Tag Archives: alternative music

“Better Man” (Pearl Jam Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you all! It’s Jeff Copperthite returning for another Saturday night fever edition of The Laptop Sessions! I’m back to school this week, and i’m sure if you are a student, or have children who are students, I feel your pain. Except mine is the “I have to get back into teaching mode” pain.

However, session-a-day must go on! We are nearing September, which means 2/3 of the year is nearly complete since we started this project. And not a day goes by that Jim, Chris, and myself mutter under our breath “What was Chris thinking?”.

But it will all be worth it – it already all is. That’s because you’re reading this, and have enjoyed nearly 200 videos from the four of us. I also want to thank Mike for jumping in with an awesome original song on Wednesday. Given that I haven’t been doing much writing lately, and Mike had expressed a lot of interest in doing an original, it was the natural thing to do.

Today’s song is one from Pearl Jam – a band that we have seen before on the sessions. I am covering another song from their album “Vitalogy” called “Better Man”. It starts out soft and gets much stronger and emphasized in the last part. This song received (and still does receive) much airplay on the radio.

I don’t feel this is my strongest performance, but it works much better than I thought it did while recording. Note to future artists – never eat a pack of Nutter Butters before recording a video. You’ll have to cancel it out with 1/2 a Gatorade and a Vitamin Water (“Water sucks – Gatorade is better”, to quote the Waterboy).

Anyway, enjoy this latest entry, and check back for your Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! edition with Jimnelious…er, Jim Fusco!

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!

“I Ain’t Losin’ the Fight” (Bryan Adams Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to an all-new acoustic cover song by an all-new artist to the Laptop Sessions music blog…

This is Bryan Adams’ “I Ain’t Losin’ the Fight” from his 2008 album 11. The story behind the title of this most recent album is that it is his eleventh studio album. Apparently, fans have started proposing other hidden meanings of the number 11 for this record, but he has been clear in interviews that he never intended any deeper meanings. I tend to believe him, as the album is as straightforward as can be. It is a predominantly white cover, the booklet illustrated with pictures of Adams against white backdrops. The eleven songs are a fairly straightforward set of new rock music tracks that you would expect from Adams. But this is not to say that it is simply a mediocre, plain album. I have really enjoyed listening to these songs and I certainly plan to record more acoustic cover songs based on his work this year. I’ve really fallen in love with tracks like “Oxygen” and “Mysterious Ways” in addition to this track I’ve recorded for tonight, “I Ain’t Losin’ the Fight” — they’re such simple songs lyrically, but they are catchy and I love the sound he gets out of the mix of the instruments.

I think it’s worth noting that Bryan Adams was included in a top ten list last week of artists who should stop recording new albums. To be honest, I tended to agree with the other artists who were listed, with the possible exception of the Who (Endless Wire — I mean the album and not the attached rock symphony opera whatever — really wasn’t as bad as some music reviews made it out to be; I thought it had some solid, enjoyable tracks).

The inclusion of Bryan Adams in this list is not so surprising, as he is an easy target for those who like to write about “important” songwriters and bands. He also gets looked down upon for being a Canadian rocker, I think, which is patently unfair. I’ve always wondered how you can dismiss a new music artist based on his country of origin — just look at how many incredible albums the Barenaked Ladies, also Canadian natives, have released. Regardless, I thought it was also unfair that this top ten list dismissed Adams’ previous hits — “Summer of ’69” and “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” — wholesale. If you ask me, this was a chance for the writer of the top ten list to make a pun, writing that if Bryan Adams really did hold to his promise of “everything I do I do it for you,” then he would stop releasing records.

Ridiculous.

I can appreciate a good pun, but 11 is one of the most fun rock albums of the year. Groundbreaking? No. Predictable? Okay, I suppose. But it’s just a solid rock album and can’t we be happy with that?

And now, without further ado, I’ll come down off my soap box and give my musical nod to Bryan Adams’ latest work. I hope you enjoy it and maybe you’ll even want to hear the real studio version after watching my acoustic cover song music video. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for an all-new session from Jeff…

See you next session!



“All Along the Watchtower” (A Bob Dylan Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Now, this is truly a day of firsts for me. Three firsts, if I count them accurately. In order of occurrence: (1) I woke up on my own, on a Saturday, at a decent hour, and got right out of bed. Anyone who knows me on any personal level to any degree knows how amazing that truly is. (2) Then, I recorded my Saturday cover video in one take, including rehearsals. When it comes to these cover song sessions, I am probably more of a perfectionist than I should be. Thus, I repeatedly practice and record the music videos until I’m satisfied I could not do any better. Suffice it to say that usually takes anywhere between five and twenty-five takes. Today, one!! And, finally (3) I came upstairs from FMP Studios to find Jim, having just woken up, in an excellent mood. This is nothing against Jim — and I’m admittedly a bear (not one of those friendly, cuddly ones you might see at a show with a trainer, but one of those angry, blood thirsty ones that attack campers and hikers without provocation ala the John Candy movie The Great Outdoors) if you try to wake me from nodding off during a movie, etc. — but Jim’s just not a morning person. We sat and talked about the music blog, brainstormed some new ways to improve our views and content, and then laughed quite heartily about bathroom humor, the details of which I’ll spare you.

All told, really not a bad way to start a beautiful, sunny summer day!

But let’s get down to business. My acoustic cover song for today is Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Ironically, you are probably more familiar with the Jimi Henrix’s cover version than you are of Dylan’s original music. And, even as a HUGE Dylan fan, I have to admit that Hendrix’s cover song is the definitive version. Even Dylan admitted as much — his live performances of the song still reflect Hendrix’s arrangement. That being said, Dylan’s original is heavily acoustic, so I felt that would be a better version for this acoustic guitar music video. So, I grabbed my acoustic guitar, dusted off my harmonica rack, and gave it my all. One take. Could it have been better, more polished? Yes, I suppose. But this is what the Laptop Sessions are all about — this is a snapshot in time, as though you sat down with me in my living room and I just played it for you, on a whim. I hope you enjoy it!

And, of course, don’t miss the unveiling of an all-new acoustic cover song from Jeff Copperthite — his next quality cover video will be posted here tomorrow…

See you next session!

**EDITOR’S NOTE: This video is no longer on YouTube, but please check out our other Bob Dylan cover songs here on the music video blog!

“Wish You Were Here” (Pink Floyd Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to your Saturday edition of The Laptop Sessions!  I promised a hat trick of Pink Floyd Acoustic Cover videos, and today I deliver the third in my mini-series.  This song is by request of our own Jim Fusco, but as I mentioned before this was in my potential song list for a while.  Maybe by the end of our session-a-day project I will get to the 4th and 5th songs I was considering.

Today’s song is “Wish You Were Here” from the album of the same name.  This is among the simpler songs to play, and the soft acoustic guitar riff that is constant in the song comes out nicely in this video.  I did freestyle the lyric timing a bit here and there, but it works quite well in my opinion.

I hope you enjoy my last video before I go on vacation #2 of the summer.  I will be doing my next two or more videos from our hotel room this upcoming week.

Oh, and as far as the homerun derby mentioned Wednesday…let’s just say my new sponsor is Hoover vacuums…because I sucked.

Stay tuned tomorrow to your Super Sunday edition where Jim will break out his latest and greatest acoustic cover song.  See you then!

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!