Tag Archives: chris moore

Announcing: end of the year WEEKEND REVIEW festivities!

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By Chris Moore:

To put it lightly, this has been a groundbreaking year for the Weekend Review and all its various off-shoots.  Featured here weekly on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog, the Weekend Review has gone “one-a-week” for what will be a combined total of 52 full-length album reviews by the end of the year.  In addition, there will have been over 30 “Yes, No, or Maybe So” one-sentence reviews, the “Top Five Rock Artists of the Decade (2000-2009)” five-part series, and various other one-off segments.

As 2010 draws to a close, it’s time to go out with a bang.  Thus, I am happy to announce that a music review list was posted every day for the rest of the year.  In many cases, these were in addition to other posts, such as the regularly scheduled sessions.  These lists will include the biggies like the top twenty albums and the top twenty-five songs of 2010, as well as lesser ranked items such as the top three debuts and the top ten music videos.

Be sure to check your LS Blog.  Check it often, as there are still six more Weekend Reviews, the New Music 2010 Special Report, and so much more before the year is over.

It all kicked off — fittingly — with the Best Cover Songs of 2010 list.

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A Christmas Music Catalog – Playlists on Parade

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By Chris Moore:

There’s a LOT of Christmas music.

As is to be expected, some is excellent, some is terrible, and much of it is mediocre.  Over the years, in a variety of formats, I’ve been exposed to a lot of Christmas music.  This year, I assembled all the songs that have survived over the years, and I’ve created a 340 song playlist for your perusal below.  This master list has served as the source from which I derived my “Christmas, Volumes 1-3” playlists the past several weeks.

I’m sure I’m missing some tunes here that are very meaningful to you, so I encourage you to comment below to recommend any tracks I should seek out for a listen.

From our blog to you, I wish you the merriest of Christmases and a happy new year!

CHRIS’ CHRISTMAS MUSIC CATALOG:

Alvin & the Chipmunks:             “Christmas Don’t Be Late,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”

America:                                     Holiday Harmony

Band Aid:                                    “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Barenaked Ladies:                         Barenaked for the Holidays

The Beach Boys:                        Ultimate Christmas

The Beatles:                                     “Christmas Time is Here Again,” “Everywhere It’s Christmas”

The Bee Gees:                         “Holiday”

Ben Folds:                                    “Lonely Christmas Eve”

Bing Crosby:                                    “Mele Kalikimaka,” “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” “White Christmas”

Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans,

the Crystals, Darlene Love,

the Ronettes, & Phil Spector:  A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector

Bob Dylan:                                    Christmas in the Heart

Bobby Helms:                         “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle”

Bobby Helms, The Brian

Setzer Orchestra, Charles

Brown, Clarence Carter,

Nat King Cole, Darlene Love,

Johnny Mathis, David Newman,

Lou Rawls:                                     The Jingle All the Way Soundtrack

Brenda Lee:                                     “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Papa Noel”

The Brian Setzer Orchestra:             Boogie Woogie Christmas

Brian Wilson:                                     What I Really Want for Christmas, “White Christmas,” “Little Saint Nick” (Web Version)

Burl Ives:                                     “Holly Jolly Christmas”

The Carpenters:                         “The Christmas Song,” “Merry Christmas Darling”

Chicago:                                     Christmas: What’s It Gonna Be, Santa?

Chris Moore:                                     “Christmas From Now On,” “Feliz Navidad” (with Jim Fusco & Dana Camp), “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” “Green Christmas” (with Jim Fusco), “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Moment,” “Must Be Santa,” “The New Year,” “A Winter’s Tale”

Chris, Jim, & Mike:                         Our Christmas Gift to You

Chuck Berry:                                     “Run Rudolph Run”

Copeland:                                     “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

Death Cab for Cutie:                         “Christmas”

The Drifters:                                     “White Christmas”

The Eagles:                                     “Please Come Home for Christmas”

Eartha Kitt:                                    “Santa Baby”

Eisley:                                     “The Winter Song”

Elmo & Patsy:                         “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer,” “Percy the Puny Poinsettia”

Elton John:                                     “Step Into Christmas”

Elvis Presley:                                    If Every Day Was Like Christmas

Emerson, Lake, & Palmer:             “I Believe in Father Christmas”

The Fold:                                     “Oh Holy Night”

Fountains of Wayne:                         “I Want an Alien for Christmas”

Frank Sinatra:                                     “I Believe”

Gene Autry:                                     “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)”

George Harrison:                         “My Sweet Lord,” “Ding Dong Ding Dong”

The Harry Simeone Chorale:             “The Little Drummer Boy”

Hawk Nelson:                                     “Last Christmas”

Ingrid Michaelson:                         “Winter Song,” “Snowfall”

Jack Johnson:                                     “Someday at Christmas”

Jeff Foskett:                                     “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day”

Jethro Tull:                                     “Ring Out Solstice Bells”

Joe Pesci:                                     “If It Doesn’t Snow for Christmas”

John Lennon:                                     “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” “Happy Christmas & Give Peace a Chance”

Johnny Cash:                                     Classic Christmas

Jose Feliciano:                         “Feliz Navidad”

Joy Electric:                                     “What Child is This?”

Judy Garland:                                     “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Lady Gaga:                                     “Christmas Tree”

Mae:                                                 “Carol of the Bells”

The Magnetic Fields:                         “Everything is One Big Christmas Tree”

Mavis Staples:                         “Christmas Vacation”

The Moody Blues:                         December, “Another Morning,” “Eyes of a Child,” “What Child is This?”

The Moonglows:                         “Hey Santa Claus”

MoU:                                                 MoU Holiday Party 2006

Nat King Cole:                         “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “The Little Boy Santa Claus Forgot”

NewSong:                                     “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

The Orioles:                                     “Crying in the Chapel”

Paul McCartney:                         “Wonderful Christmastime”

The Percy Faith Orchestra:             “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”

Ray Charles:                                     “What Child is This?”

Relient K:                                     Let it Snow Baby… Let it Reindeer

Ringo Starr:                                     I Wanna Be Santa Claus

Roger Whittaker:                         “Ding Dong Merrily on High”

Roy Orbison:                                     “Pretty Paper”

The Royal Guardsmen:             “Christmas Bells”

Simon & Garfunkel:                         “Seven O’Clock News/Silent Night”

Smashing Pumpkins:                         “Christmastime”

Spike Jonze:                                     “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth”

Starflyer 59:                                     “Christmas Time is Here”

Stevie Wonder:                         “Someday at Christmas”

The Temptations:                         “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: “Christmas All Over Again”

Weezer:                                     Christmas with Weezer

Wham!:                                     “Last Christmas”

The Who:                                     “Christmas”

The Wilsons:                                     “Hey Santa!”

More from the Weekend Review

“Laughing” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

So, in the middle of the second biggest, busiest weekend of my semester, I decided to record a Laptop Session.  A couple years ago, this would have been no surprise, but it’s been a long time since the “session-a-day” workaholic’s regime ruled this blog.

July 26th.

That’s the date I posted my last acoustic cover song music video.  I’ve recorded performances of original songs since then, but it’s been since before the premiere of Steven Page’s “Indecision” that I posted a true Laptop Session.

Back in July, I had based my cover on an acoustic performance by Page that a fan had posted on YouTube.  That pretty much sums up my working philosophy concerning covers: I’m not on a schedule so much as I’m waiting for the interest to strike.  Of course, I keep plenty busy in between writing music reviews and publishing playlists, as well as facilitating the Guest Sessions division of the blog, and I’m happier about my work here than I’ve been in a long time.

Still, there was an appeal to those days when cover songs were the sole focus of our efforts, and we were excited about expanding our repertoires at a breakneck pace.

That being said, I’ve learned fairly recently that the past is a nice place to think about and even visit, but I wouldn’t want to stay.

Today’s session is born out of how pleasantly surprised I was to find how much I like the Goo Goo Dolls’ early nineties work.  I’ve been a fan of the band since I first heard “Iris” on the KISS 95.7 morning radio show in early 1998.  I remember saving up my allowance so I could pick up the song the next time my parents took us out to the mall.  This being before I understood and appreciated albums, I picked up the first CD I could find with “Iris”: the City of Angels soundtrack.  (If I remember correctly, Dizzy Up the Girl hadn’t been released yet.)  This wasn’t a complete loss, as this is the disc that introduced me to other great songs like Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House,” Eric Clapton’s “Further On Up the Road,” and one of the few U2 songs I truly love, “If God Will Send His Angels.”

Needless to say, I fell even more in love with “Slide” when that was released as the follow-up single.  Looking back, I took this time period entirely for granted: excellent rock bands like the Goo Goo Dolls were on the radio all the time and their music videos were being played — sometimes at full length (gasp!) — on MTV.  To this day, I can’t listen to “Iris” without imagining clips from the video, like in the tower or under the over pass.

At the end of the day, though, I’ve always felt Dizzy Up the Girl to be an okay album and not much more.  There are some outstanding songs — “Broadway” became and remains my favorite song from the album and “Acoustic #3” is utterly, heartbreakingly beautiful — but there are also a handful of “okay’s” and throwaways.  Compared to other albums I was listening to at the time — BnL’s Stunt and Matchbox20’s Yourself or Someone Like You — Dizzy Up the Girl took a back burner, and I never bought a follow-up album.  By the time I was old enough to know about and be interested in back catalogs, I had left the Goo Goo Dolls behind.

Fast forward to 2010.  Something For the Rest of Us is released, and interestingly, my review of Dizzy Up the Girl could be duplicated here, with only the specific song titles needing to be changed.  (For the record, “Still Your Song” is in the running for my favorite GGD song and there are others, like “Sweetest Lie,” that I love.)  My friend Mike kept singing the praises of this new album, so I gave it another chance (thus falling in love with the aforementioned songs that I hadn’t paid more than one listen), but the result still falls flat in comparison with his enthusiasm.

Then, Mike, my girlfriend Nicole, and I saw the Goo Goo Dolls in concert.

Several songs into the setlist, something clicked.  I finally “get” the Goo Goo Dolls.  Unlike Third Eye Blind (another late nineties favorite of mine that promptly faded from my radar when I “got” them and consequently got bored), the Goo Goo Dolls have such depth and energy that I had partially forgotten and partially missed.  So, I set out to find albums from their back catalog.  The first two I’ve been able to find are 1995’s A Boy Named Goo (discussion of which I will reserve for a future post) and 1990’s Hold Me Up.  The latter is such a boneheaded album filled with boneheaded little rock songs like “Laughing,” but I loved it instantly.  Almost immediately, I began singing a quieter version of “Laughing” to myself, eventually figured out the chords, and have played it now and then over the past week.  Finally, I got the urge to record it today and voila!

It should be noted that I’m rusty and the consequences are as follows: I didn’t comb my hair, I didn’t think to hook up my new USB microphone that I’ve been using to mic sessions for my new album, and I absentmindedly dragged over the nearest item that would hold my cheat sheet at the proper level.  The results?  I look disheveled, it’s harder to hear me than it should be, and I smelled the vague whiff of cat poop throughout my two takes (turns out the aforementioned item is the cat’s poop bin, moved into the spare room while the bathroom is being worked on).

So, without further ado — and there’s been much ado, many parentheticals, and a slew of sidebars — I bring you my first authentic Laptop Session in over four months.  My acoustic arrangement is certain to drum up a compliment or two and a much greater number of grammatically nonsensical rants about my talent (or lack thereof) and sexual orientation, but that’s the only way to know I’m back on the blog!

See you next session!

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“The Wrestler” (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

(For the chords to “The Wrestler,” go here: The Wrestler Chords)

Hello and welcome to a brand-new week of cover song music videos here at your source for the best of the best — the Laptop Sessions!

But, as much as we like to brag, we really are trying every day to fill this site with a ridiculous number of cover song material — our daily video posts, chords/tabs to your favorite songs, and much more.  We even sneak in a Fusco, Moore, and/or Copperthite original every Wednesday or so…

For today, I’m skimming off the top of the new music / new album current events pool.  Tomorrow is the official US release date of Bruce Springsteen’s 16th studio album.  It’s been less than two years since number 15, so this is exciting news!  I think his previous album, Magic, was one of the best albums of 2007 and certainly my favorite Springsteen album to date.  Now, to be fair, I’ve only listened to his more recent albums, so I reserve my right to change my mind sometime down the line…

But, back to the present.  His new album, Working on a Dream, is coming out amidst a whole lot of Springsteen mania.  For one, there’s his upcoming appearance during the half time show of Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009.  Following in the footsteps of such classic acts as Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones (who were also called out ostensibly to prevent any potential wardrobe malfunctions that may befall a younger, female act!), Springsteen’s album sales are expected to rise directly following the show.  This is opportune timing, then.  Also, two months ago, he released a greatest hits album exclusively at Wal-Mart.  Now, I must admit that I was aggravated when I heard this in the news.  After all, Springsteen is famous and much-respected for his disavowal of corporate sponsorships or endorsements.

Then, as I read some more of the article about this, I realized that it makes perfect sense.  First of all, there’s the statistic that (reportedly) 15% of his recent CD sales have come from Wal-Mart.  Also, there’s the whole Super Bowl business.  I have to admit I can’t blame him and/or his people for pushing a greatest hits out now.  I’m typically disgusted by these sorts of 12-track, almost-all-repeat-tracks-from-his-previous-greatest-hits sorts of releases.  And yet, this is what people will be looking for!  So, as Ben Folds might sing — “You’ve got to give the people what they want!”

Also, the disc is only $9.99, and it’s a limited release item (not part of his official catalog).

I find this stuff fascinating…

But, to come back to tonight’s video, let me explain why I’ve recorded “The Wrestler.”  This is the title track to the film starring Mickey Rourke that has gained the spotlight during various recent award shows.  I have yet to see the film, but I had heard that this track would be a bonus song on the new album.  Thus, I set out to learn it, loved it, and had to record it.  For those of you listening to this song now for the first time, I hope you’ll like my version and want to hear the real one.

I can’t actually vouch for the new album, as I have yet to hear anything other than the song titles from the track listing.  However, I am ecstatic for this, the first new music release of 2009 that I’m really excited for.  I’ll be out during lunchtime tomorrow or as soon as I get out of work to get it.  And, who knows, I may just push myself to write a review tomorrow night.

Crazy?  I know, but that’s what this whole Laptop Sessions thang is all about!

Oh, and before I forget, don’t miss the chords that I just posted a few hours ago here on the site.  Now you can listen AND learn to play the song yourself!

Okay, I’m off to snuggle up with a couple of my dearest friends — one, the Fusco-Moore Experience copy of the latest Rolling Stone (complete with Bruce Springsteen, aka The Boss, on the cover — predictable?  I know, but I couldn’t care less!) and my stack of midterm exams that are ripe for the grading…

See you next session!

More Laptop Sessions covers