It’s hard to believe “new bands week” is almost over! It’s been a lot of fun — hopefully we’ll do it again soon before we run out of new bands!
My song for today, “No One Else,” is from my second favorite Weezer album, their self-titled debut known among fans as “The Blue Album.” For some reason, I had a hard time getting into the album when I first heard it. When I listened again about a year later, I really fell in love with its sound and energy. It’s about as close to garage rock as my preferences go… I felt this song translated easily into an acoustic version, and it was fun to learn a song from a band I have never covered before!
Hope you enjoyed “new bands week” and all the new bands!
Welcome to another “new bands week” edition of the Laptop Sessions! Today’s song comes from a band that’s anything but “new”, but since I haven’t played a song from them before, I figured this would be the week to bust one out! That band is the Monkees, and they’re one of my favorite bands of all time. The Monkees were the soundtrack to my early life. Remember when they started playing the reruns of the TV show back in the late 80s? Well, I used to watch it then and also listened to their Greatest Hits collection constantly. I always gravitated to the music of Michael Nesmith, probably because he was a songwriter and musician. The songs that Davy Jones sang were almost always cover songs or songs that were written for the Monkees’ TV show.
Tonight’s acoustic cover song, as I’ve mentioned before, ranks as my second favorite song of all time, right behind “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” by the Byrds. But, if you listen to this song and the Byrds song, you’ll hear that they’re very similar. They both have pretty much the same chords, and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” wins because of its great guitar solo and its harmonies. And, the songwriter of “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”, Gene Clark, was very similar to Mike Nesmith. The both were the first ones to leave their bands. They wrote the melancholy songs of the group with a bit of country-rock flair. And they were by far and away the best songwriters of their groups. I think it’s pretty funny that I gravitate so much towards such similar musicians like them. I wonder if I share any of those characteristics (or at least THINK I do…).
“You Just May Be The One” is the song I play for people when I get the tired old “the Monkees didn’t write their own songs or play their own instruments” line. Well, on this song, they did both. In fact, on the entire “Headquarters” album, they did both. These guys were very talented and don’t get a lot of credit for that. Of course, everyone knows that the band was manufactured for the TV show only. This “band” was never supposed to happen. But, I think the band worked hard over the years to prove their worth as musicians.
I hope you’ll agree that this is one of the best songs of all time. I’m very happy to add it to my collection of cover songs here on the video blog. And let me be the first to welcome the Monkees to the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!
I have looked forward to this edition of Original Wednesday for quite some time. I get to world premiere a song from my album Greenlight.
The song is the first track, and it is called “Shadows Of Your Dreams”. The song is interesting to play on the acoustic guitar because in the recording I do not have a track for acoustic guitar. Therefore, you are watching me play this song for the first time on acoustic since I wrote the song almost a year ago.
It essentially is my first solo effort, and I am proud of the end product of nearly a half a year of work.
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!
Fun, Fun, Fun – 8 The Warmth of the Sun – 10 (doesn’t get much better than this) Don’t Worry, Baby – 10 (see last song) Pom Pom Play Girl – 4 (too Jan and Dean for me) Why Do Fools Fall in Love – 6 (again, not a big fan of covers, but this one is very well done, especially that vocal break in the middle) *I Do – 6 (even though the verse is a clear re-tooling, the chorus is pretty amazing) In the Parkin’ Lot – 8 (I really like this song- it’s got great harmonies and I love the tag at the beginning and end) This Car of Mine – 6 (I love Denny’s vocals on this one!) Keep an Eye on Summer – 9 (just wow) Louie, Louie – 1 (ugh- why guys, why??) Shut Down, Part II – 3 (okay, but only because Carl wrote it!) “Cassius” Love vs. “Sonny” Wilson – 2 (Can this even count? They can’t even get the jokes right! But, it is cute.) Denny’s Drums – 4 (I hate that Dennis doesn’t get a lot of credit for his drumming, but he clearly has the chops here)
** You have five or six songs that are not only great, but classic on this album and it makes this album a great listen. In my opinion, the Boys really honed the harmonies on this album- not a bum note to be found. Plus, showing off the talents of Dennis (singing and playing) and Carl (writing and playing) is just great. Brian was truly in his prime starting with this album. I find it hard to talk down to any album with the likes of Don’t Worry Baby and The Warmth of the Sun on it. Their greatness truly cancels out any mediocrity the few clunkers on the album express. **
