Tag Archives: fusco

“Polly” (Nirvana Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening and welcome to another awesome edition of The Laptop Sessions!  Tuesday is always a tricky day for me since I usually have school, then a couple of hours to practice and spend time with my wife, then my weekly Dynamis run.  We had a good run tonight, but then I get to post my performance – and tonight it’s a new band!

The band I am featuring tonight is Nirvana, one of the most well-known alternative rock acts of all time.  The song I am playing is from their awesome 1991 album “Nevermind”, and it is “Polly”.  It’s a sweet, acoustic number that is kind of out of place on the album.  All the songs have a grunge feel to them (perhaps not the last track, but the rest of them sure do), and this song breaks up the flow of the album, but in a good way.  It makes all the songs not sound the same, and I think the hooking tracks were all singles, which is why the album sold so well in the first place.

The band was fronted by Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in the mid-90’s much to the dismay of many Nirvana fans.  But that’s a topic you can read about nearly anywhere.

As far as me, I am nearing another viewcount milestone, and can’t wait to reach the 1/20 of a million mark (that’s for my students who say “I hate fractions”).  I’ll be sure to let you know when I cross that threshold.

It’s also my birthday tomorrow – another year added on to my old fart status.

Enjoy tonight’s session, and report back tomorrow for another awesome original tune by Jim Fusco!

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 Other Half: A Look Back at Ten (Officially Released) Jim Fusco Rarities – PART TWO

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By Chris Moore:

Last week, I brought you the first five in a list of ten Jim Fusco rarities in preparation for the release of his new album Halfway There this “new music Tuesday,” April 7th, 2009.  After all, there’s no better way to anticipate an upcoming release than to go back and enjoy all previous releases in a series.

In the case of Fusco, there has been quite a variety of musical projects over the course of the past eight years.  There have been six solo studio albums, three band albums, four releases (of 20 tracks each) in the Laptop Sessions acoustic mp3 series, a single, a greatest hits disc (with accompanying music video DVD compilation), and assorted demos, covers, and other tracks.  Now that I’ve officially finished listening to all the Bob Dylan tracks in my collection (almost 700!), I’ve embarked on my “Jim Fusco Catalog” playlist.

Clocking in at “only” eleven hours or so, this should be much easier to tackle than my Bob Dylan playlist!

For those of you Jim Fusco faithfuls, I hope you’ll enjoy the final five tracks on this second installment of “A Look Back at Ten (Officially Released) Jim Fusco Rarities” worth remembering…

A Look Back at Five More (Officially Released) Jim Fusco Rarities…

6)  “The Red, White, and Blues” – This is yet another album starter that I love.  It is Fusco’s first foray into direct protest songwriting.  Indeed, his March 2008 Laptop Sessions version stirred up some controversy in the form of comments left on the site.  It was nice to see that at least some people listen to the lyrics, even if they misread and/or disagreed with their message.  As he wrote in the blog post, this was the first and last “protest” type song of its kind.

7)  “The Second Time” – All I have to say is: this better be at the wedding reception!  In 2003, Jim recorded and released Formula, an album whose material was clearly inspired by his now-fiance Becky Daly.  She joins him near the end of this track, offering up a preview of 2/3 of the Chris, Jim, and Becky trio that would go on to perform around the state and release a “live in the studio” album.  While this isn’t necessarily one of my favorite Jim Fusco songs, it’s always been one of my favorites from Formula and — if it’s not “best of” material, then — it’s “top ten rarities” material.

8)  “Sideshow” – There are so many different tracks that were up for inclusion on this list of rarities — there’s the simple, piano-based vulnerability of “My Angel” or the folky storytelling style of “Vision of Cobblestone Town,” to name just a couple.  “Sideshow” earns a spot in the top ten for its unique sound.  There’s something about this track that is controlled and yet sort of wild; it’s one of those songs whose sound truly meshes with and contributes to the meaning conveyed by the lyrics.  In addition, as the penultimate track on What About Today?, it’s truly the point at which the recurring instrumental section comes to a climax before the first chords of “Harmony” and the close of this concept album.

9)  “Never Taking Your Chances” – This is one of those songs that benefits from my memories surrounding its conception, recording, and release.  I vividly recall my conversations with Jim about the situation that resulted in the writing of this song, and I recall the then-groundbreaking recording methods that he was pioneering.  This is a clear example of early blending between vocals and distortion guitar.  With each album, Jim’s use of guitar effects has become more effective and more interesting, and I can’t wait to hear his latest leap forward on Halfway There.

10)  “Another Backwards Day” – Speaking of guitar effects, “Another Backwards Day” is a track that I always felt was left forgotten about, sandwiched between the live favorites “Can’t Count on Words” and “Sometimes.”  This song is every bit as upbeat and rocking as the other songs around it, and it boasts a Frampton-esque series of guitar solos and riffing.  If “She Waits” (another favorite and one that ALMOST made the list!) demonstrates Jim’s softer, piano-driven side, then “Another Backwards Day” pulls out the stops and allows him to flex his electric muscle.

“Zombie” (Cranberries Cover

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good (late) evening to you!  It’s Jeff tonight posting (a bit late) with another…yes, another!…brand new band to the Sessions.  Lately all 3 of us have been on an unofficial New Bands 3.0 binge.

Tonight’s new band is The Cranberries, an Irish band (with another female lead singer – score another one for the Jeffster) and a song from their debut album (deep breath) “Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”  That is the last time I write that album title by the way.

This album produced quite a few successful singles including the song covered tonight.  The song is “Zombie”, which as far as song difficulty goes this is probably the easiest of all the songs I’ve covered to play.  The challenge was singing like Dolores O’Riordan who has multiple octave range.  I decided to sing the verses in key, but drop an octave to sing the chorus parts.  It allowed me to get a little more emotional with the song as well.

I would’ve posted earlier but our Sunday Nyzul Isle runs failed miserably – not because we didn’t succeed, but in 4 boss fights we won all 4, but were awarded absolutely nothing in drops.  Oh well, there’s always next week.

I hope you enjoy today’s cover, and come back tomorrow for another great acoustic cover song by Jim!

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!

“Innocent” (Jeff Copperthite Original Wednesday Video)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Wow, we did it!  What started as a “you know, we should just do a video per day for 2008” side comment from Chris has materialized into a 366 day marathon.  Naturally, Chris chose a leap year.  And for some reason, Jim & I have let him live through it all.

This is a momentous day and a momentous post.  Fitting that the year ends on an Original Wednesday post.  Today I bring you another brand new premiere song.  I know you’ve never heard it, because I finished writing it today.

Now that may be evident in today’s video.  I went through a few takes for this not because I messed up, but I couldn’t agree w/ myself on how the song should go.  The end result is a well-flowing song and if you listen intently it has a New Years’ message.

Speaking of which, I wanted to wish all of you a safe and happy New Year, and I hope that it brings you happines, wealth, and a whole bunch of entertainment from us here at guitarbucketlist.com.  As Chris mentioned in his previous post, there will be a lot more than acoustic cover videos going on at this site next year.

Tomorrow I will ring in the New Year with a reflection article and promotional video.  This way my Youtube subscribers will have to read the whole thing on the website, but they’ll know that something is on there.

One of my goals for 2009 is to get more of our Youtube crowd to visit our site regularly.  The sooner they realize the content is being added here rather than on Youtube, the better off they will be with our goings on!

I hope you stay safe, and I hope your new year finds you well and with those you love.  Cheers, and stay tuned for more from guitarbucketlist.com in 2009!

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!