Keane's "Hopes and Fears" (2004)
By Chris Moore:
(May 10, 2004)
Review:
Any album that deals its catchiest songs before track three begins is an album that’s bound to disappoint; it’s not so much that these songs are bad — they’re quite good, actually — it’s just that they threaten to put the listener to sleep after a while.
Top Two Tracks:
“Somewhere Only We Know” & “This is the Last Time”
By Chris Moore:
Hi everyone. I wanted to write a brief note to reassure everyone that my decreased volume of posts the past couple weeks is no cause for alarm. Far from it — I want nothing more than to chip into the mounting number of posts that I have researched, rehearsed, planned out, and in some cases, started.
The school year ends a week from today, which means that I am officially in the grip of the craziest time of year for a teacher. Grading is mounting almost as high as tensions among students trying to get their grades up and/or keep them as high as they are in the face of beautiful weather and a desire for summer to begin. Come on, you remember those days…
So, I’m doing my best, but I simply refuse to rush through posts, particularly the Weekend Review articles. As soon as school’s out (for the sum-mer, as Alice Cooper might sing), I’ll catch up with some non-weekend installments of the Weekend Review. I know, I know… it flies in the face of all that is good and right!
But, rest assured, much more new and interesting material was on its way. For some, it’s a time to step back. For me, I can’t think of anything I would rather do than immerse myself in the writing of songs, reviews, and more. So, before I go, let me offer up some things to look forward to.
First, I’ll let you in on the upcoming Weekend Reviews. In no particular order, I’ll be tackling Bob Dylan’s legendary Bringing It All Back Home, the much lesser-known 2002 Phantom Planet disc The Guest, and Jack Johnson’s most recent release, To The Sea. The jury’s still out on if that one deserves the full Weekend Review treatment, or a more compact serving of “Yes, No, or Maybe So.”
Speaking of which, I also posted a one-sentence review. It’s not much, but it’s a little morsel to hold you over until I get back into full swing.
For now, though, I’m going back to watching the Jack Johnson En Concert DVD — which is excellent, by the way, and makes me like the songs from 2008’s Sleep Through the Static even more than I like them individually and much, much more than I like them as an album — while washing dishes. After dishes, it’s grading of some projects and then off to bed for me before my 5am wakeup call to the Star Trek: Voyager theme song. Yes, that’s right. You didn’t misread that. Seriously, though, I highly recommend it. I wake up much more peacefully and happily ever since I sprung for the ringtone.
Such a dork…
Okay, that’s all for now. Please be patient with me until school was out — perhaps as you were waiting for your copy of the new Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, Mojo, to rip to your iTunes.
Take care until then!
By Chris Moore:
Well, this just seems like deja vu too soon. Even though I just posted a video on Tuesday, I’m back with not only another all-new acoustic cover song, but also to bring an all-new band to the Laptop Sessions! And, by all-new, I guess I mean old… That’s right: for once, Jim’s not the only person to dig out a classic from the sixties!
This is my first cover of a Rolling Stones song, “The Last Time.” Today being Yom Kippur, I didn’t have to go to school, so I decided to sleep late, but record my cover video early. As Jim mentioned in yesterday’s post, I had a late meeting on Tuesday, so I went back to my Dylan reserves. Thus, I felt it was about time to bring in a new band. So, I gathered all the necessary items from my room — my Rolling Stones greatest hits CD, my laptop, my iPod, a pick, and of course my acoustic guitar. I sat downstairs and flipped through my iPod selections, reading along on the greatest hits CD. Even though this is an early song, my iPod was on shuffle, so it took me about fifteen tracks before I got to “The Last Time.” I immediately felt that this was the Stones song for me — simple, but catchy and right in my vocal range. After all, I don’t want to embarrass myself on my first Stones video… I’ll save that for a later session!
And I learned a lot about this song that I didn’t know before. I’ve always liked it, but I didn’t realize that it was the first single co-written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to reach #1 in England. It was only a little less successful in America, reaching #9. Reading through Wikipedia’s post about the song, I was interested to learn that the guitar riff (a Brian Jones contribution) running through the song was one of the earliest example of a song with a perpetually repeating riff. Also, some say that the song is based on the traditional gospel song “This May Be The Last Time,” recorded in 1955 by the Staple Singers.
My recording of the song was easy to learn and fun to play. I didn’t realize it at first, but following Jim’s mention of the three-chord song, I realized that this is also a three-chord song. For any of you out there learning the guitar, this would be a great one to try — it’s written by the legendary Rolling Stones, it was a top ten hit in both the USA and Britain, and you need only know the chords E, D, and A!!
Now, if I understand correctly, I won’t be back until Monday to bring you another new song. That will be Columbus Day, which is ironically another day that I will be off from school. Maybe that’s a sign that I owe you loyal viewers and readers of the greatest acoustic cover song and original music blog on the web another all-new band.
See you next session!
By Chris Moore:
I can’t believe it’s been over a year now since I compiled this playlist…
…but I couldn’t be happier to greet the warm summer days once again!
I first put together this 19 song sequence for Mike’s birthday, in honor of the fact that he loves driving to the beach. I went online to map the distance between his house and the beach, and made this playlist within a minute of the estimated travel time.
Now, it should come as no surprise to those of you who know either myself or Mike that this list is populated by multiple Beach Boys songs. In fact, I think the most difficult part of this process was deciding which Beach Boys songs to include, so synonymous is their music with summer and the beach.
The playlist has a great range of music, though, ranging from Johnny Cash’s take on “That Lucky Old Sun” to a track from Brian Wilson’s 2008 That Lucky Old Sun record, Warren Zevon to Weezer, and McCartney to Modest Mouse.
So, if you’re heading out to beach this summer, consider taking these songs along for your ride. After all, I not only gave this list as a gift, but I’m also a listener!
1. “Good Day Sunshine” – the Beatles
2. “Beach Ball” – Roger McGuinn
3. “Slip on Through” – the Beach Boys
4. “Venice Beach (Narrative) – Brian Wilson
5. “See Your Sunshine” – Paul McCartney
6. “Island in the Sun” – Weezer
7. “Girls on the Beach” – the Beach Boys
8. “Sunshine All the Time” – Jeff Foskett
9. “Pacific Ocean Blue” – Dennis Wilson
10. “Oceans” – Pearl Jam
11. “Catch a Wave” – the Beach Boys
12. “I’ll Follow the Sun” – the Beatles
13. “The Rosarita Beach Café” – Warren Zevon
14. “Sunflowers” – Everclear
15. “Summer Means New Love” – the Beach Boys
16. “Ocean Breathes Salty” – Modest Mouse
17. “Soulful Old Man Sunshine” – the Beach Boys
18. “Cold Day in the Sun” – Foo Fighters
19. “That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)” – Johnny Cash