Tag Archives: cover songs

“American Girls” (Counting Crows Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

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!



“Comfortably Numb” (Pink Floyd Cover)

Posted on by
1

By Jeff Copperthite:

What can I say – I just enjoy clicking the “add new category” button to the right of me when I write my posts every three days.

Jeff Copperthite introducing a new band to the sessions?  Again?

Yes! Yes! And yes!  Chris may kill me…

I am proud to introduce one of the greatest rock acts of all time to the Laptop Sessions.  I think they’re so great, that i’m going to be doing 2 more sessions from them for my next two.  In fact, if you request a song from them, I just might change the songs I have in mind!

Pink Floyd is the band today, and i am performing a song from their bestselling, multi-platinum 2-CD album “The Wall” called “Comfortably Numb”.  You may know that “The Wall” is considered a rock opera, and if you are a fan of any of Pink Floyd’s songs, or classic rock at all, you would do well to get your hands on this album.  This song is in the middle of the 2nd half of the album.  It is a slow song with two awesome guitar solos, and a spacy synthesizer.  None of those things are on this performance, however.  Just me and my acoustic, like usual.

I think I really did a good job on voice switching.  Roger Waters has many singing styles and uses two of them in this song – his evil, sneering voice, and his kind, smooth voice.  Not to mention the “scream” in the song.  I try to replicate that in this performance, but again – it’s one of me on the video, and its like 5 of him on the album.  That’s just how we roll here on the Laptop Sessions.

Remember, request a Pink Floyd song and I just might change my mind on my next two performances!

Come back tomorrow for (perhaps – I was wrong last Friday) a cover song by Jim Fusco.  By the way, congratulations to Mike on his first Laptop Session.  He really nailed that Elvis song – I suggest you look down the page a bit and watch for yourself if you haven’t done so already.

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 origianal 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!

The Laptop Sessions: “We have a lot of songs on this site” – an impromptu article by Jeff

Posted on by
2

By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to Thumpin’ Thursday!  I have a really cool song to bring you this evening, it is a favorite of mine and one i’ve wanted to cover for a long, long time.

The song is…

Well, that’s how I was planning on starting the post this evening.

But, for the first time in the history of this site, I finally fell for the fatal mistake of being part of a site w/ multiple cover artists posting on it.

I recorded a previously covered song.  A song that has been posted for some time now.

Funny thing is when I am going about my business figuring out the list of songs I want to do, I usually check the category of the artist to make sure that song hasn’t been done already.  Hell, i’ve even caught myself writing a song on the list that i’ve already covered, let alone one that Chris or Jim have already tackled.

But the more songs that get added, the more likely this mistake is going to be made.

By my guesstimate, we have just about 500 cover/original videos posted on this site.  When you get right down to it, assuming 12 songs a CD, that’s 42 CDs and change worth of songs on this single website!  Most of them are familiar songs – we don’t delve into the rare album cuts often for the sheer reason that most people don’t know them.

But yet, despite my best efforts, I did it.

I even did the song in one take – and it’s not a terribly easy song either.

I even edited it and slapped on the titles, filters, and effects.

I even started writing the article for it!

So because of this, you have been reading my thoughts.

To be honest, I blame the extremely busy week i’ve had.  The prom i’ve helped plan is happening in 3 weeks, and we start selling tickets for it tomorrow.  I have to revise and edit the planned format, and print them on cardstock in the morning.  I also have to correct a few more Physics quizzes (how fast do you have to throw a 2.4 g dime at a 3.0 kg piece of plywood, such that they have a perfectly inelastic collision and start moving at 2.0 m/s anyway?), finish correcting Earth Science projects, get ready to introduce the next (and probably last) Chapter in the course, since the Seniors only have 13 days left of class (excluding tomorrow).

Oh, and to boot I was at the Doctor’s for two hours today – but I’m not at liberty to say why.

Well, next week I guarantee I will cover, play, record, and post a song that has not already been covered.  Until then, I hope you have found some humour and light hearted-ness in this post.

Until then…

“With or Without You” (U2 Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to what feels like “just another manic monday” (damnit, I just had to quote the Bangles – shoot me now).  One of the busiest days of my…entire…existence.  And I still found the time to bring a session to you today.  Session-a-day must roll forth.  Getting right there to the end of 2008 will see the release of 365 videos between four performers.  Simply amazing that we are nearing the end of the year.

Ok, away from that, today’s session.  I have to admit, this is a song i’ve known how to play for a long time, and i’ve kept it in store for a day like today where practice time was small at best.  A hit by U2 from their album “The Joshua Tree” is the song “With or Without You”.  This song, similar to a previous session by Tom Petty “Learning to Fly”, features a repeated four-chord pattern that plays through the entire song.  Again, however, the original song is not based on an acoustic guitar so again, making it a Laptop Session is really interesting.

I did a decent job singing this one, but did mistime one word, and one chord slightly.  Since I imagine many youtube viewers don’t read the entire description, i’m sure i’ll have to filter out some comments in the near future about those very small mistakes.

Anyway, enjoy today’s session, and make sure you’re here tomorrow for 100KJim’s newest session!

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!