey Day Celebration!  The best part of this story is that, as I went into the kitchen this morning to get my lunch, I found that Jim had stayed up late to prepare as much as he could.  Dishes were portioned out, sealed with cellophane, post-it noted with directions, and the counter was covered with an array of foods and utensils.  Now, the oven was working overtime, and the smells were tantalizing.

Before long, we ate dinner — which was amazing, by the way, and a definite home run for Jim.  We broke open the bottle of wine that Jim and Becky had bought for me a couple weeks ago in the Berkshires.  We watched the episode of The Office that we had DVR’ed from last week.

How much better could it get?

After dinner, we still had Two and a Half Men, Worst Week (which I regretfully missed in order to record my video), and Boston Legal (which was a wild and predictaby crazy Thanksgiving episode!).  Boston Legal was actually sobering for a number of reasons, such as the fact that it is drawing ever nearer to the final episode (don’t even get me started on how disappointing that is, being that it is my absolute favorite show on TV next to, perhaps, The Office), Denny was showing signs of progressing Alzheimers’, and Katie and Jerry were having a spat.  Jerry announced to her that he loved her… it’s about time!  He added that she need not feel awkward; he would find her friendship to be more than an adequate consolation prize.  I thought, particularly for a man with a social disorder, that Jerry handled the talk extraordinarily well.  Katie didn’t respond in any certain terms, but did mention that they are a couple, if not in a romantic way, and may be in need of couples therapy.

I have a bit of a crush on the Katie character, so I’m rooting for Jerry here so I can live vicariously through him, if only until the show ends in December!  🙂

And with that, the night was over.  A big thanks should be extended to Jim for cooking and to Dana and Becky for filling the house with great company.  Now, I’m off to sleep and school and then a night of hanging out, talking about music, and watching an Office mini-marathon with my sister, Jaime.  I can’t wait!

And I’m sure you can’t wait until the next acoustic rock cover song is posted here on the blog — but, have no fear, Jeff will be here tomorrow for Tuesday’s edition, and then Jim will bring you a fresh new Original Wednesday…

See you next session!

“Slip On Through” (Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to day two of “Track 1” week here at the Laptop Sessions! This week, Chris, Jeff, and I (plus a possible new special guest) will be bringing you our favorite album-starters! This is the second in a series of specialty weeks to come. We’ll be doing “Title Track Week” soon, plus an album closer week, and another new bands week very soon!

This particular week is pretty big for me- but to find out why, you’ll have to visit the Blog at https://guitarbucketlist.com and read my entry that will appear in the next few days- trust me, it’s worth the click!

Today, I bring you the first of TWO Beach Boys songs because I haven’t done one for a couple weeks. Actually, this just kinda fell into place- I was going to do “Slip On Through” anyway (track 1 off of my favorite album, “Sunflower”), and it just fit into this week, so here it is!

I’m also happy to finally be doing a Dennis Wilson song here on the Sessions. We’re all anxiously awaiting Dennis’ “Pacific Ocean Blue” and “Bambu” collection to come out next month, and you better believe there will be Sessions done from those albums! We’ve had POB for years now and I’ve been itching to do a song from it.

Like I said, “Sunflower” is probably my favorite Beach Boys album (besides my guilty pleasure: the 1985 album), so ANY requests from this one will be fulfilled.

I’ll be back on Thursday with yet another amazing Beach Boys album starter: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” from everyone’s favorite, “Pet Sounds”!! It’ll be my first Pet Sounds Session and I’m very proud of how it came out. See you then, but make sure to check out Chris’ first entry for “Track 1 Week” on https://guitarbucketlist.com!

“Garden Party” (Rick Nelson Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome everyone to another edition of the Laptop Sessions! Glad to be here today, as I’m happy to present a great song from Rick Nelson, “Garden Party”.

I’ve been a fan of this song for a long time and I love the beat it has. It was a lot of fun to play on acoustic and it just has that “down-home” type of feel to it.

I’ll be going back to Rick’s more classic numbers in the future, but this song really makes me want to learn more about his work as a country-rock songwriter in the mid-70s.

I hope you enjoy today’s Session and make sure to come back tomorrow for another Session by Chris!

“Evil Woman” (ELO Electric Light Orchestra Cover)

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Well, “New Bands Week” is over, but I have a hard time letting go…so I bring you yet another new band to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!

Tonight I give you a band fronted by a great producer, songwriter, and singer: Jeff Lynne. The band is Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O.) and the song is “Evil Woman”, a favorite of mine for a long time.

This song is originally done on piano, but I’ve adapted it for acoustic guitar. It’s got great vocals and a great chord progression. I love the way the drums come in- it’s what I miss the most when I play it solo.  Many say that Jeff Lynne, as a producer, kind of “over-produces” his music.  I actually kind of like it.  I love a large chorus of vocals, plus Lynne always throws in some interesting instruments (like a violin) into his songs.  And, sure, when he was with the Traveling Wilburys, he had all five members play acoustic guitar.  But, to me, that just showed how everyone was participating.

Jeff Lynne not only had a ton of hits with E.L.O., he produced many hit albums.  Roy Orbison’s “Mystery Girl” is a stand-out and brought the Lynne co-written song “You Got It” to the world.  He even produced the mega-smash album “Full Moon Fever” for Tom Petty, which had classic songs like “Running Down A Dream”, “Free Fallin'”, and “Won’t Back Down”.  I think I like Jeff Lynne’s producing style because it’s the style of music I grew up with.  I mean, both of the albums I mentioned were from the late 80s.  And one of my other favorite albums, “Cloud 9” by George Harrion, is also produced by Jeff Lynne…and also from the late 80s!  You can’t go wrong with any of these albums and I have to give a little credit to Jeff Lynne on that.

I hope tonight’s Electric Light Orchestra cover song will be the start of many other E.L.O. songs for the Laptop Sessions music blog. I can’t wait to do “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, too.  That’s another one that’s a bit over-produced, but when it was recorded in the 70s, people were pushing the envelope with the sounds they could create.  In the 60s, you only had four or eight tracks to work with.  And in the 70s, the technology leaped forward, allowing many more tracks to be used without a reduction in sound quality.  Jeff Lynne has always struck me as a technical musician of sorts- he knows the craft of recording a song and applies it to the music he makes and the music he produces for other bands.

“Evil Woman” is also a fun song to do a cover of because of the cool falsetto parts in the chorus.  It’s that kind of range that made E.L.O. stand out to me and I’m happy to present my stripped-down version here on the music video blog!

Enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song music video, and make sure to come back on Wednesday to see my Original Wednesday cover song tribute to Jeff Copperthite’s great new album, “Greenlight”. Aw, heck, why don’t you just come back on Monday and Tuesday, too?