This season includes nine episodes and a wide range of talent — by far, the best series of Guest Sessions ever released heretofore on the Laptop Sessions blog. Performers range from individuals in their bedrooms to full bands performing. The artists being covered run the gamut as well: from Elvis Costello to Wiz Khalifa, and Sam Cooke to Phish. For the first time ever in Laptop Sessions history, we will feature an acoustic cover song music video performed in a different language.
PLUS: We were still waiting for the perfect video for our December 30th season finale when this was written.
All this and more came every other Friday for the rest of that year:
You won’t want to miss even one episode of the Fall 2011 season of the Guest Sessions cover song music video series!
Welcome back for another installment of this year-in-review list series, brought to you by the Weekend Review. Tonight, I’m happy to present the top fifteen vocal performances of 2010. Some, like “In Vain or True” and “White Blank Page,” are impressive for their use of complex vocal arrangements. Others, like “Machine Gun” and “Memories” are notable for the emotive quality of Sara Bareilles’ and Rivers Cuomo’s respective performances.
There have been some excellent vocal performances this year, ranging from the raw vulnerability of Steven Page’s cover of “Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure” to the unleashed quality of Alison Mosshart’s lead on “Gasoline.” This was one of the most difficult lists to assemble, as the great vocal leads of the year run the gamut in various ways. So, I’ve done my best to assemble and rank these tracks, taking into account the quality of the individual voices, the emotion behind each delivery, and the overall coherence and interest potentially generated by each vocal.
Without further ado, here’s the list, and enjoy the rest of the end-of-2010 series in the archive!
BEST VOCAL PERFORMANCES of 2010
1) “In Vain or True” – Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper, & Joseph Arthur (of Fistful of Mercy; As I Call You Down)
2) “White Blank Page” – Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons; Sigh No More)
3) “Machine Gun” – Sara Bareilles (Kaleidoscope Heart)
4) “Memories” – Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer; Hurley)
5) “Please Move” – Kevin Devine (of Bad Books; Bad Books)
Welcome to another episode of The Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since my last video- the time is flying lately. Now that things are coming along nicely with the new house (driveway is in and the grass is looking better), I hope to start enjoying everything a bit more soon.
Today is a record-breaking day here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog. Today, the site got it’s highest view count EVER: over 5,600 hits and still counting! Yes, most of these hits were to the homepage, which is great. But, the part I’m very excited about is the fact that close to 200 of those hits have been to “deep” pages on the site (past posts, etc.)! That’s a pretty big deal, especially considering that just a couple months ago, the site was getting only about 200 views a day- total! So, the promotion I’ve been doing seems to be working nicely.
Now, you would think that, after last week’s article, I would be playing on my new Martin MMV guitar tonight. But, some sad circumstances lead me to this new video- the first in a long time on the piano.
“The Long and Winding Road” is a song by the Beatles that everyone knows. It’s one of those songs that you hear in a restaurant, a department store, and the radio from time to time. It’s a great Paul McCartney song that appeared on the “Let It Be” LP, but I personally like the one on “Let It Be…Naked” better. Even though I found the chords with the words “Capo on 1st fret” above them, I transposed the chords to piano on the fly and let this one rip. As with most Laptop Sessions cover songs I do, it’s SO much easier when I already know the words by heart. Chords are easy to remember because they’re logical- for instance, if the sound goes up (in pitch), then chances are the chord goes up (in pitch). So, I almost always instantly remember the chords. But, when you have to think about lyrics, things get difficult.
Tonight, I dedicate this cover song music video to my good friend and colleague, Diane. For the past year and a half, she’s been my SAVIOR at work. She works down at the warehouse our company uses and is always so helpful. She’ll get anything done instantly- she’s truly the best. She’s made my life so much easier over the time I’ve been with the company. Plus, we’ve come to have countless conversations over the phone and we’ve always had a great relationship. It’s even possible that we’re distantly related! We’ve been out for drinks after work on a few occasions, as well, and we always have a great time.
But, unfortunately, the higher-ups at my company decided to move to a different warehouse. I understand- business is business. But, I know I’m not the only one that’s going to miss Diane terribly- she’s that valuable to my working life. Hey, maybe she’ll want to move to Florida and work at the new place! 🙂
Anyway, months ago, she requested “The Long and Winding Road” by the Beatles as a Laptop Session after she began watching my videos. She waited patiently for a long time. But, Steve (of the Traveling Acai Berries) was very, very busy and we couldn’t find the time to get-together and play this song on camera. The goal was to bring Steve’s electric piano in, too.
So, when I heard the news about Diane no longer working with me, I knew I had to record “The Long and Winding Road” for her. Now that I have Becky’s piano in the house, it was easy to set everything up and record one of my more unique videos. I think it came out great (especially the way I got the audio to record) and I hope it will make Diane realize how much I’ll miss her. Plus, what a perfect song (subject matter) for the occasion.
Thanks for stopping-by for this edition of the Laptop Sessions in HD with Jim Fusco. Have a great week and enjoy “The Long and Winding Road”, one of our many Beatles cover songs!
Welcome, everyone, to another Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music video! I bring you the second video from our last session two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I still can’t bring myself to drop the $60 to get the Beatles Rock Band yet (that new mortgage looms large in the foreground) and the same goes for the remastered box set, which I’m just dying to hear.
Tonight, our video is “Eight Days A Week”, another addition to our collection of Beatles cover songs. It’s funny how this one became a video- Steve (whose shoulder is shown in this video) said, “Hey Jim- play a whole bunch of D notes on your guitar rapidly and let me try something.” Sure enough, within a few seconds, we started the song. Fast-forward a couple minutes (and a little discussion on harmony parts) and you had our fellow band member Chris C. sight-reading sheet music and playing the melody on his mandolin. That’s him there in the center of the video, transposing notes on the fly.
I love the way the song songs with the two guitars and the mandolin. You can really hear the mandolin part in the second half of this cover video and it adds such a cool dynamic. We’ve got some great videos planned that will feature the mandolin, which I’m pretty excited about. I will forever be a chord player (and improv. soloist) on the mandolin, so it’s cool to play with someone that can translate sheet music into a mandolin part.
Steve and I combined for some great singing in this video, if I do say so myself. For some reason, I’m singing this with so much confidence and we had some nice parts together, especially on the “Eight days a week, I lo-uh-uh-uh-ove you” part. And, I feel so much more easy-going when Steve’s playing guitar with me because I don’t have that feeling that I have to be the entire band. I can strum, learn some licks, etc. Very exciting stuff!
On a personal note, things are going well, but I don’t know how- we’re tearing the condo up, getting ready to sell things for some extra pre-house cash and working on getting the condo “rental-ready”. That’s in addition to working and doing extra night and weekend work to ensure we’re okay financially when we move into our new place about a month and a half from now. Thankfully, Becky is always one to look on the bright side with a sense of knowing- I’m not a fan of those who just see the rosy side of things for the sake of seeing it that way…
Anyway, I kind of wish I had eight days in a week so I could get all this stuff done. Thankfully, some aspects of life (job, marriage, family) are stable now, so it makes dealing with the unstable things in life (like living your life by the whim of a mortgage company that doesn’t answer the phone) that much more bearable.
I’ll look forward to our next recording session on Friday and hopefully we’ll be back with new videos next Tuesday night. Hey, maybe this time we can finally introduce the fourth Acai Berry…but we’ll all have to wait and see. Until then, have a great week!
