Welcome to another edition of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!
Of course, The Laptop Sessions started partially because I loved Ed Robertson’s “Bathroom Sessions” so much. He’s so great on the guitar, it makes me feel very inferior.
But, I still love his music and I love to play it! This song, “These Apples”, is infectious and I was so happy I finally got a chance to play it.
Next week, we’ll be doing “Title Track Week”, but this week is anything-goes! Make sure to come back tomorrow for another great Session from Chris and check out the Blog at https://guitarbucketlist.com for Jeff’s most recent video, as well!
Welcome to your Friday edition of The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! After two strong Sessions from Chris and Jeff, I’m glad I can follow up with a song that I’ve been playing for a long time now, Barenaked Ladies’ “Brian Wilson”.
This song is very important to me, as it was the song that initially got me into BNL because a friend played it for me thinking I would like the Brian Wilson references. Of course, I did. But, I loved the song, too.
I now own all of BNL’s albums, have met them and got them to sign their latest (and greatest) album, and they are now my second favorite band of all time behind the Beach Boys at a permanent #1 spot.
I love the way Masters of the Universe did this song- I had the privilege of singing lead on their version. We did five part harmonies on the chorus. There’s a live version of it here on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rBfLk70vU
So, you have a song by my second favorite band ABOUT my favorite ever songwriter! Doesn’t get much better than that.
So, here’s my solo acoustic version- I could play this one with my eyes closed, so the performance is very smooth and comfortable, if I do say so myself! 😉
Let me tell you why I love Barenaked Ladies (the band, of course), the Beach Boys, the Moody Blues, the Byrds, and bands like that so much more than I like the Wallflowers, Ben Folds, and Dylan. I love all of their music, but I gravitate towards the first set of bands. You see, I love bands where every band member gets a chance to contribute. Many bands only have one front man and the rest are just background guys. Take “Matchbox Twenty” for example. Rob Thomas is the lead. Now, someone name another band member. That’s right- Thomas IS the band! Sure, there are other guys that play his music, but he’s the guy who writes the songs and sings them, too. If you take a band like the Beach Boys, you might think the same thing: “Oh yeah, it’s just Brian Wilson and a bunch of other guys.” Sure, that was kind of true before 1967. But after that, Brian faded into the background and the other band members (his brothers, his cousin, and a friend) had to take over. They all began writing songs. The best example was the album “Sunflower”. Every member had a hand in writing and singing on that album- it’s one of my favorites as a result. That way, you get such a great variety.
Enjoy “Brian Wilson” by Barenaked Ladies. It’s such a great song. And even though I couldn’t get the Jim Creegan bass solo in there, I still think this live acoustic version does the song justice. Stay tuned for more great acoustic cover songs from the Laptop Sessions music blog!
Hello everyone! Continuing with our last couple days of Christmas, we give you “Elf’s Lament”, a great song by Barenaked Ladies. We’ve always been happy with the way our live version came out, so I got the guys together to do a special acoustic version for the Laptop Sessions! This song was perfect for the band to do because it features vocal parts for three members of the band. Well, in this version, Mike isn’t sitting behind a large (and loud) drum set, so he got to sing the lead parts with the other three of us. I’ve always been a fan of songs where two or three members of the band get a chance to sing. Songs like “Two of Us” by the Beatles and “Walking On Air” by the Moody Blues (off of their amazing 1999 album, Strange Times) are great examples where you can hear all of the band members. And, my favorite bands are ones where each member gets a chance to shine.
Which brings me to the band that we covered tonight: Barenaked Ladies. Their Christmas album, “Barenaked for the Holidays’ is awesome. Four of the five (at the time) members wrote and sang lead vocals on songs throughout the album. That, to me, is the mark of a truly great band. You get so much variety in an album and that’s probably why I’m such a big fan of the Moody Blues, the Byrds, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys (after 1967). “Barenaked for the Holidays” features such classic songs as “Green Christmas” and Steven Page’s “Hanukkah Blessings”.
To learn more about our music, please visit http://jimfusco.com/albums.html. You can purchase our Christmas concert on either CD or DVD there. It’s jam-packed with 30 (yes, 30!) original and cover songs. I personally think it’s the best Christmas album you can buy for the money. I hope you enjoy tonight’s Barenaked Ladies cover song and hope you’ll come back for more great Christmas songs from the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
We finally come to one of my absolute favorite bands of all time: Barenaked Ladies. I originally got into the band after hearing their song “Brian Wilson”.
I have every album from BNL, know every word to every song–a real fanatic. I think Steven Page is the best song writer of my generation, even though he is about 15 years older than me.
This song starts off their album “Maroon”, one of my favorites from them that I played about 100 times in a row. This song is much more “electric” on the album, but I think it stands up well as an acoustic because of the lyrical content.
There will be PLENTY more videos from BNL to come, so if you love any of their songs, don’t hesitate to make a request!!
NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for enhanced video and sound.
