Tag Archives: laptop sessions

“Odds and Ends” (Bob Dylan Cover)

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For Bob Dylan chords / tabs / lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

Well, it may not have been recorded in my basement with an as-yet-unknown Canadian rock band, but this is the best version of “Odds and Ends” you’re going to get out of me!  I’ve always loved this song.  It sets the tone nicely for the 23 songs that follow.  Indeed, “Odds and Ends” encapsulates the spirit of The Basement Tapes: often absurd lyrics sung over raw yet warm instrumental tracks.  For Dylan, this set of songs signified his retreat from the “wild, mercury sound” of Blonde on Blonde and the wild world tour of 1966.  At the same time, you can listen as the Band begins to really gel and find their collective voice.

The primary reason I chose this song tonight — one of two that I will post tonight — is in honor of Dylan’s brand-new album being released tomorrow.  It is titled Together Through Life, and I’ve already recorded a Laptop Session of the lead track, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin.'”  There is at least one other song that’s been leaked online, but I’d rather save the other nine tracks for my first listen to the album as a whole.

Instead, I’ve gone back to this 1975 release of these 1968 recordings.

Why choose The Basement Tapes to cover now?

The answer, quite simply, is that I was too busy with other videos and writing to be able to record these songs a couple weeks ago when several Dylan albums — The Basement Tapes, New Morning, Dylan and the Dead — were reissued in digipack format.  I saw them in the stores, and although I really don’t see why anyone who already owns these albums would want to buy the updated versions (aside from sound quality, of course), I can’t help but feel it necessary to celebrate any and all attention that Dylan’s back catalog is given.

It hasn’t been all that long since I would scan the CD racks at stores like Sam Goody, FYE, Best Buy, Borders, and a host of others, looking for Dylan albums to complete my collection.  For a while, I would buy two at a time in an attempt to satiate my thirst for new Dylan material.  Although I don’t feel that same urgency for Dylan’s releases when I walk into a CD store, I have lost none of my passion and respect for his music.

As Jim knows and is probably already thinking (and he’s right), I’ll jump at any excuse to record a Dylan song!!

Okay, that’s it for the first post.  I need to save something to write about in my second post of the night, coming very shortly…

See you next session!

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” (The Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco

Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!  It’s been a long time since my last video blog post.  Before my new season of cover song videos begins, I decided to post a few leftover cover songs that I recorded a few months ago.  I guess I never got around to posting them!  Life can get busy…

Now that school is starting up again (my wife is a teacher, so she’s really busy 10 months out of the year)I should have a bit more time to focus on my musical endeavors.  I’m excited to bring The Laptop Sessions Acoustic Cover Songs Music Video Blog to new heights this year!  I just signed an agreement to promote my existing cover songs and I hope that these efforts will allow me to expand the website even further.

Tonight, I bring you an obscure song from The Beach Boys.  Well, it’s not really The Beach Boys- this is a Dennis Wilson solo project put under the Beach Boys’ name.  In the early 70s, Dennis Wilson was creating music at a very fast pace.  “Sunflower”, one of the Beach Boys’ best albums, shows a large contribution from Dennis.  In my opinion, his songwriting was second to only Brian Wilson in the band and after Brian slipped away from participating in the band, Dennis filled the void the best.  I think there was a time when the band decided to push Dennis as the front man of the band.  But, Dennis’ songs didn’t catch on commercially and eventually, they went back to the Brian Wilson formula once again (before he was ready, but that’s a whole different story).  Honestly, I’m not sure if the move away from Dennis as the face of the Beach Boys was due to his songs not receiving critical acclaim, or because of Dennis’ lifestyle.  Like Brian, it’s been said that Dennis had a hard time seeing projects through to the end.  Even though he was prolific during this period, I have a feeling he would get bored with projects very quickly and either not finish them or simply get them done and move on.

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” is an interesting song.  Dennis had a great way of taking a simple sounding song and making it lush and beautiful.  “Lady” isn’t the hardest song to play or sing, but the string orchestration (most likely done by Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille fame) is breathtaking.  That’s one of the reasons, though, that I wanted to do a solo acoustic cover version of “Lady”.  I wanted to show people what the song would sound like in it’s bare-bones form.  I think it’s still a really moving song.

Dennis’ voice on the original recording is so nice- it’s such a shame that he let it deteriorate so much.  I can only imagine the songs he could’ve come out with if he didn’t allow his personal demons to overtake him.

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” was actually the flip side of a solo Dennis Wilson single, which is fascinating to me.  “The Sound of Free” was the A-side.  Of course, the single didn’t go anywhere, but up to that point, only Brian had released a solo single in “Caroline, No” four years earlier.  I’m glad the Beach Boys and Capitol Records finally got it together to release “Lady” on their Summer Love Songs compilation.  This song deserved a new audience.

Enjoy tonight’s Dennis Wilson/Beach Boys cover song music video here on the Laptop Sessions video blog!  Stay tuned for more videos very soon with me, Jim Fusco!

“Let Her Cry” (Hootie & The Blowfish Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to your Sunday edition of The Laptop Sessions.  Technically, this post is from the past.  We can work magic here at guitarbucketlist.com.

Today’s acoustic cover is from Hootie & The Blowfish, and their awesome album “Cracked Rear View”.  I had a lot of songs to pick from this album, but the one that I always have enjoyed the most is this one.  It’s called “Let Her Cry”, and it’s a sad song but a great, great tune.

Yes, Darius Rucker does it better.  He is after all the man.

While this has been published, I have hopefully enjoyed a lot of quiet afternoons, heated indoor pool swimming, some bowling fun, some walks in the mountains, a comedy show or two, and other fun and enjoyable activities with my wonderful wife.

Meanwhile I hope you are preparing for the New Year.  I know that we here at guitarbucketlist.com are really in the homestretch now.  After tonight, there will be a grand total of 3 videos left to publish to finish our session-a-day project.  I will be posting a video reflection on New Years Day of a lot of the thoughts, praise, and other miscellaneous material that I have experienced through0ut this.  I’m sure Chris and Jim will do something similar.

Until then, enjoy today’s session and see you on Wednesday!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

“These Streets” (New Music by Indie Music band MoU)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Welcome to your Original Wednesday edition of The Laptop Sessions. Today I bring you another great original song from “Homestead’s Revenge” by Masters of the Universe.

I am bringing you the song “These Streets”, a live favorite. I have noticed lots of heads bobbing when we play this song live, and this will be among the songs we are going to play live this coming Friday at George’s II restaurant. I really love the riff of this song, and I was very happy to receive permission to record it for the sessions.

I really tried to belt this one out on an acoustic. It really is meant to be an electric guitar song, but I think this version does kick it quite well. It also runs perfectly in the album, and the harmonies work perfectly in the recording. If you have not checked out “Homestead’s Revenge”, you really do need too.

Track 1 week continues tomorrow with another song by Jim, so be sure to come back for that!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!