Tag Archives: laptop sessions

“Astronomy” (Blue Oyster Cult Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good evening to you, and welcome to your newest addition to The Laptop Sessions library!  It’s Jeff here bringing you a somewhat surprising song.  One can make the argument that we have not covered a band like this on this site.  But I hope that, if you never have heard of Blue Oyster Cult before (BOC), that you will enjoy this cover video.

BOC is the topic today (another new band!  I guess we had like New Bands 3.0 this week or something) and I have a great song by them from 1974.  Now if you don’t know who this band is, I will tell you a song that will instantly make you say “oh that’s who you’re talking about” – that song is “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”.  Yeah, they wrote that song.  It was also the same song that was being portrayed as recorded in an SNL sketch, where the now famous line was uttered by Christopher Walken – “needs more cowbell”.

Well, tonight I am not covering that song – but I am learning how to play it and I will be recording it before the year is out (may save it for a Thumpin’ Thursday – it is an awesome song).

Today I have a song from their 1974 album “Secret Treaties” titled “Astronomy”.  This song has a nice soft feel to it, and a completely kickass solo from their lead guitarist Buck Dharma.  Eric Bloom is their lead singer, and I discovered I can emulate his voice quite well.  Therefore, you’ll notice that my voice is a little different in this session.

I was introduced to this song because I heard a version of this song by Metallica from their 1998 covers album “Garage, Inc.”.  I decided I wanted to stay true to the original BOC version, so if you’re comparing this cover to the Metallica cover, you will notice quite a few differences between them.

For the performance, I tend to be a bit more “forgiving” of myself when the song is long.  This song’s recorded version clocks in at nearly 7 minutes.  I cut out a lot of the last “solo” time so that I would not have to play near-perfect guitar for 7 minutes.  The arpeggiated parts that I play in the song are not as clean as i’d like them to be.  But if I ever wanted to finish recording this video and upload it on time, I had to allow a minor glitch here and there.  I actually think this is one of my better singing performances, however.  I hope you feel the same way.

I am glad I was able to bring a new band your way this evening, and on Monday, i’ve got another new band – heck, let’s make it 4 new bands in a row by me by making next week’s Thumpin’ Thursday a new band as well!

Tomorrow Jim will return to his library of cover songs and lay another on us.  Come back for that – you know I will!

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!

“Sleepwalker” (Wallflowers Cover)

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By Jeff Copperthite:

And now for something more familiar to me. Another Wallflowers cover!

This song is from their album “Breach” and is called Sleepwalker. It is a single, so I expect this song should be familiar to most of you Wallflowers fans. It is an extremely catchy song, especially with the claps in the chorus. Now, I don’t know about you, but I “hear” the claps in this video, but I didn’t clap at all.

I did this video on the 7th take, and despite a wrong chord in the last chorus, I kept it because it was the first time I sang the right chorus at the right time throughout the entire song.

However, with the Laptop Sessions, we give you a new video every day! Look out tomorrow for Jim’s next video as he indulges us into yet another wonderful song from his collection.

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!

“No Lights, No Sound” (New Music – Original Song by Indie Songwriter Chris Moore)

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By Chris Moore:

Tonight is the beginning of a side project that will take me as late as next summer to complete…  a new album!  You may be asking yourself, okay, so you’re going to record another new album.  It’s about freakin’ time.  And you may also be wondering what that has to do with the Laptop Sessions.

Well, I’m going to tell you!

Having been thinking so much recently and having been so inspired by a number of factors — not the least of which are hearing some leaked tracks from Jim’s forthcoming release and some awesome new albums this year by songwriters like Brian Wilson and bands like R.E.M. — I have been working on and arranging tracks for a new album, ironing out arrangements, finishing lyrics, etc.  Now, I bring my motivational and promotional project to the Laptop Sessions…

Every three weeks (or so, once we hit the new year), I will release a demo of another track from the new album.  Not only will I release the tracks, but I’ll do so in order!  Thus, tonight, I bring you what will be track one of my next album.  Now, in the spirit of the Laptop Sessions, I bring this song — “No Lights, No Sound” — to you as a recording of only my third complete performance of the song ever.  In other words, I rolled out of bed, finished writing the lyrics and the entire middle section, and recorded this demo.  This is hot off the presses.  This is the song in about as early a form as you’ll see here on this music blog.

And, that being said, I hope to get an amazing, yet fairly affordable producer to make it the perfect opening track!  (Anybody know a good producer, by any chance? ;- )  I’m thinking either Rick Rubin or Jim Fusco.  I figure I’ll send out for a bid in a couple of months and see what’s in my budget.  (Actually, no offense to Rubin, but I’d take JIm any day.  Even though he does NOT wear a fashionably immense and flowing beard…)

As you listen to the demo, you might notice that it’s a bit slow at first for an opening track.  I’ve since worked out a better version of the tempo I’d like to use, and I hope to have it build up right after the chorus and incorporate drums, bass, etc. before getting to a solo and eventually ending with a repeat of the first verse with only an acoustic and lead vocal.  But, we’ll see what the finished version holds.

In closing, this really puts the pressure on me to finalize my track listing and finish writing these songs.  I plan to record them as soon after writing them as possible, which will make it all the more interesting to look back and compare them to the final versions some day!  (And I don’t doubt that some won’t make the final cut, or that I’ll change the order as I go, but I’ll try my best to decide an order soon and stick to it.)

I truly hope you enjoy this side project for me here on the best acoustic cover song and original music blog in the universe!!  Don’t forget to come back tomorrow and Friday for a double dose of one Jeffrey Copperthite…

See you next session!

“Candle of Life” (Moody Blues Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Welcome back to another all-new edition of the Laptop Sessions! This summer, Jim and I went through and listened to all the Moody Blues albums — the classic seven (from Days of Future Passed to Seventh Sojourn) and everything that followed (including Long Distance Voyager and the recent, awesome Strange Times). I had heard a lot of Moody Blues songs previously and had seen them live a couple times, but I never really appreciated them until this little summer exploration.

Anyway, this is a song from their album To Our Children’s Children’s Children — it was on the “Gold” collection, too, so it’s not THAT obscure. Not that I’ve been known for choosing obscure songs or anything… 🙂

Without further ado, here it is. Keep checking guitarbucketlist.com daily for a new session EVERY DAY from either Jim, Jeff, or myself. See you next time!