Tag Archives: music videos

“Handle With Care” (Traveling Wilburys Cover)

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! We’re back again with a cover song video from the Traveling Wilburys- their most famous song,  “Handle With Care”. When I was four years old, this song came out and it’s one of my first musical memories. Plus, it’s been one of my favorite songs for 20 years.

We’ve been playing this song live for years. It’s usually the full electric set, but we’ve done it live and acoustically here for the Laptop Sessions music blog.  As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, the goal of the Laptop Sessions cover songs blog is twofold.  First, we want to put an end to bad YouTube cover song videos forever.  And second?  We want to give a different take on our favorite songs.  This track, though mostly acoustically based in the original recording, is still not the same without George Harrison’s amazing lead guitar part.  But, we figured it would make the song sound different to only break out the acoustic guitars and the bongos for this cover song video.

One thing I love about this performance is the energy our band, Masters of the Universe (or MoU), puts into “Handle With Care”.  From the video, you can tell that we’re all having a good time singing one of our favorite Traveling Wilburys songs.  The harmonies, though not perfect (or complete, without band member Becky), are still pretty good.  And sure, the bongos are a bit louder than we would’ve liked.  But again, this was a fun acoustic live performance.  I think that having more energy in a video recording is even better than getting it note-perfect.  That’s one of the reasons why Masters of the Universe earned a nomination for Best Album of the Year by the New Haven Advocate in 2006.  We made an album that consisted mostly of our live set of original songs.  The songs sound great, but if we recorded everything separately, it probably would’ve come out much cleaner.  But, the thing that made MoU’s album stand out from the rest was the energy we had.  The songs would start out slowly and gradually get faster as it went on.  You can tell that the band is having a good time when something like that happens.  Plenty of people can play music in a technically correct manner.  But, it’s something special when you’ve got a band firing on all cylinders, playing music together in a circle.  You can really feel the energy in that album.

I know this has been requested before, so I hope you enjoy tonight’s Traveling Wilburys cover song! It’s my tribute to both George Harrison and Roy Orbison, and you know I’ll be doing more songs from George, Roy, and the Wilburys in the weeks to come!

To hear MoU’s original music, visit http://jimfusco.com/albums.html. To hear my original music, visit http://jimfusco.com.

Video Blog 2008: The future of Fusco-Moore Productions’ songwriters!

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By Chris Moore:

Hi all. I became lax in my posting during December, so I wanted to start 2008 off right! Now, I don’t have a Laptop Session to post today, but I do have a rant, two hot-off-the-press updates, and some thoughts on the new year. So, here goes…

First, I need to thank all those who came to the second annual MoU Christmas Party this weekend. I really appreciate those of you who said they would be there and actually came. Unfortunately, we had a great deal of people — almost a third of our “confirmed” guest list — who didn’t show and who gave little to no warning. This year, it was especially important to have an accurate count so that Jim would know how much food to make. Instead, we ended up with two thirds of the ziti back in our fridge… Let’s just say I can predict what Jim will be cooking for dinner for the next two and a half weeks! Seriously though, especially since I was the one who took on the task of inviting people, setting up the facebook page, etc., it felt like a big failure. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but the band fund lost $80 in the process rather than making money for our second album, Homestead’s Revenge. It was pretty depressing looking out into the sea of… 24 faces. But, to those 24 who did attend, I want to thank you once again!

Okay, the two updates, as promised:

1) The MoU album – I’m still running this by the other band members, but at this time Homestead’s Revenge will be released as a digital download on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008. It’s about freakin’ time!

2) My essay collection – I’ll be releasing a collection of my essays (academic and otherwise) from 2003-2008 on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008. The collection (which, as a warning, is really only for die-hard essay / Chris Moore fans!) will include essays on relationships, society in general, poetry, and music. It will be released as an e-book and is tentatively titled “Essays” and Other Essays.

Finally, my thoughts on the new year. 2007 was okay, but I felt I was not very productive overall. I think Jim felt the same way — as he said to me the other day, he’s been without a solo album for over two years. I think he’s getting the itch again… That being said, my goal for Fusco-Moore Productions in the new year is to build on the audience of the Laptop Sessions, release some music (perhaps the long-awaited “Fusco and Moore-funkel” album!), and release the short story/poetry book that I’ve been working on for over a year. I really feel like this is a make it or break it year for F-M Prod, and I think both Jim and I are feeling the pressure to really make something of this while we can.

As always, thanks for reading — this is certainly the most I’ve ever written here at one time. Best of wishes from Fusco-Moore for 2008 — keep checking back for new laptop sessions and more all the time!

-Chris Moore

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (Band-Aid Christmas Song Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Here again with another Laptop Session for Christmas! This song, originally made famous by the supergroup Band-Aid, has been a favorite of mine since I was little.

I got 4/5 of MoU together and we did this tune in Fusco-Moore Studios a couple days ago. We had a lot of fun with it- a bit too much fun, considering the subject matter of the song. Please note that we don’t take the subject of starvation in third-world countries lightly- we just had a lot of fun getting together and singing Christmas songs!

I hope you’ve enjoyed The Laptop Sessions’ tribute to Christmas over these past few weeks. I’m already looking forward to next year! I hope everyone gets what they’re hoping for this Christmas- and the Laptop Sessions will be back again in a couple days!

To hear MoU’s original music, visit http://jimfusco.com/albums.html. To hear my original music, visit http://jimfusco.com.

“Elf’s Lament” (Barenaked Ladies Christmas cover song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone! Continuing with our last couple days of Christmas, we give you “Elf’s Lament”, a great song by Barenaked Ladies. We’ve always been happy with the way our live version came out, so I got the guys together to do a special acoustic version for the Laptop Sessions!  This song was perfect for the band to do because it features vocal parts for three members of the band.  Well, in this version, Mike isn’t sitting behind a large (and loud) drum set, so he got to sing the lead parts with the other three of us.  I’ve always been a fan of songs where two or three members of the band get a chance to sing.  Songs like “Two of Us” by the Beatles and “Walking On Air” by the Moody Blues (off of their amazing 1999 album, Strange Times) are great examples where you can hear all of the band members.  And, my favorite bands are ones where each member gets a chance to shine.

Which brings me to the band that we covered tonight: Barenaked Ladies.  Their Christmas album, “Barenaked for the Holidays’ is awesome.  Four of the five (at the time) members wrote and sang lead vocals on songs throughout the album.  That, to me, is the mark of a truly great band.  You get so much variety in an album and that’s probably why I’m such a big fan of the Moody Blues, the Byrds, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys (after 1967).  “Barenaked for the Holidays” features such classic songs as “Green Christmas” and Steven Page’s “Hanukkah Blessings”.

“Elf’s Lament” was originally done by Ed Robertson, Steven Page, and Michael Bublé.  I’m not a huge fan of Bublé’s voice in this song- it just has an odd sound to it.  And, saying his voice sounds odd next to Steven Page’s voice is really saying something. 🙂  So, we stuck Cliff with that part to sing.  I got the Steven Page part.  This song was so much fun to sing.  It was a big hit on our Christmas concert CD and DVD set.  For that show, we performed in front of over 60 people, including the mayor of our hometown of Wallingford, CT.  It was one of the highlights of my musical career.  We just had so much fun playing this song- I wish there were more songs like this that give everyone a chance to shine.  I think everyone else in the band would’ve stayed more interested.  Knowing you have a starring role makes you pay more attention for sure!

To learn more about our music, please visit http://jimfusco.com/albums.html.  You can purchase our Christmas concert on either CD or DVD there.  It’s jam-packed with 30 (yes, 30!) original and cover songs.  I personally think it’s the best Christmas album you can buy for the money.  I hope you enjoy tonight’s Barenaked Ladies cover song and hope you’ll come back for more great Christmas songs from the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog!