Tag Archives: fusco

“Astronomy” (Blue Oyster Cult Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you, and welcome to your newest addition to The Laptop Sessions library!  It’s Jeff here bringing you a somewhat surprising song.  One can make the argument that we have not covered a band like this on this site.  But I hope that, if you never have heard of Blue Oyster Cult before (BOC), that you will enjoy this cover video.

BOC is the topic today (another new band!  I guess we had like New Bands 3.0 this week or something) and I have a great song by them from 1974.  Now if you don’t know who this band is, I will tell you a song that will instantly make you say “oh that’s who you’re talking about” – that song is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”.  Yeah, they wrote that song.  It was also the same song that was being portrayed as recorded in an SNL sketch, where the now famous line was uttered by Christopher Walken – “needs more cowbell”.

Well, tonight I am not covering that song – but I am learning how to play it and I will be recording it before the year is out (may save it for a Thumpin’ Thursday – it is an awesome song).

Today I have a song from their 1974 album “Secret Treaties” titled “Astronomy”.  This song has a nice soft feel to it, and a completely kickass solo from their lead guitarist Buck Dharma.  Eric Bloom is their lead singer, and I discovered I can emulate his voice quite well.  Therefore, you’ll notice that my voice is a little different in this session.

I was introduced to this song because I heard a version of this song by Metallica from their 1998 covers album “Garage, Inc.”.  I decided I wanted to stay true to the original BOC version, so if you’re comparing this cover to the Metallica cover, you will notice quite a few differences between them.

For the performance, I tend to be a bit more “forgiving” of myself when the song is long.  This song’s recorded version clocks in at nearly 7 minutes.  I cut out a lot of the last “solo” time so that I would not have to play near-perfect guitar for 7 minutes.  The arpeggiated parts that I play in the song are not as clean as i’d like them to be.  But if I ever wanted to finish recording this video and upload it on time, I had to allow a minor glitch here and there.  I actually think this is one of my better singing performances, however.  I hope you feel the same way.

I am glad I was able to bring a new band your way this evening, and on Monday, i’ve got another new band – heck, let’s make it 4 new bands in a row by me by making next week’s Thumpin’ Thursday a new band as well!

Tomorrow Jim will return to his library of cover songs and lay another on us.  Come back for that – you know I will!

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!

“Sleepwalker” (Wallflowers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

And now for something more familiar to me. Another Wallflowers cover!

This song is from their album “Breach” and is called Sleepwalker. It is a single, so I expect this song should be familiar to most of you Wallflowers fans. It is an extremely catchy song, especially with the claps in the chorus. Now, I don’t know about you, but I “hear” the claps in this video, but I didn’t clap at all.

I did this video on the 7th take, and despite a wrong chord in the last chorus, I kept it because it was the first time I sang the right chorus at the right time throughout the entire song.

However, with the Laptop Sessions, we give you a new video every day! Look out tomorrow for Jim’s next video as he indulges us into yet another wonderful song from his collection.

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!

“All I Have To Be” (Acoustic Guitar Music)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Back for another installment of “Original Wednesday” is a tune that I haven’t written, but I have a lot of experience with.

This song is by my bandmate Scott Poglitsch (of Quilt, as read about on Fusco-Moore Productions). It is a very upbeat and positive song that I like to play a lot. It has a catchy chord progression that I instantly liked when I first heard it.

I did this one on Windows Movie Maker, complete with a web page splash and title effects. Too bad the program couldn’t improve my singing voice 🙂

Enjoy this one please. I hope to do another cover Friday.

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!

“Ripple” (Grateful Dead cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to an all-new season of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!  This time around, I’m bringing you a mix of cover songs and a selection of original music.  There will be original songs from my past albums, as well as my upcoming album, “Those Around Us”.  The whole album is mixed and pre-mastered…at least my first crack at it.  After that, I need to secure the album cover (hopefully another painting like “Halfway There”) and get the album professionally mastered.  It’s very exciting and I can’t help but draw parallels to the creativity and experimental style that I used on my second album, “My Other Half”.  If you haven’t heard “My Other Half”, you can listen to the whole album on my website for free!  Just click here to listen.

“Those Around Us” is not really a concept album like “My Other Half”.  With “My Other Half”, I wrote the album around the concept.  With “Those Around Us”, I just realized that I wasn’t writing about me, for a change.  I was writing about the people around me- the people I know and care about- and my interactions and feelings about them.  I’m convinced that this is my best effort yet- the best production value, songwriting quality, lyrics, vocals, and most of all- musicianship.  Plus, my brother Mike plays the drums on a few tracks, just like the old days.

I will try to update the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog as often as I can with new updates, but for the most part, I just update my official Twitter account @jimfuscomusic.  Remember, if you follow me on Twitter, I’ll send you a link where you can download five of my songs for free!

One more thing- you’ll notice the new “set” for my acoustic cover song music videos.  Since my new home studio is complete, I wanted to record my videos in front of my guitar collecxion, which proudly hangs on the wall behind me. 🙂

Onto tonight’s video- the first video this season!

Grateful Dead (or “The Grateful Dead”, as most people call them) have really become one of my mainstay bands.  I look forward to getting the rest of their studio stuff.  I know it’s weird- most Dead Heads love the band for their versatility on stage over thousands of concerts and bootlegs.  But, my love for the band started after getting a Best Of CD with all of their studio tracks.  They combine my favorite elements of a band- harmonies, guitar solos, and most of all: multiple songwriting band members!  I’m so happy my friend Bill turned me on to Grateful Dead a couple years ago.  I’m so excited to have another band I can explore.

Tonight’s video, “Ripple”, was written by Jerry Garcia (and a lyricist, as you can tell these aren’t the poetic words of Jerry…).  I’ve always liked this song, though it seemed out of place as the last track on that Best Of CD I have.  I guess this song was a mild hit (they never really had any big chart hits- they must’ve played these songs on early FM radio, where the Moody Blues and ELO would dominate the airwaves).  In fact, my father, who always has strong opinions of music, says this is his favorite Grateful Dead song, and I can see why.

It’s a nice melody and the lyrics instantly take you to the shores of a southern US river- I can see myself sitting on a rock with my Martin, gently playing this song.  I thought of doing this video when I heard it again at my sister-in-law’s wedding a couple weekends ago.  Both my wife and I were part of the wedding, as my (now) brother-in-law and I have become very good friends over the past few years.  Instantly, I thought doing “Ripple” would be a great tribute video to do for their new marriage and I hope I did the song (and their marriage, for that matter) justice.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s video, too!  I’ll be back every other Thursday for at least the next three or four months, as I’m really dedicated to making new music online while finishing my album.  I want everyone to listen to “Those Around Us” and (if the ambition carries me) I’ll stop at nothing to make that happen.  I’d love to hear your opinion of this song, my performance, and what your favorite Grateful Dead songs are in the comments section or on YouTube.  Thanks to all for your support as I begin my fifth year of the Laptop Sessions!