“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!

“She Belongs to Me” (Bob Dylan Cover)

We’re looking for more Guest Sessions submissions! So, sit down, pull up your acoustic guitar and camera, post the video on YouTube, and CLICK HERE!

As I always say, it’s never too soon for another Bob Dylan cover video!  Personally, I’ve attempted to restrain myself from recording a comfortable, enjoyable Dylan cover this year.  However, tonight’s installment of the Guest Sessions is a Dylan cover song music video with an interesting twist.

First of all, this is a song from Dylan’s 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home.  This is perhaps one of his best albums, and it was a transition point for him, half of the album being full band renditions and the other half being classic acoustic-only compositions.  (For his next album, Highway 61 Revisited, he would dive deeply into the world of electric rock…)

So far, I’ve recorded two covers from this album — “Subterranean Homesick Blues” for the members-only area of the site and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.”  No one here has yet dared to take on the more noteworthy songs, such as “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” or the song that the Byrds launched to chart success, “Mr. Tambourine Man.”  This being said, I was truly impressed with the apparent ease with which Stan Denski, our guest tonight, played “She Belongs to Me.”  Granted, this is a fairly straightforward song, but he changed the tuning and plays in an interesting fashion.  His version is true to the original, yet very much his own and sung well.

Thank you, Stan, for sending this very entertaining video!

I’ll let him introduce the video — Stan writes,

This is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs To Me.”  It is played on an old Guild 12-string tuned to an open D and played by barring chords from the top of the neck which allows the highest strings to ring open and create diminished chords.  It also uses a lot of harmonics struck at the 12th fret.

I was showing a friend how to play this version and he videotaped it and, later, stuck it up on YouTube.

Stan Denski, Indianapolis