Back again for more Laptop Sessions! It’s been a while, but now that the planning is finally done for our annual Christmas/New Year’s party, I’ll be back doing more sessions more often! So, today, I’m actually putting four new videos online, as these were salvaged from my last laptop’s hard drive before it died. Props to me, though, because I uploaded these to my web space before the hard drive crashed! 🙂
“Lay Lady Lay” is an oddity. If you listen to Dylan’s Greatest Hits/Best Of compilations, you’ll notice that this song stands out from the rest because of, dare I say it, his good voice! For the album “Nashville Skyline” (one of my favorites), he decided to try a new style of singing and playing. Chris and I put a new spin on this song with a guitar solo, and I hope everyone likes what we’ve done with it, especially because it took about 34 takes!
Stay tuned for part 2 of today’s 4 part Laptop Sessions extravaganza!
Well, another day and another installment of the “Laptop Sessions.” This is one that I learned a long time ago and forgot about playing until tonight. Anyone that knows me will know that I admire Brian Wilson’s songwriting the most. His song, “Girl Don’t Tell Me” is truly one of his finest works. Plus, his brother Carl sings an amazing lead vocal that I can only hope to emulate in my version. This is one of Carl’s earliest lead vocals and I’m glad Brian gave Carl the opportunity to sing it. Carl knocked it out of the park and had a voice much more suited to this style of music.
I think my Laptop Session acoustic version of this song actually sounds a lot like the original because it was done with acoustic guitars. “But,” you say, “many songs are done with just acoustics!” Well, Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys really used piano as their driving instrument, plus Al Jardine and Carl Wilson took the rhythm and lead guitars (respectively) on electrics almost all the time. Of course, I’m talking about the early records when the Boys recorded the instruments themselves. After a while, Brian and the others decided to have studio musicians come in, which allowed Brian to experiment more while the others were on tour. I think one of the last vestiges of the Beach Boys playing on their own music (in the earlier years, at least) was their Christmas album. One the first side (the original songs), you can hear the Beach Boys playing all of the instruments. Those songs represent some of my favorite recordings of all time. They’re simply perfect (to me).
But, enough of the Beach Boys history for the time being. But, I will say that you’ll notice how this song sounds more like a Beatles song than a Beach Boys song. Well, with the production done the way it was on the original (like I mentioned before, with acoustic guitars rather than a piano), one can only assume that this Beatle-esque sound was done purposely! Of course, this acoustic video flies in the face of the logic I was trying to explain regarding the Laptop Sessions cover songs series. You see, my idea is to strip-away the various instruments in a song to get to the simplest form. That way, you can hear the song for what it is. So, songs that you might not necessarily have liked can be given new life here on the music blog. With “Girl Don’t Tell Me”, however, that’s not really the case. I just did a straight-up cover of an acoustic song. My defense? It’s a great song- shut up and listen! 🙂 But seriously, another function of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog is to introduce you (or even re-introduce you) to songs you’ve never heard before (or forgot you knew). And that’s just as important.
This song is really a favorite of mine and I know a certain group of people are going to go, “Oh, wow!” when they see I did a version of this forgotten song! I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more from The Laptop Sessions!
Hello all, Jim here. Well, there are PLENTY of ways to keep up with the latest updates from Fusco-Moore Productions.
You can register for our podcast series, you can subscribe to the “Laptop Sessions” on YouTube, you can subscribe to the blog by e-mail or rss– plus many other ways.
But, here’s a neat way to keep up with my YouTube videos! Just paste this link into an RSS reader (for instance, your iGoogle, your Mac Mail program, Yahoo! mail and widgets, and others) and you’ll instantly be updated once a new video comes online.
It’s just one more way to keep in touch! Also, please register to comment on our Blog here, as we’d LOVE to see your comments and requests! Jeff and Chris will soon be starting their own versions of the “Laptop Sessions” with songs from Bob Dylan, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Wallflowers.
As for me, I know it’s been a couple days. I have a BIG post about my night on Friday that I can’t wait to write. Plus, I’ll be posting a NEW “Laptop Session” tomorrow, another one on Monday, and ANOTHER one on Tuesday!! That’s right, I have three ready to go, and Chris is helping me out on two of them!!
Just check the stats on YouTube and see all the nice comments people have left for me. A big shoutout to everyone over at Brian Wilson’s website and their message board for all of their encouragement!! Until tomorrow…
Welcome to a new era in online music videos: The Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
Modeled after Ed Robertson’s (of Barenaked Ladies) incredible “Bathroom Sessions,” YouTube acoustic music video series, we will be recording songs on video using the built-in camera on our Macbook laptops. So, wherever the laptop goes, we’ll record a new cover song video!
Tonight, I start the series off with a song from the Beatles, “Here, There, and Everywhere,” a great tune by Paul McCartney (and John Lennon, for copyright’s sake). I recorded it at 2 am in my living room. This is a great song from the “Revolver” album- it shows Paul’s softer side. I remember reading a story about this song. The Beatles wanted to do some nice harmonies for the background vocals. So, George Martin (their producer) helped them out and came up with the nice background vocal part you hear on the original record. Well, the Beatles loved it and that’s what you hear on the final record. When asked about the harmony part, though, George Martin pointed out that there really was nothing to it- he basically just played a chord and gave a note to each member. They call that a “block” harmony. Simply put, each member just sings the next note (up or down, depending on the tune) in sequence. There isn’t any cross-harmonies or anything complex. If the melody goes up, your note goes up. It’s the easiest way of doing harmony. But, for “Here, There, and Everywhere”, it was exactly what the Beatles wanted.
I’m not sure why I chose this as my first video. I think it’s one of those songs that I always loved and when I saw how to play it, I really just wanted to give it a try. In the process, I thought I would record a live acoustic version of it. This song was played at my parents’ wedding and it’s always had some importance to our family. I know the recording quality isn’t great, but when I recorded this, they had an option of recording live right onto YouTube’s video servers. So, I had little control of the video quality or (especially) the sound. You can hear the whirl of my Macbook laptop’s fans in the background and the color (and the video angle) leaves much to be desired. But, every great project must start somewhere and I’m glad it could be with such a great song in “Here, There, and Everywhere”.
These videos are meant to show our passion for music and our love to play constantly, so look for updates every couple of days. That’s right: days!!
Enjoy and we hope to see you back here on the music video blog often. We’ll be featuring many acoustic cover songs and original music for your enjoyment. Please remember to subscribe to the music blog so you can be the first to know when a new video is uploaded!  And make sure to check out all of our Beatles cover songs– I’m sure there will be many!
