“Sex on Fire” (Kings of Leon Cover)

(Don’t wait to submit your very own Guest Session — submissions are being taken and viewed every day!!)

The video you’re about to watch pushes the limits of the Laptop Sessions format, as it features the abilities of not one, not two, but three performers.  Now, this is certainly not unheard of — MoU united about a year ago and performed four-man videos around Christmastime.  And when it comes down to it, what you’ll find is that tonight’s video includes all the essentials for a great Laptop Session — a predominantly acoustic sound, a great rendition both vocally and instrumentally, and not only a brand new song but also a brand new band to the blog!

So, what more could you ask for?

Tonight’s Guest Session players are The Frets, and they bring you a live, intimate recording of the Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire.”  The band Kings of Leon is a relatively new band, having started in 2000.  But, when you really think about it, they’re not that far away from their tenth anniversary — and one decade together ain’t bad, let me tell you!  The Beatles were together for less time…  They are billed as a Grammy Award-winning rock band, and although they are three brothers and a first cousin who hail from Nashville, Tennessee, they’ve seen about 80% of their album sales in Europe.  This is not surprising, as our Guest Sessions cover band tonight is based out of Scotland.  When they sent their video, they wrote very simply:

“Scottish band the Frets doing “Sex on Fire.”

I suppose they’d like their music to speak for itself.  On their YouTube Channel, there is apparently some news about a name change for the Frets, though.  Go ahead, read for yourself:

“GALLAS* SAYS: innovation not immitation.  Keep supporting GALLAS* in the coming 2009 AS YOU DID THE FRETS 2008.”

This is apparently on the heels of a change in lineup.  Well, regardless of the band’s name, we hope you enjoy their Kings of Leon cover song video tonight.  Hopefully they’ll send us another video once they’ve officially re-formed as a new band.

Thank you, Frets, and thank you all for stopping by to watch the latest installment of the Guest Sessions!

Jimi Hendrix’s “Valleys of Neptune” (2010) – Yes, No, or Maybe So

Jimi Hendrix’s Valleys of Neptune (2010) – NO, NO, NO

Jimi Hendrix's "Valleys of Neptune" (2010)
Jimi Hendrix’s “Valleys of Neptune” (2010)

(March 9, 2010)

Review:

What do you get when you combine an over-hyped title track, a boring instrumental cover of a Cream classic, three very pedestrian alternate takes of Jimi Hendrix Experience classics, and an assortment of other forgettable tracks?  (Answer:  One whopping cluster-cuss of a posthumous release.)

Top Two Tracks:

Listen to First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997) instead!  (Maybe “Hear My Train A Comin’ ” – or, maybe not.)

“Fire and Rain” (James Taylor Cover)

By Chris Moore:

Welcome back for another installment in the session-a-day project at the best music blog on the Internet! Tonight’s Laptop Session is from a new artist to the blog — James Taylor. “Fire and Rain” is his second single, released in 1970 after “Carolina on My Mind.” And now it is one more acoustic cover song to be added to the Laptop Sessions’ list of covers!

I’ve always liked this song, since I first heard it on a seventies compilation early in high school. This is actually a funny story — I was just explaining it to Jim last week…

Growing up, I didn’t listen to a lot of music. My dad had tapes of his favorite artists and a few compilation tapes, but outside of this, I didn’t really focus that much on songs or especially albums. Then, by middle school, I was listening to the radio religiously, especially the morning show on Kiss 95.7 — one of my favorite parts of summer vacation was being able to listen to 8am-10am portion of the morning show. As I began to record my own “radio shows” on cassette tape, I also began buying CDs so that I would have a wide range of music to present.

Thus began my vast musical journey. My first CD was an Elvis greatest hits that my parents bought me to go along with my first CD player. Then, I got into sixties music briefly. I had an extended seventies period, picking up greatest hits of the 70s compilations and — yes, I’ll admit it now — disco CDs. If you listen to some of the earlier Moore Hits in the Morning shows on WCJM.com, you’ll find that disco music crept into my choices for best songs.

Suffice it to say that I, just like most other people in the free world, did indeed grow out of that phase!

I collected and listened to a lot of eighties music, as well. All throughout these whims, I was buying contemporary music, and I’ve since gone back to the sixties — Dylan, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles — for the core of my favorite music artists.

I’m not sure that everyone goes through a musical education quite like that, but I have a good laugh when I really think about the way I grew into music and experienced a lot of different styles and eras over a relatively short amount of time. So, tonight, I dig back to my favorite seventies tracks to bring you this great one from James Taylor. I hope you enjoy it!

And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for yet another awesome acoustic rock cover by the man, the myth, the legend — Jeff Copperthite…

See you next session!