Welcome to my Beach Boys Session for this week! Today, this song goes out by request, but I probably would’ve done it eventually, anyway.
This is a technically unreleased song called “Soulful Old Man Sunshine” that was only released on a compilation a few years ago.
I truly think the only reason the Beach Boys never released it is because of Carl’s “shun-shine” gaff in the middle 8.
I figured out this song’s chords by myself and even though I took some liberties, I think it stays true to the original.
Also, I think this is one of the few over-produced Beach Boys songs. That’s why I was so excited to strip all that excess out and just make an acoustic version. You’ll notice that I even sing a bit of it like Brian Wilson did in the original demo of the song, also included on that compilation. I love that version, too- it’s a bit more jazzy.
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Welcome everyone to another edition of the Laptop Sessions! Glad to be here today, as I’m happy to present a great song from Rick Nelson, “Garden Party”.
I’ve been a fan of this song for a long time and I love the beat it has. It was a lot of fun to play on acoustic and it just has that “down-home” type of feel to it.
I’ll be going back to Rick’s more classic numbers in the future, but this song really makes me want to learn more about his work as a country-rock songwriter in the mid-70s.
I hope you enjoy today’s Session and make sure to come back tomorrow for another Session by Chris!
Well, “New Bands Week” is over, but I have a hard time letting go…so I bring you yet another new band to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
Tonight I give you a band fronted by a great producer, songwriter, and singer: Jeff Lynne. The band is Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O.) and the song is “Evil Woman”, a favorite of mine for a long time.
This song is originally done on piano, but I’ve adapted it for acoustic guitar. It’s got great vocals and a great chord progression. I love the way the drums come in- it’s what I miss the most when I play it solo. Many say that Jeff Lynne, as a producer, kind of “over-produces” his music. I actually kind of like it. I love a large chorus of vocals, plus Lynne always throws in some interesting instruments (like a violin) into his songs. And, sure, when he was with the Traveling Wilburys, he had all five members play acoustic guitar. But, to me, that just showed how everyone was participating.
Jeff Lynne not only had a ton of hits with E.L.O., he produced many hit albums. Roy Orbison’s “Mystery Girl” is a stand-out and brought the Lynne co-written song “You Got It” to the world. He even produced the mega-smash album “Full Moon Fever” for Tom Petty, which had classic songs like “Running Down A Dream”, “Free Fallin'”, and “Won’t Back Down”. I think I like Jeff Lynne’s producing style because it’s the style of music I grew up with. I mean, both of the albums I mentioned were from the late 80s. And one of my other favorite albums, “Cloud 9” by George Harrion, is also produced by Jeff Lynne…and also from the late 80s! You can’t go wrong with any of these albums and I have to give a little credit to Jeff Lynne on that.
I hope tonight’s Electric Light Orchestra cover song will be the start of many other E.L.O. songs for the Laptop Sessions music blog. I can’t wait to do “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”, too. That’s another one that’s a bit over-produced, but when it was recorded in the 70s, people were pushing the envelope with the sounds they could create. In the 60s, you only had four or eight tracks to work with. And in the 70s, the technology leaped forward, allowing many more tracks to be used without a reduction in sound quality. Jeff Lynne has always struck me as a technical musician of sorts- he knows the craft of recording a song and applies it to the music he makes and the music he produces for other bands.
“Evil Woman” is also a fun song to do a cover of because of the cool falsetto parts in the chorus. It’s that kind of range that made E.L.O. stand out to me and I’m happy to present my stripped-down version here on the music video blog!
Enjoy tonight’s acoustic cover song music video, and make sure to come back on Wednesday to see my Original Wednesday cover song tribute to Jeff Copperthite’s great new album, “Greenlight”. Aw, heck, why don’t you just come back on Monday and Tuesday, too?
Welcome to another “new bands week” edition of the Laptop Sessions! Today’s song comes from a band that’s anything but “new”, but since I haven’t played a song from them before, I figured this would be the week to bust one out! That band is the Monkees, and they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. The Monkees were the soundtrack to my early life. Remember when they started playing the reruns of the TV show back in the late 80s? Well, I used to watch it then and also listened to their Greatest Hits collection constantly. I always gravitated to the music of Michael Nesmith, probably because he was a songwriter and musician. The songs that Davy Jones sang were almost always cover songs or songs that were written for the Monkees’ TV show.
Tonight’s acoustic cover song, as I’ve mentioned before, ranks as my second favorite song of all time, right behind “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” by the Byrds. But, if you listen to this song and the Byrds song, you’ll hear that they’re very similar. They both have pretty much the same chords, and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” wins because of its great guitar solo and its harmonies. And, the songwriter of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, Gene Clark, was very similar to Mike Nesmith. The both were the first ones to leave their bands. They wrote the melancholy songs of the group with a bit of country-rock flair. And they were by far and away the best songwriters of their groups. I think it’s pretty funny that I gravitate so much towards such similar musicians like them. I wonder if I share any of those characteristics (or at least THINK I do…).
“You Just May Be The One” is the song I play for people when I get the tired old “the Monkees didn’t write their own songs or play their own instruments” line. Well, on this song, they did both. In fact, on the entire “Headquarters” album, they did both. These guys were very talented and don’t get a lot of credit for that. Of course, everyone knows that the band was manufactured for the TV show only. This “band” was never supposed to happen. But, I think the band worked hard over the years to prove their worth as musicians.
I hope you’ll agree that this is one of the best songs of all time. I’m very happy to add it to my collection of cover songs here on the video blog. And let me be the first to welcome the Monkees to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
