Originally done in four parts, this remastered video (originally recorded in 2007 and remastered in 2020) is about the triumphs and pitfalls of recording a song in my home studio. You’ll see techniques, advice, and most of all, a bunch of bad luck. The song I’m recording is called “Go Back To Him,” written by Jim Fusco and Alberto Distefano. The song was featured on my album “Halfway There”, available at http://jimfusco.com and on iTunes! Make sure to stick around for the end of the video and check out the music video for “Go Back To Him”, complete with remastered stereo audio for the first time! For those who saw the original video, you’ll recall how dark the video looked, as the overhead lighting in my home studio at the time was not conducive to great video quality. Thankfully, through the magic of Final Cut Pro X, I’m able to breathe new life into this documentary, which captures what it was like to record a song at 4am (which was easily done at 23 years of age…).
Well, it’s been a while since I posted a music video, so I figured I’d better make certain my YouTube account was still functional…
This week, instead of recording a cover song, I felt that it was time to kick off The 2010 Project music video series I’ve been planning for a while. You may be wondering, what exactly is The 2010 Project? It is the working title — and, based on a recent conversation, very possibly the official title — of my forthcoming album.
Thus far, as of April break, I’ve chosen the thirteen songs that I plan to record and completed the writing of both music and lyrics. Since then, I’ve recorded acoustic demos of each song and begun listening them in order to help me think of and decide on arrangements and various aspects of how I’d like the final products to sound. I’ve been experimenting with GarageBand drum loops, and I’ve been practicing the songs quite a bit since April. Every weekend since then, I’ve taken an hour to sit down and play through the album in order.
As with any big project like recording an album’s worth of material, anything’s liable to change by the time the final product is ready to be heard. That being said, I plan to string together thirteen installments in this music video series, each featuring one of the aforementioned songs. And, understanding that anything can change, I’ll be releasing them here on the blog in the order I plan to sequence them on the album.
The first song up is “No Lights, No Sound.” Laptop Sessions regulars may recognize this as a video I’ve already recorded and posted over a year ago. However, this is the finalized version, with some slight lyric changes and additional verses. This song is a rare case of old lyrics re-emerging on a new song. The story here is that, a few months ago, I came across the lyrics for an old song that I never really committed to, but had always liked a few lines from. I thought they might fit nicely into this song, and with a few alterations, I think they do.
In a lot of ways, this is one of the simplest songs on the list, a tune that started as I walked around my room in the dark almost two years ago. I was home alone, my capo on the second fret from having played another song (which I’ve since forgotten), and the first line sort of came to me: “The lights are off; there’s no one around…” I wrote this and the first chorus, but that was it for a while. It wasn’t until months later that I added the middle section and new verses. Then, this past April, I deleted a verse and added two more in.
“No Lights, No Sound” is a song that has weathered several phases in my recent life, a track that has been conceived, shaped, and reshaped by these phases and survives in its current form with a scheduled slot as the opening track of The 2010 Project.
I hope you like this one. For some reason, even though my allergies haven’t been hitting me as hard as they probably will soon, my voice wasn’t at its peak today. That being said, I feel that worked for this solo acoustic performance.
So, without further ado, here is the first installment in the series — hurry back every day this week and both days of the weekend for new posts!
Welcome once again to a brand-new edition of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! It’s been quite a while- since this past Christmas, in fact, and I’m finally back with a set of new videos. Since my last video about four months ago was an Elton John cover song, I figured it was appropriate to come back with another one! This one is non holiday-themed, however, in “Elderberry Wine”.
“Elderberry Wine” is off of the “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player” album. I have been in such an Elton John phase lately and have listened to many of his early albums. I have plenty of favorites and plan on bringing more to you, too. I always had a different view of Elton John: I only knew the hits and they were taken out of context. In a way, I wasn’t a big fan because some of Elton’s big hits are kind of dated at this point. But, I also didn’t hear them overplayed when they came out, which is similar to how much I loved Wings when I first listened to their Best Of in 2002. I hear these songs that most other people already know (like “Elderberry Wine”, for instance) and I fall in love with them. They just don’t come with the same stigma as they did in the 70s when they first came out. I used to love “Another Day” by Wings. Of course, even I can admit that it’s not that great of a song, but again, I didn’t hear it on the radio in the early 70s with all of my friends telling me how much it sucked. 🙂 The same goes for many Elton John songs, including “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” and “Rocket Man”- those are GREAT songs! Even “Benny & the Jets” is an amazing song, especially considering how innovative it was for the time. That beat and the sounds he used may be dated now, but when I hear it, I hear innovation.
So, I’ve been really into early Elton John albums, my favorite being “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”. That album is amazing and has everything. But “Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano Player” is pretty good, too! Fun fact: the title of the album was actually a quip from Elton John to none other than Groucho Marx! That’s why there’s a movie poster on the cover of the album from the Marx Brothers’ “Go West”.
This song isn’t exactly the hardest song to play, but it certainly took me plenty of takes. I must’ve been rusty. I really wanted to make this comeback a memorable one, so I kept trying to get the perfect take. Sometimes I wonder if anyone knows how much effort goes into each one of these videos- I really don’t just sit down and produce them for the heck of it. I want to make something I’m consistently proud of. Remember the old “Laptop Sessions” mantra: “We put an end to bad cover songs forever!” Well, at least I’m trying to…
Finally, you’ll notice my new surroundings. Part of the reason why I’ve been absent is because we had a 400 square foot addition put into our house by finishing our above-ground basement. It came out GREAT and is a man cave for the ages, complete with all of my guitars, drums, a 58″ tv, and a computer room, which I’m sitting in during this video. It’s been a lot of work over the past few months, but it’s so rewarding to see it all done now.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s video of “Elderberry Wine” by Elton John and come back in two weeks for another new edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!
This is an outtake from a recent recording for the Laptop Sessions. I just had to share it, and I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did. (Keep in mind that this is completely unscripted — this is exactly how it happened; this is precisely my natural reaction!) I think it speaks for itself…
Check back for a new Original Wednesday Laptop Session, to be posted in about an hour or so.
