The White Stripes' "Under Great White Northern Lights" (2010)
(March 16, 2010)
Review:
On their first live album, Jack and Meg White deliver adrenaline-fueled, frenetic performances of some of the best material from their catalog, tearing through each song with a raw energy that displays a simultaneous mastery of and disregard for form.
Top Two Tracks:
“Blue Orchid” & “300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues”
By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music blog for Monday! I’m back with a video that’s not only one of my best performances (if I do say so myself) but one of my favorite tunes. This song, “If This Is It”, is an underrated song and Huey Lewis and the News are a very underrated band.
I think Huey Lewis loses points in many reviewers’ minds because he doesn’t write the songs he sings. But, there are members of his band (you know, the News!) that write the songs he sings. It’s kind of like a Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons thing. So, when you look at the band in that light, Huey Lewis is just a really cool guy and a good singer, too! I love the style of their songs- it’s kind of like my music, but back in the 80s. You can tell that the songwriters loved a bygone era of music (especially with the doo-wop style of “If This Is It”) but updated it for the times. Obviously, “If This Is It” wouldn’t have sounded right in 1956, but somehow the song gives off that vibe while still sounding fresh…for 1983, that is…
The whole “Sports” album is very entertaining to me. I know songs like “The Heart Of Rock & Roll” have actually been put on “Worst Song Ever” lists in the past, but I’ve always liked that tune! Plus, “Heart and Soul” is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. And, you’ve even got the song that was stolen for the Ghostbusters theme song in “I Want a New Drug”! If you’re into music from that era, please give “Sports” from Huey Lewis and the News a shot. You’ll be glad you did!
“If This Is It” wasn’t the easiest song to learn- the chord changes and the special strumming pattern made it a tough one to get correct while singing. But, the singing wasn’t too easy, either. I recall messing up near the end of the song on a couple of occasions. Why? Because Huey Lewis had (and still does) an amazingly powerful voice. Of course, he wasn’t playing guitar at the same time during his performances!
I always thought this would be the perfect album closing song. It just has that “ending” feel to it, even though it’s not a slow song like most albums feature at the end. The sentiment here is that a person knows all of the telltale signs of a relationship ending are there and that person wants the truth. But, what makes this song great is the hesitation- yes, he may know it’s over, but he still doesn’t like that fact. He knows he should save himself from more heartache, but he wants her to be the person to break it off.
I hope you all enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song, played on my nylon stringed acoustic guitar, as our week of brand-new bands to the Laptop Sessions continues! This Huey Lewis and the News song is one of my favorites and I knew it would be a great pick for another cover song music video here on the best music blog around: The Laptop Sessions!
By Jim Fusco:
Here’s my second entry for “Original Wednesday” here on the Laptop Sessions. By the way, did you notice we now have www.guitarbucketlist.com? Give it a look!
“Marie” has always been one of my favorite Chris Moore songs.
Every time we play this in concert (which has been MANY times), I always look forward to it. Of course, this version is without the dueling harmonica and guitar solos, but I think the song stands up on its own (the mantra of the Laptop Sessions).
Chris always thought of this song as an experiment for him because he had never really written a love song before quite like this. Truly, when he wrote it, he didn’t even have any real inspiration. But, Chris is a professional writer and this song shows that he didn’t need a real “Marie” to show he could feel this way.
In concert I’ve previously done a very slow version of this song. But for the Laptop Sessions version, I wanted to keep it true to the original- the one I heard in the background on Chris’ car CD player that really started it all. Once I heard this song, we started to think that a band might be possible. See http://jimfusco.com/albums.html for the rest of the story…
I hope you enjoy part 1 of my Original Wednesday installment.
By Jim Fusco:
The second half of my “Original Wednesday” kicks off the holiday season with an original Christmas song!
I wrote this song at least five or six years ago, probably more.
I could never play it right on the piano, so when I learned guitar, I switched the main instrument. I’ve always been proud of the repeating chorus at the end. You HAVE to hear the version I did with MoU bandmates Chris Moore, Mike Fusco, and Becky Daly on our album, “Our Christmas Gift To You”. You’ll love it- we all sing on the chorus at the end and it sounds great! Check it out at http://jimfusco.com
Anyway, I’ll be adding many more Christmas songs over the next few weeks, so if you have any holiday favorites, please drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll be glad to fulfill the request!
Christmas time is my favorite part of the year. This week of Thanksgiving is so exciting, and it seems like every day there’s something to do. For instance, tomorrow, I’m having “the guys” over late at night. Then it’s Thanksgiving. Then I’m waking up incredibly early to go Black Friday shopping with friends. Then my cousin Sarah is sleeping over at my condo on Saturday, ready to watch multiple Christmas/Jim Carrey movies. Then after that, I’m finally free to listen to all my favorite Christmas radio shows I’ve done with my best friends of all time on WCJM.com Free Internet Radio.
Well, enough of my Christmas rant- I’m just looking forward to everything!