Even in an age of increasingly digital delivery of music media, album covers continue to be an integral piece of the vision for an album. In a sense, they are rapidly becoming the primary, if not sole, physical/visual component of the album. That being said, it also feels like, in many cases, album covers have fallen to the wayside as hastily composed and inspired out of necessity. Nevertheless, there are always some that stand out of the crowd; this year, there are five that deserve to be honored.
1) The Sound of the Life of the Mind – Ben Folds Five
Hello and welcome to your weekend edition of the best video blog in the world! And we’re humble, too!
Seriously, though, we’ve really been putting a lot of effort into this acoustic cover song music blog — practicing and recording acoustic rock covers, writing detailed and interesting blog posts and articles, adding photos to our posts, and so much more. Next year, after the “session-a-day” project is completed, we have so many ideas for expansion that you’ll just have to check back regularly to experience them all. I can’t say too much for now, but you’ll have to trust me that music fans and even fans of other things will not be disappointed!
And now, to be anything but serious, I bring you Loudon Wainwright III’s most famous song, “Dead Skunk.” My father used to play this for me from a seventies acoustic rock tape that he had. It was always a lot of fun, and I still remember not quite believing that “Dead Skunk” was a real song when he sang the chorus to me before I had heard the studio version.
I’ve heard that Wainwright is somewhat bitter about the fact that this song found so much success — and I can’t say I really blame him; it’s quite the legacy! But this is not the only case of this; just think of the fact that Warren Zevon, with his amazing range of work, will probably only be remembered for “Werewolves of London.” Still, success is success.
Okay, that’s it for now, but make sure to hurry back tomorrow (as Zevon would sing, “Hurry home early, hurry on home…”) — if you’ve made Laptop Sessions your home, then Jeff Copperthite won’t disappoint with his latest music video tomorrow…
Good afternoon to you! Thank you for checking out today’s Laptop Session. I really am looking forward to your watching this session, as it is my third Eagles acoustic cover video. Today I bring you the awesome ballad “I Can’t Tell You Why” from their album “The Long Run”.
This song is among the few that are sung by bassist Timothy Schmit. His voice is very sweet and appropriate for this song. I feel I did a great job emulating his singing style, and I hope you agree. The guitar part I play is an adaptation of the synthesizer that is constant in the song.
Also, if you are wondering why i’m dressed up, it is because I went to a wedding today (and am going to a reception in a little while). I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Lisa & Tom Kapitan on their wedding today.
Thank you again for checking out today’s session. Your weekend has just started, and I know you will come back tomorrow to see what Jim has in store for us all. Until then…
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!
Greetings from the other side of the midnight chimes — this is your latest (and late) Laptop Session! Tonight, I bring you a new band to the sessions… Snow Patrol. Specifically, this is “Run,” the seventh track of their 2003 album Final Straw. This album was first recommended to me by then-fellow Staples Copy Center employee John Fortin, after he heard the Chris, Jim, and Becky album Live in the Studio. He said, based on our album, he thought I might enjoy the band.
At first, I liked the album, but I wasn’t crazy about it. It became one of those albums you go back to every so often, and over time, I grew to like it more and more. Recently, as I went back to both this album and their subsequent one, Eyes Open, I fell in love with the songs of Final Straw. The next album is solid, but lacks the hooks and flairs — really, the strength of individual tracks that are great and stand on their own — of the 2003 release.
My sister has also become a fan of Snow Patrol, so I hope that she gets a chance to read this post and check out the video. Jaime and I have fairly divergent tastes in music, but we have found much more overlap in the past few years — we can especially agree on the awesome-ness of Ben Folds and Elliott Smith! We actually both had a similar reaction to the new Snow Patrol single, “Take Back the City.” Specifically, we were hesitant about the new album based on the strength of this track. I can’t speak for her, but I know that — for me — the song seemed a bit forced at first, as if they were trying to make a hit single that could climb the charts as well as their last big hit, “Chasing Cars,” did. Really, though, what was most off-putting to me was what I initially interpreted as being a line — “God knows you’ve put your life into it tons.” Tons? Really? Is this the poetry I’m rushing to the store to purchase?
Well, those of you who know me will check this off on the list of times that I misinterpret something due to an accent. (Stories for another time…) The line is really “God knows you’ve put your life into its hands.” Lead singer Gary Lightbody’s Irish accent through me off. And, while I’m in a confessional mode, can I also admit that one of the factors that has always prevented me from entirely liking the band was the way Lightbody sings? Yes, it’s true… It took me until a few weeks ago to research and discover that they’re an Irish band. How I didn’t figure that out before is beyond me! But, now that I know, I’ve been going through a Snow Patrol renaissance of sorts.
Their 2008 release, A Hundred Million Suns, is — in my opinion — their best work since Final Straw. I was hesitant to buy it at first, based on their 2006 album and the aforementioned single. But, I’m really glad I did buy it. The opening track “If There’s a Rocket Tie Me to It” is one of my favorite track ones in a long time. Track two, “Crack the Shutters,” is one of my favorite songs on the album and would have been my choice for a single (To date, it has reached #9 on the iTunes alternative rock charts!). Then, track three is the single. Track four, “Lifeboats,” slows it down a bit and is another of my favorites. And it goes on from there…
I found it really interesting to read that the band considered this to be a more upbeat and “cheerful” album than previous releases. I didn’t really interpret it that way, but that could just be my current state of mind. Regardless, I do agree with their statement that it is their best album to date.
Well, that’s enough ranting and rambling about Snow Patrol for one post! In other news, I broke down and bought the first season of the Chappelle show, with hopes that Jim will want to watch some of the episodes. So far, I’ve only watched the first episode, which includes not only my favorite sketch (the Clayton Bigsby, black white supremacist skit) but also the Pop Copy sketch that so wonderfully makes fun of my previous profession as a Staples Copy Center employee! So, as you see, this post really comes full circle. It started with a band that was recommended to me by a Copy Center co-worker and ends with me going off to watch Pop Copy!
But, before I go, I should also mention that I have not made my last post of the day. In fact, there may be as many as two new posts from me in the next few hours. So stay tuned and come back soon for much more brand new fun on the best acoustic rock cover songs blog in the universe — the Laptop Session!
