“Good” (Better Than Ezra Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening, and welcome toThumpin’ Thursday!  I’ve got a brand new band to bring to the blog tonight!

The band is somewhat well-known, called “Better Than Ezra”.  They released an album that I have somewhere in my library called “Deluxe”.  On it was a song called “Good”, which is tonight’s cover.  It’s a very cool song that I actually never really understood the meaning of.

You know how there are songs that you really don’t “listen” to the lyrics?  This is one of them.  I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve long knew the words, but I never really bothered to figure out what the song means.  It wasn’t until I was reviewing the lyrics for the session that I realized it’s a “damn she left and wrote a note about it”.

This song is still a solid one from what I call “My Alternative Library”.  It’s going to be drawn from throughout the year, so you get to look forward to that.

I’m watching a really cool special right now on TV.  Apparently George Carlin has been posthumously awarded the “Mark Twain” award.  It’s a commercial free 90 minute special where multiple comedians are paying tribute and they are showing various clips from his television career – all the way from his very early Tonight Show appearances, Smothers Brothers set, HBO specials, and other things I haven’t seen.  It was on a channel called WLIW21, so if you get it (or have heard of it before), you will have to watch it.

George has always been a favorite of mine.  Sorry for the diversion from tonight’s session.  I hope you enjoy it, and come back next Thursday for what I hope is the first cover video of a great song!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“Good Enough” (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Cover)

For Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers chords & lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Wow! I can’t remember the last time I posted a Laptop Session video on a day other than Monday! Why, you ask? Well, if you’ve come to the blog over the past year or so, you may have noticed the weekly schedule posted above. It’s pretty clear that Mondays are my day…

Unfortunately, I won’t have Internet service at home until Tuesday evening, and I just don’t have the energy on a Sunday night to type a 750 – 1000 word review on my iPhone, even if it IS based on one of my favorite albums of all time. (Wanna know which album I’m referring to? Check back tomorrow at this time…)

So instead of posting the Weekend Review as per usual tonight, I’m flip-flopping the schedule. Tonight, I present to you for your consideration my acoustic rock cover song performance of a track from the upcoming 2010 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album “Mojo.” This is a big deal, as far as I’m concerned, since this will be their first studio album in eight years. That’s a long wait! Mudcrutch was good and I do love Petty’s solo work, but there’s just no substitute for a bona fide Heartbreakers record. It’s been a little over a year since I finally picked up a used copy of “Long After Dark” and thus completed my TPATH (as the band is referred to on their official website’s message board) collection. Just a month ago, I was thinking about how much I’d like to hear a new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album…

For a few days now, they’ve been streaming “Good Enough” on their website, and although it is heavily electric — bordering on jam band-esque in fact — I thought I might try my hand at translating it to acoustic guitar. While I had more fun playing it on my Washburn electric, I did eventually record it on acoustic guitar for tonight’s session. As you’ll hear, the song is pretty straightforward. Now, you might be thinking: well, so is every other Tom Petty song. The only difference is that this one sounds a bit different than what you’d expect from the band. In fact, it’s caused some disagreements between fans as to whether it is promising or foreboding for the new release. As for me, I think it’s great — fun, loud, and highlighted by a real killer lead guitar by Campbell. That being said, I certainly hope the whole album isn’t variations on this bluesy style.

I’ll just have to wait for “Mojo” to arrive…

That being said, I hope you enjoy my cover of this brand-new, yet to be released song, and that, if you do, you’ll take the time to listen to the real thing. And don’t forget to hurry back tomorrow for this week’s installment of the Weekend Review.

See you next session!

“Sunday Morning” (Maroon 5 Cover)

By Dave Patten:

Acoustic cover of “Sunday Morning” played outside on a porch filmed in HD.  Follow Dave’s musical career (he’s hit #1 on MTV.com): http://www.davepatten.typepad.com/

** EDITOR’S NOTE: **

For the second Guest Session in a row, we’re happy to introduce a new performer to the blog: Dave Patten.

His song today is a cover of “Sunday Morning” from Maroon 5’s 2002 debut release Songs About Jane.  This is a band that has yet to be seen on the blog, so it’s always good to include new selections like this.

Dave’s video may be a bit more meticulously filmed than our average session, but it is a live acoustic performance, and so it meets the core Laptop Sessions format requirements. We hope that this production only serves to add to your enjoyment of his take on this hit song.

Hurry back in two weeks for another all-new Guest Session!

“Set You Free This Time” (Byrds Cover)

By Chris Moore:

Well, after all the fun we had last time, the boys of The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog are back for another Triple Tuesday Special on guitarbucketlist.com. Jeff, the innovator for this event, called me up this weekend and I couldn’t resist!

Here’s my version of a great Byrds tune, “Set You Free This Time.” It’s from their 1965 album Turn! Turn! Turn! and it’s another Gene Clark original. He’s such an underrated songwriter, and I like him more and more every time I listen to his material. And “Set You Free This Time” is such a great song, it deserves to have all three of us give it a shot. The song is very introspective- I wonder if he was writing it about a specific someone, or if it’s just a feeling he had (or was thinking about). For 1965, it was pretty innovative- pop music really didn’t take that turn (turn, turn) until a little while later. Gene Clark always struck me as the same kind of guy that played the lead songwriter (Jimmy) in “That Thing You Do”. He wrote these sad, introspective songs. Then, they were turned into pop hits. But some were just meant to be slow and sad. I’m sure Gene Clark fought with his producers, as well. This song was featured on the second and last Byrds album Gene would appear on (in the 60s, at least).

Jim and Jeff posted their versions below mine so you’ll be able to take your pick…or, hopefully, listen to all three!

As a side note, I would like to thank everyone who frequents my videos. Just yesterday, I accepted my 50th subscriber on YouTube (who, of course, received a coupon, as promised by Jim), and today I’m up to 55. I really appreciate your watching and especially commenting both here and on YouTube!

I hope you’ll continue to check out guitarbucketlist.com as we update the site with new videos every day in 2008!