Tag Archives: laptop sessions

“Real Love” (Beatles Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Well, then- welcome to the first Jim Fusco Thursday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! 🙂  I’m happy tonight, as it was a day of getting things done.  Actually, the past two days were all about getting things done and that always gives me a good feeling.  I need to cover a few topics before I get started tonight:

  1. My album, “Halfway There” is now on iTunes and available for download!!  I’m very excited about this.  I just signed up for some promotion.  If I get any kind of response, I’ll gladly do a bigger campaign.  Go check it out: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/halfway-there/id361828586 Please, it would mean so much to me if you would sign-in to iTunes, rate, and comment on the album.  The more popularity it gets from the loyal music blog followers, the better chance it has at succeeding!
  2. Next up, I’m going to be releasing the classic second (and last) album by MoU, “Homestead’s Revenge”.  And, just like everything else in that band, I’ll be covering the cost of this submission myself…
  3. I recorded three “episodes” of the Laptop Sessions tonight, so that ensures three weeks of all-new videos coming up!
  4. Speaking of “episodes”, I had a thought tonight.  I’m afraid that there’s so many Laptop Sessions videos that they’re becoming meaningless.  Honestly- I don’t even remember some of the songs I’ve done!  So, I’ll continue for a while on the once-a-week plan, but I really think I should do a “season” of them, much like a TV show.  I think once every two weeks, or 26 “episodes” would be good for the year.  That way, each music video would be a special event.  And it would probably give me more time to promote the site.  I used to worry that there wasn’t enough content to promote, but now I know that there’s SO much content that too much work went into it all with little return.  I’ll keep you posted on my thoughts.
  5. Finally, I want to mention the passing of rock legend Johnny Maestro of the Brooklyn Bridge.  I was going to record “The Worst That Could Happen”, but I realize that, other than the chorus, it’s not one I know too well.  I’ll keep listening and maybe I’ll bust it out someday.  R.I.P., Johnny.

Onto tonight’s video!

This video, “Real Love” by the Beatles, came out so great that I wanted to push it ahead of my planned video for tonight, which will now air next week.  I love this song so much and even though it’s played on piano in the recorded version, it translated very well to my nylon stringed acoustic guitar.  And playing it on the 3rd fret capo really made it sound like the original.  Now, when I say “original”, I actually mean the version done by the remaining Beatles (over John’s home recording) in 1996.  John’s demo version does appear on one of his “Best Of” solo albums, but the lyrics are slightly different.  The Beatles version from the Anthology in 1996 is simply perfect.  The vocals are stunning (even though John’s voice sounds very ghostly and distant due to the original source tape they used, it works to a much better effect here than on “Free As A Bird”) and the guitar solo is so great.  It’s George at his rock best- a biting and wailing solo over such a great love song.

And last night, I arrived at a pretty big conclusion: In my opinion, John Lennon is the best songwriter of all time.  Yes, Brian Wilson is still (and will always be) my favorite songwriter, I have to admit that there was no one better than John Lennon.  He wrote some of the best songs of all time- and some earlier than all the other 60s bands!  He had a knack for the hooks (like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah”), but also wrote some of the best ballads ever.  “In My Life”, “Woman”, and “Real Love” are three amazing examples.  Okay, so Paul McCartney is a great songwriter, but his great songs are great and his less-than-great songs STINK!  Even John Lennon’s less-than-perfect songs are good.  He just had that gift.  He was a great lyricist and wrote some of the most unique melodies ever.

So, with that in mind, I went to record “Real Love”.  I remember when it came out- watching the Beatles Anthology on TV when it first aired in 1996.  It was awesome.  Especially because, at that point, I still thought I was the only Beatles fan in my generation.  So, having that kind of special on TV was pretty big for me.  And two new songs just made it a perfect situation.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s rendition of “Real Love” by the Beatles.  I know it’ll go down as one of my favorite videos simply because I realized that it’s one of my favorite songs.  It’ll always make me wonder, “What if the Beatles endured and somehow got to play into the 90s?”  I think we all know it would’ve been awesome, despite what critics might have said at the time.  It always bugged me that everyone expected bright, pop songs- but think about it: if the Beatles had continued playing from where they left off with “Abbey Road” (“Let It Be” was recorded earlier), the songs would’ve sounded very similar to “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love”.  And that’s just fine by me.  Until next Thursday, I hope you enjoy your weekend!  Make sure to check out all of our Beatles cover songs here on the music blog!

“Private Eyes” (Darryl Hall and John Oates Cover)

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For public eyes tonight, I bring you the classic song “Private Eyes” from Hall and Oates!  I can’t believe this is the first Hall and Oates song here on the blog.  I think it’s a vocal range issue (I’m thinking of doing another band who stretches their vocal chords for a future Session), so I’m happy to be the one to bring this band officially onto the music blog.

My father bought a CD entitled “12 Great Artists, 12 Great Songs” a long time ago from BMG Music Service.  He listened to it a lot in the car and it had a bunch of big hits (including “Aimee” by the Pure Prairie League, which is now on the Cover Song List for me).  My brother Mike and I would always love singing to this CD, especially to Hall & Oates’ song, “Private Eyes”.  Something about it- I just love the vocals, the tune, and those crazy keyboard chords Darryl Hall plays.  I was able to replicate the all-important F chord with a G bass into the song to give it the proper sound.  See if you can spot it!  It’s the chord that makes you know it’s a Darryl Hall song.

Which brings me to my next point: what is the purpose of Oates?  He’s like the Garfunkel of the band.  He doesn’t appear to play any instruments or even write any songs.  He’s basically a backup singer that rode Hall’s coattails for the past 30 years.  Someone, please correct me if I’m wrong- I wanna like Oates, but I’m not really finding any reason to!

Back to my brother Mike, I ran my first 5k race with him this year (I stuck with it for three weeks, which breaks a record previously held back at the condo of one day…).  He helped me out and ran with me, took me to the gym, etc.  It was good to hang out with him more often.  I finished the race in about 36 minutes, which isn’t too bad.  But, don’t look at the standings- a bit more than a baker’s dozen finished the race ahead of me…

Also, as I’m sure you’ve been noticing, the promotion of my original music has been amped-up recently.  I’m submitting my music to radio stations, reviewers, and record labels now.  I’m getting “Halfway There” on iTunes, and I’m getting my songs some internet radio airtime.  It’s costing a bit of money, but it’s been long enough, don’t you think?  The store is back up and running, as you saw yesterday here on the music blog.  That was a big step for me, as it was one of those things where I worked so hard, just to see it break.  Then, I got so disgusted (and confused by the problem) that I didn’t want to fix it.  I’m glad it’s back up and running, but please drop me a line if you see anything malfunctioning.

Personally, I’ve been trying out this new Sleep Cycle program for the iPhone.  It’s pretty cool, as it monitors you sleep movements and detects the best time (within a half-hour window) to wake you up.  I think I’m getting low grades, though, as sleep has been a bit hard to come by lately.  I hope to start a more normal cycle tomorrow night.

Just a quick note on TNA Wrestling last night- what an interesting show.  Not sure what the Sting angle is yet, but it can’t be a straight heel turn, as he always has an explanation.  He wouldn’t just come out and beat down Hulk Hogan and Abyss without some previous vendetta.  So, we’ll see.  I just hope they can keep up the excitement on a weekly basis to compete with the WWE.

Finally, I’ll say that I really hope tonight’s video gets a bunch of views, because it took me about 15 takes to get it right.  It’s a TOUGH song to play and sing- a lot of chord changes and a very high range without much falsetto.  And when I would finally get a take right, it would be listless because I was trying so hard to play it correctly.  So, I’d try it again with more energy and then the cycle would start over.  Finally, I got a take I liked.

Oh, and that’s the t-shirt they gave out at the “WPLR Sham-Rock’N’Roll” 5k race, in case you were wondering about the leprechaun on it.  Not usually my style…

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session acoustic cover song music video and hope you’ll stop back next Tuesday evening for another Laptop Session in HD!  Until then, I hope you have a relaxing week.

“Dream Angel” (Brian Wilson Cover)

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Hey, hey everyone and welcome to your “no bad stuff” edition of the Laptop Sessions.  Geesh, say one thing about your current state of well-being and they jump all over you… 🙂  Anyway, I’m back tonight with another acoustic cover song music video for you all to enjoy!

Things have been crazy lately, but what else is new.  I’ll be happy when my 2009 taxes are all done and the end is in sight.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed on a couple of fronts.  Work has been busy, as usual, but manageable.  I’m getting a bit worried about my after-work work (lack of productivity in recent days), but I hope to rectify that tomorrow night.  My 5k, that I’m running with my brother Mike, is coming up this weekend and there’s still plenty of training to do.  Also, we’ve set up three parties/get-togethers here at the new house for those who haven’t seen it yet.  Considering that we’ve lived here for four months now, these are people we haven’t seen in a long time, so it’ll be great to host them here.  This weekend, as well as the next two weekends after that, look to be fun and eventful.  It’ll be nice talking with my friends from my Italy trip and my old college buddies.

On the music front, I did three very important things tonight that I want to share with you before I get into the body of the post:

1. I got The Laptop Sessions music blog listed on about 200 Social Bookmarking sites (like Digg and Del.ic.ious).  This will give the site more inbound links and will give it a chance at some real popularity.  I’m hoping it will bring the site to new heights.  And it wasn’t too expensive (besides, I’ve been saving-up!).

2. I also submitted the music video blog to 195 directories with a Google PageRank 2 or higher!  This is really good, as these will count as 1-way inbound links that are categorized, so we should see some major increases in Google traffic soon.  I really hope many eyes will be seeing this site soon.  I’m really hoping for 2,400 views a day (we got almost 2,200 yesterday).

3. Finally, I did something I should’ve done about seven months ago- I registered my new album, “Halfway There” on CD Baby.  This allows me to sell the album digitally on services like iTunes and Amazon MP3.  I’m getting anxious (and a bit excited) to play shows again.  My brother and I are planning on attending a local open mic night in the next couple of weeks.  I’ll keep you posted on that.  There’s a couple more areas of promotion I want to try, but until the FMP Store is back up and running, I don’t want to spend the money.  Also, I’m hoping that I can get some new fans and finally sell some copies of “Halfway There”, as the production (not to mention the packaging and the album cover) is really good.

Okay- onto tonight’s acoustic cover song music video!

Everyone knows that Brian Wilson is my musical hero.  I’ve met the man, met his band, and was a big part of the online community.  That is, until life stepped-in.  After I moved-out, there was little time to read the message board and post my thoughts.  I hope those folks there will understand that a 25 year old just needs a bit of “growing up” time before he can join a community like that again.  We’ll see if they’re understanding.

A few weeks ago, I wanted to play Becky a song from Brian Wilson’s second solo album, “Imagination” from 1998.  I then realized that it wasn’t on my iPod!! How could this be??  With over 11,000 songs, I didn’t have one of my absolute favorites of all-time??  Then, I remembered- the family copy (that my father owns) is now scratched and/or just won’t rip into my iTunes.  I tried it a couple times back when I was making my collection, but it wouldn’t work.  So, while I was on a nice weekend trip with Becky over Valentine’s Day, we stopped at this cool (but kind of overpriced) underground (literally) record store in Northampton, MA.  They had a copy of “Imagination” on CD!!  So, I bought a used copy (that had never been played before) and we got to listen on the way home.

The album rekindled my love for the song “Dream Angel”.  This is a great tune with some amazing harmonies, all sung by Brian Wilson.  This is really a perfect song- a great sound, great vocals, and even a nifty guitar solo.  No, it’s not going to win any lyrical awards, but it’s a happy tune and that’s good enough for me.  Brian is really at his best, vocal-wise, in this song.  I’ve even placed it in my Top 10 songs list in the past- looking back, I think it was a wise decision.

If you’ve heard the song before, you know what I’m talking about.  If not, then you’re about to hear a great tune and I hope you’ll listen to the rest of “Imagination”, too!  I hope you enjoy my acoustic cover version of this song- I’m back on the nylon string guitar tonight.  It gave a more smooth sound and it was so fun to play.  Make sure to watch it in HD, too!  Because not only is the picture clearer, but the audio is done at a higher quality, as well.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session and come back next Tuesday for an all-new video from a new artist on the blog.  And this is a big one- they’ve had NUMEROUS Number One hits and they’re one of the most popular acts of the past 30 years.  Why haven’t we covered a song from them yet?  Well, I’ll explain that next week.  And, see if you can guess in the meantime.  First correct guess gets a free CD!  Talk to next Tuesday.

“Baby I Need Your Loving” (Four Tops and Johnny Rivers Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Wow, finally I get to post my video.  I hate when this happens- now it’s going to feel like such a short time until my next video!  Anyway, I’m very proud to bring you tonight’s acoustic cover song music video of a classic song in, “Baby I Need Your Loving”.

Written by three of the Motown Records songwriters, “Baby I Need Your Loving” was the first big hit for the Four Tops back in 1964.  And let me tell you, this falls into my category of “perfect recordings”.  It clocks in under two minutes, but the vocals and instrumentation are just perfect.  The song gives me chills.  The Tops had such a unique vocal blend.  The lead vocalist recently passed away, as I heard.  When I saw them in concert a few years ago, there were only two original Tops left, but I still enjoyed the concert very much.  Hey, there’s only two original Beach Boys left in the band…and one isn’t even technically an original!

Anyway, you may also know this song from the Johnny Rivers version in the late 60’s.  His voice fit well with this classic tune, as well.  But, there’s one big difference between his version and the one done by the Four Tops: the title!  Johnny decided to title the song after what the chorus really says: Baby I Need Your Lovin’.  Note that apostrophe?  The Four Tops had the more grammatically correct version for theirs.

I had so much fun recording this- in one take, mind you.  And now for my slightly melodramatic “personal” update for the week:

I really hope I can find more time to post on the blog, as I have a lot of ambition, but it keeps getting thrown to the side.  Work, both during the day and at night, has helped my wife and I accomplish so much more than anyone else our age I know.  But, that does come at a cost- we’re both tired and the time we do have off becomes “necessary” rather than leisurely.  What do I mean by that?  Well, when you don’t do anything for yourself during the week, you feel like you need to cram in a TON of fun on the weekend.  Most times, that ends up in disappointment because it’s so much pressure!

But, the good news is that we’re managing things a lot better now than we were.  Personally, I’m still working on the whole “friends” issue.  I’ve recently realized that all my friends are gone, either taken away by disagreements, girlfriends, wives, rifts, or even just a marred past.  But, it’s tough finding new friends when everyone you work with is twice your age and doesn’t have time for friends.  Also, it’s tough when you don’t have time for friends yourself!  Thankfully, I still have Dana to get breakfast with me each week, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family (both my immediate family and my in-laws).  But, it would be nice to find someone that wants to hang around with me that doesn’t feel obligated because of their relation to me! 🙂 

In closing- I hope the friend train stops at my station soon, for where there are friends, there is fun.  Enjoy tonight’s video and make sure to come back for more, y’all! 🙂