Tag Archives: fusco

“I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” (Byrds Cover)

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Here on the Laptop Sessions, I give you my favorite song of all time: “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” by the Byrds. Gene Clark, the writer of this song, wrote MANY great songs over his career, and you’ll be hearing a lot of them on the Laptop Sessions in the months to come. But, this song is just PERFECT to me, and here’s why:

It’s got everything I love in a song. It’s got a great guitar sound (courtesy of Roger (Jim) McGuinn), a cool riff, great words, chorus harmonies, and a killer jangly guitar solo. I love everything about this tune and hopefully I’ve done this song justice.

Of course, in order for me to give the song the respect it deserves, I recruited Chris Moore ( http://www.youtube.com/user/chrismooremusic ) to help me with harmonies and rhythm guitar.

So, I hope everyone enjoys this version. I’ll be playing one of my other favorite songs in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

Songwriter Video Blog Update – Where the #*%& is Jeff?

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By Jeff Copperthite:

I hope you haven’t thought ill of me in the past month.

For some reason, the holiday season tends to be the busiest for me. I got the chance to see a lot of family on both my side and my wife’s side, so that is always a positive. I even got a chance to have some of my family listen to FMP’s music. My Quilt bandmate Scott even got compared to Bob Dylan. I find that quite complimentary.

If you’re reading about me, you’re probably asking 2 or possibly 3 questions which i’d like to answer right now.

1) How is Greenlight going?

The recording is going slow, but that is because I want my first official solo effort to be the best I can possibly do. It took me 3 weeks to record “What not to do”, which you now hear in the FMP frontpage player. I went through a lot of takes in most of the instruments, and some of my previous entries dealt with how tough some of those parts were. However, you can tell how much work went into it. I’m very proud of that recording. I am in the middle of finishing up guitars for another song, which i’m still debating the title of. Another song i’m ironing out the lyrics too, and has yet to meet my recorder. I also plan to pull out an oldie from my MIDI library and record it as well. In all, I plan on having 2 instrumentals and 7 vocal songs on the EP. 5 of those vocal songs are primarily finished, while i’m working on the 6th and 7th as mentioned above. If all goes well I plan on finishing primary recording within the next two weeks. It is an optimistic goal, but I know a lot of people who can’t wait to hear it. At the same time, i’m not trying to rush it and if I need more time I will make sure to take it.

2) Where have you been in the Laptop Sessions?

To tell you the truth, I was not all impressed with my $20 webcam and the video it put out. It took forever to get somewhat acceptable settings, and I needed to hook up an external directional microphone to pick my sound up. If you have seen my videos a lot, you’ll notice the video and sound quality is mediocre at best (which is a weird combination of words, but let’s not get into that). And I was also a bit demoralized by a quick rash of negative comments on my “Emaline” video. Due to this combination, and my busy holiday schedule, I let that production slip by. However, over the holidays one of our gifts was a brand spankin’ new digital camera that does awesome video AND has a great condenser microphone. I promise to return to the laptop sessions very soon.

3) What is with that weird Grizzly Adams beard?

Hey, it’s short! It works great for me because now I don’t get asked for a hall pass at the school I teach at.

4) Ignore these four words.

I look forward to using the above mentioned camera to also record some in-studio video for the bonus material, and perhaps i’ll post one or two on this blog. Operation: Studio Improvement will also be commencing in two short months. Watch as I use much effort to paint my studio, put up new doorframe and corkboard ceiling, and a decorative yet inflammable curtain to block out the water heater and furnace from my recording view.

Again, I enjoy hearing from you guys and it really makes me feel great that I have fans on this site. Please email me or post comments for all of us to read.

And, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! May the new year be as fulfilling and rewarding to you as your previous years.

“It’s Up To You” (Moody Blues Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone- tonight’s session is a Moody Blues song that’s always been a favorite of mine. I’ll be the first to admit that most of the Moodies songs aren’t exactly “rockers”, but when they do come out with one, it’s AWESOME. “Story In Your Eyes”, “Ride My Seesaw”, and “I’m Just A Singer in a Rock’n’Roll Band” come to mind as great songs with a rock sound and some amazing lead guitar playing by Justin Hayward.  I honestly believe that Justin Hayward is one of the most underrated rock guitarists out there.  The man can absolutely shred on the guitar and he plays it perfectly every time- even in concert.  Have you heard the beginning to “Question” on 12-string acoustic guitar?  Even playing that half-speed on acoustic guitar is difficult.  Hayward is the man, and that’s all there is to it.

The Moody Blues song I’ve chosen for tonight’s cover song music video, “It’s Up To You”, has a great guitar riff, classic Justin Hayward introspective lyrics, and just a great melody.  “It’s Up To You” my favorite song off of the “Question of Balance” album.  That album, to me, is a bit faster paced than any of the other “first seven” albums they did.  But, I think the songs aren’t nearly as good (as a whole) as the songs on albums like “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour” and “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”.

One thing about Justin Hayward’s lead guitar playing I love is his double or even triple-tracking of the lead guitar.  It’s so unique.  George Harrison used to do it with his famous slide guitar solos.  But, Justin Hayward is a fan of more distortion on his guitar solos and riffs.  So, it’s a different sound.  Hayward triple-tracks the lead guitar for two reasons, in my opinion.  First, he wants to make the part sound more powerful.  You have to imagine that little thin high E string on a guitar.  Now, strum it with a piece of plastic.  It’s going to need a lot of power to cut through drums, bass, and a synthesizer.  So, triple-tracking the lead guitar (that’s recording it three times) is a great way to make it stand out from the rest of the sounds in the band.  Another reason why Hayward did it is the reason why I think it’s so cool: harmony!  He would take the lead guitar part and then play it three times.  Except, each time he’d play a different note of a chord.  Played all together, you get a great sound that’s full and unique.  I did that on some of my songs, too.  For instance, on “Give and Take” from my album “What About Today?”, I did a three-part lead solo.  Listen to that song online on my website at http://jimfusco.com.

I hoe you enjoy tonight’s Moody Blues cover song! Keep checking back for more music videos because we are determined not to miss a day in 2008! We’ll see how long it lasts, but let’s just say I’ve already got enough cover song videos for the next couple weeks!

Video Blog 2008: The future of Fusco-Moore Productions’ songwriters!

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By Chris Moore:

Hi all. I became lax in my posting during December, so I wanted to start 2008 off right! Now, I don’t have a Laptop Session to post today, but I do have a rant, two hot-off-the-press updates, and some thoughts on the new year. So, here goes…

First, I need to thank all those who came to the second annual MoU Christmas Party this weekend. I really appreciate those of you who said they would be there and actually came. Unfortunately, we had a great deal of people — almost a third of our “confirmed” guest list — who didn’t show and who gave little to no warning. This year, it was especially important to have an accurate count so that Jim would know how much food to make. Instead, we ended up with two thirds of the ziti back in our fridge… Let’s just say I can predict what Jim will be cooking for dinner for the next two and a half weeks! Seriously though, especially since I was the one who took on the task of inviting people, setting up the facebook page, etc., it felt like a big failure. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but the band fund lost $80 in the process rather than making money for our second album, Homestead’s Revenge. It was pretty depressing looking out into the sea of… 24 faces. But, to those 24 who did attend, I want to thank you once again!

Okay, the two updates, as promised:

1) The MoU album – I’m still running this by the other band members, but at this time Homestead’s Revenge will be released as a digital download on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008. It’s about freakin’ time!

2) My essay collection – I’ll be releasing a collection of my essays (academic and otherwise) from 2003-2008 on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008. The collection (which, as a warning, is really only for die-hard essay / Chris Moore fans!) will include essays on relationships, society in general, poetry, and music. It will be released as an e-book and is tentatively titled “Essays” and Other Essays.

Finally, my thoughts on the new year. 2007 was okay, but I felt I was not very productive overall. I think Jim felt the same way — as he said to me the other day, he’s been without a solo album for over two years. I think he’s getting the itch again… That being said, my goal for Fusco-Moore Productions in the new year is to build on the audience of the Laptop Sessions, release some music (perhaps the long-awaited “Fusco and Moore-funkel” album!), and release the short story/poetry book that I’ve been working on for over a year. I really feel like this is a make it or break it year for F-M Prod, and I think both Jim and I are feeling the pressure to really make something of this while we can.

As always, thanks for reading — this is certainly the most I’ve ever written here at one time. Best of wishes from Fusco-Moore for 2008 — keep checking back for new laptop sessions and more all the time!

-Chris Moore