By Jim Fusco:
Sometime during the day on Friday, I reached the 20,000 views plateau on YouTube! To tell the truth, I’m not overjoyed, as many YouTube single videos have well over that number. But, it definitely gives me hope that I may hit my goal of 100,000 views halfway through 2008. Thank you to all who’s watched so far and please go back and give another listen! 🙂
By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to another “new bands week” edition of the Laptop Sessions! Today’s song comes from a band that’s anything but “new”, but since I haven’t played a song from them before, I figured this would be the week to bust one out! That band is the Monkees, and they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. The Monkees were the soundtrack to my early life. Remember when they started playing the reruns of the TV show back in the late 80s? Well, I used to watch it then and also listened to their Greatest Hits collection constantly. I always gravitated to the music of Michael Nesmith, probably because he was a songwriter and musician. The songs that Davy Jones sang were almost always cover songs or songs that were written for the Monkees’ TV show.
Tonight’s acoustic cover song, as I’ve mentioned before, ranks as my second favorite song of all time, right behind “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” by the Byrds. But, if you listen to this song and the Byrds song, you’ll hear that they’re very similar. They both have pretty much the same chords, and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” wins because of its great guitar solo and its harmonies. And, the songwriter of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, Gene Clark, was very similar to Mike Nesmith. The both were the first ones to leave their bands. They wrote the melancholy songs of the group with a bit of country-rock flair. And they were by far and away the best songwriters of their groups. I think it’s pretty funny that I gravitate so much towards such similar musicians like them. I wonder if I share any of those characteristics (or at least THINK I do…).
“You Just May Be The One” is the song I play for people when I get the tired old “the Monkees didn’t write their own songs or play their own instruments” line. Well, on this song, they did both. In fact, on the entire “Headquarters” album, they did both. These guys were very talented and don’t get a lot of credit for that. Of course, everyone knows that the band was manufactured for the TV show only. This “band” was never supposed to happen. But, I think the band worked hard over the years to prove their worth as musicians.
I hope you’ll agree that this is one of the best songs of all time. I’m very happy to add it to my collection of cover songs here on the video blog. And let me be the first to welcome the Monkees to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music blog for Monday! I’m back with a video that’s not only one of my best performances (if I do say so myself) but one of my favorite tunes. This song, “If This Is It”, is an underrated song and Huey Lewis and the News are a very underrated band.
I think Huey Lewis loses points in many reviewers’ minds because he doesn’t write the songs he sings. But, there are members of his band (you know, the News!) that write the songs he sings. It’s kind of like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons thing. So, when you look at the band in that light, Huey Lewis is just a really cool guy and a good singer, too! I love the style of their songs- it’s kind of like my music, but back in the 80s. You can tell that the songwriters loved a bygone era of music (especially with the doo-wop style of “If This Is It”) but updated it for the times. Obviously, “If This Is It” wouldn’t have sounded right in 1956, but somehow the song gives off that vibe while still sounding fresh…for 1983, that is…
The whole “Sports” album is very entertaining to me. I know songs like “The Heart Of Rock & Roll” have actually been put on “Worst Song Ever” lists in the past, but I’ve always liked that tune! Plus, “Heart and Soul” is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. And, you’ve even got the song that was stolen for the Ghostbusters theme song in “I Want a New Drug”! If you’re into music from that era, please give “Sports” from Huey Lewis and the News a shot. You’ll be glad you did!
“If This Is It” wasn’t the easiest song to learn- the chord changes and the special strumming pattern made it a tough one to get correct while singing. But, the singing wasn’t too easy, either. I recall messing up near the end of the song on a couple of occasions. Why? Because Huey Lewis had (and still does) an amazingly powerful voice. Of course, he wasn’t playing guitar at the same time during his performances!
I always thought this would be the perfect album closing song. It just has that “ending” feel to it, even though it’s not a slow song like most albums feature at the end. The sentiment here is that a person knows all of the telltale signs of a relationship ending are there and that person wants the truth. But, what makes this song great is the hesitation- yes, he may know it’s over, but he still doesn’t like that fact. He knows he should save himself from more heartache, but he wants her to be the person to break it off.
I hope you all enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song, played on my nylon stringed acoustic guitar, as our week of brand-new bands to the Laptop Sessions continues! This Huey Lewis and the News song is one of my favorites and I knew it would be a great pick for another cover song music video here on the best music blog around: The Laptop Sessions!
By Jim Fusco:
A big day for me today, as I got notice that I now have 50 subscribers to my YouTube videos! Now, considering I only know about 5 people personally out of that 50, that’s pretty darn good.
As a gift for my 50th Subscriber, I gave him a $5 coupon to the Fusco-Moore Productions Store that he can use towards anything, with no minimum! And, when I get my 100th subscriber, that amount will go up to $10. The amount will CONTINUE to go up from there!
I think Jeff and Chris will also want to participate in this, so as soon as they hit the 50 mark, I’ll be sure to make a special coupon code just for their 50th subscriber!
On another note, this week, I plan on announcing that my videos have hit a total of 20,000 views! Not quite yet, but I’ll write again once it happens. Viva los Laptop Sessions!!