Tag Archives: jim

“Marie” (Chris Moore original song cover)

Posted on by
Reply

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.

“Christmas Morning” (Original Christmas Song by Jim Fusco)

Posted on by
Reply

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!

The Newest Video Blog – A Series by Songwriters!

Posted on by
2

By Jeff Copperthite:

I know you wonder how it is going with the Fusco-Moore Productions crew, so here is another update.

As you have seen, as of Saturday all members of FMP have contributed to the Laptop Sessions, and they are slowly gaining popularity among youtube viewers (as well as those reading this blog – like yourself. You’re a distinguished individual for reading this blog!), and hopefully other well known people.

However, you’ll notice Thursday was the last time I have done a session. There are two reasons for this.

One, I want to get to know the video software that came with my web camera, because Youtube quickcapture is a bit, well, slow. When you watch them, it looks like our strumming hand is one huge blur. That, and you can see us going to the computer to click “Save and Continue”. You’ll also notice Jim and Chris’ videos have titles to them. I want to learn how to do that, so that way, you can hear as little of my voice as possible.

The second is Friday night I injured my left index finger – falling up the stairs. Just when that people only fell down the stairs, I have defied yet another law of nature. That was all that happened, and thankfully it isn’t broken. It is a bit swollen right now, but I figure tomorrow or Tuesday it should be fine enough to play again.

Speaking of playing and recording, another song is almost done for the EP. Only the bass is left to record. I can’t wait to get to the other 3 songs to record. I can see the end of recording in sight. Baseball season is over as of Saturday, so now the weekends are now much more available.

When my finger does heal, I will be playing a couple of Jim Fusco originals on my laptop sessions installments. Hopefully Jim’s ears won’t cringe (or his eyes for that matter) when he hears them.

Until then…

“Girl Don’t Tell Me” (A Beach Boys Cover)

Posted on by
Reply

Well, another day and another installment of the “Laptop Sessions.” This is one that I learned a long time ago and forgot about playing until tonight. Anyone that knows me will know that I admire Brian Wilson’s songwriting the most. His song, “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is truly one of his finest works. Plus, his brother Carl sings an amazing lead vocal that I can only hope to emulate in my version.  This is one of Carl’s earliest lead vocals and I’m glad Brian gave Carl the opportunity to sing it.  Carl knocked it out of the park and had a voice much more suited to this style of music.

I think my Laptop Session acoustic version of this song actually sounds a lot like the original because it was done with acoustic guitars. “But,” you say, “many songs are done with just acoustics!” Well, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys really used piano as their driving instrument, plus Al Jardine and Carl Wilson took the rhythm and lead guitars (respectively) on electrics almost all the time. Of course, I’m talking about the early records when the Boys recorded the instruments themselves. After a while, Brian and the others decided to have studio musicians come in, which allowed Brian to experiment more while the others were on tour.  I think one of the last vestiges of the Beach Boys playing on their own music (in the earlier years, at least) was their Christmas album.  One the first side (the original songs), you can hear the Beach Boys playing all of the instruments.  Those songs represent some of my favorite recordings of all time.  They’re simply perfect (to me).

But, enough of the Beach Boys history for the time being. But, I will say that you’ll notice how this song sounds more like a Beatles song than a Beach Boys song. Well, with the production done the way it was on the original (like I mentioned before, with acoustic guitars rather than a piano), one can only assume that this Beatle-esque sound was done purposely!  Of course, this acoustic video flies in the face of the logic I was trying to explain regarding the Laptop Sessions cover songs series.  You see, my idea is to strip-away the various instruments in a song to get to the simplest form.  That way, you can hear the song for what it is.  So, songs that you might not necessarily have liked can be given new life here on the music blog.  With “Girl Don’t Tell Me”, however, that’s not really the case.  I just did a straight-up cover of an acoustic song.  My defense?  It’s a great song- shut up and listen! 🙂  But seriously, another function of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog is to introduce you (or even re-introduce you) to songs you’ve never heard before (or forgot you knew).  And that’s just as important.

This song is really a favorite of mine and I know a certain group of people are going to go, “Oh, wow!” when they see I did a version of this forgotten song! I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more from The Laptop Sessions!