Tag Archives: chris moore

“Christmas (From Now On)” (Chris Moore Original Acoustic Song)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to a special Christmas Eve edition of your best bet for excellence in cover musicianship on the web — the Laptop Sessions home page!

For tonight’s video, I had initially planned on recording my original Christmas song “Moment.”  I have written two original Christmas songs in the past, and I already recorded the other (“Christmas Cards”) last year.  Thus, I began practicing “Moment.”  And I wish I had taken the time to record it earlier, because I really do like that song.  I take issue with some of the lyrics now, as I find them much too cheesy at points, but the overall feel of the song is one that I love.

Then, a song started coming to me.  And I’ll break my general silence on my songwriting process here, as there is such an amalgamation of influences and ideas that came together to forge this song.  First, you should know that I am purposely tipping my hat to the classic Christmas tune “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” with the beginning of my chorus lines.  Also, I used a chord pattern that Jim and I found to be recurrent in a lot of our favorite Christmas songs.  It’s a cycle of sorts with barre chords, starting with a major, going down two frets to a minor, then the lower minor on the same fret, and finally jumping back up to a higher fret.  Then, the same pattern is repeated.

In terms of what the words mean, I started off writing about my feelings about a very important person — my girlfriend of three years — who I’m no longer with.  I haven’t really resolved the situation, so there’s a lot on my mind and I think the emotion got this song started.

Then, I began to think about Christmas in general.  The past few years, I’ve really missed being able to spend the Christmas Eve festivities with my close friends.  Thus, the song shifted to be about reclaiming my Christmas traditions with my friends.

As the lyrics progressed and I changed lines, the song shifted again to be about my grandmother, who passed away a little over a year ago.  This is only my second Christmas without her, and I can’t understate how big a part she has always been of my Christmas.  As a kid, she and my grandfather would come over on Christmas Eve and we would have a really relaxing, enjoyable night — nights that I will forever remember with great fondness.  As a young man and up until last year, Christmas became an increasingly more important opportunity to spend quality time with her.  I don’t quite have the words right now in this format to describe what those days were like or what our relationship was like, and that’s what I tried to accomplish in the song.

Thus, I dedicate this song to my Grandma Moore, a person that I am truly better off for having known and grown up with.  I’m going to miss her a lot tomorrow, but writing this song really did help me to express some of that emotion.

As a final sidenote, I spent tonight at the second annual Fusco-Moore Experience Christmas Eve party.  I didn’t attend last year, but I figured I should probably attend this year, as my name is in the title and all…  According to Jim, the real reason I attended was because I didn’t have anything better to do.  Now, this may be true, but…  Seriously, though, tonight was really relaxing and fun, the food was amazing, I’m somehow still full from the multi-course meal, and thankfully, Jim’s mom cleaned the dishes.  It was a Christmas miracle, as far as I was concerned, that I didn’t have to clean them.  I always expect to, and there was more than double our average amount of dirty dishes tonight!  Thank you again, Mrs. Fusco!!

Jim, Mike, and I are planning a little get-together we’ll call “Mas Christmas” — or, for those of you who do not habla espanol, “More Christmas.”  I’m definitely looking forward to that!

For now, I’m off to get ready for Christmas morning.  It will be a full day, capped off by an all-new episode of TNA Impact! at 9pm in the Fusco Theatre.  And YOU will have an exciting new yuletide Jeff Copperthite video to look forward to…

Merry Christmas and see you next session!

The Deep Racks Report: “A.M.”

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By Chris Moore:

We’ve all heard the term “deep track,” used to refer to songs that do not receive much (or any) commercial radio airplay.  This series is dedicated to going deep into the CD racks to bring you brief but focused reports on ALBUMS that have not received as much commercial or critical attention as they should.

RELATED LAPTOP SESSIONS:  Chris – “Box Full of Letters”

A.M. by Wilco

This is an album that seems to get universally hated on.  It is Wilco’s first album, released in 1995 following the breakup of the alt.country band Uncle Tupelo.  All of Tupelo’s members except Jay Farrar became Wilco and proceeded to record an album of songs that sound very similar to Tupelo’s work with one significant difference — they sound somewhat more together, less raw than your average Uncle Tupelo tracks.

Reception?  Well, fans and critics alike appear to have agreed that Jay Farrar’s new band, Son Volt, released a superior debut album.  To be fair, I have only heard selected tracks from the Son Volt release and I do understand the inevitability of comparisons between Son Volt and Wilco.  Still, I haven’t been overly impressed with what I’ve heard from Son Volt.  (Please, send your letters and complaints care of Chris at Laptop Sessions!)  Yes, A.M. is a pretty simple rock record.  No, songs like “I Must Be High” and “Passenger Side” aren’t going to win any lyrical accolades with lines like “You’re pissed that you missed the very last kiss” and “You’re gonna make me spill my beer if you don’t learn how to steer,” respectively.  Even Jeff Tweedy expressed disatisfaction with the straightforwardness of the record, and he was among the first to suggest that this was Wilco “treading some water with a perceived audience.”

Okay, but it’s a fun record!  Anyone who is familiar with Wilco’s catalog now knows that, from the second album on, the band became progressively more experimental and interested in making great records.  A.M. is breath of fresh rock’n roll air!  Not until 2007’s Sky Blue Sky would their sound be as compositionally straightforward again, and as much as I love all the albums in between, isn’t the cliche “variety is the spice of life”?  I never skip these tracks when they come up on random and I continue to be drawn in by tracks like the catchy “Box Full of Letters,” the heart-breaking “Should’ve Been in Love,” and the haunting “Dash 7.”  (I’m excited that I finally figured out that “Dash 7” refers to, as Wikipedia states, “The de Havilland Canada DHC-7 [airplane], popularly known as the Dash 7.”)

So, contrary to the press it received, I would highly recommend you pick up a copy of A.M. today.  It’s not their best album, but who cares?  And please, for crying out loud, ignore the genre nonsense altogether — alt.country, country rock, rock’n roll, alternative rock??? — and just enjoy the music!

“No One Else” (Weezer Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

It’s hard to believe “new bands week” is almost over! It’s been a lot of fun — hopefully we’ll do it again soon before we run out of new bands!

My song for today, “No One Else,” is from my second favorite Weezer album, their self-titled debut known among fans as “The Blue Album.” For some reason, I had a hard time getting into the album when I first heard it. When I listened again about a year later, I really fell in love with its sound and energy. It’s about as close to garage rock as my preferences go… I felt this song translated easily into an acoustic version, and it was fun to learn a song from a band I have never covered before!

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the seventh day of “new bands week” — Jeff’s up again. And, of course, don’t forget to check back here on Sunday when he releases his new album Greenlight!

Foo Fighters’ “There is Nothing Left to Lose” (1999) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

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Foo Fighters’ There is Nothing Left to Lose (1999) – MAYBE NOT

Foo Fighters' "There is Nothing Left to Lose" (1999)

Foo Fighters' "There is Nothing Left to Lose" (1999)

(November 2, 1999)

Review:

Although this album somehow managed to rake in better reviews than The Colour and the Shape (1997), these songs — for all their potential and positive aspects — generally fall flat (i.e. “Learn to Fly” is wonderfully catchy but irritatingly repetitive; the outstanding “Generator” is marred by perhaps the most annoying guitar effect on record).

Top Two Tracks:

“Next Year” & “Gimme Stitches”