Welcome to the Laptop Sessions for Tuesday! Today, I bring you yet another new band to the Sessions. Well, it’s not a “new” band by any means, but we’ve haven’t done them before: The Temptations!
This song is also in contention for the longest song title award. I’ve always liked this song, but for some reason it moved its way quickly up my list when I thought of it one night and learned how to play it.
Temptations songs are a bit harder to do, like the Beach Boys, because of their usual harmonies, but it’s fun to take a song that has so much more production and make it into a solo performance. That, in my opinion, is what makes the Laptop Sessions so unique.
Over the next few weeks, it’s going to be my focus to do as many new bands as possible. I still have a couple of songs in the reserves to get to first, but look for a wide array of new artists to come!
Today, “#1 Week” ends with a great tune from John Lennon’s last album, “Double Fantasy”. I was surprised that this song reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 instead of “Woman”, which made it to #2.
I’m typing this description while listening to these two fartheads talk. I’m talking about Chris and Jeff, who just bet me to type that, so there you go, guys.
Anyway, I really love this song, too, and it came out great on my nylon string guitar. I had to record this one on my digital camera, as my laptop has been making a lot of fan noise lately. Also, we were preparing the basement studio to record “Jamnation 1”, so I couldn’t record my cover song music video where I usually do. I must apologize for the background here- would’ve it have killed me to clean up the blanket on the bed? But, I guess that’s part of what makes the Laptop Sessions fun for me. I can set up a camera and play a reimagined acoustic version of a great song like “(Just Like) Starting Over” any time (and anywhere) I want!
You know, it’s funny that the John Lennon album I took “(Just Like) Starting Over” from is called “Double Fantasy”, because only half of the album is listenable. The version I have on my iTunes is great- I weeded out all of the Yoko Ono songs (which are simply unlistenable) and I’m left with a great album by John Lennon. He had taken a long hiatus from the music business to focus on his personal life and finally came back with some of his best-ever songs. “Beautiful Boy” is one of the saddest songs ever, but it’s truly an amazing work of art. It pains me to think of the music John Lennon would’ve made had he lived longer. The style he had on “Double Fantasy” was perfect for the time- is has a bit of that late-70s sound to it, but it sounds updated and modern. This album definitely wears better than many others from the same time period. I know John Lennon would’ve kept the music that I love on the charts longer and it’s a shame he never got that chance.
I heard recently that John was having some trouble singing the original songs he wrote for Double Fantasy. I guess, over the years, his voice started deteriorating. So, he had to double-track every lead vocal part on “Double Fantasy”. I really had no idea about this- his vocals seem pretty strong. But, when you listen to the demos he was recording around this time (many of them are out there on boxed sets), you hear a much weaker voice than he had years earlier as a member of the Beatles. But, John Lennon was a performer at heart and he knew how to make his songs sound the best they could. So, he double-tracked everything and we got some great original songs out of it!
I will be doing more John Lennon songs from this album in the future, but I hope you’ve all enjoyed “#1 Week” here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
Welcome to Original Wednesday here on the Laptop Sessions! Tonight, I bring you the first ever video starring Jim, Chris, and Becky for my original song from the new MoU album, “Homestead’s Revenge”.
“Sober” is a song I wrote a couple years ago and has become a live favorite whenever we play it. I wrote it during the recording of the first MoU album, but didn’t get to record it until recently, so it remains a “new” song.
I had Chris and Becky help me out for two reasons- first, the harmonies. Second, the fact that my voice kinda gave out tonight right before I went to record another original song called “The Game”. And, for anyone that’s heard that song before, you know it’s not one to sing with a bad vocal range! I guess that will have to wait three weeks.
I hope you enjoy this edition of Original Wednesday and I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for the continuation of “#1 Week” here at guitarbucketlist.com!
Well, it only took four months, but today I finally put two new WCJM Internet Radio shows online! These shows are free to listen to and do not have any advertisements or accounts to create. All you need is the RealPlayer (any version works fine) and you’ll be hysterically laughing in no time!
The first show is called “The Originals Show”, hosted by the original four cast members of WCJM’s flagship show, Moore Hits in the Morning. The cast consisted of Chris Moore, Jim Fusco, Mike Fusco, and Alberto Distefano. The show was done just days after Christmas 2007 and featured songs by bands when they still had all of their original members! There were great skits, including the WCJM Merchandise Store skit, Celebrity Jeopardy from Beyond the Grave, Traffic, News, Weather, and Sports, plus much more. It’s a great show- to access it, just click on the Moore Hits in the Morning Radio in the center of the screen and scroll all the way to the end to find this, our latest morning show.
The second show is a solo effort from Jim Fusco on his “Jammin’ with Jim” radio show. In 2000, Jim did the “Leap Year Show” and vowed to do another every four years. Unfortunately, he forgot in 2004, but is back again in 2008 to do an extra-special Leap Year Show! This show has many of Jim’s famous twin-spins with songs from Stone Temple Pilots, the Wallflowers, the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, Ben Folds, and many more! Jim also does a sit-down comedy routine, Stupid People of America, the Police Blotter, traffic and weather together, and many more segments in a fast-paced show!
I hope all the viewers to the Fusco-Moore Productions Blog will check out WCJM Radio, as we spent SO much time writing great skits and making great radio shows for the world to enjoy! Again, everything is FREE on WCJM and the shows are a great way to pass the time during those long work days.
