Every year, there are a wide variety of compilations, best of’s, essentials, greatest hits, and retrospectives that are released. I usually only buy one here or there. This year, there were three outstanding compilations, which are recognized below. In each case, the packaging is excellent, notable if only for the excellent attention to liner notes that provide further context and insight into the tracks. Even though all three were of high quality, Ben Folds’ reasonably-priced, beautifully packaged, well-selected Best Imitation of Myself takes the prize without debate.
1) The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective – Ben Folds
Welcome to my all-new edition of Original Wednesday here at the Laptop Sessions. This week, I have chosen “Words,” a song I’ve recorded twice over the years — once for my album Looking For You (I recorded the title track for my last Original Wednesday video blog) and again on the Chris, Jim, & Becky debut album Live in the Studio. After recording a new cover song music video every three days, it’s always a lot of fun to turn to my own catalog of songs and revisit songs I haven’t played in years or ones I play all the time on my own. That’s the concept behind the Original Wednesday tradition — allow the members of Fusco-Moore Productions to showcase our pride and joy, our own music.
“Words” inspired the early sketches for a script and some unscripted scenes filmed while Jim and I were on vacation in Massachusetts. The basic premise of the movie was two characters on a journey who disagree on the essential question, what is a more important/effective form of communication — music and sound or words and written forms? For those who know me, it won’t come as a surprise that my character (the Eli mentioned in this song) believes in the power of words to express that which we as humans are simply unable to communicate to each other. Jim’s character (named Brian, if my memory serves me well…) believed less in the ability of mere words to convey the complex emotions we have. Nothing ever or probably ever will come of it, but it was great fun to revisit the song and the concepts.
I’ve written very little about Eli as a character — really only these lyrics — but I’ve always liked him. I hope you do too! As a songwriter, I always wished I could have written more into the song or additional songs, but I think this says enough on its own.
Well, I hope you enjoy this one. If it doesn’t whet your appetite, then don’t forget to rush back tomorrow for Jeff’s all-new Laptop Session as session-a-day rolls on for all 366 days of the year 2008…
As I have previously written about, covers are typically of little interest to me (which is, of course, ironic when considering the large number I have played over the years). Of course, I typically end up hearing a few that stand out, and this year, they were almost all on the Amnesty International charity album Chimes of Freedom. Sadly, though the compilation included over seventy songs from a vast range of artists, there were only a handful worthy of recognition. My favorite cover song of the year, however, is the one unearthed on the soundtrack to the Martin Scorcese documentary based on George Harrison’s life: it is Harrison’s cover of his friend Bob Dylan’s song “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind.” It is a stripped down, acoustic cover, but it is brilliant and the beauty radiates warmly from this simple yet nuanced performance.
1) “Mama You’ve Been On My Mind” – George Harrison
2) “One Too Many Mornings” – Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and the Avett Brothers
If you enjoyed Jim’s rendition of “To Be Alone With You” from yesterday’s Laptop Session, then I hope you’ll love this Bob Dylan tune, too! Going right along in chronological order, “Oh, Sister” is from his 1975 album Desire. Better known for the song “Hurricane,” Desire really is one of my favorite Dylan albums. It doesn’t hurt that I have fond memories of this one — I’ve been listening to it since Jim bought it (before me!) and brought it to our drivers’ education classes. In contrast, I suppose anything would be more exciting!
I have some good news — by the end of the day, I’ll be joining Jim and Jeff in the 5,000+ YouTube views club!
I’m really excited, so thank you to all who have been watching and supporting these videos.
I hope you’ll keep coming back as “One-A-Day” rolls on in 2008 at guitarbucketlist.com!
