Tag Archives: chris

“Modern Guilt” (Beck Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Hello and welcome to yet another quality edition of the Laptop Sessions music blog, dedicated to bringing you the best cover songs on the web today!

Today’s acoustic cover is Beck’s “Modern Guilt” off his 2008 album of the same name. I have to admit that I wasn’t sure how I would like the album, which came highly recommended from one of my students. But, being in an experimental mood and curious to try it out, I went out and picked it up. Beck works with Danger Mouse on this CD, and it is the latter’s drum beats that really propel the album as a whole. I’m usually not a fan of artificial drum sounds, but I think that they really work for some of these songs. In fact, the reason why I think I’m okay with the drum sounds is that they sounded so much like real drums to me until I read the liner notes in the booklet. Now, granted, I’m not the best judge of sounds in albums, so it may be really obvious that these are fake drums…

For my tastes, the first third of the album is good, the middle third is excellent, and the final section is okay. “Modern Guilt” is track four and the first of my three favorite songs (tracks 4-6). Probably the most enjoyable part of playing this as an acoustic cover song is its beat and how it is fun to play in a staccato fashion with the strumming. Another fun aspect of playing this song as an acoustic version was that I really learned the words — I’d have to say one of my biggest criticisms of the album is that it has great lyrics… that I have a really difficult time understanding. It’s not that I don’t understand the lyrics themselves; in fact, I really like what these songs are about and how he has worded them. But, whether through his singing or the way the album was mixed, I have a difficult time hearing what he is saying.

Well, that’s enough about new rock music for today. I’m going to echo Jim’s post from yesterday and urge you to keep checking back as Jim and I begin to post our collaborative videos; he, Becky, and I sat down last week and recorded several group sessions that are certain to impress.

For now, you can tide yourself over by tuning in tomorrow for another excellent, all-new acoustic rock cover song from our very own Jeff Copperthite…

See you next session!


WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Millennium ‘Mayhem’ Show” – 2000

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By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

After the success of the two Christmas shows, Jim Fusco wanted to do another show, and soon.  He decided to do a show based on the new millennium, which was coming up only a few weeks after the second Christmas show.  The cast reluctantly agreed on a date to hold the show- January 1st, 2000.  The time was set only twelve hours after the millennium would hit, meaning that even though the cast would be tired, they would give another show a chance.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy.  Dave Perrelli, a friend of Jim’s, asked him to join the free Internet radio show.  This ambition came after he listened to the comedy Christmas tape when Jim and Mike went over Dave’s house.  Dave loved the tape and begged Jim to be part of the show.  So Jim agreed, and David became the fifth, and last member of the show.
Everyone was fired up for the start the new show and the new millennium at the same time.  The songs were chosen for their resemblance to the new millennium, including titles from Jim Fusco and Chris Moore’s song libraries.  New equipment was being used for the show, including a new Aiwa stereo with a noise reduction tape recorder, and a mini disc player playing all of Jim songs.  This new technology made the tape come out better than all the rest (sound quality-wise), but Jim packed the first side with so much music, there was hardly any room for leisure talking.  However, on the second side Chris’s songs were played with much more room between them, giving time for each of the hosts to talk.  But Chris had to leave near the end of the second side, leaving the four member cast to finish off the tape.  Dave begged Jim to produce the final minutes of the tape, and Jim reluctantly agreed.  However, this was Dave’s first chance at using the sound mixer, so the levels were off that times, reducing the quality of the final minutes of the tape.

But in the end, this tape showed the spirit of the cast of Moore Hits in the Morning because they, after a long night before, had come together to make this tape.  Even though Jim’s voice was louder that all the rest, using the headset microphone, the content and music of the tape reflected Jim’s main goal- throwing a millennium party Moore 94.2 style.

This is merely the first in a whole new millennium of side-splitting free Internet radio available from WCJM!

“American Girls” (Counting Crows Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Happy Labor Day to one and all!  I’ve always thought that it was interesting that there is very little “labor” accomplished on Labor day, but I suppose it’s more an appreciation and celebration of all the labor that is done on the other 364 days of the year.  Regardless, I’m not complaining that I don’t have to work on this beautiful, sunny day — what a magnificent first day of September it is, at least here in good ole Connecticut, USA!

And September 1st is not only Labor Day, but it’s also the birthday of my girlfriend, Nicole.  So, to help her celebrate it, I figured there’s no better way than choosing and recording a song for my music video today that she would love.  This is actually a song that I just played her for the first time a couple of days ago, and she immediately loved it.  “American Girls” is the second track on the Counting Crows’ Hard Candy album.  It’s notable for being one of two songs from this album to make the greatest hits.  Although it was a very mild hit, I think it’s a great song.  And I can’t believe that it took me years to figure out that Sheryl Crow contributes the background vocals!  I picked up this album used from FYE a couple weeks ago and figured that out as I read the liner notes.  It was definitely a “Duh” moment…

The album is one of those that starts extremely strong — the first four tracks are simply amazing.  “Hard Candy” starts off the album and the first couple lines are among my favorite that Duritz has ever written.  Then comes “American Girls.”  The third track, “Good Time,” is not anything special, I suppose, but I really like it.  And I love “Richard Manuel is Dead.”  Those first four tracks are a tour de force.  Then, the next few tracks slow it down, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it never really picks back up to the quality of those first four tracks.  So, while I like the album, I can’t really fall in love with it.  It’s one of those albums that, by track eight, you’re fighting the temptation to skip back to track one.

But, if you buy this album, don’t flip back to the first track without hearing the last track, “Holiday in Spain”!  It’s one of my favorite songs from the Counting Crows.  It starts off with just piano and Duritz’s vocals, and gradually builds up to a triumphant final verse and chorus.  For those of you who don’t know me, I just love it when a song begins with no drums or minimal drums, then really kicks into high gear!  For instance, that’s probably why “Pretty (Ugly Before)” is my favorite Elliott Smith song on From a Basement on the Hill.

Well, that’s enough music commentary for one day.  I’m off to have some lunch, celebrate Nicole’s birthday, celebrate Jim’s groundbreaking new purchase (I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it in his next post!), and try to get some work done amidst all the excitement…

See you next session!



“After Midnight” (J.J. Cale, Eric Clapton Cover)

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For J.J. Cale / Eric Clapton chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Okay, so before I explain my song choice tonight, I have to briefly address the music video I just watched.  I really do love music videos, and it seems a lost art.  Interestingly enough, it seems that the MTV show “Total Request Live,” or TRL for short, both furthered the popularity of music videos… and led to their demise.  I mean, what’s better than a show devoted to showing music videos?  Oh, wait — TRL, not unlike commercial radio, ended up circulating only about ten popular videos on any given day.  Oh yeah, and the show only aired clips of those ten music videos!  What?!  Who decided on this format?  No wonder they finally took it off the air!

To be fair, I heard that the show had recently adopted a more progressive format, utilizing online resources to poll viewers, etc.  But I stopped watching the show loooong before that.

Anyway, back to the music video I just watched.  I was on Yahoo and saw a link to Coldplay’s new music video for “Life in Technicolor II” — it’s a great one!  I was impressed with the overall progression of the video, as it documents a children’s puppet show that turns into an all-out rock’n roll concert that includes the puppet versions of Chris Martin and company playing their instruments, and Martin not only jumping around (hanging as though suspended in the air as he sings “Now my feet won’t touch the ground”) and crowd surfing.  It ends with them being picked up, in true rock star style, by a helicopter that exits the room by smashing through a window.  Which begs the question… how did it get in in the first place?

And this is wonderful…

…except for the fact that the Barenaked Ladies already did this!  Certainly, Coldplay’s video is not a plagiarism of BnL’s music video for “Pollywog in a Bog” last year (I wonder if they even saw it), but it seems odd that they did a puppet show so soon after BnL.  I guess that just goes to show how ahead of the curve they are.  If you haven’t seen these videos, you should definitely go watch them.  BOTH of them — it’ll be worth the six minutes of your life it will take!  (Just search on YouTube for “Barenaked Ladies Pollywog” and “Coldplay puppets”).  The BnL video is especially worthwhile, if only for the really cute animal puppets that look creepily similar to the respective band members.  Such a fun and funny video!!

Okay, so back to my video for tonight…

Those of you who regularly frequent the blog will already know that my goal this year is to tie every “Chris Moore Monday” in somehow with the following New Music Tuesday.  So, you may be wondering what a J.J. Cale song that is over four decades old has to do with new music…  Well, J.J. Cale is releasing a new album tomorrow entitled Roll On, his first solo album since 2004.  His most recent success was The Road to Escondido, an album recorded in 2006 in conjunction with Eric Clapton.  This was certainly not their first interaction, as Cale wrote the songs “After Midnight” and “Cocaine,” both of which Clapton popularized.  When I was growing up, my dad would often play his “Cream of Clapton” greatest hits, which included both of these songs.

Thus, it is my honor to bring you an old Cale track in honor of his new release, which (again) comes out tomorrow.  This song may have been written in 1966, but he’s still writing and recording in 2009 at the age of 70, and that is nothing short of amazing!

Don’t forget to rush back tomorrow for an all new Jim Fusco Tuesday…

See you next session!