Tag Archives: acoustic rock

“(Just Like) Starting Over” (John Lennon Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

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!

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The Wallflowers Live – Foxwoods, April 25th, 2008 (Set List & Review) – Songwriters on Vacation

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Set List:

1. Up From Under

2. Three Marlenas – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

3. Here He Comes (Confessions of a Drunken Marionette)

4. Letters from the Wasteland

5. 6th Avenue Heartache – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

6. When You’re On Top

7. Mourning Train

8. Invisible City

9. Sleepwalker – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

10. If You Never Got Sick – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

11. Closer to You

12. How Good It Can Get – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

13. One Headlight – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

14. God Don’t Make Lonely Girls

15. Everything I Need – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSIONS!

16. How Far We’ve Come – FALSE START

17. Josephine

18. Empire in My Mind – Click HERE for the LAPTOP SESSION!

19. Nearly Beloved

By Chris Moore:

The Wallflowers have long been one of my favorite bands. So, my first question as the curtains came up at Friday night’s Foxwoods concert was, where is Rami Jaffee? Aside from Jakob Dylan, he’s the only original Wallflower still with the band. Instead of the four-member crew I expected, there were only three — Dylan, bassist Greg Richling, and drummer Fred Eltringham. This set the tone for the night, as I was laughing and enjoying myself before they even played a song.

Actually, the tone was set before the curtain even went up, as the pre-concert background music (usually played at a reduced volume) was turned up for an Edgar Jones song called “Oh Man That’s Some Shit.” This title refrain was repeated with intermittent additions such as, “Oh, yes it is!” When the song finished, it was played again. By the third time it was played, Jim, Mike, and I began to wonder if they were stalling for time. It was now 9:15, and the show was scheduled for 9 sharp. More likely, this was Dylan’s sense of humor showing through. The three of us couldn’t keep from laughing and singing along with the layered harmonies of Jones’ “Oh Man That’s Some Shit.” Even as I write this, I’m singing it in my head…

Once I got over the initial shock of Jaffee’s absence, I was struck by the song selection. Opening with the Breach track “Up From Under,” continuing with “Three Marlenas,” and then playing “Here He Comes,” Dylan kicked off the show with three really great songs from three different albums. Still, he hadn’t quite rocked out yet…

…which changed as soon as he tore into “Letters from the Wasteland.” For “Letters,” Dylan really seemed to get into it, putting emotion and a sense of foreboding into the performance.

The highlights of the show for me were really when they played “When You’re On Top” — aside from changing the tune on the chorus, it was a great version and done acoustically to boot! — and the fact that they chose six tracks out of eighteen from the Red Letter Days album, one of my all-time favorite (and terribly underappreciated) albums. Other songs, such as “One Headlight” and “If You Never Got Sick” would have made the highlights, if not for Dylan forgetting the words and singing the first verses and chorus a bit oddly, respectively.

This was how the show went — one exciting moment followed by an odd or off moment. For instance, Dylan forgot the words to several tracks, including all but the first line to “How Far We’ve Come.” The most disappointing aspect of the concert really was the fact that the band lacked a soloing musician. There was no lead guitarist and no keyboard player, so instrumental sections were filled with Dylan’s fingerpicking or Richling’s bass playing. Having a fourth musician on stage probably would have taken this concert to the next level and made it perhaps one of my favorite concerts ever.

Actually, the most disappointing moment of the experience was learning from Fusco-Moore labelmate Jeff Copperthite that one of his friends at work had actually met Jakob Dylan! Not only did he meet him, but he met him before the concert while having dinner at the buffet… that we had been at an hour earlier! I’m also pretty sure I walked past Greg Richling while looking for a bathroom, but I wasn’t sure and just stood there staring at him until he was out of sight…

In the end, I had a great time at this show. After their two-year absence from touring, I had begun to believe I would never see the Wallflowers in concert. But now I have seen them, and Dylan’s voice was in great form, the song selection was incredible (and even a bit surprising, considering previous years), and I won’t soon forget the experience. It was interesting to see Greg Richling, who has been a Wallflower since the days of “One Headlight,” and Fred Eltringham, who I was initially uncertain about, but who really warmed up and earned my respect over the hour and a half he was on stage.

Back at home, I learned that Jaffee left the band late last year and is currently on the road with the Foo Fighters. What does this mean? I don’t mean to blow his exit from the band out of proportion, but it marks for me a new era for the Wallflowers. With new concert dates planned for the Wallflowers and the imminent release of Jakob Dylan’s solo album, Seeing Things, the future is promising.

I suppose I’ll just have to be patient about the next Wallflowers album — whatever and whenever it will be…

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“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (U2 Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to Friday’s edition of #1 week. Today I bring you a new band to the sessions, and another great #1 hit.

You must live under a rock if you don’t know the band U2. Off of their album “The Joshua Tree” is one of their only 2 U.S. #1 hits, which is competing for longest song title. Again, I had to take out a bunch of the spacing to get the title to fit in Youtube’s field.

The song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” is a classic to me, since I have known it since I saw the music video as a kid. I loved the chorus and I think I annoyed my entire family running up and down the halls of the house. I have always enjoyed U2 for reasons such as Edge their guitarist, and Bono has an incredible range.

Speaking of Bono’s range, I originally recorded this session with me singing it an octave lower. However, I wasn’t happy with it. So I decided to sing it in the intended range. You can tell that some notes are hard to hit, but I feel that you will enjoy this performance more, despite the vocal difficulties I may appear to be having.

You will also notice my wife sitting in the background listening on the performance. She also selected the regular range video for you.

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 original 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!

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!

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“(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (Otis Redding Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Welcome to my second installment for Number One’s Week here at https://guitarbucketlist.com ! I’m proud to bring you an artist that I haven’t covered before — Otis Redding. This is truly a classic song that deserved to be a true #1 — “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” It’s such a simple song with really basic chords and fairly basic lyrics, but there’s just so much emotion in them. I could never duplicate the sound that Redding put into his studio recording (especially considering that he used a piano instead of an acoustic guitar…), but I really enjoyed recording this session. It was probably the most fun I’ve had recording in weeks; I spent about ten minutes playing along to the real version, and then I hit record and finished in a couple takes.

Once again, I hope you enjoy it. There’s a special “first” for me at the end of the video; regular viewers of the Laptop Sessions will pick up on it…

On a side note, speaking of simple but great music, I’ve been listening to the new Mudcrutch album non-stop since Tuesday, and I’m enjoying it a little more each time. It’s so cool to see not only Tom Petty, but also Benmont Tench and Tom Leadon with lead vocals on a few tracks. As a big Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers fan, it’s also cool to have a Campbell/Petty collaboration — it only takes one listen to “Bootleg Flyer” to figure out who wrote that one! My review will be coming soon, but I just wanted to spread the good news — there is good new music out there! (You just need to wait patiently and watch closely for it…)

Once again, thanks for watching — I hope you’ll comment and/or rate this video. And don’t forget to tune in for more sessions from Jeff!

See you next session!


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