Okay, okay, so I know what you’re thinking: how could I have screwed the lyrics up so badly at the end of the song. You see, when I say, “That’s the real thing, ain’t it?” it should actually be “That’s the real thing, i’n’t it.”
Hopefully you can see past my error…
Seriously though, I welcome you to the Monday night Laptop Session. This is my first song choice in anticipation of a new music release this year — in this case, tomorrow’s release of Ringo Starr’s Y Not. Based on the quality of Ringo’s past several albums, I can only imagine that this oddly titled release will be excellent. There appear to be some promising collaborations with such artists as Van Dyke Parks, Ben Harper, Joss Stone, Richard Marx, and — most exciting — Paul McCartney.
I’ll be honest — the title does throw me off a bit. After all, can there ever be a good justification for a man of Ringo Starr’s age and stature to use Instant Messenger shorthand in his album or song titles? I certainly can’t think of one. And this isn’t the first time that Ringo has utilized such abbreviations. As you can tell, my song choice tonight was based on the fact that “R U Ready?” — from 2008’s Liverpool 8 — uses IM shorthand for “Are You.” I can’t tell you why Ringo made this decision when writing the song, but I can tell you that it is indeed a great song. It was fun and easy to play, and I got to break in my “D” harmonica. Ever since I started exploring the different keys in my array of harps, I’ve been having more fun than ever breaking them out and playing them.
I’ll have to think of another harmonica-ready song for next week…
But, for now, I hope you’ll enjoy my cover version of “R U Ready?” Then, consider taking a listen to the new Ringo Starr album Y Not, to be released tomorrow, Tuesday, January 12th, 2010. He has truly been on a roll these past several years, releasing outstanding records in 2003, 2005, 2008, and now a mere two years later in 2010. I know where I’ll be heading after school tomorrow — to my local Newbury Comics store for a copy of Y Not.
With Ringo’s recent track record, I ask you: y not?
This week’s Guest Sessions cover song post is a very interesting one, indeed. I honestly didn’t know what to think when I clicked on this link. Then, once I clicked on it and saw a young woman with a ukulele in her hands, I REALLY didn’t know what to think! But, once I clicked “play”, it started to become clear. Yes, someone actually pulled off a cover of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons on the ukulele!
And that’s what the Laptop Sessions is all about. My favorite videos we’ve done here are the ones that take a song (say from the 80s, like “Heart and Soul” by Huey Lewis and the News) and strip away all the dated production. That way, you just get to hear the song itself presented in its most basic form. That’s what Jenna did here with “Radioactive”.
No, the production values on the original version aren’t dated-sounding like stuff from the 80s, but if you’ve heard the original version of this song before, you’re probably as surprised as I was to see that there was a version done on the ukulele. It’s a hard rock song with a dark message. This video is truly a Laptop Sessions interpretation.
It also looks just like a Laptop Sessions video, doesn’t it? It’s a single camera of a person sitting on the bed, playing and singing by herself. It’s exactly like one of the original videos we did in 2007/2008 (and continue to this day!).
So, thanks, Jenna, for submitting this really cool video to us and I hope you all enjoy today’s Guest Sessions acoustic (ukulele) cover song version of “Radioactive” here on the best music blog around: The Laptop Sessions!
Hello and welcome to another week of all-new high quality Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video blog material! (Now, that’s a mouthful!) We’ve got an exciting week lined up for you regular visitors: one classic Laptop Session post each for Monday and Tuesday, another Phish Friday with Guest Sessions contributor Jeremy Hammond, the final edition of “Yes, No, or Maybe So: One-Sentence Reviews of 2009 Albums” (finally!), and of course, another edition of “The Weekend Review” on Sunday. And you never know what impromptu posts will surface to cover Wednesday and Thursday. For instance, I’ve got more than a dozen “Yes, No, or Maybe So” ‘s on the way soon, not to mention my “Top Five Rock Artists of the Decade” series that’s stagnated; it’s all a matter of timing.
April break is coming…
For tonight, let me begin by explaining my song choice. You may be wondering, “Pink? The woman? Really?” Well, as you can see with even a quick glance at the freeze frame below, I’ve recently undergone a serious haircut. As part of the NHHS English dept. team, I participated in the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser to fight children’s cancer last Wednesday. I’m not going to lie: it was a bit scary. For one thing, I’ve never had my hair this short. For another, I’ve had issues with my scalp being dry and itchy for years, so I didn’t know what it would look like once the hair came off. Thankfully, all went well. After the event, my team went out to Harry’s Sports Bar & Grill, which a few of us thought was fantastic — I mean, come on, that’s a Dr. Keck-sized pun (watch it!) waiting to happen.
We must have looked like a band of skinheads, based on the looks we elicited from the weekday crowd…
Back to the music. Weeks ago, I knew that this would be coming up. I realized that it coincided with the season premiere of the AMC original show Breaking Bad that Dana got me hooked on last year. I took the time to look up the music that has been used on the show over its first two seasons, and I found several songs that I liked. The wildest one, I thought, was Pink’s “Trouble.” If I could pull off an acoustic cover of that song, now that would be fun. I learned it that day, and I forgot about it until earlier this weekend. I can’t tell you how weird it was to take a Pink song seriously, but I have a newfound respect for at least this song. It’s a pretty straightforward number, and it was fascinating to me just how easily I translated it to a solo acoustic performance.
I hope you enjoy the product!
In other Laptop Sessions news, I finally went back to my “Yes, No, or Maybe So: One-Sentence Reviews of 2009 Albums” post. I hadn’t updated it since September 2009, so I figured it was about time I finished it off. My main reason for neglecting it for so long was that I realized mid-way through last year that it would make more sense to publish each review as its own post. I’ve been doing that since 2010 kicked off, and it’s been so much more fun than the old system. I not only added the new 2009 albums I listened to since the previous update, but I also went back through the existing entries and adapted them to the slightly new rating system I’m using now. Essentially, each “Yes, No, or Maybe So” review has five components: the rating, the release date, the one sentence review, the top two tracks, and an image of the album cover. I didn’t go back through and add cover images for all 30 or so albums, but I did match them to my new rating system. Under this easy system, an album can receive one of five scores: Yes, Maybe So, Maybe, Maybe Not, or No. This is in line with the classic five star rating system that I use for the Weekend Review. Over the past several months, I’ve been reconsidering my older reviews. The more I listen and write reviews, the more I want the perfect “Yes” to be an elusive rating, a true five star record. Before I added the “Maybe” as an option, I found that there were simply too many “Maybe So” entries that didn’t quite deserve that score, but weren’t in the “Maybe Not” range either.
Long story long, it seems that there is a learning curve to be expected with all things.
Outside of the head shaving and blog posting, life has been good recently. Busy, to be sure, but good. I’m still deep in the middle of a Star Trek: Voyager viewing marathon with Nicole, and I couldn’t be happier to indulge my dorkier tendencies. I’ve also been busy musically in a couple different ventures. The first is my next album, titled simply The 2010 Project for now, that I’m only just now taking seriously. After almost four years since Love Out of Fashion, I decided it was about time I took some ownership of my next project. So, I’ve polished and restrung my acoustic and electric guitars, borrowed my sister’s bass guitar, and taught myself how to use loops in GarageBand. There are only two missing pieces that I am in the process of researching: first, a guitar pedal to replace my Zoom pedal (lost to battery acid damage…) and second, a good USB microphone to record vocals, harmonica, etc. I’ve had such an itch to record recently that I’ve been playing around with demo versions of some of the fully written songs.
I’m excited that they don’t sound nearly as cheesy as my previous attempt at synthesized drums on Looking For You‘s “Shut Up, Bob”!
Outside of the recording, I’m still deciding which songs will make the cut, what concept/theme I think should drive the record, and I’m still writing verses, middles, and lyrics to finish off several songs that have been incomplete for days, months, or even years.
My other project involves the band I’ve jammed with on and off since I first started teaching. This go-round, there are five of us — a lead guitarist, me on rhythm (electric!), a keyboardist/harmonica player, a bass player, and a drummer. They’re all terrific musicians, so I definitely feel like I need to be on my toes constantly. Specifically, we’ve been practicing to play two songs for the Teacher Talent Show this Thursday: a parody of Bob Marley’s “Jammin'” (based on the challenges of using the Xerox copier at school) and a parody of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” I haven’t really rocked out since MoU’s last show, so being up on stage Friday to rehearse was great. We’re playing in the school’s beautiful theatre, and my bandmates have furnished us with some powerfully loud amps. We jammed on each song for about fifteen minutes straight last Friday, and I played “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” until I thought my left hand was going to fall up and all the muscles in my arm would snap. Any guitarist who’s played rock music knows that this discomfort is all code for having a great time!
So, at long last, I’ll leave you to my cover song music video for the week. As for me, I’m off to the BK Lounge to kick off TNA night part two (after last night’s very entertaining PPV).
This isn’t an acoustic cover as the previous ones that I used to submit here…
I played this song with my electric guitar with a light distorsion and I hope it does sound good! This is a great song from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars by David Bowie (1972).
** EDITOR’S NOTE: **
I have a reason to be personally excited about this song — a while back, I recorded my first David Bowie cover, of “Hang on to Yourself.” That song is the one that precedes “Ziggy Stardust” on the aforementioned 1972 album.
Now, thanks to Federico, we’re happy to present the title track of the album, a song that ranked in the middle of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Best Rock Songs list recently. As usual, Federico has done an excellent job of stripping a song down to its basic elements, and electric guitar was a great choice for this one.
As a final note, I’m very happy to be able to promise you some great Federico Borluzzi sessions in the coming weeks and months, as I’ve recently built up several songs in reserve.
So, without further ado, enjoy this one and be sure to hurry back for more!
